학술논문

Capacity and Stable Throughput Regions for the Broadcast Erasure Channel With Feedback: An Unusual Union
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Transactions on Information Theory IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory Information Theory, IEEE Transactions on. 59(5):2841-2862 May, 2013
Subject
Communication, Networking and Broadcast Technologies
Signal Processing and Analysis
Receivers
Transmitters
Throughput
Encoding
Heuristic algorithms
Network coding
Upper bound
Broadcast erasure channel
capacity region
feedback
network coding
overhead
stability region
Language
ISSN
0018-9448
1557-9654
Abstract
We consider a source node broadcasting to two receivers over a general erasure channel with receiver feedback. We characterize the capacity region of the channel and construct algorithms based on linear network coding (either randomized or depending on channel dynamics) that achieve this capacity. We then consider stochastic arrivals at the source for the two destinations and characterize the stable throughput region achieved by adapting the same algorithms that achieve capacity. Next, we modify these algorithms to improve their delay performance and characterize their stable throughput regions. Although the capacity and stability regions obtained by the algorithms are not always identical (because of the extra overhead needed for the algorithms to handle stochastic traffic), they are within a few bits of each other and have similar forms. This example exhibits an unusual relationship between capacity and stability regions and extends similar prior studies for multiple access channels.