Quantum-Native Resource Allocation for NOMA-Enabled NTNs: A Neutral Atom Approach

Abstract

Resource management in next-generation wireless communication networks poses substantial computational challenges due to its combinatorial structure and mixed discrete–continuous nature. Many such problems are NP-hard (non-deterministic polynomial-time hard), rendering conventional optimization techniques computationally demanding and often impractical for large-scale deployments. Recent advances in neutral atom quantum computing have demonstrated innovative potential for solving combinatorial optimization problems through graph-based formulations. However, their application to wireless resource management remains largely unexplored. This paper investigates the use of neutral atom quantum processors to address the maximum access problem (MAP) in uplink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)-enabled non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). The MAP is first formulated as a large-scale mixed-integer optimization problem that jointly captures admission control, user clustering, channel assignment, and power allocation under signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) constraints, while accounting for imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC) at the receiver. To enable hardware-aligned quantum implementation, the problem is transformed into a maximum independent set (MIS) problem over a conflict graph. The resulting graph structure is compatible with the operational principles of neutral atom quantum hardware, allowing direct mapping onto Rydberg atom arrays via blockade-induced interactions. Numerical evaluations assess admission performance, graph complexity, and computational behavior, highlighting the effectiveness of the proposed neutral atom-based framework for solving such graph-theoretic problems. By integrating quantum combinatorial optimization into wireless resource management, this work demonstrates a hardware-aligned mapping for NOMA-enabled NTN resource allocation and provides proof-of-concept validation on a current neutral atom processor, showcasing the potential of neutral atom quantum processors for addressing optimization problems in future 6G and beyond networks.