Performance Analysis of UAV-NOMA System: A Study on Modulation, BER, and PAPR Reduction Using μ-law Companding

(UAVs) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles hold significant promise in enhancing wireless connectivity, especially for wireless networks of 5 G and beyond 5 G (B5G). UAVs can function as aerial base stations (BS), providing flexible and efficient wireless coverage. This article presents the integration of power-domain Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) into a UAV-based aerial BS in a two-user scenario, where the performance of Bit Error Rate (BER) of the near and far users is analyzed for various modulation schemes. With the goal to obtain UAV NOMA, Peak average to power ratio (PAPR) is thought to be a major concern. Until now, no research has been done on PAPR lowering techniques in UAV NOMA. In that view PAPR is evaluated for 16-QAM in UAV-NOMA systems, incorporating different signal companding techniques. Among these, μ-law companding—a widely adopted method—is simulated for various μ values, and its impact on performance is assessed. Furthermore, a Modified μ-law (MML) companding technique is proposed, demonstrating superior performance compared to the traditional −-law companding approach.