Short message noisy network coding for multiple sources

Short message noisy network coding (SNNC) transmits independent short messages in blocks rather than using long message repetitive encoding. SNNC is shown to achieve the same rates as noisy network coding (NNC) for discrete memoryless networks where each node transmits a multicast message. One advantage of SNNC is that backward decoding may be used which simplifies the analysis and understanding of the achievability proof. The analysis reveals that each decoder may ignore certain other nodes rather than including their message in the decoding procedure. Additionally, SNNC enables early decoding at nodes if the channel quality happens to be good.