Low-complexity hybrid interference cancellation for sparse code multiple access

Abstract Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) is one of Non Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) candidates for 5G, the fifth generation mobile network. Multiple overlapped blocks of SCMA code are transmitted per frequency layer which compels the receiver to cancel unwanted SCMA code blocks. Thanks to the sparsity of SCMA, Message Passing Algorithm (MPA) achieves near-optimal performance. Nevertheless, this process is time-consuming and has a high degree of complexity even if Max-Log Algorithm is used. The major contribution of this paper is to propose a new decoding scheme called Hybrid Interference Cancellation (HIC) to reduce time processing without degrading a target Bit Error Rate (BER). The HIC decodes and removes the strongest user, reducing the complexity of Log Domain MPA decoding of remaining users, followed by a Low Density Parity Code (LDPC) decoder. The interference cancellation decoder is either a hard interference cancellation or a soft interference cancellation. The originality of the paper is to calculate a threshold value based on power measurements to decide whether hard decoder or soft decoder should be used to reach the BER target with a lower complexity. Results show a significant reduction in terms of complexity as compared to the traditional MPA process for the same values of BER.