On the Optimality of Interference Decoding Schemes for K-User Gaussian Interference Channels

The sum capacity of the general K-user Gaussian Interference Channel (GIC) is known only when the channel coefficients are such that treating interference as noise (TIN) is optimal. The Han-Kobayashi (HK) scheme is an extensively studied coding scheme for the K-user interference channel (IC). Simple HK schemes are HK schemes with Gaussian signaling, no time sharing and no private-common power splitting. The class of simple HK (S-HK) schemes includes the TIN scheme and schemes that involve various levels of interference decoding and cancellation at each receiver. For the 2-user GIC, simple HK schemes are sufficient to achieve all known sum capacity results-sum capacity under mixed, strong and noisy interference conditions. We derive channel conditions under which simple HK schemes achieve sum capacity for general K-user Gaussian ICs. For the K-user GIC, these results generalize existing sum capacity results for the TIN scheme to the class of simple HK schemes.