Unequal Error Protection: An Information-Theoretic Perspective
Shashi Borade, Baris Nakiboglu, Lizhong Zheng · IEEE Transactions on Information Theory · 2009
An information-theoretic framework for unequal error protection is developed in terms of the exponential error bounds. The fundamental difference between thebit-wiseandmessage-wiseunequal error protection (UEP) is demonstrated, for fixed-length block codes on discrete memoryless channels (DMCs) without feedback. Effect of feedback is investigated via variable-length block codes. It is shown that, feedback results in a significant improvement in bothbit-wiseandmessage-wise UEPs(except the single message case for missed detection). The distinction between false-alarm and missed-detection formalizations formessage-wise UEPis also considered. All results presented are at rates close to capacity.