Finite-Blocklength and Error-Exponent Analyses for LDPC Codes in Point-to-Point and Multiple Access Communication

This paper applies error-exponent and dispersionstyle analyses to derive finite-blocklength achievability bounds for low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes over the point-to-point channel (PPC) and multiple access channel (MAC). The errorexponent analysis applies Gallager’s error exponent to bound achievable symmetrical and asymmetrical rates in the MAC. The dispersion-style analysis begins with a generalization of the random coding union (RCU) bound from random code ensembles with i.i.d. codewords to random code ensembles in which codewords may be statistically dependent; this generalization is useful since the codewords of random linear codes such as LDPC codes are dependent. Application of the RCU bound yields finiteblocklength error bounds and asymptotic achievability results for both i.i.d. random codes and LDPC codes. For discrete, memoryless channels, these results show that LDPC codes achieve first- and second-order performance that is optimal for the PPC and identical to the best prior results for the MAC

Random Access Channel Coding in the Finite Blocklength Regime

Consider a random access communication scenario over a channel whose operation is defined for any number of possible transmitters. As in the model recently introduced by Polyanskiy for the Multiple Access Channel (MAC) with a fixed, known number of transmitters, the channel is assumed to be invariant to permutations on its inputs, and all active transmitters employ identical encoders. Unlike the Polyanskiy model, in the proposed scenario, neither the transmitters nor the receiver knows which transmitters are active. We refer to this agnostic communication setup as the Random Access Channel (RAC). Scheduled feedback of a finite number of bits is used to synchronize the transmitters. The decoder is tasked with determining from the channel output the number of active transmitters, k, and their messages but not which transmitter sent which message. The decoding procedure occurs at a time n_t depending on the decoder’s estimate, t, of the number of active transmitters, k, thereby achieving a rate that varies with the number of active transmitters. Single-bit feedback at each time n_i, i ≤ t, enables all transmitters to determine the end of one coding epoch and the start of the next. The central result of this work demonstrates the achievability on a RAC of performance that is first-order optimal for the MAC in operation during each coding epoch. While prior multiple access schemes for a fixed number of transmitters require 2^k - 1 simultaneous threshold rules, the proposed scheme uses a single threshold rule and achieves the same dispersion

Gaussian Multiple and Random Access in the Finite Blocklength Regime

This paper presents finite-blocklength achievabil- ity bounds for the Gaussian multiple access channel (MAC) and random access channel (RAC) under average-error and maximal-power constraints. Using random codewords uniformly distributed on a sphere and a maximum likelihood decoder, the derived MAC bound on each transmitter’s rate matches the MolavianJazi-Laneman bound (2015) in its first- and second-order terms, improving the remaining terms to ½ log n/n + O(1/n) bits per channel use. The result then extends to a RAC model in which neither the encoders nor the decoder knows which of K possible transmitters are active. In the proposed rateless coding strategy, decoding occurs at a time n t that depends on the decoder’s estimate t of the number of active transmitters k. Single-bit feedback from the decoder to all encoders at each potential decoding time n_i, i ≤ t, informs the encoders when to stop transmitting. For this RAC model, the proposed code achieves the same first-, second-, and third-order performance as the best known result for the Gaussian MAC in operation

Gaussian Multiple and Random Access in the Finite Blocklength Regime

This paper presents finite-blocklength achievabil- ity bounds for the Gaussian multiple access channel (MAC) and random access channel (RAC) under average-error and maximal-power constraints. Using random codewords uniformly distributed on a sphere and a maximum likelihood decoder, the derived MAC bound on each transmitter’s rate matches the MolavianJazi-Laneman bound (2015) in its first- and second-order terms, improving the remaining terms to ½ log n/n + O(1/n) bits per channel use. The result then extends to a RAC model in which neither the encoders nor the decoder knows which of K possible transmitters are active. In the proposed rateless coding strategy, decoding occurs at a time n t that depends on the decoder’s estimate t of the number of active transmitters k. Single-bit feedback from the decoder to all encoders at each potential decoding time n_i, i ≤ t, informs the encoders when to stop transmitting. For this RAC model, the proposed code achieves the same first-, second-, and third-order performance as the best known result for the Gaussian MAC in operation