Joint Design of Coding and Modulation for Digital Over-the-Air Computation

Abstract: Due to its high communication efficiency, over-the-air computation (AirComp) has been expected to carry out various computing tasks in the next-generation wireless networks. However, up to now, most applications of AirComp are explored in the analog domain, which limits the capability of AirComp in resisting the complex wireless environment, not to mention to integrate the AirComp technique to the existing universal communication standards, most of which are based on the digital system. In this paper, we propose a joint design of channel coding and digital modulation for digital AirComp transmission to attempt to reinforce the foundation for the application of AirComp in the digital system. Specifically, we first propose a non-binary LDPC-based channel coding scheme to enhance the error-correction capability of AirComp. Then, a digital modulation scheme is proposed to achieve the number summation from multiple transmitters via the lattice coding technique. We also provide simulation results to demonstrate the feasibility and the performance of the proposed design.