An information theoretic approach to non-centralized multi- user communication systems

Abstract

In this thesis, we take an information-theoretic look at three non-centralized multi-user communication systems: the relay channel, the interference channel (IFC), and the b Zb -channel (ZC). Such multi-user configurations may occur for example in wireless ad-hoc networks. For the general relay channel, we introduce and study three new generalized strategies. For the general IFC, a simplified description of the Han-Kobayashi rate region, the best known rate region to date for the IFC, is established. Using this result, we prove the capacity region of a new class of IFCs. For the two-user ZC, we study both the discrete memoryless ZC and the Gaussian ZC. We first establish achievable rate regions for the general discrete memoryless ZC. We then specialize the rate regions obtained to two different types of degraded discrete memoryless ZCs. Finally, we establish the capacity region of the Guassian ZC for moderately strong crossover link gain.