The Gaussian MAC with Conferencing Encoders

We derive the capacity region of the Gaussian version of Willems's two-user MAC with conferencing encoders. This setting differs from the classical MAC in that, prior to each transmission block, the two transmitters can communicate with each other over noise-free bit-pipes of given capacities. The derivation requires a new technique for proving the optimality of Gaussian input distributions in certain mutual information maximizations under a Markov constraint. We also consider a Costa-type extension of the Gaussian MAC with conferencing encoders. In this extension, the channel can be described as a two-user MAC with Gaussian noise and Gaussian interference where the interference is known non-causally to the encoders but not to the decoder. We show that as in Costa's setting the interference sequence can be perfectly canceled, i.e., that the capacity region without interference can be achieved.Comment: 5 pages, To be presented at ISIT 2008 in Toront

Multiple Access Channels with Cooperative Encoders and Channel State Information

The two-user Multiple Access Channel (MAC) with cooperative encoders and Channel State Information (CSI) is considered where two different scenarios are investigated: A two-user MAC with common message (MACCM) and a two-user MAC with conferencing encoders (MACCE). For both situations, the two cases where the CSI is known to the encoders either non-causally or causally are studied. Achievable rate regions are established for both discrete memoryless channels and Gaussian channels with additive interference. The achievable rate regions derived for the Gaussian models with additive interference known non-causally to the encoders are shown to coincide with the capacity region of the same channel with no interference. Therefore, the capacity region for such channels is established.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

The Capacity Region of p-Transmitter/q-Receiver Multiple-Access Channels with Common Information

This paper investigates the capacity problem for some multiple-access scenarios with cooperative transmitters. First, a general Multiple-Access Channel (MAC) with common information, i.e., a scenario where p transmitters send private messages and also a common message to q receivers and each receiver decodes all of the messages, is considered. The capacity region of the discrete memoryless channel is characterized. Then, the general Gaussian fading MAC with common information wherein partial Channel State Information (CSI) is available at the transmitters (CSIT) and perfect CSI is available at the receivers (CSIR) is investigated. A coding theorem is proved for this model that yields an exact characterization of the throughput capacity region. Finally, a two-transmitter/one-receiver Gaussian fading MAC with conferencing encoders with partial CSIT and perfect CSIR is studied and its capacity region is determined. For the Gaussian fading models with CSIR only (transmitters have no access to CSIT), some numerical examples and simulation results are provided for Rayleigh fading.Comment: 29 page

Three-User Gaussian Multiple Access Channel with Partially Cooperating Encoders

Abstract—A three-user Gaussian multiple access channel (MAC) with encoders partially cooperating over a ring of finite-capacity uni-directional links is studied. The model is a simple extension of the classical two-user MAC with conferencing encoders. Upper and lower bounds on the maximum achievable common rate are derived. The lower bound is attained via a novel multi-layer cooperative strategy. The bounds are tight for a certain range of values of the inter-user link capacity. Numerical results are provided to corroborate the analysis. I

Compound Multiple Access Channels with Partial Cooperation

A two-user discrete memoryless compound multiple access channel with a common message and conferencing decoders is considered. The capacity region is characterized in the special cases of physically degraded channels and unidirectional cooperation, and achievable rate regions are provided for the general case. The results are then extended to the corresponding Gaussian model. In the Gaussian setup, the provided achievable rates are shown to lie within some constant number of bits from the boundary of the capacity region in several special cases. An alternative model, in which the encoders are connected by conferencing links rather than having a common message, is studied as well, and the capacity region for this model is also determined for the cases of physically degraded channels and unidirectional cooperation. Numerical results are also provided to obtain insights about the potential gains of conferencing at the decoders and encoders.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Information Theor

The Compound Multiple Access Channel with Partially Cooperating Encoders

The goal of this paper is to provide a rigorous information-theoretic analysis of subnetworks of interference networks. We prove two coding theorems for the compound multiple-access channel with an arbitrary number of channel states. The channel state information at the transmitters is such that each transmitter has a finite partition of the set of states and knows which element of the partition the actual state belongs to. The receiver may have arbitrary channel state information. The first coding theorem is for the case that both transmitters have a common message and that each has an additional common message. The second coding theorem is for the case where rate-constrained, but noiseless transmitter cooperation is possible. This cooperation may be used to exchange information about channel state information as well as the messages to be transmitted. The cooperation protocol used here generalizes Willems' conferencing. We show how this models base station cooperation in modern wireless cellular networks used for interference coordination and capacity enhancement. In particular, the coding theorem for the cooperative case shows how much cooperation is necessary in order to achieve maximal capacity in the network considered.Comment: accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Special Issue on Interference Network

On the Cost and Benefit of Cooperation (Extended Version)

In a cooperative coding scheme, network nodes work together to achieve higher transmission rates. To obtain a better understanding of cooperation, we consider a model in which two transmitters send rate-limited descriptions of their messages to a "cooperation facilitator", a node that sends back rate-limited descriptions of the pair to each transmitter. This model includes the conferencing encoders model and a prior model from the current authors as special cases. We show that except for a special class of multiple access channels, the gain in sum-capacity resulting from cooperation under this model is quite large. Adding a cooperation facilitator to any such channel results in a network that does not satisfy the edge removal property. An important special case is the Gaussian multiple access channel, for which we explicitly characterize the sum-rate cooperation gain.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures. To be presented at ISIT 201

The Classical-Quantum Multiple Access Channel with Conferencing Encoders and with Common Messages

We prove coding theorems for two scenarios of cooperating encoders for the multiple access channel with two classical inputs and one quantum output. In the first scenario (ccq-MAC with common messages), the two senders each have their private messages, but would also like to transmit common messages. In the second scenario (ccq-MAC with conferencing encoders), each sender has its own set of messages, but they are allowed to use a limited amount of noiseless classical communication amongst each other prior to encoding their messages. This conferencing protocol may depend on each individual message they intend to send. The two scenarios are related to each other not only in spirit - the existence of near-optimal codes for the ccq-MAC with common messages is used for proving the existence of near-optimal codes for the ccq-MAC with conferencing encoders.Comment: 17 pages, no figure

Sending a Bivariate Gaussian Source Over a Gaussian MAC with Unidirectional Conferencing Encoders

We consider the transmission of a memoryless bivariate Gaussian source over a two-user additive Gaussian multiple-access channel with unidirectional conferencing encoders. Here, prior to each transmission block, Encoder 1, which observes the first source component, is allowed to communicate with Encoder 2, which observes the second source component, via a unidirectional noise-free bit-pipe of given capacity. The main results of this work are sufficient conditions and a necessary condition for the achievability of a distortion pair expressed as a function of the channel SNR and of the source correlation. The main sufficient condition is obtained by an extension of the vector-quantizer scheme suggested by Lapidoth-Tinguely, for the case without conferencing, to the case with unidirectional conference. In the high-SNR regime, and when the capacity of the conference channel is unlimited, these necessary and sufficient conditions are shown to agree. We evaluate the precise high-SNR asymptotics for a subset of distortion pairs when the capacity of the conference channel is unlimited in which case we show that a separation based scheme attains these optimal distortion pairs. However, with symmetric average-power constraints and fixed conferencing capacity, at high-SNR the latter separation based scheme is shown to be suboptimal.Comment: The paper has been accepted for publication in IT Transaction

Achievable Rate Region for Multiple Access Channel with Correlated Channel States and Cooperating Encoders

In this paper, a two-user discrete memoryless multiple-access channel (DM-MAC) with correlated channel states, each known at one of the encoders is considered, in which each encoder transmits independent messages and tries to cooperate with the other one. To consider cooperating encoders, it is assumed that each encoder strictly-causally receives and learns the other encoder's transmitted symbols and tries to cooperate with the other encoder by transmitting its message. Next, we study this channel in a special case; we assume that the common part of both states is known at both, hence encoders use this opportunity to get better rate region. For these scenarios, an achievable rate region is derived based on a combination of block-Markov encoding and Gel'fand-Pinsker coding techniques. Furthermore, the achievable rate region is established for the Gaussian channel, and it is shown that the capacity region is achieved in certain circumstances.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure