Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) has emerged as a novel, general, and powerful framework for the design and optimization of non-orthogonal transmission, multiple access (MA), and interference management strategies for future wireless networks. Through information and communication theoretic analysis, RSMA has been shown to be optimal (from a Degrees-of-Freedom region perspective) in several transmission scenarios. Compared to the conventional MA strategies used in 5G, RSMA enables spectral efficiency (SE), energy efficiency (EE), coverage, user fairness, reliability, and quality of service (QoS) enhancements for a wide range of network loads (including both underloaded and overloaded regimes) and user channel conditions. Furthermore, it enjoys a higher robustness against imperfect channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) and entails lower feedback overhead and complexity. Despite its great potential to fundamentally change the physical (PHY) layer and media access control (MAC) layer of wireless communication networks, RSMA is still confronted with many challenges on the road towards standardization. In this paper, we present the first comprehensive overview on RSMA by providing a survey of the pertinent state-of-the-art research, detailing its architecture, taxonomy, and various appealing applications, as well as comparing with existing MA schemes in terms of their overall frameworks, performance, and complexities. An in-depth discussion of future RSMA research challenges is also provided to inspire future research on RSMA-aided wireless communication for beyond 5G systems.
We consider globally optimal precoder design for rate splitting multiple access in Gaussian multiple-input single-output downlink channels with respect to weighted sum rate and energy efficiency maximization. The proposed algorithm solves an instance of the joint multicast and unicast beamforming problem and includes multicast- and unicast-only beamforming as special cases. Numerical results show that it outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of numerical stability and converges almost twice as fast.
In this paper, we investigate rate splitting multiple access (RSMA) aided mobile edge computing (MEC) in a cognitive radio network. We propose a RSMA scheme that enables the secondary user to offload tasks to the MEC server utilizing dynamic rate splitting without deteriorating the primary user's offloading. The expressions for the optimal rate splitting parameters that maximize the achievable rate for the secondary user and successful computation probability of the proposed RSMA scheme are derived in closed-form. We formulate a problem to maximize successful computation probability by jointly…
Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) for multi-user downlink operates by splitting the message for each user equipment (UE) into a private message and a set of common messages, which are simultaneously transmitted by means of superposition coding. The RSMA scheme can enhance throughput and connectivity as compared to conventional multiple access techniques by optimizing the rate-splitting ratios along with the corresponding downlink beamforming vectors. This work examines the impact of erroneous channel state information (CSI) on the performance of RSMA in cell-free multiple-input multiple-ou…
Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) has emerged as a flexible and powerful framework for wireless networks. In this paper, we investigate the user fairness of downlink multi-antenna RSMA in short-packet communications with/without cooperative (user-relaying) transmission. We design optimal time allocation and linear precoders that maximize the Max-Min Fairness (MMF) rate with Finite Blocklength (FBL) constraints. The relation between the MMF rate and blocklength of RSMA, as well as the impact of cooperative transmission are investigated for a wide range of network loads. Numerical results de…
Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA), relying on linearly precoded rate-splitting (RS) at the transmitter and successive interference cancellation (SIC) at the receivers has emerged as a powerful and flexible multiple access strategy for downlink multi-user multi-antenna systems. Through message splitting and the transmission of both common and private messages, RSMA has been demonstrated to be a robust interference management strategy which enables partially decoding interference and partially treating interference as noise. In this work, we consider the application of RSMA in a multigroup m…
Energy efficiency (EE) problem has become an important and major issue in satellite communications. In this paper, we study the beamforming design strategy to maximize the EE of rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) for the multibeam satellite communications by considering imperfect channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). We propose an expectation-based robust beamforming algorithm against the imperfect CSIT scenario. By combining the successive convex approximation (SCA) with the penalty function transformation, the nonconvex EE maximization problem can be solved in an iterative …
Rate Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) is a code division multi-access technique which can achieve any base in the multi-access capacity polymatroid without high coding complexity or synchronization among the transmitting users. In this paper, a practical algorithm is proposed to compute the splitting coefficients and the successive decoding order of virtual users in Gaussian RSMA transmission. Based on the proposed algorithm, a deterministic mapping is built between the system parameters and the objective rate tuple for RSMA. As a result, the application of the RSMA technique becomes possible …
This work studies the optimization of rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) transmission technique for a cloud radio access network (C-RAN) downlink system. Main idea of RSMA is to split the message for each user equipment (UE) to private and common messages and perform superposition coding at transmitters so as to enable flexible decoding at receivers. It is challenging to implement ideal RSMA scheme particularly when there are many UEs, since the number of common signals exponentially increases with the number of UEs. An efficient RSMA scheme is hence proposed that uses a linearly increasing…
Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA), relying on multi-antenna Rate-Splitting (RS) techniques, has emerged as a powerful strategy for multi-user multi-antenna systems. In this paper, RSMA is introduced as a unified multiple access for multi-antenna radar-communication (RadCom) system, where the base station has a dual communication and radar capability to simultaneously communicate with downlink users and probe detection signals to azimuth angles of interests. Using RS, messages are split into common and private parts, then encoded into common and private streams before being precoded and tra…
Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) has recently appeared as a powerful technique for improving the downlink performance of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. By flexibly managing interference, RSMA can deliver high spectral and energy efficiency, as well as robustness to imperfect channel state information (CSI). In another development, an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) has emerged as a method to control the wireless environment through software-configurable, near-passive, sub-wavelength reflecting elements. This article presents the potential of synergy between IRS and RS…
This paper studies the beamforming design problem to achieve max-min fairness (MMF) in multibeam satellite communications. Contrary to the conventional linear precoding (NoRS) that relies on fully treating any residual interference as noise, we consider a novel multibeam multicast beamforming strategy based on Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA). RSMA relies on linearly precoded ratesplitting (RS) at the transmitter and Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) at receivers to enable a flexible framework for non-orthogonal transmission and robust interbeam interference management. Aiming at…
This letter is the first part of a three-part tutorial focusing on rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) for 6G. As Part I of the tutorial, the letter presents the basics of RSMA and its applications in light of 6G. To begin with, we first delineate the design principle and basic transmission frameworks of downlink and uplink RSMA. We then illustrate the applications of RSMA for addressing the challenges of various potential enabling technologies and use cases, consequently making it a promising next generation multiple access (NGMA) scheme for future networks such as 6G and beyond. We briefly…
In this letter, we investigate Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) for an uplink communication system with finite blocklength. Considering a two-user Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) Multiple Access Channel (MAC), we study the impact of Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), blocklength, power allocation and target rate on the error probability performance of RSMA where one user message is split. We demonstrate that RSMA can improve the error probability performance significantly compared to Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) and RSMA can have a larger rate region than NOMA.
In this paper, we consider a multi-antenna dual-functional radar-communication (DFRC) satellite system, where the satellite has a dual capability to simultaneously communicate with downlink satellite users (SUs) and probe detection signals to a moving target. To design an appropriate DFRC waveform, we investigate the rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA)-assisted DFRC beamfoming, and employ the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) as a radar performance metric, which represents a lower bound on the variance of unbiased estimators. The beamforming is optimized to minimize the CRB subject to quality of servic…
A novel rate splitting space division multiple access (SDMA) scheme based on grouped code index modulation (GrCIM) is proposed for the sixth generation (6G) downlink transmission. The proposed RSMA-GrCIM scheme transmits information to multiple user equipments (UEs) through the space division multiple access (SDMA) technique, and exploits code index modulation for rate splitting. Since the CIM scheme conveys information bits via the index of the selected Walsh code and binary phase shift keying (BPSK) signal, our RSMA scheme transmits the private messages of each user through the indices, and …
This letter is the third part of a three-part tutorial that focuses on rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) for 6G. As Part III of the tutorial, this letter provides an overview of integrating RSMA and reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS). We first introduce two potential PHY layer techniques, namely, RSMA and RIS, including the need for integrating RSMA with RIS and how they could help each other. Next, we provide a general model of an RIS-aided RSMA system and summarize some key performance metrics. Then, we discuss the major advantages of RIS-aided RSMA networks, and illustrate the rat…
Dual-Functional Radar-Communication systems enhance the benefits of communications and radar sensing by jointly implementing these on the same hardware platform and using the common RF resources. An important and latest concern to be addressed in designing such Dual-Functional Radar-Communication systems is maximizing the energy-efficiency. In this paper, we consider a Dual-Functional Radar-Communication system performing simultaneous multi-user communications and radar sensing, and investigate the energy-efficiency behaviour with respect to active transmission elements. Specifically, we formu…
In this letter, we study a rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA)-based intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-aided multi-user multiple-input single-output (MISO) secure communication system with a potential eavesdropper (Eve). Aiming to maximize the minimum secrecy rate (SR) among all the legitimate users (LUs), a design problem for jointly optimizing the transmit beamforming with artificial noise (AN), the IRS beamforming, and the secrecy common rate allocation is formulated. Since the design problem is highly non-convex with coupled optimization variables, we develop a computationally efficie…
Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) is an emerging flexible and powerful multiple access for downlink multiantenna networks. In this paper, we introduce the concept of RSMA into short-packet downlink communications. We design optimal linear precoders that maximize the sum rate with Finite Blocklength (FBL) constraints. The relations between the sum rate and blocklength of RSMA are investigated for a wide range of network loads and user deployments. Numerical results demonstrate that RSMA can achieve the same transmission rate as Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) and Space Division Multip…
This letter is the second part of a three-part tutorial focusing on rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) for 6G. As Part II of the tutorial, this letter addresses the interplay between RSMA and integrated radar sensing and communications (ISAC). In particular, we introduce a general RSMAassisted ISAC architecture, where the ISAC platform has a dual capability to simultaneously communicate with downlink users and probe detection signals to a moving target. Then, the metrics of radar sensing and communications are respectively introduced, followed by a RSMA-assisted ISAC waveform design example…
Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) is a general multiple access scheme for downlink multi-antenna systems embracing both classical spatial division multiple access and more recent non-orthogonal multiple access. Finding a linear precoding strategy that maximizes the sum spectral efficiency of RSMA is a challenging yet significant problem. In this paper, we put forth a novel precoder design framework that jointly finds the linear precoders for the common and private messages for RSMA. Our approach is first to approximate the non-smooth minimum function part in the sum spectral efficiency of …
This paper investigates the problem of resource allocation for joint communication and radar sensing system on rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system. UAV simultaneously communicates with multiple users and probes signals to targets of interest to exploit cooperative sensing ability and achieve substantial gains in size, cost and power consumption. By virtue of using linearly precoded rate splitting at the transmitter and successive interference cancellation at the receivers, RSMA is introduced as a promising paradigm to manage interference as well as …
Rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) is a promising technique for downlink multi-antenna communications owning to its capability of enhancing the system performance in a wide range of network loads, user deployments and channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) inaccuracies. In this paper, we investigate the achievable rate performance of RSMA in a multi-user multiple-input single-output (MU-MISO) network where only slow-varying statistical channel state information (CSI) is available at the transmitter. RSMA-based statistical beamforming and the split of the common stream is optimi…
Rate-splitting (RS) has recently been recognized as a promising physical-layer technique for multi-antenna broadcast channels (BC). Due to its ability to partially decode the interference and partially treat the remaining interference as noise, RS is an enabler for a powerful multiple access, namely rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA), that has been shown to achieve higher spectral efficiency (SE) and energy efficiency (EE) than both space division multiple access (SDMA) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in a wide range of user deployments and network loads. As SE maximization and EE…
In order to efficiently cope with the high throughput, reliability, heterogeneity of Quality-of-Service (QoS), and massive connectivity requirements of future 6G multi-antenna wireless networks, multiple access and multiuser communication system design need to depart from conventional interference management strategies, namely fully treat interference as noise (as commonly used in 4G/5G, MU-MIMO, CoMP, Massive MIMO, millimetre wave MIMO) and fully decode interference (as in Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access, NOMA). This paper is dedicated to the theory and applications of a more general and power…
The cellular Internet-of-Things has resulted in the deployment of millions of machine-type communication (MTC) devices. These massive number of devices must communicate with a single gNodeB (gNB) via the random access channel (RACH) mechanism. However, existing RACH mechanisms are inefficient when dealing with such large number of devices. To address this issue, we propose the rate-splitting random access (RSRA) mechanism, which uses rate splitting and decoding in rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) to improve RACH success rates. The proposed mechanism divides the message into common and pri…
This paper investigates the sum spectral efficiency maximization problem in downlink multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with low-resolution quantizers at an access point (AP) and users. In particular, we consider rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) to enhance spectral efficiency by offering opportunities to boost achievable degrees of freedom. Optimizing RSMA precoders, however, is highly challenging due to the minimum rate constraint when determining the rate of the common stream. The quantization errors coupled with the precoders further make the problem more complicat…
Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) is a flexible and robust multiple access scheme for downlink multi-antenna wireless networks. RSMA relies on Rate-Splitting (RS) at the transmitter and Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) at the receivers. In this work, we study the performance of RSMA in the scenarios related with the important core services of New Radio (NR) and 6G, namely, enhanced Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency (URLLC) and enhanced Mobile Broadband Communications (eMBB). We present the optimal system designs employing RSMA that target short-packet and low-latency communications …
Considering a two-user multi-antenna Broadcast Channel, this paper shows that linearly precoded Rate-Splitting (RS) with Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) receivers is a flexible framework for non-orthogonal transmission that generalizes, and subsumes as special cases, four seemingly different strategies, namely Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) based on linear precoding, Orthogonal Multiple Access (OMA), Non- Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) based on linearly precoded superposition coding with SIC, and physical-layer multicasting. The paper studies the sum-rate and shows analyti…
UAVs are capable of improving the performance of next generation wireless systems. Specifically, UAVs can be exploited as aerial base-stations (UAV-BS) for supporting legitimate ground users in remote uncovered areas or in environments temporarily requiring high capacity. However, their communication performance is prone to both channel estimation errors and potential eavesdropping. Hence, we investigate the effective secrecy throughput of the UAV-aided uplink, in which rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) is employed by each legitimate user for secure transmission under the scenario of massi…
This paper studies the precoder design problem of achieving max-min fairness (MMF) amongst users in multigateway multibeam satellite communication systems with feeder link interference. We propose a beamforming strategy based on a newly introduced transmission scheme known as rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA). RSMA relies on multi-antenna rate-splitting at the transmitter and successive interference cancellation (SIC) at the receivers, such that the intended message for a user is split into a common part and a private part and the interference is partially decoded and partially treated as …
This work focuses on the promising Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) and its beamforming design problem to achieve max-min fairness (MMF) among multiple co-channel multicast groups with imperfect channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). Contrary to the conventional linear precoding (NoRS) that relies on fully treating any residual interference as noise, we consider a novel multigroup multicast beamforming strategy based on RSMA. RSMA relies on linearly precoded Rate-Splitting (RS) at the transmitter and Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) at the receivers, and has recent…
Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) has emerged as a powerful multiple access, interference management, and multi-user strategy for next generation communication systems. In this tutorial, we depart from the orthogonal multiple access (OMA) versus non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) discussion held in 5G, and the conventional multi-user linear precoding approach used in space-division multiple access (SDMA), multi-user and massive MIMO in 4G and 5G, and show how multi-user communications and multiple access design for 6G and beyond should be intimately related to the fundamental problem of…
We consider the multiple-access communication problem in a distributed setting for both the additive white Gaussian noise channel and the discrete memoryless channel. We propose a scheme called Distributed Rate Splitting to achieve the optimal rates allowed by information theory in a distributed manner. In this scheme, each real user creates a number of virtual users via a power/rate splitting mechanism in the M-user Gaussian channel or via a random switching mechanism in the M-user discrete memoryless channel. At the receiver, all virtual users are successively decoded. Compared with other mu…
In this paper, we focus on the optimal beamformer design for rate splitting multiple access (RSMA)-aided multipleinput single-output (MISO) visible light communication (VLC) networks. First, we derive the closed-form lower bounds of the achievable rate of each user, which are the first theoretical bound of achievable rate for RSMA-aided VLC networks. Second, we investigate the optimal beamformer design for RSMA-aided VLC networks to maximize the sum rate under the optical and electrical power constraints. In addition, we show that the proposed RSMA-aided networks can achieve superior performan…
Rate Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) has recently emerged as a promising technique to enhance the transmission rate for multiple access networks. Unlike conventional multiple access schemes, RSMA requires splitting and transmitting messages at different rates. The joint optimization of the power allocation and rate control at the transmitter is challenging given the uncertainty and dynamics of the environment. Furthermore, securing transmissions in RSMA networks is a crucial problem because the messages transmitted can be easily exposed to adversaries. This work first proposes a stochastic op…
Dual-Functional Radar-Communication (DFRC) system is an essential and promising technique for beyond 5G. In this work, we propose a powerful and unified multi-antenna DFRC transmission framework, where an additional radar sequence is transmitted apart from communication streams to enhance radar beampattern matching capability, and Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) is adopted to better manage the interference. RSMA relies on multi-antenna Rate-Splitting (RS) with Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) receivers, and the split and encoding of messages into common and private streams. We …
This work studies the joint beamforming design problem of achieving max-min rate fairness in a satellite-terrestrial integrated network (STIN) where the satellite provides wide coverage to multibeam multicast satellite users (SUs), and the terrestrial base station (BS) serves multiple cellular users (CUs) in a densely populated area. Both the satellite and BS operate in the same frequency band. Since rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) has recently emerged as a promising strategy for non-orthogonal transmission and robust interference management in multi-antenna wireless networks, we present…
In this paper, we propose a cognitive radio-inspired rate-splitting multiple access (CR-RSMA) scheme to assist semi-grant-free (SGF) transmissions in which a grant-based user (GBU) and multiple grant-free users (GFUs) access the base-station (BS) by sharing the same resource block. Using the cognitive radio principle, the GBU and admitted GFU are treated as the primary and secondary users, respectively, and rate-splitting is applied at the admitted GFU to realize SGF transmissions. The admitted GFU's transmit power allocation, target rate allocation, and successive interference cancellation de…
As a promising downlink multiple access scheme, Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) has been shown to achieve superior spectral and energy efficiencies compared with Space-Division Multiple Access (SDMA) and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) in downlink single-cell systems. By relying on linearly precoded rate-splitting at the transmitter and successive interference cancellation at the receivers, RSMA has the capability of partially decoding the interference and partially treating the interference as noise, and therefore copes with a wide range of user deployments and network loads. In t…
Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) is a robust multiple access scheme for downlink multi-antenna wireless networks. In this work, we investigate a novel application of RSMA for joint communications and jamming with a Multi-Carrier (MC) waveform in Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) Broadcast Channel (BC). Our aim is to simultaneously communicate with Information Users (IU) and jam Adversarial Users (AU) to disrupt their communications in a setting where all users perform broadband communications by MC waveforms in their respective networks. We consider the practical setting of imperfect CS…
Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) is a general and powerful multiple access framework for downlink multi-antenna systems, and contains Space-Division Multiple Access (SDMA) and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) as special cases. RSMA relies on linearly precoded rate-splitting with Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) to decode part of the interference and treat the remaining part of the interference as noise. Recently, RSMA has been shown to outperform both SDMA and NOMA rate-wise in a wide range of network loads (underloaded and overloaded regimes) and user deployments (with a d…
