NOMA-Based Full-Duplex UAV Network with K-Means Clustering for Disaster Scenarios

In this paper, we propose and assess the performance of a downlink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)based full-duplex (FD) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) network for disaster scenarios. The K-means algorithm is used to partition the user equipments (UEs) residing in the disaster region into a number of clusters. The UAVs are located at the cluster centers and act as decode-and-forward relays to secure coverage from an operational base station (BS) into the disaster region. The power-domain NOMA used at the BS and the UAVs operating in FD mode improve the system performance in terms of outage probability and sum rate compared to orthogonal multiple access and half-duplex mode. In particular, analytical expressions for the outage probability and sum rate are derived. Numerical results are provided to reveal the impact of system parameters on the performance of the NOMA-based FD UAV network over Nakagami-m fading which in turn illustrate design options for applications in disaster scenarios. © 2022 IEEE.