Reflections on the Gaussian Broadcast Channel: Progress and Challenges

I Michelle Effros Department of Electrical Engineering at Caltech and Director of the Data Compression Laboratory at Caltech Network Source Coding: Pipe Dream or Promise? Network source codes are data compression algorithms for networks characterized by multiple transmitters, multiple receivers, multiple intermediate nodes, or some combination of these three. While simple examples of the potential power of network source codes are easy to construct, a comprehensive solution to the network source coding problem seems elusive. Barriers to progress include the difficulty of the problems themselves, and issues such as the failure of separation that call the very concept of network source coding into question. I will give a brief glimpse into causes for hope, sorrow, and celebration and speculate a bit on the road that lies ahead.