Joint Channel-Network Coding for the Gaussian Two-Way Two-Relay Network

New aspects arise when generalizing two-way relay network with one relay to two-way relay network with multiple relays. To study the essential features of the two-way multiple-relay network, we focus on the case of two relays in our work. The problem of how two terminals, equipped with multiple antennas, exchange messages with the help of two relays is studied. Five transmission strategies, namely, amplify-forward (AF), hybrid decode amplify forward (HLC), hybrid decode amplify forward (HMC), decode forward (DF), and partial decode forward (PDF), are proposed. Their designs are based on a variety of techniques including network coding, multiplexed coding, multi-input multi-output transmission, and multiple access with common information. Their performance is compared with the cut-set outer bound. It is shown that there is no dominating strategy and the best strategy depends on the channel conditions. However, by studying their multiplexing gains at high signal-tonoise (SNR) ratio, it is shown that the AF scheme dominates the others in high SNR regime.