Divide-and-conquer: Approaching the capacity of the two-pair bidirectional Gaussian relay network

The capacity region of multi-pair bidirectional relay networks, in which a relay node facilitates the communication between multiple pairs of users, is studied. This problem is first examined in the context of the linear shift deterministic channel model. The capacity region of this network when the relay is operating at either full-duplex mode or half-duplex mode for arbitrary number of pairs is characterized. It is shown that the cut-set upper-bound is tight and the capacity region is achieved by a so called divide-and-conquer relaying strategy. The insights gained from the deterministic network are then used for the Gaussian bidirectional relay network. The strategy in the deterministic channel translates to a specific superposition of lattice codes and random Gaussian codes at the source nodes and successive interference cancelation at the receiving nodes for the Gaussian network. The achievable rate of this scheme with two pairs is analyzed and it is shown that for all channel gains it achieves to within 3 bits/sec/Hz per user of the cut-set upper-bound. Hence, the capacity region of the two-pair bidirectional Gaussian relay network to within 3 bits/sec/Hz per user is characterized.Comment: IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, accepte

Wireless Network Information Flow: A Deterministic Approach

In a wireless network with a single source and a single destination and an arbitrary number of relay nodes, what is the maximum rate of information flow achievable? We make progress on this long standing problem through a two-step approach. First we propose a deterministic channel model which captures the key wireless properties of signal strength, broadcast and superposition. We obtain an exact characterization of the capacity of a network with nodes connected by such deterministic channels. This result is a natural generalization of the celebrated max-flow min-cut theorem for wired networks. Second, we use the insights obtained from the deterministic analysis to design a new quantize-map-and-forward scheme for Gaussian networks. In this scheme, each relay quantizes the received signal at the noise level and maps it to a random Gaussian codeword for forwarding, and the final destination decodes the source's message based on the received signal. We show that, in contrast to existing schemes, this scheme can achieve the cut-set upper bound to within a gap which is independent of the channel parameters. In the case of the relay channel with a single relay as well as the two-relay Gaussian diamond network, the gap is 1 bit/s/Hz. Moreover, the scheme is universal in the sense that the relays need no knowledge of the values of the channel parameters to (approximately) achieve the rate supportable by the network. We also present extensions of the results to multicast networks, half-duplex networks and ergodic networks.Comment: To appear in IEEE transactions on Information Theory, Vol 57, No 4, April 201

Upper Bounds and Duality Relations of the Linear Deterministic Sum Capacity for Cellular Systems

The MAC-BC duality of information theory and wireless communications is an intriguing concept for efficient algorithm design. However, no concept is known so far for the important cellular channel. To make progress on this front, we consider in this paper the linear deterministic cellular channel. In particular, we prove duality of a network with two interfering MACs in each cell and a network with two interfering BCs in each cell. The operational region is confined to the weak interference regime. First, achievable schemes as well as upper bounds will be provided. These bounds are the same for both channels. We will show, that for specific cases the upper bound corresponds to the achievable scheme and hence establishing a duality relationship between them.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in IEEE ICC 2014, Sydney, Australi

On Interference Alignment and the Deterministic Capacity for Cellular Channels with Weak Symmetric Cross Links

In this paper, we study the uplink of a cellular system using the linear deterministic approximation model, where there are two users transmitting to a receiver, mutually interfering with a third transmitter communicating with a second receiver. We give an achievable coding scheme and prove its optimality, i.e. characterize the capacity region. This scheme is a form of interference alignment which exploits the channel gain difference of the two-user cell.Comment: Submitted to IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT) 2011, 5 page