“…More involved network configurations have also been considered recently, e.g., system models encompassing relays (see [ 22 ] and references therein for an exhaustive literature survey). Relaying may either appear in the form of dedicated network elements, e.g., [ 22 , 23 ] or, alternatively, by means of user cooperation, e.g., [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. In this framework, focusing on power-domain NOMA with SIC, the notion of virtual full-duplex (VFD) relaying [ 28 ] has gained particular interest as means to circumvent the implementation challenges of true full-duplex operation; see, e.g., [ 22 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”