RSMA-enabled satellite-terrestrial communication networks: Performance analysis

Abstract

This paper investigates the performance of a satellite-terrestrial communication system employing rate-splitting multiple access (RSMA) to accommodate multiple users. The study focuses on assessing the system’s ergodic sum rate and symbol error rate (SER) under shadowed-Rician fading conditions. By deriving closed-form expressions, we analyze the influence of various power allocation strategies on overall system performance. The results, substantiated by numerical simulations, demonstrate that RSMA yields significant improvements over conventional non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) with respect to spectral efficiency and interference management. These findings offer valuable insights for the development of more reliable and efficient satellite-terrestrial networks.