On the duality and difference between slepian-wolf coding and channel coding

The duality between the sphere packing exponents, random coding exponents, and correct decoding exponents for Slepian-Wolf coding and channel coding is established. A systematic analysis and comparison of the expurgated exponents for Slepian-Wolf coding and channel coding is provided. This analysis, in conjunction with the linear codebook-level duality between Slepian-Wolf coding and channel coding, reveals that nonlinear Slepian-Wolf codes can strictly outperform linear Slepian-Wolf codes in terms of rate-error tradeoff at high rates. © 2007 IEEE.