Performance Analysis of UAV-Enabled Multi-Pair Massive MIMO-NOMA Systems with Mixed-ADCs/DACs

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) enables multiplexing of limited spectrum resources. Combined with unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) relay-based massive multiple-input multiple-out (MIMO) systems, NOMA has great potential to improve spectral efficiency(SE). Given the intricate design considerations of massive MIMO systems, a notable challenge arises as the system's power consumption escalates with heightened quantization accuracy of analog-to-digital converters/digital-to-analog converters (ADCs/DACs). To reconcile this trade-off between quantization precision and power consumption, a mixed ADCs/DACs architecture emerges as a promising solution. In this paper, we consider an UAV-enabled massive MIMO-NOMA relay system with mixed-resolution ADCs/DACs, where the UAV provide services for multi-pair ground users (GUs) at a fixed hover altitude. By employing maximum ratio combining/maximum ratio transmission (MRC/MRT), the approximate closed-form expressions for spectral efficiency/energy efficiency (SE/EE) are derived under the conditions of complete and incomplete channel state information(CSI) and imperfect serial interference elimination(SIC).