Efficient Multi-User Detection For Uplink Grant-Free NOMA: Prior-Information Aided Adaptive Compressive Sensing Perspective

This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been
fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JSAC.2017.2726279, IEEE Journal
on Selected Areas in Communications
IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 1
Efficient Multi-User Detection for Uplink

Grant-Free NOMA: Prior-Information Aided
Adaptive Compressive Sensing Perspective
Yang Du, Binhong Dong, Zhi Chen, Senior Member, IEEE, Xiaodong Wang, Fellow, IEEE, Zeyuan Liu,
Pengyu Gao, and Shaoqian Li, Fellow, IEEE
Abstract—Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is an e- communities [1]. 5G is expected to support three typical
merging research topic in the future fifth generation (5G) wireless usage scenarios, including enhanced mobile broadband (eM-
communication networks, which is expected to support massive BB), massive machine type communications (mMTC) and
connectivity for massive machine type communications (mMTC).
Due to the sporadic communication nature of mMTC, the grant- ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) [2].
free transmission methodology is highly expected in uplink Different from eMBB, mMTC and URLLC mainly target
NOMA systems, to drastically reduce the transmission latency services of Internet of Thing (IoT) and vertical industries
and signaling overhead. Exploiting the inherent sparsity nature where performance requirements cannot be well met by legacy
of user activity, compressive sensing (CS) techniques have been mobile communication systems [3]. As a consequence, mMTC
applied for efficient multi-user detection in the uplink grant-
free NOMA. In this paper, we propose a prior-information aided and URLLC are the extended scenarios for 5G.
adaptive subspace pursuit (PIA-ASP) algorithm to improve the From a technical perspective, mMTC focuses on the uplink
multi-user detection performance. In this algorithm, a parameter communication of a massive number of low-rate devices with
evaluating the quality of the prior-information support set is in- very short packets (of few bytes), requires a completely differ-
troduced, in order to exploit the intrinsically temporal correlation ent set of technologies than those designed to support human-
of active user support sets in several continuous time slots adap-
tively. Then, to mitigate the incorrect estimation effect of the prior type communications in previous communication systems [3],
support quality information, a robust prior-information aided [4]. To meet the challenging demand of massive connec-
adaptive subspace pursuit (R-PIA-ASP) algorithm is further tivity, mMTC demands efficient multiple access techniques,
proposed, which adaptively exploits the prior support based on which are undergoing paradigm shift from orthogonal to non-
the corresponding support quality information in a conservative orthogonal based approaches [5]. Recently, non-orthogonal
way. It is noted that both of the two proposed algorithms do
not require the knowledge of the user sparsity level, while multiple access (NOMA) techniques [5]-[8] have been exten-
most of state-of-the-art CS-based multi-user detection algorithms sively investigated, which can support massive connectivity
usually need. Moreover, for the two proposed algorithms, the by the non-orthogonal resource allocation among devices
upper bound of the signal detection error and the computational using limited resources. On the other hand, mMTC has the
complexity are derived. Simulation results demonstrate that characteristic of random access that users transmit small data
the two proposed algorithms are capable of achieving much
better performance than that of the existing CS-based multi-user packets occasionally, namely sporadic communication. Clear-
detection algorithms with similar computational complexity. ly, the conventional grant-based access control methodology
(“asking-for-grant” procedure) in 4G is already not suitable for
Index Terms—5G, massive machine type communications
(mMTC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), grant-free, mMTC, since this way results in excessive control signaling
multiuser detection, prior-information aided compressive sensing. cost and large latency. Moreover, the signaling overheads for
coordination are proportional to the number of users in the
network. Against this background, a grant-free transmission
methodology is highly expected in uplink NOMA systems,
I. I NTRODUCTION
in which users can randomly transmit data at any time slot
W ITH the global commercialization of 4G, the fifth

generation of mobile communications (5G), which
is expected to be commercialized towards year 2020 and
without any handshaking process [5].
For current wireless communication systems, extensive ex-
perimental reports [9], [10] have shown that the number of
beyond, has become a focal point for academic and industrial active users does not exceed 10% of the total number of
potential users even in a busy-hour. This implies that, in
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China
(Grant No. 61631004), the Huawei HIRP project (Grant No.YB2015040056), this sporadic communication scenario, even if there are a
and the Sichuan Youth Science and Technology Fund (Grant No. lot of potential users, only a small portion of users transmit
2012JQ0020). (Corresponding author: Zhi Chen) data simultaneously [11]. This characteristic still exists in
Yang Du, Binhong Dong, Zhi Chen, Zeyuan Liu, Pengyu Gao, and Shaoqian
Li are with the National Key Laboratory on Communuications, University of mMTC due to massive connectivity. Thus, the sparsity of user
Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China (email- activity naturally exists in the uplink grant-free NOMA, which
s: yangdu1988@gmail.com; bhdong@uestc.edu.cn; chenzhi@uestc.edu.cn; inspires us to formulate multi-user detection problem under the
lukeliu1993@163.com; gaopyedu@163.com; lsq@uestc.edu.cn).
Xiaodong Wang is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia compressive sensing (CS) framework. CS [12], [13] itself is a
University, New York, USA (email: wangx@ee.columbia.edu). promising field to reconstruct a sparse physical signal exactly
0733-8716 (c) 2017 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/JSAC.2017.2726279, IEEE Journal
from an under-determined linear system of equations, which is DCS-based algorithm can acquire some SER performance
widely used in many signal and image processing applications gain, but the assumption of the known user sparsity level
[14], [15]. In recent years, CS has also been considered in at BS is unrealistic. Additionally, the previous works only
context of communications, such as channel estimation [16], focus on exploiting the support correlation structure (i.e., the
[17]. temporal correlation relationship among different time slots)
The problem of detecting both user activity and data in code and completely ignore the quality of the previously estimated
division multiple access (CDMA) systems has been studied active user support Γ[t−1] . Actually, in grant-free NOMA, the
under the CS framework [18]-[29]. However, most of them practical active user support is temporarily correlated but is
[18]-[24] only consider the one-time static CS-based multi- also dynamic across time, and the previously estimated active
user detection and ignore some important ubiquitous infor- user support Γ[t−1] contains only part of correct indices for Γ[t]
mation (e.g., temporal correlation). Thus these solutions refer of the present time. Therefore, the DCS-based algorithm only
to algorithms that recover each sparse signal independently blindly exploits the previously estimated active user support
without using any information from the past time. In practice, Γ[t−1] , which may be a room for further multi-user detection
we often encounter a problem of detecting a sequence of performance improvement.
sparse signals which is usually correlated across time [39- Against this background, we introduce the parameter sp ,
42]. The question to answer would be how to use previously which is a metric to indicate the quality of Γ[t−1] for Γ[t] .
reconstructed signal to improve compressive detection at the Then, we develop two novel CS-based algorithms to exploit
current time. Given this, the grant-free problem can be solved the previously estimated active user support Γ[t−1] adaptively
based on continuous-time slots model to further improve based on the corresponding support quality information sp .
the multi-user detection performance [25]-[29]. For mMTC Furthermore, we present the recovery distortion analysis of
context, the sparsity structure may remain fixed over an entire the two proposed algorithms, and we discover that a better
data frame, which can be termed as frame-wise sparsity quality prior support can lead to a better multi-user detection
(structured sparsity). In [26], an iterative order recursive least performance. Additionally, the computational complexity anal-
square (IORLS) algorithm was proposed to achieve a good ysis is also provided. Compared with the existing CS-based
performance, based on the orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithms, the two proposed algorithms have the same order
algorithm [30]. On the basis of the iterative support detection of computational complexity. Simulation results verify that
(ISD) algorithm [36], [27] proposed a structured iterative the two proposed algorithms are superior to its counterparts
support detection (SISD) algorithm to recover multiple sparse (the conventional CS-based algorithms (OMP [19], [30] and
signal vectors in a joint manner. In [28], a joint multi-user subspace pursuit (SP) [35]) and the DCS-based algorithm [29])
detection algorithm based on approximate message passing in uplink grant-free NOMA systems. We now summarize our
(AMP) [37] and expectation maximization (EM) [38] algo- major contributions as follows:
rithms was investigated, termed joint-EM-AMP algorithm. By
• Prior-information aided adaptive CS-based algorithm
jointly exploiting the structured sparsity of user activity and
design: In order to enhance the multi-user detection
the prior information of the transmitted discrete symbols, the
performance in uplink grant-free NOMA, an adaptive CS-
joint-EM-AMP algorithm can obtain a good symbol error rate
based detection algorithm based on the classical SP [35]
(SER) performance. These strategies use the assumption that
algorithm, namely prior-information aided adaptive SP
the active user support set (i.e., the set of indices of the active
(PIA-ASP), is designed. Specifically, the prior support
users) does not change with time. However, users tend to
Γ[t−1] is exploited adaptively based on the quality in-
randomly enter or leave the system in the mMTC scenario,
formation sp . Simulation results verify that the proposed
and the active user support sets may change over time, i.e.,
PIA-ASP algorithm is superior to its counterparts.
the active user support sets in different time slots are allowed
to be different. Consequently, the structured sparsity is not the • Robust prior-information aided adaptive CS-based
most suitable model for uplink grant-free NOMA systems. algorithm design: The support quality information sp of
In the real-world scenario, although the sporadic communi- the previously estimated active user support Γ[t−1] may
cation of mMTC, some users generally transmit their data in be over-estimated. This is to say, for Γ[t] , only less than
adjacent time slots with a high probability. In other words, the sp indices come from Γ[t−1] in fact, while we wrongly
active user support set changes with time, but the changes are consider that sp indices are from Γ[t−1] . To mitigate the
slow. As such, there is huge potential to exploit this temporal incorrect estimation effect of sp in the proposed PIA-ASP
correlation of active user support sets in several continuous- algorithm, we redesign a robust priori-information aided
time slots to enhance the multi-user detection performance. adaptive SP (R-PIA-ASP) algorithm, which adaptively
By exploiting the temporal correlation between two signals exploits Γ[t−1] based on sp in a conservative way.
supports, [29] proposed a dynamic compressive sensing based • Adaptively acquire the sparsity level: Most of the
(DCS-based) algorithm for the more practical scenario that state-of-the-art CS-based multi-user detection algorithms
the active user support sets can change in several contin- usually require the user sparsity level as the priori infor-
uous time slots. The main idea is that, instead of starting mation for reliable detection. Fortunately, the proposed
with an initial empty support set, the DCS-based algorithm PIA-ASP and R-PIA-ASP algorithms take advantages of
starts with the previously estimated user support set as being bottom-up approaches to estimate the actual user sparsity
the initial support set for each time slot. In this way, the level step by step. Accordingly, the proposed PIA-ASP
and R-PIA-ASP algorithms can remove this unrealistic

assumption, and adaptively acquire the sparsity level of
user activity.
In this paper, the terms “the previously estimated user
support set” and “the prior user support set” are used inter-
changeably. The rest of this paper is organized as follows.
In Section II, we present the system model for the uplink
grant-free NOMA scheme. Then, we introduce the metric to
quantify the quality of the previously estimated active user
support. Section III describes the proposed PIA-ASP and R-
PIA-ASP algorithms, and Section IV presents the performance
analysis of the recovery distortion and the computational Active User Inactive User
complexity. Simulation results are provided in Section V.

Finally, conclusions are drawn in Section VI. Fig. 1. Illustration of a typical uplink grant-free NOMA system. The active
Notation: Upper-case and lower-case boldface letters denote user and inactive user, refer to the users that are transmitting signal and
keeping silent, respectively, in the considered time slot.
matrices and vectors, respectively. diag {x} is a diagonal
matrix with elements of x on its diagonal. The matrix in-
version, transpose, Hermitian transpose, and Moore-Penrose the overload system, i.e., N < K. After that, the signals
−1 T H
pseudoinverse operations are denoted by (·) . (·) , (·) , and transmitted by active users simultaneously propagate through
†
(·) , respectively. The lp -norm operation is given by k·klp . Γ\Γ
b
different channels, and then are superimposed at the BS. Thus,
denotes the set composed of elements in Γ while not in Γ. zΓ b for synchronous reception and perfectly known channels for
denotes the entries of the vector z in the set Γ. GΓ denotes all K users, the received signal at the BS for the current slot
the submatrix comprising the Γ columns of G. can be given as
K
X
II. S YSTEM M ODEL y= diag (hk )sk xk + z
k=1
, (1)
Throughout the paper, we assume that devices in mMTC
generate sporadic traffics. In this case, although the number = Gx + z
of potential users can be very large, only a fraction of them T
where hk = (h1,k , · · ·, hN,k ) is the fading channel gain
have data to transmit at a time [9], [10]. For this reason, between user k and BS, whose elements obey the inde-
grant-free NOMA might be suitable for communications from pendent complex Gaussian distributions CN (0, 1). sk =
devices of short packets to the BS, without a complex request- T
(s1,k , · · ·, sN,k ) is the spreading sequence vector of user k.
grant procedure [5]. Thus, the BS has to not only identify z is the noise vector, and follows the complex Gaussian distri-
the users who transmitted but also decode the received data T
bution CN (0, σ 2 I). x = [x1 , x2 , · · ·, xK ] is the transmitted
simultaneously. Since the sporadic traffics from devices nat- signal vector for all K users. G is the equivalent channel
urally exists in mMTC scenario, the sparsity of user activity matrix, whose element gn,k in the n-th row and the k-th
can be exploited to derive computationally efficient multi-user column equals to hn,k sn,k , i.e., gn,k = hn,k sn,k .
detection algorithms for a receiver at the BS under the CS As mentioned before, the transmitted symbol vector x is
framework [18]-[29]. sparse due to the naturally existing sparsity of user activity.
Consequently, the main goal is to use the powerful tool of
A. One-Time Slot Static Model CS to realize joint user activity and data detection x from the
In this paper, we consider a typical uplink grant-free NOMA received signal y, given the equivalent channel matrix G.
system where K users transmit data to a central BS, as illus-
trated in Fig. 1. For simplicity but without loss of generality, B. Continuous-Time Slots Dynamic Model
we assume that all users and BS are equipped with single- Generally, the underlying time-varying sparse signal ex-
antenna. hibits substantial temporal correlation [39]-[42]. In real-world
In a given time interval, some users are active while others communication scenarios, although users can randomly access
are inactive, which makes the communications sporadic. After or leave the system, some users generally transmit their
channel coding and modulation, the transmitted symbol xk information in adjacent time slots with a high probability,
for active user k is taken from a complex-constellation set which leads to the temporal correlation of active user sets in
χ0 , e.g., M-QAM, whose cardinality is M . For inactive users, several continuous time slots.
their transmission is equivalent to transmitting zero. Thus, the Motivated by the analysis mentioned above, we can ex-
∆ S
augmented complex-constellation set χ= {χ0 0} denotes tend the basic one-time slot static model to the continuous-
the modulated symbol of both active and inactive users. Then time slots dynamic model. The objective is to recover the
the transmitted symbol xk is spread onto a unique spread- transmitted signals X = x[1] , x[2] , · · ·, x[T ] , where x[t]
ing sequence sk with length N . In order to accommodate is the signal at t-th time slot, from the received signals
the demand of massive connectivity in mMTC, we consider Y = y[1] , y[2] , · · ·, y[T ] , in T successive time slots. The
x[
t -1]
x[ ]
t
formulating can not only detect the transmit signals X in the
continuous-time slots, but also achieve better reconstruction. 1
The received signal y[t] at the t-th time slot can be represented
as the following one-time slot static model, i.e.,
y[t] = G[t] x[t] + z[t] , ∀t, (2)

where G[t] is the equivalent complex channel matrix at the
t-th time slot, which contains the channel gains and spreading
sequences of all K users, and z[t] is the Gaussian noise vector
at the t-th time slot.
Furthermore, as mentioned before, the active user support
sets have a substantial correlation in time, which means G[
t -1]
G[ ]
t
that the user support set of the previous time slot can be
good predictor for the user support set of the current time
slot. Hence, the existing CS-based algorithms can incorporate
the temporal correlation to improve the multi-user detection
performance for the continuous-time slots dynamic model.
It should be noted that, for the reconstruction of x[t] 15
neither the locations nor the values of the non-zero elements (t-1)-th time slot t-th time slot User Index
are known, and both have to be jointly detected. Before
we elaborate the CS recovery algorithms, we first elaborate Fig. 2. Illustration of the previously estimated user support Γ [t−1] and
quality
the considered signal sparsity model and the prior support information
[t] sp for Γ[t] of the present time slot, where Γ[t−1] 0 = 5,
Γ = 7, sp ≤ Γ[t−1] Γ[t] = 4. (Note that the colored and
T
information in the following sections. 0 0
white elements of vectors denote the active and inactive users of the vectors,
We use Γ[t] to denote the active user support set of x[t] , i.e., respectively.)
n o
Γ[t] = k : x[t] (k) 6= 0, 1 ≤ k ≤ K , ∀t, (3)
correlated but is also dynamic across time, the previously
where x[t] (k) denotes the transmitted data of the k-th user in estimated user support Γ[t−1] contains only part of correct
the transmitted signal vector x[t] . indices for Γ[t] of the present time, which can be illustrated in
The sparsity level in terms of the support cardinality Γ[t] is Fig. 2. Hence, it is desirable to exploit adaptively based on the
quality of Γ[t−1] for the t-th time slot. Obviously, the quality
s[t] = Γ[t] , ∀t, (4)

0 of the estimated user support Γ[t−1] refers to how many indices
[t] in Γ[t−1] are correct for Γ[t] at the t-th time slot. Now, we can
where s ≤ smax K, smax denotes the maximum number
define the parameter sp as the metric to indicate the quality
of nonzero elements in x[t] .
of the estimated user support Γ[t−1] . Based on the metric sp
Actually, the receiver at BS does not know the locations
and Γ[t−1] , the prior information of the present user support
and the amount of non-zero elements in sparse vector x[t] .
Γ[t] can be characterized by
Furthermore, the active user sets may change in different time
slots, where users randomly access or leave uplink grant-free

 sp ≤ Γ[t−1] ≤ smax

NOMA systems. Hence, in the practical mMTC scenarios,
0 \ . (5)
both of the support Γ[t] and the sparsity level s[t] may change  0 ≤ sp ≤ Γ[t−1] Γ[t]

in different time slots. Unfortunately, the most existing works 0
(e.g., [19], [24], [29]) only deal with the fixed sparsity level. Particularly, sp characterizes the size of common active
users between Γ[t−1] and Γ[t] . The larger sp is, the larger
C. Prior Support Information number of correct indices in Γ[t−1] is, and the better quality
of Γ[t−1] is. In other words, a larger sp indicates a stronger
As mentioned above, some users generally transmit their
temporal correlation between active user supports of consec-
data in adjacent time slots with a high probability, which
utive time slots. Hence, sp can be further used to enhance the
leads to the temporal correlation of active user support sets
multi-user detection performance, which will be detailed in
in consecutive time slots. Thus the active user support sets of
the following section.
consecutive time slots are similar to each other, i.e., Γ[t−1]
and Γ[t] share many common entries. In this way, there is
huge potential to exploit the previously estimated user support III. P ROPOSED P RIOR -I NFORMATION A IDED
of x[t−1] to enhance the recovery performance of x[t] at the C OMPRESSIVE S ENSING F RAMEWORK
present time, where 1 ≤ t ≤ T . Different from the previous Iterative greedy algorithms have received significant at-
work in [29], which exploits the previously estimated user tention due to their low complexity and simple geometric
support Γ[t−1] blindly, we further take the quality of Γ[t−1] into interpretation. They include OMP [30], stagewise orthogonal
consideration. Since the practical user support is temporarily matching pursuit (StOMP) [31], iterative hard thresholding
(IHT) [32], regularized OMP (ROMP) [33], compressive sam- Algorithm 1 Proposed PIA-ASP Algorithm.
pling matching pursuit (CoSaMP) [34], and SP [35]. Among Input:
them, only the CoSaMP and SP algorithms have comparable Received signals: Y = y[1] , y[2] , · · ·, y[T ] ;
theoretical reconstruction quality comparable to that of linear Equivalent channel Matrices: G[1] , G[2] , · · ·, G[T ] ;
programming (LP) methods, and exhibit the low reconstruction Quality information: sp .
complexity. In each iteration, the SP algorithm only add smax Output: [1] [2]
new candidates, while the CoSaMP algorithm adds 2smax Reconstructed sparse signals: X b = x b ,x b , · · ·, xb[T ] .
vectors. This makes the SP algorithm computationally more • Step 1 (Initialization)
efficient. Moreover, the restricted isometry constant for which 1: the initial time slot index t = 1 and the prior support set
the SP algorithm is guaranteed to converge is larger than the Γp = ∅;
CoSaMP algorithm. As a consequence, it can obtain the similar • Step 2 (Jointly detect user activity detection and data
good properties based on the classical SP methodology, in detection in T continuous time slots)
designing the two proposed algorithms. Meanwhile, we have for t ≤ T do
[t](i−1)
found it convenient to incorporate temporal correlation into the 2: the iterative index i = 1, the support set Γ0 = ∅,
SP methodology. Particularly, the correlation value in magni- the residual vector R[t](i−1) = y[t] , and the initial user
tude for the support estimation in the SP methodology provides sparsity level s = sp + 1; if t = 1, sp = 0, otherwise,
an easy interface to incorporate the previously estimated active return the original value of sp ;
user support Γ[t−1] and quality information sp . • Step 3 (Iteration)
repeat
[t](i−1) S
3: (Support Estimate): Set Λ = Γ0
S
(Λa Λb ),
where h i
G[t] H R[t](i−1)

A. Prior-Information Aided Adaptive SP Algorithm Λa = arg max ,
kΛ1 k0 =sp ,Λ1 ⊆Γp
Λ1 2
and h i
With the aid of the previously estimated user support G[t] H R[t](i−1)

set Γ[t−1] and the corresponding quality information sp , we Λb = arg max ;
kΛ2 k0 =s−sp , Λ2 2
propose the prior-information aided adaptive SP (PIA-ASP) Λ2 ⊆{1,···,K}\Λa
†
algorithm as described in Algorithm 1 to realize both user 4:
[t]
(LS Estimate): WΛ = GΛ y[t] , W{1,···,K}\Λ = 0;
activity detection and data detection for uplink grant-free
5: b [t](i) = Γa S Γb , where
(Support Pruning): Set Γ
NOMA systems. It is worth noting that, in Algorithm 1, the
previously estimated user support set Γ[t−1] can act as the Γa = arg max kWΓ1 k2 ,
kΓ1 k0 =sp ,Γ1 ⊆Γp
prior support set Γp for the present time support set Γ[t] . and
Developed from the classical SP algorithm [35], the proposed Γb = arg max kWΓ2 k2 ;
kΓ2 k0 =s−sp ,
PIA-ASP algorithm exploits the quality information sp to
Γ2 ⊆{1,···,K}\Γa
further improve multi-user detection performance. _[t](i)

[t](i)
†
As can be seen in Algorithm 1, for lines 2−9, the proposed 6: (Signal Estimate): x Γb[t](i) = GΓb[t](i) y[t] ,
_[t](i)
PIA-ASP algorithm aims to acquire the solution x[t] to (2) with x {1,···,K}\Γb[t](i) = 0;
the fixed sparsity level s in a greedy manner,
which
is similar [t](i) [t] [t] _[t](i)
7: (Residue R
[t](i)Update): = y −G x

to the classical SP algorithm. When R[t](i) 2 ≥ R[t](i−1) 2 [t](i−1)
is triggered in line 8, it indicates that the s-sparse solution 8: If R

2
< R

2
, then
[t](i)
x[t] to (2) has been obtained, and begins to find the (s + 1)- 9: (Iteration with Fixed Sparsity Level): Γ0 =Γ b [t](i) , i =
sparse solution x[t] . Algorithm 1 has two stopping criteria, i + 1;
and meeting either of them will trigger the termination of else
_[t] _[t](i−1)
the iterative procedure. To ensure the desired robust sparse 10: (Update Sparsity Level): x s = x ,Γb [t]
s =Γ
b [t](i−1) ,
signal recovery performance, the stopping criterion design is s = s + 1;
of critical importance. Next, we give the design details for the end if
stopping criteria in the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm. 11: (Two stopping criteria for iteration of the t-th Time Slot):
The first stopping criterion is developed from the perspec- If the first stopping criteria (7) is met, we can obtain the
_[t]
tive of the average residual energy. Assume that the transmitted user support set Γ b [t] = Γ b [t]
s and user data x b[t] = x s ;
sparse signal x[t] is perfectly reconstructed, we can have the If the second stopping criteria (8) is met, Γ b [t] = Γ b [t] ,
s−1
[t] _[t]
average energy of the residual Rs[t] as follows b[t] = x s−1 . Either of the two stopping criteria is met,
x
b [t] and go to Step
update time slot index t = t + 1, Γp = Γ
2.
[t] 2

E Rs[t] = N − s[t] σ 2 , (6) until stopping criteria are met
2
end for
the detailed derivation of (6) will be provided in Appendix A.

Hence, it is feasible to obtain the first stopping criterion
based on (6), i.e., level is replaced by a variable to eliminate the dependence on

[t](i) 2
sparsity. Consequently, the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm can
R ≤ αN σ 2 , (7) adaptively acquire the sparsity level of user activity and yield
2
the reliable sparse signal reconstruction without the priori
where 0 < α ≤ 1 denotes the scaling factor, which should be
knowledge of user sparsity level.
selected according to the specific system scenario. The first
3) Sophisticated stopping criterion: Instead of directly
stopping criterion is related to (6), but the sparsity level s[t]
designing the stopping criterion, the proposed PIA-ASP al-
is unknown at the receiver. Furthermore, N s[t] in the
gorithm firstly focuses on the average value of the residual
typical uplink grant-free NOMA system. Thus we can neglect
for the first stopping criterion, which is set more analytically.
the effect of s[t] for (6), and set s[t] = 0 here. Actually, α
Regarding the second halting criterion, it is more suitable for
is empirically given. Since only noise n[t] is the source of
the practical receiver, which is designed based on the AWGN
distortion in the case of perfect sparse signal recovery, the
noise. As such, the two stopping criteria ensure the reliable
chosen scaling factor (after several experiments) is α = 1.
user sparsity level and the robust signal recovery performance.
The first stopping criterion controls the temporal energy of
Finally, it is noted that the classical SP algorithm [35] can be
the residual.
regarded as a special case of the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm
When the user sparsity level is over-estimated, the pro-
when the sparsity level is set to the fixed value smax and the
posed PIA-ASP algorithm begins to reconstruct AWGN noise.
quality information parameter sp is 0.
Specifically, after coordinates accounting for the exact sparsity
level is achieved, the procedure of the next sparsity level
will include a virtual coordinate that is dominated by the B. Robust Prior-Information Aided Adaptive SP Algorithm
AWGN noise. The energy of such a new coordinate is usually As we have demonstrated in subsection A, the PIA-ASP
lower than the noise floor. Motivated by the analysis, we can algorithm has been proposed to effectively exploit the pri-
construct the second stopping criterion as follows or support adaptively based on the corresponding support
2 quality information sp . Nevertheless, in practical, the sup-
min x
[t](i)
b (m) ≤ Pth ,

(8) port quality information
may be over-estimated, i.e., sp >
2 Γ[t−1] T Γ[t] . That is to say, for Γ[t] , only less than sp
0
where m ∈ Γ b [t](i) , Pth is the AWGN noise floor, which can indices come from Γ[t−1] in fact, while we wrongly consider
be selected experimentally. sp indices are from Γ[t−1] . More specifically, for support
As shown in Algorithm 1, the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm pruning (line 5) of Algorithm 1, less than s − sp indices
differs from the classical SP algorithm mainly in the following are selected from {1, 2, · · ·, K} \Γ[t−1] , due to the fact that
three aspects: there always be sp selected from Γ[t−1] . In such situation,
1) Adaptively exploit the temporal correlation: Unlike the the identification of support Γ[t] is always incorrect. Thus,
classical SP algorithm [35], the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm may not work well in this
jointly reconstructs the high-dimensional sparse vectors from scenario.
the low-dimensional measurement vectors by exploiting the To mitigate the inaccurate estimation effect of sp for Algo-
inherently temporal correlation feature of active user sets rithm 1, we shall further propose the robust prior-information
in consecutive time slots. Furthermore, the prior support is aided adaptive SP (R-PIA-ASP) algorithm as presented in Al-
exploited adaptively based on the quality information sp , in the gorithm 2, which can adaptively adjust sp to the over-estimated
proposed PIA-ASP algorithm. To be specific, the operations scenario efficiently. The proposed R-PIA-ASP algorithm is
of support estimate (line 3) and the support pruning (line developed from the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm (Algorithm
5) both contain two parts for the newly added support, in 1). Specifically, we should make a redesign for two substeps
the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm. Taking the process of the about the support estimate (line 3) and the support pruning
support estimate (line 3) for instance, the newly added support (line 5) of Algorithm 1.
contains two parts, i.e., Λa and Λb . When selecting Λa , the The proposed R-PIA-ASP algorithm exploits the previously
proposed PIA-ASP algorithm selects it associated with the estimated user support Γ[t−1] and quality information sp in
prior support Γp with size sp . Λb with size s − sp is selected a conservative way. Specifically, in the support estimate (line
from {1, 2, · · ·, K} \Λa . Similarly, for two parts of the support 3) of the proposed R-PIA-ASP algorithm, the newly added
pruning (line 5), Γa with size sp is selected from the prior support is consists of two parts,
termed Λa and Λb . Λa
T 0 [t](i)
support Γp , Γb with size s − sp is selected from others. This with size sp − Γp Γ is selected from the prior
0
way, at least sp indices from Γp can be exploited for the support Γp , and Λb with size s is selected from the entire
improved signal detection performance. index space {1, 2, · · ·, K}. As a matter of fact, Λb can be
2) Adaptively acquire the sparsity level: In practical uplink regarded as an independent selection from Λa that can bring
grant-free NOMA systems, the actual user sparsity level s[t] in more candidates which may be correct. These designs are
is often time-varying and unknown. Both the classical SP all different from the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm, which
algorithm [35] and the DCS-based algorithm [29] assume that can allow opportunities to further search for support outside
the sparsity level s[t] is known, whereas s[t] is not available Γp when the quality information sp is incorrect. Moreover,
at the receiver. Fortunately, the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm b [t](i) with size s is also selected from the entire index space
Γ
removes the unrealistic assumption, since the real user sparsity {1, 2, · · ·, K}, for support pruning (line 5). In this way, the
proposed R-PIA-ASP algorithm can still have a chance to the RIP with a high probability and enjoys a satisfying
recognize the support, even if sp wrongly indicates the quality performance in compressing and recovering sparse signals.
of Γ[t−1] .
To sum up, due to the fact that the processes of support
estimate (line 3) and the support pruning (line 5) both select
s indices from the entire index space {1, 2, · · ·, K}, the Algorithm 2 Proposed R-PIA-ASP Algorithm.
proposed R-PIA-ASP algorithm gives opportunity to identify Input:
more than s − sp indices from {1, 2, · · ·, K} \Γ[t−1] , for the Received signals: Y = y[1] , y[2] , · · ·, y[T ] ;
initial consideration of this subsection. Equivalent channel Matrices: G[1] , G[2] , · · ·, G[T ] ;
After the two proposed algorithms are given, there are two Quality information: sp .
practical considerations for the proposed PIA-ASP and R- Output: [1] [2]
PIA-ASP algorithms. To realize accurate signal recovery by Reconstructed sparse signals: X b = x b ,xb , · · ·, x b[T ] .
exploiting the temporal correlation of the adjacent active user • Step 1 (Initialization)
support sets, an accurate estimation of the active user support 1: the initial time slot index t = 1 and the prior support set
set in the initial time slot is required, which can be simply Γp = ∅;
realized by increasing the transmit power in the first time • Step 2 (Jointly detect user activity detection and data
slot or using a more reliable recovery algorithm such as basis detection in T continuous time slots)
pursuit denoising [39]. for t ≤ T do
[t](i−1)
2: the iterative index i = 1, the support set Γ0 = ∅,
T information sp approximately represents the
The statistical
[t](i−1) [t]
size of Γ[t−1] Γ[t] , which is vital for the proposed PIA-ASP the residual vector R = y , and the initial user
algorithm. The user support set Γ[t] tends to change over time, sparsity level s = sp + 1; if t = 1, sp = 0, otherwise,
although, in the mMTC scenario, the changes are gradual. As return the original value of sp ;
such, the reliable statistical information sp can be learned by • Step 3 (Iteration)
using the tools of stochastic learning and estimation [44], for repeat T
[t](i)
the second practical consideration. 3: (Support Estimate): Set se = sp − Γp Γ0 , and

0
0 [t](i−1) S S
Λ = Γ (Λa Λb ), where
IV. P ERFORMANCE A NALYSIS h [t] H [t](i−1) i

arg max G R , se > 0

In this section, we analyze the recovery distortion and Λa = kΛ1 k0 =es,Λ1 ⊆Γp Λ1 2 ,
computational complexity of the proposed PIA-ASP and R- 
0 , se ≤ 0
PIA-ASP algorithms. and h i
[t] H [t](i−1)

Λb = arg max G R ;
A. Recovery Distortion Analysis kΛ2 k0 =s,Λ2 ⊆{1,···,K} Λ2 2
†
[t]
In this subsection, we mainly focus on providing theoretical 4: (LS Estimate): WΛ = GΛ y[t] , W{1,···,K}\Λ = 0;
guarantees for the performance of the proposed PIA-ASP 5: (Support Pruning):
and R-PIA-ASP algorithms in accurately recovering sparse b [t](i) = arg
Γ max kWk2 ;
kΓk0 =s,Γ⊆{1,2,···,K}
solutions. In the existing literatures [34]-[36], the restricted †
_[t](i)

[t](i)
isometry property (RIP) is commonly used for recovery distor- 6: (Signal Estimate): x Γb[t](i) = GΓb[t](i) y[t] ,
tion analysis of CS recovery algorithms. Nevertheless, the RIP _[t](i)
does not serve to handle the time sequence of sparse signals x {1,···,K}\Γb[t](i) = 0;
[t](i) [t] [t] _[t](i)
with temporal correlation, where the quality information is 7: (Residue R
[t](i)Update):
= y −G x
also considered. In the following analysis, we attempt to solve [t](i−1)
8: If R

2
< R

2
, then
this problem. For notational simplicity we omit the time slot 9: (Iteration with Fixed Sparsity Level): Γ0
[t](i)
=Γ b [t](i) , i =
superscript t. i + 1;
Since the proposed PIA-ASP and R-PIA-ASP algorithms else
are both developed from the classical SP algorithm, we will _[t] _[t](i−1)
10: (Update Sparsity Level): x s = x ,Γb [t]
s =Γ
b [t](i−1) ,
closely follow the derivation idea taken by Dai and Milenkovic s = s + 1;
in their work [35], with some essential modifications for better end if
matching for the two proposed algorithms. 11: (Two stopping criteria for iteration of the t-th Time Slot):
In CS theory, RIP is used to evaluate the quality of the If the first stopping criteria (7) is met, we can obtain the
measurement matrix, in terms of the reliable compression and b [t] = Γ b [t] _[t]
reconstruction of sparse signals [43]. To quantify this idea, user support set Γ s and user data x b[t] = x s ;
If the second stopping criteria (8) is met, Γ b [t] = Γ b [t] ,
Candes and Tao define the s-th restricted isometry constant of s−1
_[t]
a measurement matrix G as the smallest number δs for which b[t] = x s−1 . Either of the two stopping criteria is met,
x
b [t] and go to Step
update time slot index t = t + 1, Γp = Γ
2 2 2
(1 − δs ) kxk2 ≤ kGxk2 ≤ (1 + δs ) kxk2 , (9) 2.
where 0 ≤ δs < 1. It is proven in [35] that the Toeplitz until stopping criteria are met
measurement matrix based on pseudo-random noise satisfies end for
1) Recovery Distortion Analysis for the Proposed PIA-ASP δs1 , δs2 , and δs3 , which will be further detailed in Appendix
Algorithm H.
Based on the mechanisms of the support estimate (line 3) Proof: The detailed proof is provided in Appendix H.
and the support pruning (line 5) of Algorithm
1, we can So far, we analyze the condition of successful recovery and
S b (i)
have the fact that, kΛa Λb k0 ≤ smax , Γ ≤ smax and the upper bound of the signal detection error. Specifically, (16)
0
kΓk0 ≤ smax , where Γ is the correct support set. Furthermore, gives an upper bound of the signal reconstruction error that
S
there are more than sp elements from Γp , for Λa Λb , Γ b (i) depends on the energy (l2 -norm) of the RIP constant (δsmax ,
and Γ. Consequently, we obtain (10), (11), and (12), which δs1 , δs2 and δs3 ), the noise vector z, the sparsity level smax ,
can be found in the bottom of this page. The detailed proof and the prior support information sp . Clearly, s2 is the direct
for (10), (11), and (12) are provided in Appendix B, C, and D, reflection of recovering performance. The smaller s2 , the better
respectively. the detection performance. It can be derived from (11) that s2
For subsequent derivations, we need three results summa- is monotonically
T decreasing as sp increases when kΓp k0 −
rized in the lemma below, which are derived based on (10), kΓ Γp k0 ≤ sp ≤ smax , which implies that a larger sp to the
(11), and (12). greatest extent under the actual sparsity level of user activity
Lemma 1 (Iteration Property): For each iteration of Algo- can obtain better performance.
rithm 1, one has 2) Recovery Distortion Analysis for the Proposed R-PIA-
ASP Algorithm
p
(1 − δsmax ) 1 − δs2 Now, we shall present the recovery distortion analysis of
(i−1)
≥ xΓ\Λ
2
the proposed R-PIA-ASP algorithm.
2δs3
R
2
p p ! , (13) Based on the mechanisms of the support estimate (line 3)
1 + δsmax 1 − δs2 and the support pruning (line 5) of Algorithm 2, we can obtain
− 1+ kzk2
δs3 (17), (18), and (19).
!
p ∆
2δs3 1 + δs3 kΛk0 ≤ s4 = 2smax + sp , (17)
xΓ\Γb(i) ≤ 1+ p xΓ\Λ

2
2 1 − δs1
, (14)
2 [
∆
+p kzk2 Γ Γ
b (i)
≤ s5 = 2smax , (18)
1 − δs1 0

(i) p Due to limited space, we do not provide the detailed proof
R ≤ 1 + δsmax xΓ\Γb(i) + kzk2 . (15)

2 2 for (17), (18), and (19). Using ideas similar to (10), (11), and
Proof: The detailed proof for (13), (14), and (15) are (12), we can also derive (17), (18), and (19).
provided in Appendix E, F, and G, respectively. Similarly, we obtain the following upper bound of signal
Note that (13), (14), and (15) reflect three basic operations detection error for Algorithm 2.
of support estimate (line 3), support pruning (line 5), and Theorem 2 (The upper bound of signal detection error for
residue update (line 7), respectively. Algorithm 2):
Based on Lemma 1, we have the following theorem.
Theorem 1 (The upper bound of signal detection error for kx − xbk2 ≤ C6 kzk2 , (20)
Algorithm 1): 1−C4 +C5 √ 1
where C6 = 1−C4 is a constant. C1 and C2 are
kx − xbk2 ≤ C3 kzk2 , (16) 1−δs5
determined by RIP constants δsmax , δs4 , δs5 , and δs6 , which
1−C1 +C2 √ 1
where x
b is the estimation of x, C3 = 1−C1 is a will be further detailed in Appendix I.
1−δs2
constant. C1 and C2 are determined by RIP constants δsmax , Proof: The detailed proof is provided in Appendix I.
(
kΓp k0
∆ 2smax , sp <
kΛk0 ≤ s1 = 2
kΓp k0 , (10)
2 (smax − sp ) + kΓp k0 , sp ≥ 2
T
2smax , sp < kΓp k0 − kΓ T Γp k0
[
(i) ∆
Γ Γ ≤ s2 = , (11)
b T
0 2smax − sp + kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 , sp ≥ kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0
( T
kΓ k −kΓ Γ k
3smax , sp < p 0 2 T p 0
[
∆
Γ Λ ≤ s3 = kΓ k −kΓ Γp k0 . (12)

3smax − 2sp + kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 , sp ≥ p 0 2
T
0
T
3smax + sp T , sp < kΓp k0 − kΓ T Γp k0
[
∆
Γ Λ ≤ s6 = . (19)

0 3smax + kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 , sp ≥ kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0
TABLE I
Comparing (12) and (19), we can get s6 > s3 . Apparently, C OMPUTATIONAL C OMPLEXITY TO E STIMATE O NE S PARSE S IGNAL
the RIP constant of the proposed R-PIA-ASP algorithm ex-
ceeds that of the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm, which means Algorithm Number of complex multiplications in each iteration
that the reconstruction performance of R-PIA-ASP will be
OMP KN + 2K + N i + 2N i2 + i3
worse than that of PIA-ASP. The reason is that the proposed
SP KN + 4K + N smax + 6N s2max + 3s3max
R-PIA-ASP algorithm exploits the prior support based on the
DCS-based KN + 2K + N i + 2N i2 + i3
corresponding quality information in a conservative way, for
KN + 6K − 2sp
the support estimate (line 3). As such, more support candidates PIA-ASP
+ N (sp + j) + 6N (sp + j)2 + 3(sp + j)3
will be involved in the signal support identification, so that the KN + 5K
proposed R-PIA-ASP algorithm is robust in the over-estimated R-PIA-ASP
+ N (sp + j) + 6N (sp + j)2 + 3(sp + j)3
scenario of sp .
Note: i and j indicate the iteration index and the update index of sparsity
The above theorems are sufficient conditions of the two level, respectively.
proposed algorithms for stability. However, it should be point-
ed out that Theorem 1 and Theorem 2 both show that these
sufficient conditions may not optimal or tight enough because [19], [30] and SP [35]) and the DCS-based algorithm [29].
they only consider the correct sparsity level and ignore the Moreover, the performance of the oracle LS algorithm, which
influence of the previous estimated sparsity level to the whole assumes that the true active user support set are exactly known
performance. This issue will be one of our future works. at the BS, is included as the benchmark performance. The main
simulation system parameters are set as follows. The number
B. Computational Complexity Analysis of potential users is K = 200, and the length of spreading
sequence is N = 100, and thus the overloading factor is 200%.
The computational complexity of the proposed PIA-ASP
The spreading matrix is designed as a Toeplitz matrix based
algorithm (Algorithm 1) in each iteration mainly depends on
on pseudo-random noise. QPSK modulation is considered. The
the several operations as follows.
number of the continuous time slots is set to T = 7 according
Support estimate (line 3): The complexity is
to the LTE-Advanced standard [45]. Finally, we set Pth to
O (KN + 3K − sp ).
0.50, 0.48, 0.40, 0.28, 0.26, and 0.21, respectively, at the SNR
LS estimate (line 4): It has the complexity on the order of

2 3 of 0 dB, 2 dB, 4 dB, 6 dB, 8 dB, 10 dB, which are selected
O 4N (sp + j) + 2(sp + j) . experimentally.
Support pruning (line 5): The complexity is O (3K − sp ). Fig. 3 depicts the SER performance comparison of the con-
Signal
estimate (line 6): It has the complexity on the order sidered algorithms on the practical uplink grant-free NOMA
2 3
of O 2N (sp + j) + (sp + j) . scenario. In the simulation, we consider this scenario that
Residue update (line 7): The complexity of computing the the number of the actual active
sparsity level can change in
residual is O (N (sp + j)). T = 7 time slots, i.e., Γ[t] 0 ∼ U (18, 20)1 , the consecutive
The computational complexity analysis of the proposed R- time slots share
T some common active user set with varying
PIA-ASP algorithm (Algorithm 2) is similar to the above size Γ[t−1] Γ[t] 0 ∼ U (14, 16), and the prior active user
analysis and is therefore omitted to avoid duplication. Table I support quality parameter sp = 14. From Fig. 3, it can be
compares the complexity of the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm, observed that the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm significantly
the proposed R-PIA-ASP algorithm, classical OMP algorithm outperforms the conventional CS-based algorithms (OMP [19],
[19], [30], SP algorithm [35], and DCS-based algorithm [29], [30] and SP [35]) and the DCS-based algorithm [29] in terms
in terms of the number of required complex multiplications in of SER over the whole range of SNRs, which is achieved by
each iteration to estimate one sparse signal. As can be seen adaptively acquiring the user sparsity level and exploiting the
from Table I, the matrix pseudo-inverse implemented in the prior active user support set based on its quality parameter sp .
considered algorithms for LS operation contributes to most Moreover, the proposed R-PIA-ASP algorithm has a smaller
of the computational complexity. Moreover, the considered SER performance gain compared to the proposed PIA-ASP
algorithms have the same order of computational complexity. algorithm. The reason behind this is that, the proposed R-
In general, the total computational complexity can be easily PIA-ASP algorithm adaptively exploits the prior active user
estimated: it equals the complexity of one iteration multiplied support set and quality parameter sp in a conservative way. Al-
by the number of iterations. Moreover, the corresponding though the oracle LS algorithm outperforms the two proposed
simulation results are given in Section V. algorithms, the performance gap diminishes as SNR increases,
because a higher SNR will lead to more accurate estimation
V. S IMULATION R ESULTS of the active user support set, and therefore achieve a better
SER performance.
In this section, a simulation study was carried out to inves- Next, the computational complexity ratio comparison of
tigate the performance of the proposed multi-user detection the considered algorithms with the aforementioned simulation
schemes for uplink grant-free NOMA systems. The elements conditions is shown in Fig. 4. In order to acquire a fair
of channel are independent, following hn,k ∼ CN (0, 1). To
show the advantage of the proposed algorithms, we compare 1 U (a, b) denotes the discrete uniform distribution over the set of integers
our results with the conventional CS-based algorithms (OMP {a, a + 1, · · ·, b}.
100 100
10-1 10-1
10-2 10-2
10-3 10-3
SER
SER
10-4 10-4
OMP
10-5 SP
10-5 OMP
DCS-based
Proposed PIA-ASP SP
10-6 Proposed R-PIA-ASP DCS-based
10-6 Proposed PIA-ASP
Oracle LS
Oracle LS
10-7 10-7
0 2 4 6 8 10
SNR (dB) 0 2 4 6 8 10
SNR (dB)
Fig. 3. SER performance comparison of the considered algorithms on the Fig. 5. SER performance comparison of the considered algorithms on the
practical uplink grant-free NOMA scenario. ideal uplink grant-free NOMA scenario.

100
OMP
SP
DCS-based
10-1
Proposed PIA-ASP
Proposed R-PIA-ASP

Complexity ratio
10-2

SER
10-3

10-4 OMP
SP
DCS-based
10-5 Proposed PIA-ASP

Proposed R-PIA-ASP
Oracle LS

10-6
SNR (dB)
s
Fig. 4. Complexity ratio comparison of the considered algorithms on the
practical uplink grant-free NOMA scenario. Fig. 6. SER performance effect comparison against the user sparsity level.
condition, OMP is treated as a comparative benchmark. The assumed to be exactly known in the conventional CS-based
computational complexity ratio is the ratio of the complexity algorithms (OMP [19], [30] and SP [35]) and the DCS-based
for the considered algorithms to that of the conventional OMP algorithm [29], and the prior active user support quality can
algorithm. We see that the DCS-based algorithm is the most be perfectly known for the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm.
computationally efficient algorithm, whereas the proposed As shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 5, the conventional CS-based
PIA-ASP and R-PIA-ASP algorithms have a slightly higher algorithms (OMP [19], [30] and SP [35]) and the DCS-based
computational complexity than the other three methods. The algorithm [29] with the perfectly known priori information (ac-
reason is that, in our proposed algorithms, the user sparsity tual user sparsity level) can obtain some SER performance gain
level is adaptively obtained, which incurs extra overhead that compared to that without considering such priori information.
requires additional complexity. This adaptive operation leads Despite all these advantages, the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm
to having the ability that adaptively acquires the user sparsity still outperforms its counterparts dramatically. Specifically,
level, but meanwhile resulting in an increased computational the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm can achieve about 2 dB
complexity. SNR gains over the DCS-based algorithm [29] when SER is
Fig. 5 provides the SER performance comparison of the 1 × 10−4 . This is because the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm
considered algorithms on the ideal uplink grant-free NOMA adaptively exploits the temporal correlation of the active users
scenario. In the simulation, we consider this scenario that the support set within several continuous time slots based on its
actual user sparsity level and the size of the common active correct quality parameter sp .
user support
set within the consecutive
T time slots are given Fig. 6 illustrates the effect of the user sparsity level (the
by Γ[t] 0 ∼ U (18, 20) and Γ[t−1] Γ[t] 0 ∼ U (14, 16), number of active users) on the SER performance of the
respectively. In addition, the sparsity level of user activity is considered algorithms under SNR = 8 dB, where we consider
100 10-1
10-1
10-2
10-2
10-3
OMP
-3 SP
10
DCS-based
SER
SER
OMP
Proposed PIA-ASP 10-4
SP
-4
10 Oracle LS DCS-based
Proposed PIA-ASP
10-5 Proposed R-PIA-ASP
10-5 Oracle LS
10-6
10-6
Actual user sparsity level
10-7 10-7

sp
s
Fig. 7. SER performance effect comparison of the user sparsity level Fig. 8. SER performance comparison versus the prior support quality
mismatch. parameter sp .
the actual user sparsity level for each time slot and the [29] degrade severely due to the believed user sparsity level sb
actual size of the common active user support set within the mismatch. Moreover, a larger SER performance degradation is
consecutive
time slots are fixedT to be s and 0.8s, respectively, observed with a larger deviation from the actual user sparsity
i.e., Γ[t] 0 = s and Γ[t−1] Γ[t] 0 = 0.8s. In addition, level. The reason behind these is that, the conventional CS-
the user sparsity level is assumed to be exactly known in the based algorithms (OMP [19], [30] and SP [35]) and the DCS-
conventional CS-based algorithms (OMP [19], [30] and SP based algorithm [29] urgently require the user sparsity level
[35]) and the DCS-based algorithm [29], and the prior active as the priori information for reliable multi-user detection.
user support quality can be perfectly known for the proposed In contrast, the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm removes this
PIA-ASP and R-PIA-ASP algorithms. We can find that with unrealistic requirement, which can adaptively acquire the user
the increase of the user sparsity level, the SER performance for sparsity level. Hence, the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm can
different detection algorithms will be degraded. However, in work better than its counterparts.
all region, the proposed PIA-ASP and R-PIA-ASP algorithms Fig. 8 investigates the SER performance comparison against
show lower SER than their counterparts. There is a known the prior active user support quality parameter sp . In the
four-to-one practical rule which says that for exact recovery simulation, SNR is set as 8 dB, and the user sparsity level for
[13]. This implies that a number of measurements just about each time slot varies from 18 to 20. Noted that the consecutive
4× the sparsity level suffices. From Fig. 6, it can be observed time slots
[t−1] T share the common active user set with varying size
that the SER of the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm will not Γ Γ[t] 0 ∼ U (sp , sp + 2) for the uplink grant-free
exceed 1 × 10−3 even though the user sparsity level reaches NOMA systems. For Fig. 8, we observe that the conventional
25, which approaches s = N4 = 25 when N = 100, the CS-based algorithms (OMP [19], [30] and SP [35]) perform
maximum sparsity level for a sparse signal to reliably recover. poorly in terms of the SER performance, which do not take
In addition, it is also shown that the SER of the proposed the inherent temporal correlation of user sets within several
PIA-ASP and R-PIA-ASP algorithms will not exceed 1×10−3 continuous time slots into consideration at all. Additionally,
even though the user sparsity level reaches 20, i.e., the activity the SER performance of the DCS-based algorithm [29] (in this
factor is 10%. Note that [9] and [10] reveal that the number case, the sparsity level of user activity is assumed to be exactly
of active users does not exceed 10% of the total number of known) is also relatively poor. This is because the DCS-based
potential users even in a busy hour. Therefore, the proposed algorithm [29] only blindly exploits the previously estimated
PIA-ASP and R-PIA-ASP algorithms can be used in practical active user support set, which does not take the quality of
scenarios of massive connectivity for 5G with high detection the previously estimated user support set into consideration.
reliability. Finally, from Fig. 8, it can be observed that, the larger
Fig. 7 depicts the effect of the user sparsity level mismatch prior active user support quality parameter sp , the better
on the SER performance for the considered algorithms under SER performance, for the proposed PIA-ASP and R-PIA-ASP
SNR = 8 dB, where we consider the actual user sparsity algorithms. This is due to that the two proposed algorithms
level for each time slot and the actual size of the common both can adaptively exploit more part of the prior user support
active user support set within the consecutive [t] time
slots are set to improve the SER performance.
fixed to be 19
[t−1] T [t] and 15, respectively, i.e., Γ = 19 and
0 Fig. 9 provides the SER performance comparison versus
Γ Γ 0 = 15. In addition, sp = 14. Clearly, the the incorrect prior user support quality parameter sp , i.e.,

sp > Γ[t−1] Γ[t] 0 . In the simulation, SNR is set as 8
T
SER performance of the conventional CS-based algorithms
(OMP [19], [30] and SP [35]) and the DCS-based algorithm dB, and the user sparsity level for each time slot ranges from
100
against the number of estimation errors in the initial time
slot. In the simulation, the user sparsity level for each time
10-1
slot, the actual size of the common user support set within the
10-2
consecutive time slots, and
SNR to beT20, 15,
are fixed and 10
dB, respectively, i. e., Γ[t] 0 = 20, Γ[t−1] Γ[t] 0 = 15,
and SNR = 10 dB. In addition, the user sparsity level is
10-3
assumed to be exactly known in the DCS-based algorithm
SER
OMP
SP
[29], and the prior active user support quality can be perfectly
10-4
DCS-based known for the proposed PIA-ASP and R-PIA-ASP algorithms.
Proposed PIA-ASP
10-5 Proposed R-PIA-ASP
In this simulation, the active user support in the initial time
Oracle LS slot is actually given in advance. Specifically, for given E
10-6
estimation errors in the initial time slot, E indices are ran-
Actual size of the common user support set for the domly selected from the actual inactive user support in the
consecutive time slots
10-7
initial time slot, and 20 − E indices randomly come from the
actual active user support in the initial time slot. From this
sp
figure, we observe that the detection algorithms that exploit
Fig. 9. SER performance comparison versus the incorrect prior support the previous estimated user support set show SER performance
quality parameter sp . degradation when estimation error in the initial time slot
occurs. To be specific, the DCS-based algorithm is highly
10-3 sensitive to estimation error, while the SER performance
impact for the proposed PIA-ASP and R-PIA-ASP algorithms
is limited. Furthermore, for the proposed PIA-ASP and R-PIA-
10-4
ASP algorithms, an accurate estimation of the active user set
in the initial time slot can simply be realized by increasing
the transmit power in the first time slot or using more reliable
recovery algorithms [39]. The corresponding simulation results
SER
10-5
have been verified in Fig. 3 and Fig. 5.
VI. C ONCLUSION
10-6
In this paper, by adaptively exploiting the prior user support
DCS-based
Proposed PIA-ASP based on the corresponding quality information, we have
Proposed R-PIA-ASP
proposed the PIA-ASP algorithm for uplink grant-free NOMA
10-7 systems in several continuous time slots. Moreover, to with-

Number of estimation errors in the initial time slot (E) stand possible incorrect prior user support quality information,
the R-PIA-ASP algorithm has been further proposed, which
Fig. 10. SER performance effect comparison of estimation error in the initial adaptively exploits Γ[t−1] based on sp in a conservative
time slot. way. It is noteworthy that the two proposed algorithms do
not require the sparsity level of user activity. Additionally,
the recovery distortion analysis as well as the computational
18 to 20. Moreover, for the consecutive time slots, the actual
complexity analysis of the two proposed algorithms are also
size of T
the common user support set is fixed to be 10, i.e.,
[t−1] provided. Simulation results have shown that the two proposed
Γ Γ[t] 0 = 10. Assuming that the user sparsity level
algorithms can achieve better SER performance over the con-
is known for the conventional CS-based algorithms (OMP
ventional CS-based multi-user detection algorithms in grant-
[19], [30] and SP [35]) and the DCS-based algorithm [29].
free NOMA systems. In future, our research will be devoted
As expected, the detection algorithms that exploit the previous
to developing some efficient algorithms for grant-free NOMA
estimated user support set show SER performance degradation
systems with multiple antennas.
when parameter mismatch occurs. The proposed PIA-ASP
algorithm is highly vulnerable to the mismatch. In other words,
the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm does not work well when A PPENDIX
the prior user support quality parameter sp is over-estimated, A. Proof of (6)
especially at high sp . Specifically, for sp > 10, the SER Suppose that the support of an s[t] -sparse signal x[t] is
performance of the proposed PIA-ASP algorithm gets worse perfectly recovered, as a result of a greedy procedure. The
when sp increases. Nevertheless, the proposed R-PIA-ASP LS estimate of the sparse vector x[t] can be expressed as
algorithm still have some SER performance gains, whose
[t] −1 H [t]
degradation is marginal. This is due to our robust design bΓ[t] = Ψ† y[t] = ΨH Ψ
x Ψ y , (21)
of the proposed R-PIA-ASP algorithm for the over-estimated
∆ [t]
scenario. where Ψ= GΓ[t] , Γ[t] is the true support set for the s[t] -sparse
Fig. 10 shows the SER performance effect comparison signal x[t] .
[t]
Thus, the energy of the residual Rs[t] is as follows the inactive part of Γp . It has been discussed in Algorithm
1 that we pick sp supports as Λa and (smax − sp ) as Λb .
[t] 2
H
[t] [t]
Rs[t] = Rs[t] Rs[t] Consider that we are figuring Sout the maximum number of
2
active users in Λ = Γ̂(i) Λa Λb , the support in Λa and Λb
S
H
[t] [t]
= y[t] − Ψb xΓ[t] y[t] − Ψb
xΓ[t] , should be picked differently from the support in Γ̂(i) at full
H H −1 H [t] steam. As a result, we have kΛk0 = 2smax .
= y[t] y[t] − y[t] Ψ ΨH Ψ Ψ y
kΓp k0
(22) 2) sp ≥ 2
By substituting (2) into (22), we have
[t] 2
H H sp
Rs[t] = x[t] G[t] G[t] x[t] Gp
0 sp
Gp
0
2
H H H
[t]
+ x G[t] z[t] + z[t] G[t] x[t]
smax - s p smax - s p
H H H −1 H [t] [t]
+ z[t] z[t] − x[t] G[t] Ψ ΨH Ψ Ψ G x
H H −1 H [t] .
− x[t] G[t] Ψ ΨH Ψ Ψ z
H −1 H [t] [t] smax - s p smax - s p
− z[t] Ψ ΨH Ψ Ψ G x
Gp Gˆ (i ) La Lb L = Gˆ (i ) La Lb
H −1 H [t]
− z[t] Ψ ΨH Ψ Ψ z kΓp k0
Fig. 12. Illustration of (10) at sp ≥ 2
.
(23)
Next, according to the definition of expectation, we can kΓ k
If sp ≥ 2p 0 , Γ̂(i) and Λa have to share common support
obtain (i) S
during picking procedure and Γ̂ Λa = kΓp k0 +smax −
[t] 2 0
E Rs[t] sp , as illustrated in Fig. 12. Therefore, kΛk0 = 2(smax −sp )+
2
H H kΓp k0 .
= N − s[t] σ 2 + x[t] G[t] G[t] x[t] . (24)
H H To( sum up, kΛk0 ≤
−1 H [t] [t] kΓp k0
− x[t] G[t] Ψ ΨH Ψ Ψ G x ∆ 2smax , sp < 2
s1 = kΓ k . In this way, we
2 (smax − sp ) + kΓp k0 , sp ≥ 2p 0
Due to sparsity of the recovered signal, it is possible to
[t] prove (10).
make the simple replacement G[t] x[t] = ΨxΓ[t] . Furthermore,
by substituting it into (24), we can obtain (6). C. Proof of (11)
There are T for (11), i.e., sp <
two situations for explanation T
B. Proof of (10) kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 and sp < kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 .
There are two situations for explanation for (10), i.e., sp <
kΓp k0 kΓ k
T
and sp ≥ 2p 0 . Note that the shade parts in Fig. 11 1) sp < kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0
2
and Fig. 12 represent the active users.
sp
sp sp
kΓp k0
1) sp < 2
Gp
0
G 0
G 0
sp sp
Gp
0
sp sp
smax - s p smax - s p smax - s p

Gp G G Gˆ ( i ) Gˆ ( i ) L (ai ) L b( i )
T
smax - s p smax - s p Fig. 13. Illustration of equation (11) at sp < kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k 0 .
Gp Gˆ (i ) La Lb L = Gˆ (i ) La Lb
As illustrated in Fig. 13, Γ represents the true support set of
kΓp k0 the current time slot,
T it shares part of the previous support set
Fig. 11. Illustration of (10) at sp < .
2 Γp , kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 indicates the quantity T of the support
in Γp but not in Γ. When sp < kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 , we pick
As illustrated in Fig. 11, Γp represents the active user
order to maximize Γ Γ̂(i) .
T S
sp supports from Γp − Γ Γp in
support set at the previous time slot, the active users in Γ̂(i)
As a result, we have Γ Γ̂(i) = smax + kΓk0 ≤ 2smax .
S
consist of sp users from Γp and at most (smax − sp ) users from 0
T
2) sp < kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 sp
sp Gp
0
- G Gp
0
Gp
0
G 0 G 0
Gp - G Gp sp
0 0 sp
Gp
0
G 0 G smax - s p smax - s p
0
Gˆ (i ) La Lb G L = G Gˆ (i ) La Lb , G Gp
smax - s p
Gp G G Gˆ ( i ) Gˆ ( i ) L (ai ) L b( i )
kΓp k0 −kΓ Γp k0
T
Fig. 16. Illustration of equation (12) at sp ≥ 2
.
T
Fig. 14. Illustration of equation (11) at sp < kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 .
T E. Proof of (13)
The only difference between sp ≥ kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0
T S (i)
and sp < kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 is that Γ Λa covers Γp , it For the support estimate (line 3) in Algorithm 1, the residue
S (i) vector R(i−1) can be given by
T
makes Γ Λa = kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 + kΓk0 , so that
S 0
Γ Γ̂(i) = kΓk0 + smax − sp + kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 ≤
T
(i−1) †
0 T = I − GΓb(i−1) GΓb(i−1) (GΓ xΓ + z)
2smax − sp + kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 , as illustrated in Fig. 14.
R
h 2 i , (25)
∆
= GΓ\Γb(i−1) , GΓb(i−1) xe + I − GΓb(i−1) G†b(i−1) z
From the above, we can prove (11). Γ
" #
xΓ\Γb(i−1)
D. Proof of (12) where x
e= , and x∆ = xΓb(i−1) − G†Γb(i−1) GΓ xΓ .
x∆
Similarly to (10) and (11), there are 2 situations for the Combining (9), (11) and (25), we can have
explanation for equation (12).
S To S be specific, the difference
here is center on whether Γ Γ̂(i) Λa covers Γp . p
(i−1)
T R ≥ 1 − δs2 ke
xk2 − kzk2 . (26)
kΓp k0 −kΓ Γp k0 2
1) sp < 2
Furthermore, due to the selection mechanism of the support

sp
sp 2s p
Gp
estimate (line 3), we can obtain
0
G 0
G 0
H (i−1)
GΓ R ≤ GH R(i−1)
, (27)
S
Λa Λb
2 2
as a consequence of the fact that GH

b(i−1) R
Γ
(i−1)
= 0, we have
smax - s p
smax - s p H
GΓ\Λ R(i−1) ≤ GH S b(i−1) R(i−1) . (28)
S

Gˆ (i ) La Lb G L=G Gˆ ( i ) La Lb G Gp (Λa Λb )\(Γ Γ )
2 2
kΓp k0 −kΓ
T
Γp k0 For the inequality of (28), an upper bound on the right-hand
Fig. 15. Illustration of equation (12) at sp < 2
.
side can be derived as
T
kΓ k −kΓ Γp k0
When sp < p 0 2 , Γ Γ̂(i) Λa doesSnot cov-
S S
H S
G(Λa Λb )\(Γ S Γb(i−1) ) R(i−1)

er Γp , as illustrated in Fig. 15, so we have kΓ Λk0 =
2
S (i) S S H S
Γ Γ̂ Λa Λb = 2smax + kΓk0 ≤ 3smax . = G(Λ Λ )\(Γ Γb(i−1) )
S
0 nh a b
i o
× GΓ\Γb(i−1) , GΓb(i−1) x e + I − GΓb(i−1) G†b(i−1) z
T
kΓ k −kΓ Γ k
2) sp ≥ p 0 2 p 0
h i
Γ
2,
In this situation, as illustrated in Fig. 16, Γ Γ̂(i) SΛa cov- ≤ GH

S S
G , G x

(Λ
S S b(i−1)
Λb )\(Γ Γ ) Γ\Γb(i−1) Γb(i−1) e
ers Γp , the conclusion can be easily achieved that kΓ Λk0 = a 2
H S †
+ G(Λ Λ )\(Γ Γb(i−1) ) I − GΓb(i−1) GΓb(i−1) z
S
Γ Γ̂(i) Λa Λb ≤ kΓp k0 − kΓ Γp k0 + 3smax − 2sp .
S S T S
a b 2
0 p
xk2 + 1 + δsmax kzk2
≤ δs3 ke
So far, we can prove equation (12). (29)
and a lower bound on the left-hand side is given by G. Proof of (15)

H
Based on the mechanism of the residue estimate (line 7) in
GΓ\Λ R(i−1)

2 Algorithm 1, we can have

= GH

Γ\Λ
(i)
= resid y, GΓb(i) 2
nh i o
†
× GΓ\Γb(i−1) , GΓb(i−1) x e + I − GΓb(i−1) Gb(i−1) z
R
Γ 2. 2

H
h i = resid GΓ xΓ + z, GΓb(i) 2
≥ GΓ\Λ GΓ\Γb(i−1) , GΓb(i−1) x

e
2 = resid GΓb(i) xΓb(i) , GΓb(i) + resid GΓ\Γb(i) xΓ\Γb(i) , GΓb(i)

†
− GH Γ\Λ I − GΓ b(i−1) GΓb(i−1) z

p2 +resid z, GΓb(i) 2
≥ (1 − δsmax ) xΓ\Λ 2 − δs3 ke xk2 − 1 + δsmax kzk2

= + G ,
resid (i) xΓ\Γ (i) , GΓ + resid z, G

(i) (i)
(30) 0 Γ\ Γ
b b b Γb
2

Thus, we can combine (28), (29), and (30) to obtain
≤ resid GΓ\Γb(i) xΓ\Γb(i) , GΓb(i) + resid z, GΓb(i) 2

p 2
xΓ\Λ ≤ 2δs3 ke 2 1 + δsmax ≤ x Γ\Γ + kzk2

2
xk2 + kzk2 . (31) G Γ\Γ
b (i) b (i)
2
1 − δsmax 1 − δsmax p
≤ 1 + δsmax xΓ\Γb(i) + kzk2

By combining (26) and (31), we obtain (13). 2
(38)
∆
where resid (y, GI ) = y − GI G†I y denotes the residue vector.
F. Proof of (14) In this way, we prove (15).
Based on the mechanism of the support pruning (line 5) in

Algorithm 1, we can have WΓb(i) 2 ≥ kWΓ k2 . Thus, H. Proof of Theorem 1
Combining (13), (14),
and (15), we
can obtain the relation-
WΛ\Γ ≥ b(i) . (32) ship between R(i) 2 and R(i−1) 2 as follows.

2
W Λ\Γ
2

(i)
For convenience, we introduce the projection matrix R ≤ C1 R(i−1) + C2 kzk2


2
p2
∆

PΛ = GΛ G†Λ , and we can obtain

 p
2
1 + δs3 + 2δs3 1 − δs1


 p 4δ s3
C1 = 1 + δsmax

 p p
kWΛ k2 = G†Λ PΛ y




 (1 − δsmax ) 1 − δs1 1 − δs2
 p
= G†Λ PΛ GΛ xΛ + GΓ\Λ xΓ\Λ + z , 2 1 + δsmax

(33) C2 = 1 + p . (39)
∆ 1 − δs1
G†Λ PΛ z

= xΛ + DΛ + 


 p p p


 + 1 + δsmax 1 − δs1 + 2δs3 1 + δs3
∆ 
where GΛ DΛ = PΛ GΓ\Λ xΓ\Λ .

 p p
2δs3 + 2 1 + δsmax 1 − δs2


×

Therefore, from (33), we can have 
 p p
(1 − δsmax ) 1 − δs1 1 − δs2

WΛ\Γ ≤ kDΛ k + p 1

2 2 kzk2 , (34)
In Algorithm 1, if R(i) 2 ≥ R(i−1) 2 , the iteration with
1 − δs1
fixed sparsity level quits, which indicates that the estimation
and of the s-sparse signal x is accomplished. From this and (39),
r
2 2 we further obtain
WΛ\Γb(i) ≥ xΓ\Γb(i) − xΓ\Λ 2

2 2
. (35)
(i−1) C2
1 ≤ kzk2 . (40)
− kDΛ k2 − p kzk2 R
2 1 − C1
1 − δs1

For R(i−1) 2 , we can have
By substituting (34) and (35) into (32), we can obtain

(i−1)
= y − Gb x(i−1) = G x − x b(i−1) + z
!
1
R
2 2 2
xΓ\Γb(i) ≤ 2 kDΛ k2 + p kzk2 + xΓ\Λ 2 ,

(i−1)
2 1 − δs1 ≥ G x − x − kzk2 .

b
2
(36) p
≥ (1 − δs2 ) x − x b(i−1) − kzk2

Meanwhile, we have 2
p (i) (41)
1 − δs1 kDΛ k2 ≤ kGΛ DΛ k2 = PΛ GΓ\Λ xΓ\Λ 2 As we have discussed, the termination condition R ≥
p . (i−1)
R
2
can lead to the final estimated active user data as
≤ δs3 1 + δs3 xΓ\Λ 2 2
(37) x
b = xb(i−1) . By substituting (40) into (41), we prove (16),
Finally, combining (36) and (37), we can have (14). which completes the proof.
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opportunities, and future research trends,” IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 53, matching pursuit,” IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 1094-1121,
no. 9, pp. 74-81, Sept. 2015. Feb. 2012.
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Commun. Lett., vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 1231-1234, Jun. 2016. recovery via regularized orthogonal matching pursuit,” Foundations of
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1393-1405, Apr. 2016. incomplete and inaccurate samples,” Appl. Comput. Harmon. Anal., vol.
[9] J. P. Hong, W. Choi, and B. D. Rao, “Sparsity controlled random multiple 26, no. 3, pp. 301-321, Jul. 2009.
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14, no. 2, pp. 998-1010, Feb. 2015. signal reconstruction,” IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 55, no. 5, pp. 2230-
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pp. 18914-18919, Nov. 2009. University of Electronic Science and Technology of
[38] A. P. Deempster, N. M. Laird, and D. B. Rubin, “Maximum likelihood China (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 1997, 2000,
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pp. 1-38, 1977. PHOTO National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology
[39] N. Vaswani and J. C. Zhan, “Recursive recovery of sparse signal HERE on Communications (NCL), UESTC, and worked
sequences from compressive measurements: A review,” IEEE Trans. as professor in this laboratory from August 2013.
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for problems with partially known support,” IEEE Trans. Signal Proccess., 2010 to 2011. His current research interests include
vol. 58, no. 9, pp. 4595-4607, Sept. 2010. 5G mobile communications, tactile internet, and Terahertz communication.
[41] R. Carrillo, L. Polania and K. Barner, “Iterative algorithms for com- Dr. Chen has served as a reviewer for various international journals and
pressed sensing with partially known support,” in Proc. IEEE ICASSP, conferences, including IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, IEEE
pp. 3654-3657, Jun. 2010. Transactions on Signal Processing, etc.
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signals via approximate message passing,” IEEE Trans. Signal Proccess.,
vol. 61, no. 21, pp. 5270-5284, Nov. 2013.
[43] E. Candes and T. Tao, “Decoding by linear programming,” IEEE Trans.
Inf. Theory, vol. 51, no. 12, pp. 4203-4215, Dec. 2005. Xiaodong Wang (S’98-M’98-SM’04-F’08) received
[44] L. Bottou and N. Murata, “Stochastic approximations and efficient the B.S. degree in electrical engineering and ap-
learning,” in The Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks, 2nd plied mathematics from Shanghai Jiaotong Uni-
edition. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press, 2002. versity, Shanghai, China, in 1991; the M.S. de-
[45] Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical Chan- PLACE gree in electrical and computer engineering from
nels and Modulation (Release 12), document 3GPP TS-36.211, Jan. 2016. PHOTO Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA, in
HERE 1994; and the Ph.D degree in Electrical Engineering
from Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA, in
1998.
He is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at
Columbia University in New York. Dr. Wang’s re-
search interests fall in the general areas of computing, signal processing and
communications, and has published extensively in these areas. Among his
publications is a book entitled “Wireless Communication Systems: Advanced
Techniques for Signal Reception”, published by Prentice Hall in 2003. His
current research interests include wireless communications, statistical signal
processing, and genomic signal processing.
Dr. Wang received the 1999 NSF CAREER Award, the 2001 IEEE
Communications Society and Information Theory Society Joint Paper Award,
and the 2011 IEEE Communication Society Award for Outstanding Paper on
Yang Du received the B.S. degree in communication New Communication Topics. He has served as an Associate Editor for the
engineering from Chongqing University of Posts and IEEE Transactions on Communications, the IEEE Transactions on Wireless
Telecommunications (CQUPT), Chongqing, China, Communications, the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, and the IEEE
in 2012. He is currently working towards the Ph.D. Transactions on Information Theory. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and listed
PLACE degree in communication at the National Key Lab-
PHOTO as an ISI Highly-cited Author.
oratory of Science and Technology on Communica-
HERE tions (NCL), University of Electronic Science and
Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu, China.
Dr. Du has authored or coauthored over 20 journal
and conference papers. His research interests include
wireless communications and signal processing, with Zeyuan Liu received the B.S. degree in commu-
a focus on multiple access, multiuser detection, anti-interference technology, nication engineering from the University of Elec-
compressive sensing, and machine learning. He was the recipient of the tronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC),
National Ph.D. Scholarship in 2015 and 2016. Chengdu, China, in 2015. He is currently pursuing
PLACE the M.S. degree in communication and information
PHOTO system with National Key Laboratory of Science
HERE and Technology on Communications (NCL) in the
same university. His research is in the field of wire-
less communications and communication theory. In
particular, he is very interested in non-orthogonal
multiple access, multiuser detection, compressive
sensing, and machine learning.
Pengyu Gao received the B.S. degree in electrical

Binhong Dong received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. engineering and applied mathematics from the U-
degrees in Electrical Engineering from University niversity of Electronic Science and Technology of
of Electronic Science and Technology of China China (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 2016. He is
(UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 1993, 1999, and 2010, PLACE currently pursuing the M.S. degree in communica-
PLACE respectively. On April 1999, she joined the Nation- PHOTO tion and information system with National Key Lab-
PHOTO al Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on HERE oratory of Science and Technology on Communica-
HERE Communications (NCL), UESTC, and worked as tions (NCL) in the same university. His research is
professor in this laboratory from June 2012. Her in the field of wireless communications and commu-
research interests include wireless communication nication theory. In particular, he is very interested in
technology and anti-interference technology in wire- non-orthogonal multiple access, multiuser detection,
less communication. compressive sensing, and machine learning.
Shaoqian Li (M’02-SM’12-F’15) received the B.S.

degree in communication technology from North-
west Institute of Telecommunication (Xidian U-
niversity), Xian, China, in 1982, and the M.S.E.
PLACE degree in communication system from University
PHOTO of Electronic Science and Technology of China
HERE (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 1984. Since 1982,
he has been with UESTC, where he is currently
a Professor, Ph.D. Supervisor, and Director of the
National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology
on Communications (NCL), and member of National
High Technology RD Program (863 Program) Communications Group. He has
coauthored two books, published more than 300 refereed journal papers and
conference papers, and filed over 50 patents. His research interests include
wireless communication theory, anti-interference technology for wireless
communications, spread-spectrum and frequency-hopping technology, mobile
and personal communications. He was a recipient of the Second Prize of the
National Technology Invention Award.

Efficient Multi-User Detection For Uplink Grant-Free NOMA: Prior-Information Aided Adaptive Compressive Sensing Perspective

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IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 1

Efficient Multi-User Detection for Uplink

W ITH the global commercialization of 4G, the fifth

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 2

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 3

and R-PIA-ASP algorithms can remove this unrealistic

complexity. Simulation results are provided in Section V.

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 4

y[t] = G[t] x[t] + z[t] , ∀t, (2)

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 5

the detailed derivation of (6) will be provided in Appendix A.

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 6

based on (6), i.e., level is replaced by a variable to eliminate the dependence on

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 7

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 8

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 9

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 10

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 11

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 12

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 13

smax - s p smax - s p smax - s p

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 14

Furthermore, due to the selection mechanism of the support

as a consequence of the fact that GH

In this situation, as illustrated in Fig. 16, Γ Γ̂(i) SΛa cov- ≤ GH

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 15

and a lower bound on the left-hand side is given by G. Proof of (15)

xΓ\Λ ≤ 2δs3 ke 2 1 + δsmax ≤ x Γ\Γ + kzk2

Based on the mechanism of the support pruning (line 5) in

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 16

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 17

Pengyu Gao received the B.S. degree in electrical

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS 18

Shaoqian Li (M’02-SM’12-F’15) received the B.S.

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