Distributed Capacity of A Multiple Access Channel

Abstract

In distributed communication, each transmitter prepares an ensemble of channel codes corresponding to different values of communication parameters. To encode a message, a transmitter chooses a channel code individually without sharing the coding choice with other transmitters or with the receiver. Upon receiving the block of channel output symbols, the receiver either decodes the messages of interest if a pre-determined reliability requirement can be met, or reports collision otherwise. Revised from the existing distributed channel coding theorems, distributed capacity of a discrete-time memoryless multiple access channel is defined and derived under the assumption that codeword length can be taken to infinity. An improved achievable error performance bound is presented for the case when codeword length is finite.11This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants CCF-1420608 and CNS-1618960. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.