Asymptotic analysis of sum-rate under SIC

Abstract: Limitation of the cost of coordination and contention among a large number of nodes calls for grant-free approaches, exploiting physical layer techniques to solve collisions. Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) is becoming a key building block of multiple access channel receiver, in an effort to support massive Internet of Things (IoT). In this paper, we explore the large-scale performance of SIC in a theoretical framework. A general model of a SIC receiver is stated for a shared channel with $n$ transmitters. The asymptotic sum-rate performance is characterized as $n \rightarrow \infty$, for a suitably scaled target Signal to Noise Interference Ratio (SNIR). The probability distribution of the number of correctly decoded packets is shown to tend to a deterministic distribution asymptotically for large values of $n$. The asymptotic analysis is carried out for any probability distribution of the wireless channel gain, assuming that the average received power level is same for all nodes, through power control.