Fractional Doppler Effects on OTFS-NOMA HetNets With Mixed-Mobility Users

Heterogeneous networks (HetNets) are considered a promising approach to meet the increasing throughput requirements of 6G vehicular networks. The integration of orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has demonstrated significant improvements in the reliability of wireless networks under mixed-mobility. Applying this combination in HetNets helps accommodate high-mobility (HM) and low-mobility (LM) users while effectively addressing high Doppler shifts. However, in practical scenarios, fractional Doppler arises from the mismatch between the actual Doppler frequency and its discrete representation on the DD grid. This effect leads to inter-Doppler interference (IDI) that can significantly degrade detection performance. In our work, we investigate the effect of fractional Doppler on OTFS-NOMA systems under mixed mobility conditions and analyze how NOMA power allocation can be optimized to mitigate the resulting performance degradation. OTFS modulation is used for the HM user, while the LM users’ symbols are embedded in the time-frequency (TF) domain. Minimum mean square error (MMSE) detection is utilized under multiple assumptions regarding the knowledge of the IDI parameters. We investigate the impact of optimizing NOMA power allocation on the overall system performance. The purpose of this work is to analyze the impact of fractional Doppler in OTFS-NOMA systems in HetNets rather than proposing new detection algorithms for OTFS modulation. The results validate the significant performance impact of fractional Doppler on the system and demonstrate the role of power allocation in mitigating IDI effects in terms of spectral efficiency and number of users served.