Code Design for Discrete Memoryless Interference Channels

We study the design of explicit and implementable codes for the two-user discrete memoryless interference channels (DMICs). We consider Han-Kobayashi (HK) type encoding where both public and private messages are used and propose coding techniques utilizing a serial concatenation of a nonlinear trellis code (NLTC) with an outer low-density parity-check (LDPC) code. Since exact analytical treatment of the BCJR decoder for the inner trellis-based code appears infeasible, we analytically investigate the iterative decoding process in the asymptotic regime where the probability of decoding error tends to zero. Based on this approximate analysis, we derive a stability condition for this type of a concatenated coding scheme for the first time in the literature. Furthermore, we use an extrinsic information transfer analysis to design the outer LDPC code while fixing the inner NLTC, and utilize the derived stability condition to accelerate the design process and to avoid code ensembles that potentially produce high error floors. Via numerical examples, we demonstrate that our designed codes achieve rate pairs close the optimal boundary of the HK subregion, which cannot be obtained without the use of nonlinear codes. Also, we verify that the estimated thresholds of the designed codes via finite block length simulations and show that our designs significantly outperform the point-to-point optimal codes, hence demonstrating the need for designs specifically tailored for DMICs.