Fundamental limits and schemes for random-access in wireless channels

Yury Polyanskiy

Dept. of EECS at MIT

Abstract:

This paper discusses the contemporary problem of providing multiple-access (MAC) to a massive number of uncoordinated users. First, we define a random-access code for K-user Gaussian MAC to be a collection of norm-constrained vectors such that the noisy sum of any K of them can be decoded with a given (suitably defined) probability of error. An achievability bound for such codes is proposed and compared against popular practical solutions: ALOHA, coded slotted ALOHA, CDMA, and treating interference as noise. It is found out that as the number of users increases existing solutions become vastly energy-inefficient.

Second, we discuss the asymptotic (in blocklength) problem of coding for a K-user Gaussian MAC when K is proportional to blocklength and each user’s payload is fixed. It is discovered that the energy-per-bit vs. spectral efficiency exhibits a rather curious tradeoff in this case.

Third, we present a low complexity coding scheme based on a combination of compute-and-forward and coding for a binary adder channel. For a wide regime of parameters of practical interest, the energy-per-bit required by each user in the proposed scheme is smaller than that required by popular solutions such as slotted-ALOHA and treating interference as noise.

Biography:

Yury Polyanskiy is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a member of LIDS at MIT. Yury received M.S. degree in applied mathematics and physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia in 2005 and Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University, Princeton, NJ in 2010. Currently, his research focuses on basic questions in information theory, error-correcting codes, wireless communication and fault-tolerant and defect-tolerant circuits. Dr. Polyanskiy won the 2013 NSF CAREER award and 2011 IEEE Information Theory Society Paper Award.