Tactile Internet for Smart Communities in 5G: An Insight for NOMA-Based Solutions

In the last few years, there has been an exponential increase in the deployment of 5G-based test beds across the globe with an aim to reduce the latency for accessing various applications. The integration of generic services such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type communications (mMTC), critical machine-type communication (cMTC), and ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) can improve the performance of 5G-based applications. This service heterogeneity can be achieved by network slicing for an optimized resource allocation and an emerging technology, Tactile Internet, to achieve low latency, high bandwidth, service availability, and end-to-end security. In this paper, we discuss the application-specific nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA)-based communication architecture for Tactile Internet which allows nonorthogonal resource sharing from a pool of eMBB, mMTC, cMTC, and URLLC devices to a shared base station. We summarize various variants of NOMA and their suitability for future low latency Tactile-Internet-based applications.