Diversity-Multiplexing Tradeoff in Fading Interference Channels

We analyze two-user single-antenna fading interference channels with perfect receive channel state information (CSI) and no transmit CSI. We compute the diversity-multiplexing tradeoff (DMT) region of a fixed-power-split Han and Kobayashi (HK)-type superposition coding scheme and provide design criteria for the corresponding superposition codes. We demonstrate that this scheme is DMT-optimal under moderate, strong, and very strong interference by showing that it achieves a DMT outer bound that we derive. Further, under very strong interference, we show that a joint decoder is DMT-optimal and “decouples” the fading interference channel, i.e., from a DMT perspective, it is possible to transmit as if the interfering user were not present. In addition, we show that, under very strong interference, decoding interference while treating the intended signal as noise, subtracting the result out, and then decoding the desired signal, a process known as “stripping”, achieves the optimal DMT region. Our proofs are constructive in the sense that code design criteria for achieving DMT-optimality (in the cases where we can demonstrate it) are provided.