Lattice network coding via signal codes

The construction of lattice network coding schemes through signal codes is revisited. First, it is shown that the nominal coding gain of signal codes can be carried over from AWGN channels to lattice network coding. This demonstrates the potential of using signal codes in lattice network coding. However, in order to achieve the promised performance gain, all the side information related to shaping should be transmitted to the receiver. Second, the problem of delivering the side information to the receiver is considered. In particular, a generic scheme is proposed which can be optimized by solving a lattice design problem. Finally, two solutions to the lattice design problem are presented and the simulation results suggest that—with a reasonable overhead—the promised performance gain can be achieved by using our proposed scheme.