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Network Slicing for NOMA-Enabled Edge

Computing
Mohammad Arif Hossain , Student Member, IEEE, and Nirwan Ansari , Fellow, IEEE

Abstract—The 5G network presents a new horizon with tremendous opportunities for future generation wireless networks. Mobile edge
computing (MEC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and network slicing (NS) are some of the key enablers for 5G. MEC reduces
the latency to a great extent for a wireless network, while NOMA gives access to more users with resource constraints. NS provides
users with a better quality of service and network operators with more flexibility. In this work, we propose an NS technique enabled with
NOMA for a MEC network. The proposed NS technique improves service latency for MEC users and reduces the unnecessary allocation
of radio resources in NOMA. The saved resources can be leveraged to accommodate more users, thus increasing the spectral efficiency
of the network. We consider different types of services based on the task completion time of users in this work. The primary focus is to
optimize the total energy consumption for wireless uplink transmission for the NOMA-enabled sliced MEC network. We also propose a
heuristic algorithm as an alternative to reduce the time and computational complexities of the optimization algorithm and simulate the
results extensively to show the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.

Index Terms—Mobile Edge Computing, Network Slicing, NOMA, Uplink Energy Consumption Minimization, Energy Efficiency, Spectral
Efficiency.

1 I NTRODUCTION separated logical networks on-demand [7]. The segregation

of a network in NS enhances the QoS for tailored services
T HE modern age is observing ground-breaking inno-
vations giving rise to the connectivity of billions of
devices. The unprecedented proliferation in the number of
for users as well as ensures better utilization of resources.
Software-defined networking (SDN) and network function
virtualization (NFV) are vital components to empower NS
devices is accelerating the development of future generation
[8]–[10].
wireless networks. The next-generation wireless network,
5G, has the capability of handling thousand-fold traffic den- 1.1 Motivations
sity in an ultra-dense system as compared to 4G. Besides,
Heterogeneity is one of the essential characteristics of the
very high data rate, improved spectral efficiency, very low
required services in 5G. Numerous types of requirements
latency, and diverse types of applications are some of the
among the diverse applications can increase the complex-
essential features of 5G network [1], [2]. The significant fea-
ities to guarantee the users QoS. NS aims at providing
tures of 5G need several far-reaching techniques to establish
users with on-demand tailored services by creating several
a sustainable architecture for the future system.
logical networks [1]. For example, users with low latency
Mobile edge computing (MEC), one of the influential
need more resources, and it is not always possible to have
paradigms of 5G, provides users with low latency, reliability,
enough resources to serve these users. The virtualization
and speed. MEC can potentially deliver quality services for
of network resources can help guarantee QoS. Besides, the
different time-critical applications across several industries
users are mobile. Consequently, creating virtual resources
such as automated industrial process, healthcare, automated
for a sliced network is a great idea to tackle the challenges
vehicles, and so on [3], [4]. Balancing the crowded network
of a heterogeneous network.
infrastructure to accommodate latency-critical applications
The constrained radio resources of the current wireless
is a great challenge. Intending to give access to more users
network call for efficient access technologies. NOMA is one
with constrained spectrum resources, 5G has introduced
of the efficient access methods for future generation wireless
non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) that has some
networks that not only increases the spectral efficiency
extra advantages like energy efficiency and fair allocation of
and allows more users within limited bandwidth but also
resources along with augmented spectral efficiency [5], [6].
reduces the energy consumption of the system to a certain
Nevertheless, heterogeneity in applications of the one-size-
extent. Besides, the latest smartphones enable users to run
fits-all network has posed a considerable demand to guar-
multiple applications which drain the battery of the devices
antee the quality of service (QoS) and better utilization of
for both applications and communications. In this paper, we
resources. Network slicing (NS) is capable of supporting di-
propose a NOMA-enabled MEC technique to optimize the
verse applications by transforming a physical network into
energy consumption of the uplink transmission, and thus
to increase the battery lifetime of devices. We also aim to
The authors are with the Advance Networking Laboratory, Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, increase the spectral efficiency of a heterogeneous MEC net-
Newark, NJ, 07102 USA (e-mail: mh624@njit.edu; nirwan.ansari@njit.edu). work using NOMA. Besides, the inclusion of the NS method

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Transactions on Cloud Computing
2 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CLOUD COMPUTING
in this work ensures better management of resources to
improve QoS and reduce the redundant allocations of radio
resources in NOMA with various services.
1.2 Contributions
Several works have considered the joint allocation of com-
puting and communication resources with NOMA as the
access technique for uplink communication for MEC. NS has
also become one of the cutting edge topics for research. Nu-
merous works have been published on NS. However, these
works have not included the idea of leveraging NS with
NOMA and MEC. In this paper, we propose an NS tech-
nique by jointly allocating computing and communication
resources for uplink in a NOMA-enabled MEC network.
Note that we do not consider the downlink transmission
for MEC in this work as the outputs of the tasks that are
computed in the MEC server are relatively small compared
to the size of the task to be computed, and the downlink
transmission time is much lower than uplink transmission
time. Major contributions of the work are noted below.
1) We propose a novel NS technique for a NOMA-enabled
MEC network to optimize the energy consumption of
the uplink communication of the system. We aim to
increase both energy efficiency and spectral efficiency
of the MEC network by deploying NOMA for uplink
communication in the MEC network.
2) We introduce a novel idea to reduce the redundant
allocation of resources by including NS for NOMA
clustering. We also consider NS for a virtual MEC
network where the virtual computing resources are
assigned to the users according to the requirements of
the respective slices.
3) We propose an optimization problem by incorporating
the slicing technique for user clustering for different
applications, joint allocation of computing and commu-
nication resources, and transmission power control of
users for the MEC network. The slices are created based
on MEC users’ task completion times.
4) To reduce the time and computational complexities
of the proposed optimization problem, we propose
a heuristic algorithm, referred to as Slicing Aware
Clustering and Resource Allocation (SACRA) algo-
rithm, which is partitioned into three separate algo-
rithms for user clustering, computing resource alloca-
tion, and wireless resource allocation.
5) We verify the effectiveness of SACRA by extensive
simulations and comparison with optimal solutions.
1.3 Related Works
MEC is an enabling technology for 5G and beyond net-
works, and NOMA has recently been proposed to improve
spectral efficiency. Shi et al. [11] discussed the main chal-
lenges and opportunities of edge computing for future gen-
eration wireless networks. The work provides an excellent
overview of the MEC network while Ceselli et al. [12] pro-
posed a model to optimize the holistic network architecture
for MEC. Chen et al. [13] proposed a distributed mechanism
to offload the computation task efficiently to the MEC server
by considering both local and edge computing. Wang et
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al. [14] focused on optimizing the offloading, resource al-
location, and content caching problems for a MEC network
to maximize the total revenue. Besides, Bi and Zhang [15]
proposed a MEC model equipped with energy harvesting to
provision either complete local computing or full offloading
of a task in order to maximize the aggregate computation
rate. None of the above mentioned works has considered
NOMA as an access technique to serve users with radio
resources.
Kiani and Ansari [16] proposed a NOMA-aware MEC
technique by jointly allocating computing and communica-
tion resources in which users are given access to the radio
resource via NOMA. They studied the complete offloading
of a task to the MEC server. The main goal of the work is to
optimize the energy consumption for wireless transmission.
Song et al. [17] also proposed an energy-efficient MEC het-
erogeneous network using NOMA and considered both the
partial and complete offloading of a task to the server. They
aimed to optimize the total energy consumption, i.e., energy
required for both computing and communication. Pan et al.
[18] proposed NOMA-based uplink and downlink transmis-
sion for an energy-efficient MEC network. They optimized
transmit powers, transmission time allocation, and task
offloading partitions. Yang et al. [19] proposed an energy-
efficient NOMA-based MEC network to minimize the com-
bination of completion time and energy consumption of
uplink communication. Nouri et al. [20] proposed another
optimization mechanism for energy consumption and task
completion delay in an ultradense Internet of Things (UD-
IoT) network by leveraging NOMA. Furthermore, Huang et
al. [21] introduced a NOMA-aided MEC network to offload
a task both directly to the server and with the help of
another user simultaneously. The main objective of the work
is to minimize energy consumption and maximize data
offloading. The above works have demonstrated the vitality
of NOMA and MEC, but they did not considered NS.
A number of conceptual architectures by leveraging NS
for different network scenarios, including virtual cloud and
edge computing, have been proposed recently [22], [23].
Zhang et al. [24] discussed the challenges and opportunities
of a sliced logical network to manage the resources and
mobility of users. Likewise, Sharma et al. [25] discussed the
NS method for virtual computing both in cloud and edge
of a 5G network by leveraging a flexible heterogeneous
network architecture. These works include the idea of NS
and computing but do not employ the concept of NS with
NOMA and MEC.
We organize the rest of the paper as follows. Section 2
shows the system model of our proposed work. We mainly
discuss the categorizing process of users into slices and
NOMA clusters as well as the resource allocation. We for-
mulate the optimization problem in Section 3, while Section
4 describes our proposed SACRA algorithm. We present
the extensive numerical results for our proposed work in
Section 5, followed by the conclusion in Section 6.
2 S YSTEM M ODEL
Our system model mainly comprises the NS technique to
categorize users for different types of services, NOMA for
giving access to users, and edge computing to reduce the
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HOSSAIN AND ANSARI: NETWORK SLICING FOR NOMA ENABLED EDGE COMPUTING
latency time of the required services of users in a network.
Now, we assume that our MEC network is empowered by
both SDN and NFV functionalities to support NS. It is well-
known that SDN separates the data plane from the control
plane to make a network programmable and NFV helps
to virtualize the physical resources into logical resources
of a system [1]. However, we consider a single macrocell
with a base station (BS), where the BS contains a MEC
server to facilitate computing and user devices are equipped
with single antennae. The neighboring cells of the macrocell
use different frequency bands for communication, and thus
nullifying intercell interference in our proposed model. We
also assume that users impose different latency demands for
various computing tasks. At this point, we categorize users
for different slices based on the latency demands to deploy
the NS method in our proposed MEC model.
We assume that the MEC server can serve all the users
situated in the cell. The physical computing resources of
the server are transformed into virtual computing resources
as logical processors, i.e., virtual CPUs (vCPUs). vCPUs are
allocated to the users by creating virtual machines (VMs)
with the help of a hypervisor. We also assume that the
memory size of the MEC server is sufficient to accomplish
all the tasks. Our proposed model facilitates access to ra-
dio resources by means of NOMA while computing and
wireless resources are allocated based on the requirements
of slices. We divide our remaining system model into two
subsections: (a) user grouping for slice and NOMA cluster
and (b) resource allocation. We also tabulate the significant
notations used throughout the article in Table 1.
2.1 User Grouping for Slice and NOMA Cluster
Denote U = {ui |i = 1, ...., |U|} as the set of users in the
macro-cell. Each user is not allowed to offload more than
one task to the MEC server until the task is completed. We
denote the required latency, required CPU cycle, and the
data size of the task of user ui as Li , Fi , and Di , respectively.
We denote the set of slices as S = {sj |j = 1, ...., |S|} where
each slice has a lower and an upper bound of latency to
categorize the users based on their required latencies. We
also assume that the lower and upper latency bounds for
every slice are different. Now, we denote the minimum and
maximum latency bound of slice sj as Lmin j and Lmax
j , re-
spectively. The maximum latency bound of a slice becomes
the minimum latency bound of the next slice if we arrange
the slices in ascending order based on their maximum
latency values. Here, we set the minimum latency as 0
for the slice with the lowest maximum latency bound, i.e.,
Lmin
j0 = 0, where j 0 = argminsj ∈S [Lmax j ]. Therefore, user ui
with Lmin
j < Li ≤ L max
j is assigned to slice sj .
As we use NOMA for wireless resource allocation, more
than one user can use the same frequency resource and the
users who use the same frequency resource form a NOMA
cluster. The granularity of the frequency resource that is
used by users of a NOMA cluster is called a frequency
resource block (RB). Denote C = {ck |k = 1, ...., |C|} as
the set of NOMA clusters considering all the slices of the
system. In our proposed model, we consider that users from
j,k
different slices do not share the same clusters. Denote υi
j,k
as a binary variable with υi = 1 when user ui is assigned
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3
to cluster ck as well as in slice sj and otherwise = 0. υij,k
Here, users are partitioned into a total |S| slices and |C|
NOMA clusters. Following the message decoding method
of NOMA, successive interference cancellation (SIC), users
need to be arranged in an order in a NOMA cluster [6].
Usually, users are organized in descending order for uplink
NOMA inside a NOMA cluster based on their channel
gains. In this work, we denote a user with a higher channel
gain and that with a lower channel gain as a stronger
user and a weaker user, respectively. In a NOMA cluster, a
stronger user and a weaker user are assigned to lower order
and higher order, respectively. In other words, the strongest
user in a NOMA cluster is given the first position in the
order; therefore, messages of the strongest user is decoded
first by SIC.
Denote m as the order of a user in a cluster and M
as the maximum number of users permitted in a NOMA
cluster. So, there are a total of M orders of users in a
NOMA cluster. Theoretically, M can be any number greater
than 1 for NOMA since at least two users use the same
frequency RBs. Still, M depends on the capability of SIC,
which becomes complex and delay-prone with the increase
in M . Let MT h be the maximum number of users in a
NOMA cluster such that SIC can decode their messages
successfully, and therefore, MT h ≥ 2 and M ≤ MT h .
Denote user ui being assigned to the m-th order of NOMA
k,m
cluster ck by the binary variable ϕi = 1, and 0 otherwise.
As mentioned earlier, SIC in uplink NOMA decodes the
messages of a stronger user before the messages of the
weaker users in a NOMA cluster. Consequently, stronger
users get interference from weaker users. In comparison,
weaker users do not get any interference from strong users.
2.2 Resource Allocation
We consider allocation of two types of resources: (i) comput-
ing resource allocation and (ii) wireless resource allocation.
2.2.1 Computing Resources Allocation
We propose to first allocate the users with computing re-
sources according to their order indexes in the NOMA
clusters. The allocation process ensures the separation of
computing resources for slices as NOMA clusters are not
shared between users of different slices. The physical com-
puting resources are assigned to users as virtual resources,
i.e., vCPUs by creating VMs in the server. VMs are created
with the help of a hypervisor, a software, sometimes called
virtual machine monitor (VMM). Both the creation of VMs
and the allocation of vCPUs depend on the properties of
physical CPUs too. It is also worth noting that each thread
of each core of a CPU can serve as a vCPU while the total
number of vCPUs in a server can be counted by multiplying
of the number of CPU sockets, physical cores per socket, and
the number of threads per core in the server.
To simplify the allocation process, we assume one vCPU
as the granularity of computing resources to execute the task
of a user. We consider vCPUs to be homogeneous, i.e., the
clock speeds of vCPUs are the same. Now, we assume the
clock speed of a vCPU is X cycle per second. Without loss
of generality, a VM is created on-demand for each user by
the VMM and vCPUs are allocated to the VM to execute a
task. The VM uses multi-threading to execute the task of a
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user. In other words, the task is shared among the vCPUs TABLE 1
of a VM. Denote the set of computing resources (vCPUs) as Significant Notations
V = {vl |l = 1, ...., |V|}. However, we assign the computing Notation Description
resources to the users by considering both NOMA clusters hn
i Channel gain of user ui over frequency RB bn
and order indexes in NOMA clusters. For this purpose, we pn
i Transmission power of user ui through
use the binary variable ψ l,k,m to assign vCPU vl to the m-th frequency RB bn
order of the ck -th NOMA cluster. Therefore, the computing ϕik,m Decision variable to assign user ui to the m-th
time, Qi , for the task of user ui can be expressed as follows. order of NOMA cluster ck
χn,k Decision variable to allocate frequency RB bn
M to NOMA cluster ck
Fi
ϕk,m
X X X
Qi = i l,k,m
(1) υij,k Decision variable to assign user ui to NOMA
ck ∈C m=1 vl ∈V
ψ X cluster ck and slice sj
ψ l,k,m Decision variable to assign vCPU vl to the
2.2.2 Communication Resources Allocation m-th order of NOMA cluster ck
M Total number of users in a NOMA cluster
Our proposed model allocates the communication resources
W Bandwidth of a frequency RB
after allocating computing resources. We denote the set of X Clock speed of vCPU
available frequency RBs, B = {bn |n = 1, ...., |B|} where Di Data size of the task of user ui
the bandwidth of each RB is W . Let us assume the binary Ei Uplink transmission energy consumption
variable χn,k to indicate the allocation of frequency RB of user ui
bn to NOMA cluster ck . Here, χn,k ensures the partition Fi CPU cycle required for the task of user ui
of frequency RBs for the NOMA clusters as well as for Li Latency-demand of user ui
the slices since users from different slices are not clustered Qi Computing time for the task of user ui
together. At this point, we assume channel condition varies Ri Uplink transmission data rate of user ui
Ti Uplink transmission time of user i
across the frequency RBs and use the variable hn i to indicate MT h Maximum number of users allowed in a
the channel gain for user ui over frequency RB bn . We also NOMA cluster
denote pn i and Pi
T ot
as the transmission power through Lmin Lower bound latency demand of slice sj
j
frequency RB bn and the total power budget of user ui , Lmax Upper bound latency demand of slice sj
j
respectively. Accordingly, the data rate, Ri of user ui , can PiT ot Total power budget of user ui
be expressed as Rimin Minimum data rate required by user ui
M B; |B| Set of frequency RBs; Total number of
ϕk,m frequency RBs
X X X
Ri = i χn,k W
C ; |C| Set of NOMA clusters; Total number of
ck ∈C m=1 bn ∈B
! (2) NOMA clusters
pnq hnq S ; |S| Set of slices; Total number of slices
× log2 1 + PM k,r n n U ; |U | Set of users; Total number of users
σ2
P
+ uq ∈U \i r=m+1 ϕq pq hq
V ; |V| Set of vCPUs; Total number of vCPUs
M Jj Fairness index for computing resource
ϕk,m χn,k indicate user ui can be
P P P
where i and allocation to slice sj
ck ∈C m=1 bn ∈B U j ; |U j | Set of users assigned to slice sj ; Total number
assigned to only one order (m-th order) of a particular of users assigned to slice sj
NOMA cluster ck and a frequency RB bn ∈ B can be al-
located to only one NOMA cluster ck , respectively. Besides, of user. Undoubtedly, Qi is also less than Li when (4) is
σ 2 symbolizes the noise power. The energy consumption, satisfied. Therefore, the achievable data rate of user ui must
Ei , for the uplink transmission for the task of user ui can be be greater than or equal to the required minimum data rate
written as X for user ui , Rimin , as shown in (5) if Ti satisfies (4) too.
Ei = Ti pni (3)
bn ∈B Ti + Qi ≤ Li (4)
where Ti = (Di /Ri ) represents the uplink transmission
time.
Ri ≥ Rimin (5)

3 O PTIMIZATION P ROBLEM
Di
Our proposed optimization problem considers the total Rimin = (6)
Li − Qi
energy consumption of all the users for the uplink com-
munication time. The optimization problem needs to satisfy
the conditions shown in (4) with several other constraints The objective of our optimization problem and the con-
related to grouping users into slices, clustering users for straints of the problem can be formulated as follows.
NOMA clusters, assigning users in the orders of NOMA
clusters, and the allocation of computing and communi- minimize X
P1 : Ei
cation resources. It is evident from (4) that the total time υij,k , ϕk,m
i , ψ l,k,m , χn,k , pni
ui ∈U
for computing and transmission must be less than or equal
to the total latency bound requirement of the application

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υij,k
X X
s.t. C1 : = 1 ∀ui ∈ U achievable data rate of a user is greater or equal to the
sj ∈S ck ∈C required data rate of the user. Fundamentally, C11 and C12
M together impose the summation of uplink transmission time
ϕk,m
X X
C2 : i = 1 ∀ui ∈ U and computing time of a task to be kept within the latency
ck ∈C m=1 time bound of the task. However, C13 allocates positive
M transmit power for a frequency RB while C14, C15, C16, and
ϕk,m
X X
jk k,m
C3 : i ≥ 2 ∀ck ∈ C C17 keep υi , , ϕi , ψ l,k,m , and χn,k as binary variables,
ui ∈U m=1 respectively.
M Our optimization problem P1 is a mixed integer non-
ϕk,m
X X
C4 : i ≤ MT h ∀ck ∈ C linear programming (MINLP) problem. P1 is not a convex
ui ∈U m=1 problem; therefore, finding an optimal solution is very dif-
C5 : ϕk,m
i ≤ ϕk,m−1
i ∀ui ∈ U; ck ∈ C; 2 ≤ m ≤ M ficult. Besides, the exhaustive search for finding the optimal
X X M solution incurs vast computational and time complexities,
l,k,m thus making the problem intractable. Therefore, we propose
C6 : ψ ≤ 1 ∀vl ∈ V
ck ∈C m=1 the SACRA algorithm to transform the problem into a
M
X X X tractable one to obtain a near-optimal solution. At first, we
C7 : ψ l,k,m ≤ |V| aim to group and assign the users into slices and to form
vl ∈V ck ∈C m=1 NOMA clusters inside the slices in the algorithm. Then, we
allocate the computing and frequency resources to the users
X
C8 : χn,k ≤ 1 ∀bn ∈ B
ck ∈C
of the NOMA clusters of the slices. The grouping of users
X X and the allocation of resources remove some constraints and
C9 : χn,k ≤ |B| binary variables from our optimization problem.
bn ∈B ck ∈C
X Our resource allocation procedures are able to find out a
C10 : pni ≤ PiT ot ∀ui ∈ U near-optimal transmission time for every user and the near-
bn ∈B optimal transmission time, ultimately, producing a near-
C11 : Qi ≤ Li ∀ui ∈ U optimal solution for the energy consumption of our opti-
C12 : Ri ≥ Rimin ∀ui ∈ U mization problem. At this stage, we control the transmission
n power for the users per NOMA cluster to optimize the
C13 : pi ≥ 0 ∀ui ∈ U; bn ∈ B total energy consumption for the uplink transmission of the
jk
C14 : υi , ∈ {0, 1} ∀ui ∈ U; sj ∈ S; ck ∈ C system. The data rate, which is related to the transmission
power of a user in a NOMA cluster, depends not only on
C15 : ϕk,m
i ∈ {0, 1} ∀ui ∈ U; ck ∈ C; m = 1, .., M
the self transmission power but also on the transmission
C16 : ψ l,k,m ∈ {0, 1} ∀vl ∈ V; ck ∈ C; m = 1, .., M power of other users of the NOMA cluster. Consequently,
C17 : χn,k ∈ {0, 1} ∀bn ∈ B; ck ∈ C the control of transmission power for the users per NOMA
cluster can make the optimization problem P1 into a convex
problem [16]. Thus, the partitioning of the problem will
Here, constraint C1 represents the assignment of a user provide an sub-optimal solution.
to only one slice as well as to one NOMA cluster. C1 also
ensures that the users from different slices are not assigned Lemma 1. Optimization problem P1 can be transformed to
jk k,m
to the same NOMA cluster. C2 assigns a user to one of the problem P2 by relaxing binary variables υi , , ϕi , ψ l,k,m , and
n,k
orders in a NOMA cluster while C3 imposes that it takes χ .
at least two users from a slice to form a NOMA cluster. Proof. The binary variables are relaxed by assigning the
C4 limits the assignment of users in a NOMA cluster up users into slices and NOMA clusters, and by allocating
to the SIC capacity whereas C5 represents the assignment the resources. Now, we control the transmission power
priority of a user to a lower order in a NOMA cluster as individually for each NOMA cluster to get the overall op-
compared to a higher order. To this point, C6 enforces a timized transmission power, which gives us the minimized
vCPU be allocated to a user according to the order of a transmission energy for the system eventually. We consider
NOMA cluster. The sequential allocation of vCPUs helps a particular NOMA cluster to optimize the transmission
obtain the minimum data rate requirement for all the users power of its users. We denote the set of the assigned users
in a NOMA cluster so that the wireless resources can be as Ũ with ui to denote an user of Ũ . Besides, we consider
allocated effectively to a NOMA cluster because all users the set of allocated frequency RBs in our interested NOMA
in a NOMA cluster share the same frequency resources to cluster as B̃ where bn denotes a frequency RB of B̃ . So, we
achieve the required data rates. Besides, C7 maintains the can construct the optimization problem P2 from P1.
limit to assign the computing resources to users. C8 allows
the allocation of a frequency RB to only one NOMA cluster, minimize X X n
P2 : pi
and C9 keeps the total number of assigned frequency RBs pni
ui ∈Ũ bn ∈B̃
to users within the capacity. We use constraint C10 to keep
the total allocated transmission power over all the allocated
frequency RBs within the total budget of the transmission s.t. C1 : Pin ≥ 0 ∀ui ∈ Ũ; bn ∈ B̃
X
power for a user. We introduce C11 to uphold the computing C2 : pni ≤PiT ot ∀ui ∈ Ũ
time within the latency bound while C12 ensures that the bn ∈B̃

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6 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CLOUD COMPUTING

C3 : Ri ≥ Rimin ∀ui ∈ Ũ Now, the right-hand side of inequality of C3 includes log

of sum of exponential which is convex and thus C3 becomes
However, problem P2 is not convex because of the trans-
convex. Consequently, C4 becomes convex too. To this end,
mission power variable, Pin used in (2) to find out the data
we can say the objective function and the constraints of
rate, Ri . Here, Ri is used in C3 of problem P2 to satisfy the
problem P3 become convex. Therefore, it is possible to find
condition of transmission time and latency bound.
the optimal solution for problem P3.
Lemma 2. The optimization problem P3 can be derived from
P2 by replacing Pin with an exponential function of Zin , i.e., 4 P ROPOSED A LGORITHMS
Pin = exp(Zin ) ∀ui ∈ Ũ . In this section, we present our proposed SACRA algorithm
Proof. We assume another variable Yin to evaluate the data in three different parts: (i) user grouping into slices and
rate of the users of Ũ for each of the allocated frequency RBs NOMA clusters, (ii) computing resource allocation, and
of B̃ . We can relate Yin with Ri and Zin as follows. (iii) wireless resource allocation as depicted in Algorithms
  1, 2, and 3, respectively. We also analyze the complexity
exp(Z n n
i )hi
of the SACRA algorithm and the total complexity of the
Yin = W log2 1 + P|Ũ |
 (7) relaxed portion of problem P1 and problem P3 to show the
2
σ + q=i+1 exp(Zqn )hnq effectiveness of SACRA by the end of this section.
X We first arrange all slices in ascending order based on
Ri = Yin (8)
the upper bounds of latencies of the slices in Algorithm 1.
bn ∈B̃
In other words, the slice with the lowest upper bound and
At this point, we can formulate the optimization problem the slice with the highest upper bound are placed in the first
P3 from P2 as follows.
Algorithm 1 User Grouping into Slices and NOMA clusters
minimize X X
P3 : exp(Zin ) 1: Sort all |S| slices such that Lmax < Lmax < .... < Lmax
Zin 0
1 2 |S|
ui ∈Ũ bn ∈B̃
2: U ← U and K 0 ← 0
3: for all sj ∈ S do
s.t. C1 : exp(Zin ) ≥ 0 ∀ui ∈ Ũ; bn ∈ B̃
X 4: Û ← {}
C2 : exp(Zin ) ≤PiT ot ∀ui ∈ Ũ 5: for all ui ∈ U do
0

bn ∈B̃ 6: if Lmin
j < Li ≤ Lmaxj then
  0 0

exp(Z n n
)h 7: U ← U \ui and Û ← Û ∪ ui
i i
C3 : Yin ≤ W log2 1 + P|Ũ |
 8: end if
σ 2 + q=i+1 exp(Zqn )hnq 9: end for
∀ui ∈ Ũ 10: Sort all |Û| users such that h̄1 ≥ h̄2 ≥ .... ≥ h̄|Û |
11: if |Û| ≤ M then
X
C4 : Ri = Yin ∀ui ∈ Ũ 0
12: K ← 1; k ← (K + K);
bn ∈B̃
13: for m = 1 to M do
We add a new constraint C3 in problem P3 by con- 14: Assign m-th user of Û in the m-th order
sidering (7) to show the inequality relation between both of the k -th NOMA cluster of C
sides of C3 in order to maintain the convexity for P3. 15: end for
Here, C3 does not invalidate the relation shown in (7) 16: else if (|Û| mod M ) == 0 then
when the solution
 is optimal in problem
 P3. The data rate 17: K ← (|Û|/M )
exp(Zin )hn 18: for k̂ = 1 to K do
from W log2 1 + P|Ũ |
i
, which is basically 0
σ 2 + q=i+1 exp(Zqn )hn
q 19: k ← (K + k̂);
the Shannon capacity formula, cannot be less than Yin but
20: for m = 1 to M do
equality is achieved when the solution is optimal.
21: Assign {k̂ + (m − 1)K}-th user of Û to the
Lemma 3. The objective function, C1, and C2 of problem P3 are m-th order of the k -th NOMA cluster of C
convex but C3 and C4 are not convex. C3 and C4 become convex 22: end for
when the SINR is high enough such that log(1 + SIN R) ≈ 23: end for
log(SIN R). 24: else
25: if M < MjT h thenk
Proof. The objective function of P3 is a sum of the expo-
26: K ← |Û|/M
nential functions, exp(Zin ), and is thus convex. Besides,
constraints C1 and C2 show the convexity because of the 27: M ← (M + 1)
exponential function or sum of the exponential functions. 28: Do same as in lines 18-23
Still, C3 is not convex because of log(1 + s) where s de- 29: else l m
notes the SINR of throughput. However, we can assume 30: K ← |Û|/M
log(1+s) ≈ log(s) when the SINR becomes high. Therefore, 31: Do same as in lines 18-23
C3 can be transformed as follows. 32: end if
−1
|P
Ũ | 33: end if
C3 : Yin ≤ −W log2 {σ 2 exp(−Zin )hn
i + exp(Zqn 34: K 0 ← (K 0 + K)
q=i+1
−1 35: end for
−Zin )hni hnq } ∀ui ∈ Ũ

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HOSSAIN AND ANSARI: NETWORK SLICING FOR NOMA ENABLED EDGE COMPUTING 7

Algorithm 2 Computing Resource Allocation Algorithm 3 Wireless Resource Allocation

0
1: V ← V 1: for all ui ∈ U do
2: for all ck ∈ C do 2: for all bn ∈ B do
3: for m = 1 to M do 3: pni = PiT ot
0
4: for all vl ∈ V do 4: end for
5: Assess Qi according to (1) 5: end for
0 0
k,m
6: C ← C , B ← B and B k ← {}
6: if Qi
k,m
≥ Lik,m then 0
0 0 7: for all bn ∈ B do
l,k,m
7: ψ = 1 and V ← V \vl 8: ck̃ = argmin(
P
Ti )
8: else ck ∈C 0 ui ∈U k
Di 0 0
n,k̃
9: Rimin
=L k,m 9: χ = 1, B ← B \bn , B k̃ ← B k̃ ∪ bn
−Q
k,mik,m ik,m 10: for all ui ∈ Unk̃ do
10: Riold ← Rimin p
k,m k,m 11: pni = k̃ i ∀bn ∈ Bk̃
|B |+1
11: Return to line 3 12: Assess Ri and Ei using (2) and (3), respectively
12: end if 13: Eiold ← Ei
13: end for 14: end for
14: end for 15: if Ri ≥ Rimin ∀ui ∈ U k̃ then
15: end for 16:
0 0
C ← C \ck̃
0
16: if V 6= ∅ then 17: end if
17: repeat 18: end for
18: x←0 19:
0
if B 6= ∅ then
19: for all ck ∈ C do 20: repeat
20: for all m ∈ M do 21: for all bn ∈ B do
0
0
21: Assess Qi using (1) for vl ∈ V 22: x←0
k,m
22: Qitemp ← Qik,m 23: for all ck ∈ C do
k,m
Di 24: for all ui ∈ U k do
temp k,m
23: Ri = temp 25: Assess Ei using (3)
Li −Q
k,m
k,m ik,m 26: Eitemp ← Ei
temp
24: if Riold − Ri ≥ x then 27: end Pfor
k,m temp
l,k,m
k,m
0 0 28: if ui ∈U k (Eiold − Ei ) ≥ x then
25: ψ = 1 and V ← V \vl n,k 0 0
k k
Di 29: χ = 1, B ← B \bn B ← B ∪ bn
,
k,m
P old temp
26: Rimin = L 30: x ← ui ∈U k (Ei − Ei )
k,m ik,m −Qik,m 31: for all ui ∈ Unk do
27: x ← Riold − Ritemp 32:
p
pni = |Bk i|+1 ∀bn ∈ Bk
k,m k,m
28: end if
33: Eiold ← Eitemp
29: end for
34: end for
30: end for
0 35: end if
31: until ∅ ← V
36: end for
32: end if
37: end for
0
38: until B 6= ∅
and last position of S , respectively. Then, we group users for 39: end if
slice sj by comparing the required latencies of the users as
shown from lines 5 to 9 of Algorithm 1. Here, we introduce
in a NOMA cluster to allocate the computing resources
another set, Û , to denote users assigned to a slice. At the next
(vCPUs). Here, we do not consider the slices for allocating
stage, we group users of Û into NOMA clusters inside slice
the computing resources as the NOMA clusters are formed
sj . For that purpose, we first sort users of Û in descending inside the slices. Now, we allocate the computing resources
order based on their channel gains, i.e., a stronger user according to the order of users in the NOMA clusters. At
is assigned a lower index in the order. Here, the channel first, we assign as much computing resources (vCPUs) as
gain of a user indicates the mean channel gain for all needed to a user until the computing time of the user
the frequency RBs allocated to the user because different becomes less than or equal to the required latency bound.
frequency RBs may have different channel gains for the The process is shown from lines 1 to 15 of Algorithm 2. Here,
same user. The clustering process for NOMA is depicted we denote Dik,m ,Lik,m , Qik,m and Rimin as the data size,
k,m
from lines 11 to 33 of Algorithm 1. For the clustering process, required latency, computing time and minimum required
we need to determine the total number of NOMA clusters data rate of user ui of the m-th order in NOMA cluster
in slice sj , which depends on both |Û| and M . There is only ck , respectively. Now, we determine the minimum required
one NOMA cluster if there are less than M users in a slice. data rate to satisfy the transmission time criteria of (4). Our
Besides, the number of users in every NOMA cluster of a next step assigns the remaining vCPUs by considering order
slice may not be uniform depending on |Û| and M . indexes of users in the NOMA clusters as presented from
In Algorithm 2, we consider the orders of the users lines 16 to 32 in Algorithm 2. In this case, we assign one

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8 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CLOUD COMPUTING

of the unused vCPUs at a time to a user by comparing the TABLE 2

required data rate before assigning the vCPU, i.e., Riold k,m
, Simulation Parameters
and the required data rate after assigning the vCPU, i.e., Parameter Value
Ritemp
k,m
, as shown in line 24 of Algorithm 2. We allocate a Radius of the cell 500 m
vCPU to a user if (Riold k,m
− Ritemp
k,m
) for assigning the vCPU Number of slices 3
exceeds or equals the term (Riold k,m
− Ritemp
k,m
) for the previous Ratio of users in the slices 1:1:1
vCPU assignment to the user. The assignment condition will Latency demand for slice 1 1-10 ms
improve the overall sum-rate of the system. Latency demand for slice 2 50-100 ms
For wireless resource allocation, we allocate the fre- Latency demand for slice 3 400-500 ms
Workload for slice 1 0.01-0.1 Giga cycles
quency RBs not to a particular user but to a NOMA cluster,
Workload for slice 2 0.1-0.5 Giga cycles
i.e., to all the users of the NOMA cluster. We assume that
Workload for slice 3 0.1-0.5 Giga cycles
the maximum transmission power of a user are equally
Data size for slice 1 4000-5000 bits
divided over all the assigned frequency RBs to the user and
Data size for slice 2 9000-10000 bits
we reduce the transmission power of a user after assigning
Data size for slice 3 5000-6000 bits
a new frequency RB to the user. However, the optimal
Total system bandwidth 10 MHz
allocation of the frequency RBs is essential to minimize the
Bandwidth of a frequency RB 180 KHz
total energy consumption of wireless communication. At
Number of frequency RBs 50
this point, we find a NOMA cluster ck among all the NOMA
Carrier frequency 1900 MHz
clusters, with at least one user ui whose data rate is less
Noise power spectral density -174 dBm/Hz
than Rimin , having the lowest total transmission time for
Maximum transmit power of a user 27 dBm
all the users in the NOMA cluster and assign a frequency Number of CPU socket in the MEC Server 1
RB bn ∈ B to NOMA cluster ck . We also denote the set Number of core per socket 64
of users and the set of assigned frequency RBs to NOMA Number of thread per core 2
cluster ck by U k and B k , respectively. Then, we update the Number of available vCPU 128
transmission power pn i for ∀ui ∈ U
k
and ∀bn ∈ B k of Base speed of each vCPU 3 GHz
NOMA cluster ck . The procedure is illustrated from lines
7 to 18 of Algorithm 3. We follow the procedure until all O(|U| log |U|+|U||V|) if |V| ≥ |B| or as O(|U| log |U|+|U||B|)
the users achieve their respective minimum required data if |V| < |B|.
rates. If there are any unused frequency RBs after satisfying
The computational complexity of the relaxed portion of
Ri ≥ Rimin for all users of all NOMA clusters, we assign problem P1 and problem P3 can be described as follows.
one frequency RB to a NOMA cluster at a time. In this
• Assigning |U| users in |S| slices: O(|U||S|).
case, we allocate a frequency RB to a NOMA cluster by
• Assigning M users from |U| users for clustering:
comparing the total energy consumption of all the users of
the O(|U|min{M,(|U |−M )} ).
P NOMAold cluster before assigning the frequency RB, i.e.,
• Assigning |V| vCPUs according to M orders of users in
ui ∈U k Ei and the total energy consumption of all the
users |C| NOMA clusters: O(|V||C|M ).
Pof the NOMAtemp
cluster after assigning the frequency RB,
• Assigning |B| frequency RBs among |C| NOMA clus-
i.e., ui ∈U k Ei . We allocate the frequency RB to NOMA
temp ters: O(|B||C|).
cluster ck if ui ∈U k (Eiold − Ei
P
) during assigning fre- p
temp • Computation of problem P3: O(log |U| + M ). Here,
quency RB is greater or equal to ui ∈U k (Eiold − Ei
P
) P3 is a convex problem and the time complexity of
of assigning the previous frequency RB. The remaining solving a convex problem using√interior point primal
frequency RBs allocation process is described from lines 19 dual method is generally O(log N ) where N denotes
to 39 of Algorithm 3. the size of the convex problem [26].
At this stage, we analyze the complexity of the SACRA
algorithm. The computational complexity of SACRA in- Now, the total complexity of the relaxed portion of P1
volves the following major parts of Algorithm 1, Algorithm and problem P3 can be summed upp as O(|U||S| +
2, and Algorithm 3. |U|min{M,(|U |−M )} +|V||C|M +|B||C|+log |U| p+ M ) which
can be simplified as O(|U||V|+|U|(|U |/2) +log |U|) because
• Assigning |U| users in |S| slices: O(|U| log |S|).
|C| ≤ |U|, M ≤ |U |, |C|M ≈ |U |, and the upper bound of
• Sorting |U| users before clustering: O(|U| log |U|).
min{M, (|U| − M )} is (|U|/2). We observe that the term
• Clustering M users into |C| NOMA clusters: O(|C|M ).
|U|(|U |/2) shows exponential time complexity for problem
• Assigning |V| vCPUs according to M orders of users in
P1 whereas the SACRA algorithm can solve the problem in
|C| NOMA clusters: O(|V||C|M ).
polynomial time; therefore, SACRA is able to solve problem
• Assigning |B| frequency RBs among |C| NOMA clus-
P1 in a reasonable time bound.
ters: O(|B||C|M ).
• Allocating transmission power for M users for each
of the |C| NOMA clusters for |B| frequency RBs: 5 S IMULATION R ESULTS
O(|B||C|M ). In this section, we assess a few features of our proposed
Thus, the total computational complexity of SACRA is scheme to evaluate its overall effectiveness. We consider
O(|U| log |S| + |U| log |U| + |C|M + |V||C|M + |B||C|M + an urban macrocell and the modified COST231 Hata ur-
|B||C|M ). We know that |S| ≤ |U| and |C|M ≈ |U|. ban propagation model as our proposed environment to
Therefore, we can simplify the total complexity to either as simulate the results [27]. For the sake of simulations, we

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HOSSAIN AND ANSARI: NETWORK SLICING FOR NOMA ENABLED EDGE COMPUTING 9

assume 10 MHz total system bandwidth with 50 frequency 24

RBs for the proposed model in most cases unless it is stated OMA
NOMA w/o NS (M Th=2)

Energy Efficiency (Mbit/Joule)

otherwise. The simulation parameters regarding frequency 20 NOMA w/ NS (MTh=2)
resources such as the total system bandwidth, the number NOMA w/ NS (MTh=3)
of frequency resources, carrier frequency, noise spectral den-
16
sity, etc. are adopted from 3GPP standards [28]. We consider
three slices for the users in the model where the ratios of
users in each slice are equal, i.e., each slice has the same 12
number of users. The users of the slices are assumed to be
distributed uniformly in the cell. We also consider that each 8
slice has a different range, i.e., the upper bound and lower
bound for the task completion time (latency demand), work-
load, and data size of the computing tasks for the users. The 4
12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36
parameters adopted for the simulations are summarized in Number of Users
Table 2. Besides, the terms ’energy efficiency’ and ’spectral Fig. 2. Comparison of EE by varying the number of users with fixed
efficiency’ are abbreviated as EE and SE, respectively. number of frequency RBs.
We use MATLAB R2019b to generate the simulation
results. We also use classical optimization solver CVX with (MT h = 3) as shown in Fig. 2. Note that we do not include
MATLAB to solve our transformed convex optimization the scheme of NOMA without NS (MT h = 3) in the result as
problem. In MATLAB, we create data randomly for latency, the trend for the scheme is similar to the scheme of NOMA
workload, and data size for users of each slice according to without NS (MT h = 2) and we adopt only orthogonal
a uniform distribution. We also apply Monte Carlo simula- frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) to represent
tions to generate our results. First, we demonstrate the effec- OMA. It is evident from Fig. 2 that the EE of both NOMA
tiveness of the SACRA algorithm used as an alternative for with NS (MT h = 3) and NOMA with NS (MT h = 2)
the optimization algorithm (Problem P1). Then, we describe schemes are better than the EE of other schemes while the
the advantages of our proposed scheme by comparing the NOMA with NS (MT h = 3) scheme surpasses other three
results of EE, SE, and fairness index. schemes in terms of EE. Besides, the differences among
We illustrate the effectiveness of the SACRA algorithm the EEs of NOMA with NS and both of NOMA without
in Fig. 1 by comparing the energy consumption for uplink NS schemes are significant as the NS technique reduces
transmission with MT h = 2 between SACRA and the the unnecessary allocation of frequency RBs for NOMA.
optimization algorithm (Problem P1). We vary the number Likewise, the EE of NOMA with NS scheme is remarkably
of users by keeping the number of frequency RBs fixed to better than that of OMA. However, the EEs of NOMA with
50 in this case. Fig. 1 shows that the values are almost the NS and NOMA without NS schemes decrease rapidly as
same for both algorithms when the number of users is small. compared to the EE of OMA when the number of users
Besides, the difference between the energy consumption for increases because of the increased intra-cell interference in
both algorithms does not vary much for a large number NOMA. However, the EEs of the NOMA with NS schemes
of users. The results show that SACRA is effective because are still higher than that of OMA as shown in Fig. 2.
it yields similar results with less time complexity than Figure 3 illustrates the variation in EE of our pro-
the optimization problem P1 (P1 is transformed to convex posed scheme by changing both the number of users with
problem P3 to solve). MT h = 2 and the number of frequency RBs. We choose
We evaluate the EE of our proposed MEC model by three different system bandwidth (5, 10, and 15 MHz) to
considering four different schemes: (i) OMA (Orthogonal reflect three different numbers of frequency RBs (25, 50, and
Multiple Access), (ii) NOMA without NS (MT h = 2), (iii) 75 RBs). The EE increases with the increase in the number
NOMA with NS (MT h = 2), and (iv) NOMA with NS of frequency RBs when the number of users is fixed. On
100 30
75 RBs
Optimization Algorithm
Wireless Energy Consumption (mJ)

50 RBs
Energy Efficiency (Mbit/Joule)

SACRA Algorithm 25
25 RBs
80

20
60
15

40
10

20 5

0 0
12 18 24 30 36 12 18 24 30 36
Number of Users Number of Users
Fig. 1. Comparison of wireless energy consumption between the opti- Fig. 3. Comparison of EE by varying the number of users over different
mization algorithm and the SACRA algorithm. numbers of frequency RBs.

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10
14
OMA
13 NOMA w/o NS (M Th=2)
Spectral Efficiency (bits/s/Hz)
NOMA w/ NS (MTh=2)
12
NOMA w/ NS (MTh=3)
11
10
9 and fairness index of the slices for two different combina-
8
7 same. Here, we assume (i) 128 vCPUs with 3 GHz CPU
6
5 similar pattern for both combinations of all three slices
12 15 18 21 24 27
Number of Users
Fig. 4. Comparison of SE by varying the number of users with a fixed
number of frequency RBs.
the contrary, the EE decreases when the number of users
increases for the same amount of frequency RBs. We observe
that the rate of increase in EE by varying the number of
frequency RBs for a fixed number of users is higher when
the number of users is smaller because users get more
frequency RBs. Likewise, the rate of increase in EE is also
higher for more frequency RBs when the number of users
decreases. Fig. 3 also shows that 36 users are served with
25 frequency RBs that cannot be achieved by OMA because
each user needs at least one frequency RB in OMA.
We also analyze the total link SE as shown in Fig. 4 and
compare the four schemes mentioned in Fig. 2. For this case,
we consider the 10MHz system bandwidth with 50 RBs. It
is self-explanatory that the SE of all four schemes increases
with the number of users, but the rates of increase for the
SE of both NOMA with NS (MT h = 2) and NOMA with NS
(MT h = 3) are higher than those of the other two schemes.
Note that when the number of users is large, there is no
notable advantage in EE, but the gain for the link SE makes
our proposed scheme better than the OMA and NOMA
without NS schemes.
At this point, we inspect the fairness for allocating the
computing resources among the users of the mentioned
three slices separately. For this purpose, we use Jain’s fair-
ness index. Denote U j and |U j | as the set of users and
total number of users of slice sj , respectively. Therefore, the
0.98
Slice 1, B c = 128, Q = 3 GHz
0.95
Slice 1, B c = 96, Q = 4 GHz
Slice 2, B c = 128, Q = 3 GHz
Slice 2, B c = 96, Q = 4 GHz
0.92
Fairness Index
Slice 3, B c = 128, Q = 3 GHz
Slice 3, B c = 96, Q = 4 GHz
0.89
0.86
0.83
0.8
12 15 18 21 24 27
Number of Users
Fig. 5. Jain’s fairness index of the slices for computing resource alloca-
tion by varying the number of vCPUs and the clock speed of vCPU.
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fairness index J j for allocating computing resources in slice
sj can be expressed as
 P|U j | 2
i=1 Qi
Jj = |U j | 2
. (9)
|U j | i=1 (Qi )
P
Fig. 5 shows the relationship between the number of users
tions of vCPUs with 3 GHz and 4 GHz as the base speeds
of vCPUs while keeping the total capacity of the server
speed and (ii) 96 vCPUs with 4 GHz with a total computing
speed of 384 GHz in the MEC server. The results reflect
30 33 36
but the fairness index for vCPUs with 4 GHz clock speed
becomes lower as compared to the ones with 3 GHz for
all three slices. The reason behind this phenomenon is that
a lower clock speed can reduce the redundant allocation
of computing resources for tasks with smaller workloads.
Moreover, the results show different fairness indexes for the
slices as the workload of the task of users varies across the
slices.
6 C ONCLUSION
In this work, we have demonstrated the effectiveness of NS
in a NOMA-enabled MEC network. Firstly, we have pro-
posed an NS technique to partition the users based on the
service requirements and allocate the computing and radio
resources efficiently for NOMA in the MEC network. Our
proposed scheme aims to reduce the transmission time as
well as the latency time of the MEC users by allocating more
radio resources. Then, we have developed an optimization
framework to minimize the energy consumption for uplink
transmission of NOMA as well as to increase the energy
efficiency and spectral efficiency of the MEC network. We
have also introduced a heuristic algorithm named SACRA
to lessen the complexity of the optimization problem. The
simulation results of our proposed work show significant
advantages as compared to two other benchmark schemes
such as OMA and NOMA without NS.
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Transactions on Cloud Computing
HOSSAIN AND ANSARI: NETWORK SLICING FOR NOMA ENABLED EDGE COMPUTING 11

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99–105, 2020.
in-Chief of IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine. His current re-
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Communications Magazine, vol. 55, no. 8, pp. 138–145, 2017.
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pp. 120–127, 2017.
numerous IEEE International Conferences/Symposia/Workshops. He is
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frequently invited to deliver keynote addresses, distinguished lectures,
ness constrained convex optimization of resource allocation for
tutorials, and invited talks. Some of his recognitions include several
wireless cellular and ad hoc networks,” in Proceedings.Twenty-First
excellence in teaching awards, a few best paper awards, the NCE Ex-
Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications
cellence in Research Award, several ComSoc TC technical recognition
Societies, vol. 2, 2002, pp. 477–486.
awards, the NJ Inventors Hall of Fame Inventor of the Year Award,
[27] Spatial channel model for Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)
the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award, Purdue University Outstanding
simulations, 3GPP TR 25.996 version 15.0.0 Release 15, 3GPP, 2018,.
Electrical and Computer Engineering Award, the NCE 100 Medal, NJIT
[28] LTE; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); User
Excellence in Research Prize and Medal, and designation as a COM-
Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception, 3GPP TS 36.101
SOC Distinguished Lecturer. He has also been granted more than 40
version 14.7.0 Release 14, 3GPP, 2018,.
U.S. patents.

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