Multi-Class Source-Channel Coding

TL;DR

This paper proposes a multi-class source-channel coding scheme that improves performance over separate coding by class-based encoding, approaching joint coding efficiency as the number of classes increases, with analysis and simulation validation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel multi-class coding approach that enhances source-channel coding performance by class-dependent encoding, bridging the gap to joint coding.

Findings

Performance improves with more classes

Approaches joint source-channel coding efficiency

Validated by simulation with existing codes

Abstract

This paper studies an almost-lossless source-channel coding scheme in which source messages are assigned to different classes and encoded with a channel code that depends on the class index. The code performance is analyzed by means of random-coding error exponents and validated by simulation of a low-complexity implementation using existing source and channel codes. While each class code can be seen as a concatenation of a source code and a channel code, the overall performance improves on that of separate source-channel coding and approaches that of joint source-channel coding when the number of classes increases.