Performance Analysis of IRS-Aided NOMA Communications in the Presence of Imperfect SIC

The intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is expected to be a promising technique to achieve a robust spectrum and energy efficiency. This paper investigates the advantages of IRS in enhancing performance of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communications in the presence of imperfect successive-interference-cancellation (SIC) and phase distortion (PD) caused by a non-ideal IRS. Specifically, average achievable rates (AARs) of the users are the target performance metrics. For performance evaluation, the probabilistic characterizations of signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios (SINRs) at the users are studied. These results allow for deriving the theoretical formulas for the AAR. Monte Carlo simulations are adopted to verify the accuracy of these theoretical results. The numerical results show the effects of various key system parameters, such as source transmit power, NOMA power allocation (PA) factors, reflecting tile (RTs) allocation, the SIC imperfection factor, and the PD factor, on the AAR that provide useful information for the system's design.