Outer Bounds for Multiple Access Channels with Feedback using Dependence Balance

We use the idea of dependence balance to obtain a new outer bound for the capacity region of the discrete memoryless multiple-access channel with noiseless feedback (MAC-FB). We consider a binary additive noisy MAC-FB whose feedback capacity is not known. The binary additive noisy MAC considered in this paper can be viewed as the discrete counterpart of the Gaussian MAC-FB. Ozarow established that the capacity region of the two-user Gaussian MAC-FB is given by the cut-set bound. Our result shows that for the discrete version of the channel considered by Ozarow, this is not the case. Direct evaluation of our outer bound is intractable due to an involved auxiliary random variable whose large cardinality prohibits an exhaustive search. We overcome this difficulty by using a composite function and its properties to explicitly evaluate our outer bound. Our outer bound is strictly less than the cut-set bound at all points on the capacity region where feedback increases capacity. In addition,...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: CORR
• Authors: Ravi Tandon, Sennur Ulukus
• Keywords: Additive Noisy Mac-fb, Capacity Region, CORR 2008, Education, Outer Bound