Throughput maximization for irregular reconfigurable intelligent surface assisted NOMA systems

Abstract Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is an emerging technology to improve the spectral efficiency of wireless communication systems. However, the high complexity of beam design and the non-negligible overhead associated with RIS limit the number of elements that can be deployed in practice. In this paper, we investigate the downlink communications of irregularly deployed intelligent reflecting surfaces that assist non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems. To address this challenge, we propose a novel four-step resource allocation algorithm. Specifically, we first obtain a sub-optimal solution for the sparse deployment of RIS elements using a Simulated Annealing Algorithm. We then solve the power allocation problem by employing an integer optimization algorithm that continuously iterates the immobile point. To simplify and optimize the reflection coefficient matrix, we propose a construction inequality algorithm. Finally, we optimize the channel assignment using a genetic algorithm. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed irregular RIS-assisted NOMA system outperforms the traditional RIS-assisted orthogonal multiple access system, with a maximum throughput increase of approximately 30%.