CAREER: Towards a Renassaince in Finite Blocklength Length Information Theory

在通信通道的建模和性能表征中，信息论的数学框架对概念理解和技术发展都做出了重大贡献。尽管它在某些应用中取得了巨大的成功，但仍有许多应用，特别是在延迟受限和许多网络场景中，经典信息理论提供的见解较少，或者现有的见解没有完全集成到现有系统中。经典理论的缺点之一是它依赖于长编码块长度。我们相信，有限块长度信息理论可以加速信息论在现代应用中的应用，它足够普遍，可以处理一大类重要的信道模型，但又不会如此复杂和微妙，以至于系统设计者基本上无法使用。这项研究围绕着为现代通信系统和网络开发有限块长度信息理论的一般框架而进行的活动。指导目标是根据称为互信息密度速率的单个随机变量而不是其期望来开发通信信道和编码策略的适当抽象。预期的抽象将使网络设计人员能够表征性能和架构评估，并促进网络模拟的数量级加速。该技术方法是综合的，利用理论分析、计算机模拟和试验台实验。已经确定了研究和教育相结合的机会，预计将出现实质性的交叉受精。

In the modeling and performance characterization of communication channels, the mathematical framework of information theory has contributed significantly to both conceptual understanding as well as technology development. Despite its magnificent success for certain applications, there are many applications, particularly in delay-constrained and many network scenarios, in which classical information theory has offered fewer insights, or otherwise the available insights have not been fully integrated into existing systems. One of the drawbacks of the classical theory is its reliance on long coding blocklengths. We believe that application of information theory to modern applications can be accelerated by a "finite blocklength" information theory that is general enough to handle a wide class of important channel models but not so complex and subtle so as to be essentially unusable by system designers.This research centers around activities for developing a general framework of finite blocklength information theory for modern communication systems and networks. The guiding objective is to develop suitable abstractions of communication channels and coding strategies in terms of a single random variable called the mutual information density rate, rather than its expectation. The anticipated abstractions will enable characterization of performance and architectural evaluation by network designers as well as facilitate orders of magnitude speedups in network simulation. Thetechnical approach is comprehensive, leveraging theoretical analysis, computer simulation, and testbed experiments. Opportunities for integration of research and education have been identified, and substantial cross-fertilization is expected.