Joint Network-Channel Coding for the
Multiple-Access Relay Channel
Christoph Hausl and Philippe Dupraz
Institute for Communications Engineering (LNT), Munich University of Technology (TUM), 80290 Munich, Germany
{christoph.hausl, philippe.dupraz}@mytum.de
Abstract— We propose to use joint network-channel coding
based on turbo codes for the multiple-access relay channel. Such
a system can be used for the cooperative uplink for two mobile
stations to a base station with the help of a relay. We compare
the proposed system with a distributed turbo code for the relay
channel and with a system which uses separate network-channel
coding for the multiple-access relay channel. Simulation results
confirm that the systems with network coding for the multiple-
access relay channel gain cooperative diversity compared to the
system with the distributed turbo code for the relay channel.
Moreover, the results show that joint network-channel coding
outperforms separate network-channel coding. The reason for
this is that the redundancy which is contained in the transmission
of the relay can be exploited more efficiently with joint network-
channel coding.
I. I NTRODUCTION
While the concept of network coding [1] was first pro-
posed to increase the throughput in networks with error-free
transmission, the application of network coding for wireless
networks with disturbed channels is gaining interest.
A. Diversity through Network Coding
In [2]–[7] it was discussed how to gain cooperative diver-
sity through network coding in wireless networks to combat
channel fading. The concept of cooperative diversity [8] was
initially applied (without network coding) for the relay channel
(RC) which is depicted in Fig. 1 (a). A simple model where
diversity can be gained with network coding is the multiple-
access relay channel (MARC) [9] which is depicted in Fig. 1
(b). An example for an MARC is the cooperative uplink of
MS 1 Broadcast MS 1 Broadcast
BS BS
R1
R
R2
(a) MS 2 (b) MS 2
Fig. 1. The uplink for two mobile stations (MS 1 and MS 2) with the help
of relay(s) (R) to a base station (BS) can be done on the relay channel (RC)
(a) or on the multiple-access relay channel (MARC) (b).
two mobile stations and with the help of a relay to the base
station in a cellular based mobile communication system. If
the uplink for MS 1 and MS 2 is done separately on two relay
channels and we want to gain diversity, relay R 1 has to send
one transmission to support the uplink of MS 1 and relay R 2
has to send one transmission to support the uplink of MS 2.
If the uplink for MS 1 and MS 2 is done cooperatively with
the help of network coding at the relay, we only have to send
one transmission from the relay to offer the same diversity
gain for both mobile stations. If we fix the allowed number of
transmissions from the relay to one, it is still possible to gain
the full diversity with network coding. However, if we do not
use network coding and treat the two uplinks separately, the
two relays have to share the available transmission and it is
not possible to obtain the full diversity gain. The diversity
gain through network coding increases with the number of
transmitters. It was shown in [3] how in large-scale wireless
networks with many transmitters the network code can be
decoded on a graph which can be obtained from the network
graph of the transmitters.
B. Joint Network-Channel Coding
One way to gain diversity through network coding for the
MARC with noisy channels is to treat network and channel
coding separately. Then, channel coding is used in the physical
layer for each transmission to transform the noisy channels to
erasure-based links. On the network layer, one performs net-
work coding for the erasure-based networks which is provided
by the lower layers.
However, a relay cannot only be used to gain diversity. Its
transmission can be seen as additional redundancy which
improves the performance compared to a point-to-point com-
munication if the relay has a better connection to the base
station than the mobile station. For this case relays are also
useful for noisy channels without fading where diversity
is not relevant. Distributed channel codes [10]–[13] can be
applied to efficiently exploit the (direct) redundancy from the
mobile station and the additional redundancy from the relay.
Of course, the relay of the MARC delivers also additional
redundancy. To efficiently exploit this redundancy, we have to
generalize the concept of distributed channel codes to joint
network-channel coding. Distributed channel codes for the
relay channel can be seen in this context as joint routing-
channel coding.
While for the application of network coding to wireline net-
works only the network layer is considered and it is assumed
that the lower layers deliver error-free or erasure-based links
with the help of channel coding, the principle of joint network-
channel coding is that the redundancy in the network code
should be used to support the channel code for better error
 MS 1
u1 Channel x1
Channel
encoder 1
K R N ρMB
Channel
û14
Channel
y14
decoder 1
Network
x4
Channel 43
û24
Channel encoder
y24 NR
decoder 2
MS 2 Channel
u2 Channel
Channel
encoder 2 x2
K N
Fig. 2. Block diagram of the system.
protection. It is similar to the principle of joint source-channel
coding [14], where the remaining redundancy after the source
encoding helps the channel code to combat noise. We know
from [15] and [16] that in general, capacity can only be
achieved by treating network and channel coding jointly, if
we consider the communication in wireless relay networks. It
was shown in [4], how joint network-channel coding based on
low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes can be used for the
MARC. In [17] joint network-channel coding based on turbo
codes was applied for the two-way relay channel [18], [19].
C. Main Contributions and Organization of the Paper
In this paper, we explain how to use joint network-channel
coding based on turbo codes for the MARC. We want to show
that even if the full diversity gain can be obtained with separate
network-channel coding, it is necessary to use joint network-
channel coding to exploit the additional redundancy which is
contained in the transmission of the relay.
II. S YSTEM M ODEL
A. System Setup
In a cellular based mobile communication system (Fig. 1
(b)) two users MS1 and MS2 want to transmit statistically
independent data which is segmented in blocks u1 and u2 of
length K to the base station BS. A block diagram of the system
is depicted in Fig. 2. The information bits u1 and u2 are
protected against transmission errors with channel encoders
which output the code bits x1 and x2 with the block length
N . The relay R receives the disturbed versions of the code bits
x1 and x2 to obtain the estimates û14 and û24 . Regardless
whether u1 and u2 are decoded without errors at the relay,
these estimates of the information bits of MS1 and MS2 are
jointly combined to the network code bits x4 and sent to the
base station to provide additional error protection. The network
code bits x4 have the block length NR . The code rate of the
system is given by RS = 2 · K/(2 · N + NR ).
B. Channel Model
The channels from the mobile stations and from the relay to
the base station BS are assumed to be block Rayleigh fading
channels and thus, the received samples after the matched filter
are
yi3 = ai · xi + ni , (1)
BS
Case 1 Case 2
y13 û13 ρMB ρMB ρMB + 10 dB
ρMB + 21.25 dB ρMB + 21.25 dB
ρMB + 21.25 dB ρMB + 21.25 dB
Joint
ρMB ρMB
y
network/
channel
decoder
Fig. 3. We consider two cases. In case 1 the relay and the mobile stations
have the same distance to the base station. In case 2 the SNR between the
y23 û23 relay and the base station is increased by 10 dB.
for i ∈ {1, 2, 4} where the noise ni is zero mean and Gaussian
with variance σi2 and the elements of the code blocks xi are
either −1 or +1. We assume that the power at the receiver
is normalized. Therefore, the variance of the noise includes
the path-loss. The channel factor ai , which is constrained
by E[ai 2 ] = 1, is Rayleigh distributed and represents the
fading due to multipath propagation and the motion of the
transmitter. The fading factors ai (i ∈ {1, 2, 4}) of the three
channels are statistically independent and constant over one
block. The channels are divided in time or frequency and thus,
have no interference. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is given
by Eb /N0 = 1/(RS · 2 · σ12 ) = ρMB where we assume that both
mobile stations have the same distance to the base station and
thus σ12 = σ22 . The relay is positioned close to the mobile
stations. The distance between a mobile station and the relay
is one fourth of the distance between a mobile station and
the base station. According to the Okumura-Hata model and
the parameters from [20] the SNR of the mobile station -
relay links is given by ρMR = ρMB + 35.2 · log10 (4) dB =
ρMB + 21.25 dB. We consider two cases for the relay - base
station link. Case 1 describes a scenario where the relay and
the two mobile stations have the same distances to the base
station. Therefore, the SNR of the relay - base station link is
given by ρRB = ρMB .
Case 2 describes a scenario where the SNR between relay
and base station is higher than the SNR between mobile and
base station. Possible reasons for the larger SNR are a lower
distance between the relay and base station, a line of sight
connection or better antenna characteristics. The SNR of the
relay - base station link is given by ρRB = ρMB + 10.0 dB.
Fig. 3 depicts the characteristics of both cases.
III. J OINT N ETWORK -C HANNEL C ODING FOR THE MARC
We explain how joint network-channel coding can be per-
formed with a turbo network code [17] for the multiple-access
relay channel (MARC). Note that we use also the expression
parallel concatenated convolutional code (PCCC) for a turbo
code.
A. Channel Coding
The channel codes at the mobile stations contain a rate
1/2 recursive systematic convolutional code with constraint
length 4 and information bit block length K = 1500. The
feedforward generator is 15 and the feedback generator is 13,
both in octal. As the code is systematic the output of the
channel code contains 1503 systematic bits (including three
tail bits) vi and 1503 parity bits pi where i ∈ {1, 2}. As

v1 x1
u1 Conv.
Punct.
Enc.
p1
(a) (b)
Fig. 4. (a): Channel encoder 1 at mobile station 1. (b): Network encoder at the relay. (c): Joint iterative network and channel decoder at the base station.
we only want to send N = 2000 code bits xi , we puncture
the parity bits pi according to the following rule. We only
transmit every third parity bit except the parity bits at position
373, 748, 1123 and 1498. These position are chosen such that
the puncturing occurs regularly. A block diagram of channel
encoder 1 at MS 1 is depicted in Fig. 4 (a).
B. Network Coding
If the relay has decoded the data of both mobile stations
correctly, the relay network encodes the estimates û14 and
û24 and sends the network code bits x4 to the base station to
provide additional redundancy for both uplinks.
A block diagram of the network encoder is depicted in Fig. 4
(b). Both estimates are interleaved according to [21]. Then, the
interleaved bits appear alternately as the input of a convolu-
tional encoder with the same parameters like the convolutional
code used as channel encoder. However, the output of the
network encoder contains only the 3003 parity bits of the
convolutional encoder. As we only want to send NR = 2000
bits we puncture every third bit and the bits at position 1000
and 2000. The network code of rate RR = (2 · K)/NR = 1.5
provides NR additional parity bits which support the decoding
at the base station.
Although the different coding operations are processed spa-
tially distributed, we will treat them as one network-channel
code with the system rate RS = 2 · K/(2 · N + NR ) = 0.5.
The joint network-channel code consists of three constituent
encoders which are illustrated graphically in Fig. 5 (a). Chan-
nel encoder 1 and 2 at the mobile stations form two of the three
constituent encoders. As they process the information bits in
its original order, they are depicted in horizontal direction.
The third constituent encoder is the network encoder at the
relay. As it processes the interleaved information bits, it is
depicted in vertical direction. The network encoder combines
the information bits of MS 1 and MS 2. Therefore, the encoder
at the mobile stations and at the relay form one spatially
distributed code with increased cooperative diversity.
C. Iterative Network and Channel Decoding
The joint network-channel code can be decoded iteratively
at the base station. Fig. 4 (c) depicts the decoder. First,
the channel decoders calculates extrinsic information L−
e (u1 )
and L−e (u2 ). The channel decoders contain a soft-in/soft-out
(SISO) decoder for the channel encoders 1 and 2. They use the
û13
y13 Channel
Dec. 1
| L−
e (u1 ) Π
û14 Le(u1)
−1
Π
Π y43 Network
Dec. Π
Conv.
Enc. Punct. Π −1
p4 x4 |
Le(u2)
Π L−
e (u2 )
y23 Channel û23
û24 Dec. 2
(c)
channel outputs y13 and y23 . We include a value of zero for the
punctured bits before the decoding starts. The log-likelihood
ratios L− −
e (u1 ) and Le (u2 ) are interleaved and mixed in the
same way as it was done in the network encoder. The log-
likelihood ratios after the mixture are a priori knowledge for
the network decoder which contains also an SISO decoder.
The network decoder obtains additional information about
the parity bits from the channel output y43 . The network
| |
decoder calculates extrinsic information Le (u1 ) and Le (u2 )
which is passed back to the channel decoders. After several
iterations (e.g. 15) the channel decoders combine all available
information to obtain the estimates û13 and û23 . Note that the
network decoder could deliver the estimates as well.
D. Alternative Joint Network-Channel Codes
In the previously described system the transmissions from
the mobile stations to the relay are only protected with a con-
volutional code. In certain scenarios it could be advantageous
to protect these links with a PCCC. Such joint network-channel
codes are described in [22].
In [23] a joint network-channel coding scheme was proposed
which outperforms turbo network coding for the two-way
relay channel. However, for the MARC turbo network coding
outperforms the scheme of [23] because the information of
both mobile stations has to be decoded. Therefore, the iterative
exchange of soft information improves the performance. If
we use joint network-channel coding for the two-way relay
channel, the information of only one of the two stations
has to be decoded. The information of the other station is
perfectly known. Therefore, it is sufficient to include the
known information at the beginning of the decoding. It is
not necessary to include the known information in further
iterations.
IV. R EFERENCE S YSTEMS
We want to describe three reference systems for the pro-
posed JNCC scheme. To ensure a fair comparison, in all
reference systems 2 · N + NR = 6000 symbols are transmitted
totally. Therefore, all systems require the same resources to
transmit K = 1500 information bits both from mobile station
1 and 2.
A. Distributed Turbo Code for the Relay Channel
In the first reference system the uplink of the two mobile
stations is done separately with the help of a relay. This
 u1
u1 p1
p4
u2 p2
MS 1
BS
R u2
p4
MS 2 p5
(a) (b)
Fig. 5. (a): Illustration of the turbo network code used for the multiple-access relay channel. (b): Illustration of the distributed turbo code used for the relay
channel. (c): Illustration of the turbo code used for the point-to-point channel.
scenario represents a relay channel where a distributed turbo
code [10], [11] can be applied. Fig. 5 (b) depicts the system
model and an illustration of the distributed coding scheme.
Each mobile station uses a separate relay for the uplink. The
same situation would occur if one relay is shared for the
uplink of the two mobile stations.
Fig. 5 (b) depicts also an illustration of the distributed turbo
code. The PCCC which is used for the uplink of MS 1
consists of two constituent encoders. The first constituent
encoder is a convolutional code at MS 1. It is identical to the
one described in Section III-A. We puncture the parity bits
p1 again and transmit K = 1500 information bits u1 and
500 parity bits. The second constituent is processed at the
first relay R 1. The information bits u1 are interleaved and
channel encoded. We transmit 1000 of the resulting parity
bits p4 . The puncturing is done analogous to the puncturing
described in Section III-B. The uplink for the other mobile
station MS 2 is done in the same way. This time a second
relay R 2 processes the parity bits p5 and selects 1000 to
transmit them to the base station. As the two relays have to
share one transmission and can only send 1000 bits, it is not
possible to achieve the full diversity gain.
B. Turbo Code for the Point-to-Point Channel
The second reference system does not contain a relay and
the uplink for both mobile station is done with a point-to-
point channel. A PCCC is used at the mobile stations. The
PCCC contains the same convolutional encoders and the same
interleaver as described in Section III. Fig. 5 (c) depicts an
illustration of the PCCCs which are used. In this reference
system, the transmission from MS 1 contains the information
bits u1 , the parity bits of the first constituent encoder p1 and
the parity bits of the second constituent encoder q1 . As we
want to use the same bandwidth and transmission energy like
in the case with relay, the channel code at MS 1 and MS 2
can have a lower rate R = 0.5 instead of R = 0.75 and thus,
we transmit N = 3000 code bits from each mobile station.
Beside the K = 1500 information bits, we choose 750 bits
from p1 and 750 bits from q1 in a regular way. The uplink
of MS 2 is done in the same way. The transmission contains
K = 1500 information bits u2 , 750 of the parity bits of the
first constituent encoder p2 and 750 of the parity bits of the
second constituent encoder q2 .
p1 u1 p1
MS 1 q1 MS 1
R1 BS BS
p2 R2 u2 p2
MS 2 MS 2
q2
(c)
In all systems MS1 an MS2 have K = 1500 information bits
which they have to transmit to BS. The comparison is fair
because in all systems 2 · N + NR = 6000 code bits are used
in the complete system. Thus, the system code rate is always
RS = 0.5.
C. Separate Network-Channel Coding for the MARC
We use the same definition for separate network-channel
coding (SNCC) as in [16]. First, on the physical layer one
performs (local) channel coding for each transmission to ob-
tain a network of erasure-based links. Second, on the network
layer one performs network coding for the resulting network.
SNCC was applied in [2], [3], [5] for MARCs. We want to
show in the next section with simulation results that even if the
full diversity gain can be obtained with SNCC, it is necessary
to use JNCC to exploit the additional redundancy which is
contained in the transmission of the relay. Let us first explain
the system model for SNCC.
The channel codes at the mobile stations are PCCCs which
consist of the convolutional encoders and the interleavers
described in Section III. Fig. 6 (a) depicts channel encoder
1 at MS 1. The output of the channel code 1 contains 1506
systematic bits (including 6 tail bits) v1 , 1503 parity bits of the
first constituent encoder p1 and 1503 parity bits of the second
constituent encoder q1 . Like in the system described in Section
III we want to send N = 2000 code bits x1 . We puncture the
parity bits p1 and q1 according to the following rule. We only
transmit every sixth parity bit of p1 and q1 except the parity
bits at position 295, 595, 895 and 1195. Channel encoder 2 at
MS 2 works accordingly.
If the relay has decoded the data of both mobile stations
correctly, the relay network encodes the estimates û14 and
û24 . This is done in the network layer. The network encoder
is a modulo-2 addition. The network encoder output u4 is
protected against the noisy channel by a local channel encoder
which belongs to the physical layer. This channel encoder is
a punctured PCCC which is identical to the one used at the
mobile stations. The output of the punctured PCCC x4 with
block length NR = 2000 is sent to the base station. A block
diagram of the relay is depicted in Fig. 6 (b).
Fig. 6 (c) depicts the separate network and channel decoder
at the base station. In the physical layer, each of the three
channel outputs is decoded with a turbo decoder with 15
iterations. We include a value of zero for the punctured bits
 Physical Layer Network
y13 ũ13 Layer
PCCC
Dec.
û14 û13
y43 PCCC ũ43 Network
Network Physical Layer
v1 Layer x4 Dec. Dec.
u1 PCCC x1 PCCC û23
Punct. Enc. Punct.
Enc. p1 u4 y23 PCCC ũ23
q1 û24 Dec.
(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 6. Separate Network-Channel Coding: (a): Channel encoder 1 at mobile station 1. (b): Network encoder at the relay. (c): Separate network and channel
decoding at the base station.

before the decoding starts. The three decoder make a hard 0

10 MARC − JNCC
decision and output their estimates ũ13 , ũ43 and ũ23 to the
network decoder. Each channel decoder delivers an additional MARC − SNCC
flag which indicates whether its estimate is error-free. This −1 RC − Distr. Turbo Co.
10
information can be obtained with a cyclic redundancy check PtoPC − Turbo Co.
which has to be included in the data at the channel encoders.
−2
By delivering the hard decisions and the flags, the channel 10

BER
decoders provide erasure channels for the network decoder. If
one of the two estimates ũ13 or ũ23 is not error-free and the −3
other two estimates are error-free, the network decoder makes 10
a modulo-2 addition of the estimates which are error-free to
obtain the estimate which is not error-free. For example, if −4
10
the estimates ũ13 , ũ43 are error-free and ũ23 is not error-
free, the network decoder outputs the estimates û13 = ũ13
and û23 = ũ13 ⊕ ũ43 . If this is not the case, the network 10
−5

decoder cannot exploit the diversity and outputs the estimates 0 5 10 15 20 25

Eb/N0 on MS−BS link (dB)
û13 = ũ13 and û23 = ũ23 .
V. S IMULATION R ESULTS Fig. 7. Simulation results for case 1: Bit error rate (BER) of system applying
joint network-channel coding (JNCC) and separate network-channel coding
We consider simulation results for the two cases which were (SNCC) for the multiple-access relay channel (MARC), a distributed turbo
explained in Section II and compare the proposed system using code for the relay channel (RC) or a turbo code for the point-to-point channel
(PtoPC).
joint network-channel coding (JNCC) with the three reference
systems. Let us first consider case 1 where the relay and the
mobile stations have the same distance to the base station. Fig. 0
10 MARC − JNCC
7 depicts the bit error rate (BER) and Fig. 8 the frame error rate
(FER) over the signal to noise ratio (SNR) Eb /N0 in dB on the MARC − SNCC
mobile station - base station link for case 1. From the slope of RC − Distr. Turbo Co.
the error rates curves we can recognize the diversity which is −1 PtoPC − Turbo Co.
10
provided by the use of the relay and the use of network coding.
The system using separate network-channel coding (SNCC)
FER

achieves the full diversity gain. However, as the redundancy

−2
which is contained in the transmission of the relay cannot be 10
efficiently exploited, SNCC has of a performance loss of 1.6
dB compared to the JNCC approach for a FER of 10−2 .
Fig. 9 and Fig. 10 depict the BER and FER for case 2 where
−3
the relay is closer to the base station than the mobile stations. 10
As the redundancy which is contained in the transmission of
the relay is received with a higher SNR, it is more important
to exploit it efficiently. Therefore, the performance loss from 0 5 10 15 20 25
E /N on MS−BS link (dB)
SNCC to JNCC is larger than for case 1. The difference at a b 0

FER of 10−2 is 2.0 dB. Fig. 8. Simulation results for case 1: Frame error rate (FER) of system
applying joint network-channel coding (JNCC) and separate network-channel
VI. C ONCLUSION coding (SNCC) for the multiple-access relay channel (MARC), a distributed
turbo code for the relay channel (RC) or a turbo code for the point-to-point
We proposed to use joint network-channel coding (JNCC) channel (PtoPC).
based on turbo codes for the multiple-access relay channel
 0 that the frame error rate of JNCC can outperform the one of
10 MARC − JNCC SNCC by up to 2.0 dB.
MARC − SNCC
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