Joint User Association and Resource Allocation for NOMA-Based MEC: A Matching-Coalition Approach

Mobile edge computing (MEC) is regarded as a key technology to reduce the network pressure from the computing-intensive and latency-sensitive applications in future wireless networks. Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) can achieve high spectral efficiency by allowing multiple users to reuse the same resources. In this paper, we consider a novel NOMA-based MEC system to improve the energy efficiency during task offloading process. With multiple access points (APs) being deployed, the optimization problem is joint user association and resource allocation while the objective is to minimize the total energy consumption of all users subject to the task execution deadline. We formulate the problem as a many-to-one matching game with externality due to the co-channel interference among users, and then, propose a matching-coalition approach coupled with computing resource allocation and power control. Simulation results show that the proposed approach can efficiently reduce the total energy consumption in comparison to other simplified approaches.