Mismatched decoding: error exponents, second-order rates and saddlepoint approximations

This paper considers the problem of channel coding with a given (possibly suboptimal) maximum-metric decoding rule. A cost-constrained random-coding ensemble with multiple auxiliary costs is introduced, and is shown to achieve error exponents and second-order coding rates matching those of constant-...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Scarlett, Jonathan, Martínez, Alfonso, 1973-, Guillén i Fábregas, A. (Albert)
Format: article
Status:Versión aceptada para publicación
Publication Date:2014
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/36017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/36017
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TIT.2014.2310453
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Mismatched decoding
Random coding
Error exponents
Second-order coding rate
Channel dispersion
Normal approximation
Saddlepoint approximation
Exact asymptotics
Maximum-likelihood decoding
Finite-length performance
Description
Summary:This paper considers the problem of channel coding with a given (possibly suboptimal) maximum-metric decoding rule. A cost-constrained random-coding ensemble with multiple auxiliary costs is introduced, and is shown to achieve error exponents and second-order coding rates matching those of constant-composition random coding, while being directly applicable to channels with infinite or continuous alphabets. The number of auxiliary costs required to match the error exponents and second-order rates of constant-composition coding is studied, and is shown to be at most two. For independent identically distributed random coding, asymptotic estimates of two well-known non-asymptotic bounds are given using saddlepoint approximations. Each expression is shown to characterize the asymptotic behavior of the corresponding random-coding bound at both fixed and varying rates, thus unifying the regimes characterized by error exponents, second-order rates, and moderate deviations. For fixed rates, novel exact asymptotics expressions are obtained to within a multiplicative 1+o(1) term. Using numerical examples, it is shown that the saddlepoint approximations are highly accurate even at short block lengths.