On the Optimality of Treating Interference as Noise for Interfering Multiple Access Channels

Abstract: In this paper, we look at the problem of treating interference as noise (TIN) in the Gaussian interfering multiple access channel (IMAC). The considered network comprises $K$ mutually interfering multiple access channels (MACs), each consisting of two transmitters communicating independent messages to one receiver. We define the TIN scheme for this channel as one in which each MAC performs a power controlled version of its capacity-achieving strategy while treating interference from all other MACs as noise. We characterize an achievable generalized degrees-of-freedom (GDoF) region under the TIN scheme and identify a regime of parameters (in terms of channel strength levels) where this region is optimal.