60 problems

Each input bit is independently deleted without an erasure marker; the exact capacity is unknown for every nontrivial deletion probability.

Point-to-point Binary Finite alphabet Memory Deletion Capacity Bounds only
Open \(0.1221(1-d)<C_{\mathrm{del}}(d)\le0.3578(1-d)\)

The capacity region of this binary-input broadcast channel remains unknown.

Broadcast Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Binary Asymmetric Capacity region Bounds only
Open \(\mathcal R_{\mathrm{Marton}}\subseteq\mathcal C_{\mathrm{BSSC}}\subseteq\mathcal R_{\mathrm{UV}}\)

Each bit is independently flipped with probability \(p\).

Point-to-point Binary Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Symmetric Capacity Exact
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{BSC}}(p)=1-h_2(p)\)

An adversary selects a channel state at every use; deterministic average-error capacity exhibits a symmetrizability dichotomy.

Arbitrarily varying Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Symmetrizability Deterministic-code capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{det}}=\begin{cases}0,&\text{if the AVC is symmetrizable},\\\max_{P_X}\min_{q\in\mathcal P(\mathcal S)}I(P_X,W_q),&\text{otherwise.}\end{cases}\)

The general finite memoryless point-to-point channel has a single-letter mutual-information capacity formula.

Point-to-point Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C(W)=\max_{P_X} I(X;Y)\)

Additive Gaussian interference known noncausally to the encoder causes no capacity loss.

Point-to-point Continuous alphabet Gaussian Additive noise Noncausal state information Side information Power constraint Capacity Exact
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{DPC}}=\frac12\log_2\!\left(1+\frac PN\right)\)

A causal relay assists a source, but decode-forward and the cut-set bound do not coincide in general.

Relay Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Capacity Bounds only
Open \(R_{\mathrm{DF}}\le C\le R_{\mathrm{cut}}\)

The capacity region for two arbitrary broadcast receivers remains unknown outside important ordered subclasses.

Broadcast Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Capacity region Bounds only
Open \(\mathcal R_{\mathrm{Marton}}\subseteq\mathcal C_{\mathrm{BC}}\subseteq\mathcal R_{\mathrm{UV}}\)

Two transmitter-receiver pairs interfere, and the exact capacity region is unknown in general.

Interference Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Capacity region Bounds only
Open \(\mathcal R_{\mathrm{HK}}\subseteq\mathcal C_{\mathrm{IC}}\subseteq\mathcal R_{\mathrm{outer}}\)

The confusability graph is a five-cycle, whose Shannon capacity is exactly the square root of five.

Zero error Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Zero-error capacity Exact Regularized characterization
Solved \(\Theta(C_5)=\sqrt5,\qquad C_0(C_5)=\frac12\log_2 5\)

A point-to-point Gaussian vector channel under a total covariance trace constraint has a log-determinant water-filling capacity formula.

Point-to-point Continuous alphabet Gaussian Power constraint Capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C(H,P)=\max_{Q\succeq0,\,\operatorname{tr}Q\le P}\frac12\log_2\det\!\left(I+\sigma^{-2}HQH^{\mathsf T}\right)\)

A relay observes a noisy channel output and sends information over a separate noiseless finite-capacity link, but capacity is unknown in general.

Relay Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Capacity Bounds only
Open \(R_{\mathrm{CF}}\le C(R_0)\le C_{\mathrm{cut}}\)

The power-constrained real Gaussian channel has a closed-form capacity attained by a Gaussian input.

Point-to-point Continuous alphabet Gaussian Additive noise Power constraint Capacity Exact
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{AWGN}}(P,N)=\frac12\log_2\!\left(1+\frac PN\right)\)

The Shannon capacity of the seven-cycle remains unknown.

Zero error Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Zero-error capacity Bounds only Regularized characterization
Open \(367^{1/5}\le\Theta(C_7)\le\frac{7\cos(\pi/7)}{1+\cos(\pi/7)}\)

The linear-encoder symmetric capacity is known, while unrestricted nonlinear capacity remains open.

Index coding Finite alphabet Multiple unicast Non-Shannon inequalities Nonlinear coding Symmetric capacity Bounds only Linear-encoder-only result
Open \(\frac5{13}\le C_{\mathrm{sym}}\le\frac{11}{28}\)

A six-message, ten-receiver groupcast instance has linear-encoder capacity 5/13 and a non-Shannon nonlinear upper bound 11/28.

Index coding Finite alphabet Non-Shannon inequalities Nonlinear coding Symmetric capacity Bounds only Linear-encoder-only result
Open \(\frac5{13}\le C_{\mathrm{sym}}\le\frac{11}{28}\)

Ozarow's feedback scheme and converse determine the full two-user Gaussian MAC feedback region.

Multiple access Continuous alphabet Gaussian Additive noise Feedback Power constraint Capacity region Exact
Solved \(\bigcup_{0\le\rho\le1}\!\left\{\begin{array}{l}R_1\le\frac12\log_2(1+P_1(1-\rho^2)/N),\\R_2\le\frac12\log_2(1+P_2(1-\rho^2)/N),\\R_1+R_2\le\frac12\log_2(1+(P_1+P_2+2\rho\sqrt{P_1P_2})/N)\end{array}\right\}\)

For a finite confusability graph, the regularized independence number defines capacity but is difficult to compute or characterize.

Zero error Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Zero-error capacity Regularized characterization Bounds only
Open \(\Theta(G)=\sup_{n\ge1}\alpha(G^{\boxtimes n})^{1/n}\)

A scalar Gaussian channel with a hard amplitude constraint has an optimizing input with finite support.

Point-to-point Continuous alphabet Gaussian Power constraint Capacity Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C=\max_{\operatorname{supp}(P_X)\subseteq[-A,A]} I(X;X+Z)\)

Noiseless output feedback improves reliability without changing AWGN capacity.

Point-to-point Continuous alphabet Gaussian Additive noise Feedback Power constraint Capacity Exact
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{AWGN,fb}}=\frac12\log_2\!\left(1+\frac PN\right)\)

Each transmitted bit is received correctly or replaced by a visible erasure symbol.

Point-to-point Binary Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Symmetric Erasure Capacity Exact
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{BEC}}(\varepsilon)=1-\varepsilon\)

Independent stuck-at defects are known noncausally to the encoder but not the decoder.

Point-to-point Binary Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Noncausal state information Capacity Exact
Solved \(C=1-\delta\)

In the fixed iid random-insertion model, each transmitted bit may be followed by one independent fair inserted bit and exact capacity is unknown.

Point-to-point Finite alphabet Binary Memory Capacity Bounds only
Open \(0\le C_{\mathrm{ins}}(p)\le1\)
Binary Z-channel Z-channel

One binary symbol is transmitted perfectly while the other can flip in only one direction.

Point-to-point Binary Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Asymmetric Capacity Exact
Solved \(C_Z(p)=\log_2\!\left(1+(1-p)p^{p/(1-p)}\right)\)

The three-input Blackwell channel is a concrete nondegraded deterministic broadcast channel with an exact entropy capacity region.

Broadcast Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Asymmetric Capacity region Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(R_1\le H(Y_1),\quad R_2\le H(Y_2),\quad R_1+R_2\le H(Y_1,Y_2)\)

A sender communicates reliably to a legitimate receiver while hiding the message from a degraded eavesdropper.

Wiretap Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Degraded Secrecy Secrecy capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C_s=\max_{P_X}\bigl[I(X;Y)-I(X;Z)\bigr]\)

A power-constrained Gaussian transmitter serves a strong and a weak receiver by superposition coding.

Broadcast Continuous alphabet Gaussian Degraded Power constraint Capacity region Exact
Solved \(\bigcup_{0\le\alpha\le1}\!\left\{\begin{array}{l}R_1\le\frac12\log_2(1+\alpha P/N_1),\\R_2\le\frac12\log_2\!\left(1+\frac{(1-\alpha)P}{\alpha P+N_2}\right)\end{array}\right\}\)

A Gaussian receiver has a lower noise variance than the eavesdropper, yielding a closed-form secrecy capacity.

Wiretap Continuous alphabet Gaussian Degraded Secrecy Power constraint Secrecy capacity Exact
Solved \(C_s=\frac12\log_2\!\left(1+\frac{P}{\sigma_1^2}\right)-\frac12\log_2\!\left(1+\frac{P}{\sigma_2^2}\right)\)

Each receiver in a directed cycle knows its successor message and requests its own message.

Index coding Finite alphabet Side information Multiple unicast Nonlinear coding Symmetric capacity Exact
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{sym}}=1/(m-1)\)

Common noiseless output feedback lets distributed encoders cooperate, but the general capacity region is unknown.

Multiple access Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Feedback Capacity region Bounds only
Open \(\mathcal R_{\mathrm{CL}}\subseteq\mathcal C_{\mathrm{MAC,fb}}\subseteq\mathcal R_{\mathrm{DB}}\)

Two terminals exchange messages while adapting each input to their own past observations.

Two-way Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Feedback Capacity region Bounds only
Open \(\mathcal R_{\mathrm{Shannon,in}}\subseteq\mathcal C_{\mathrm{TWC}}\subseteq\mathcal R_{\mathrm{Shannon,out}}\)

An iid channel state is revealed causally to the encoder but not to the decoder.

Point-to-point Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Causal state information Side information Capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{causal}}=\max_{P_U,\,x=f(U,S),\,U\perp S} I(U;Y)\)

The entire iid state sequence is known noncausally to the encoder but not the decoder.

Point-to-point Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Noncausal state information Side information Capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{GP}}=\max_{P_{U|S},\,x=f(U,S)}\bigl[I(U;Y)-I(U;S)\bigr]\)

One encoder sends the same message to every receiver in a fixed finite family.

Broadcast Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{common}}=\max_{P_X}\min_{j\in\mathcal J}I(X;Y_j)\)

One unknown channel from a known finite family governs the entire transmission block.

Point-to-point Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Compound Capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{cmp}}=\max_{P_X}\min_{s\in\mathcal S} I(P_X,W_s)\)

A finite DMC under a feasible maximum-codeword average-cost constraint has a constrained mutual-information capacity formula.

Point-to-point Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C(\Gamma)=\max_{P_X:\,\mathbb E[c(X)]\le\Gamma} I(X;Y)\)

Causal noiseless output feedback changes coding strategies and reliability but not ordinary DMC capacity.

Point-to-point Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Feedback Capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{fb}}(W)=C(W)=\max_{P_X}I(X;Y)\)

An independent iid state observed only by the receiver gives a conditional-mutual-information capacity formula.

Point-to-point Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Side information Capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{SI-D}}=\max_{P_X} I(X;Y\mid S)\)

Stationary irreducible aperiodic Markov noise subtracts its entropy rate from the group alphabet rate.

Point-to-point Finite alphabet Memory Additive noise Capacity Exact
Solved \(C=\log_2|G|-\sum_s p(s)H(K(\cdot\mid s))\)

A symbol in a finite group is corrupted by independent additive noise with a known distribution.

Point-to-point Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Additive noise Symmetric Capacity Exact
Solved \(C=\log_2|G|-H(Z)\)

Iid real fading gains known only to the receiver determine ergodic capacity under a fixed power budget.

Point-to-point Continuous alphabet Gaussian Side information Power constraint Capacity Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C=\mathbb E[\tfrac12\log_2(1+H^2P/N)]\)

The unconstrained finite wiretap channel has a single-auxiliary secrecy-capacity characterization without a degradedness assumption.

Wiretap Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Secrecy Secrecy capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C_s=\max_{V-X-(Y,Z)}\bigl[I(V;Y)-I(V;Z)\bigr]\)

The capacity regions of all 9,846 nonisomorphic index-coding instances with at most five messages are covered by a finite classification.

Index coding Finite alphabet Multiple unicast Side information Capacity region Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(\mathcal C(G)=\mathcal R_{\mathrm{composite}}(G)\quad\text{for }|V(G)|\le5\)

A binary erasure channel with no adjacent transmitted ones admits an exact feedback capacity formula.

Point-to-point Binary Finite alphabet Erasure Feedback Memory Capacity Exact
Solved \(C_{\rm fb}=\max_{0\le p\le1/2}\frac{(1-\varepsilon)h_2(p)}{1+(1-\varepsilon)p}\)

A less-noisy ordering compares every finite stochastic prefix and yields the exact superposition-coding capacity region.

Broadcast Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Capacity region Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(\mathcal C_{\mathrm{LN}}=\bigcup_{P_U P_{X|U}}\{R_1\le I(X;Y_1\mid U),\ R_2\le I(U;Y_2)\}\)

Independent additive noises allow simultaneous communication in both directions without an adaptation gain.

Two-way Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Additive noise Feedback Capacity region Exact
Solved \(0\le R_1\le\log_2|G|-H(Z_2),\quad 0\le R_2\le\log_2|G|-H(Z_1)\)

A more-capable ordering compares the receivers for every input distribution and yields an exact superposition-coding capacity region.

Broadcast Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Capacity region Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(\mathcal C_{\mathrm{MC}}=\bigcup_{P_U P_{X|U}}\{R_2\le I(U;Y_2),\ R_1+R_2\le\min[I(X;Y_1),I(X;Y_1\mid U)+I(U;Y_2)]\}\)

A q-symbol input is reproduced exactly.

Point-to-point q-ary Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Capacity Exact
Solved \(C=\log_2 q\)

One source sends a common message to every designated receiver in a finite directed acyclic network.

Broadcast Finite alphabet Capacity Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C=\min_{t\in T}\min_{S:0\in S,\ t\notin S}\sum_{e\in\delta^+(S)}r_e\)

When the destination is a degraded version of the relay observation, decode-forward meets the cut-set bound.

Relay Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Degraded Capacity Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(C=\max_{p(x,x_r)}\min\{I(X;Y_r|X_r),\ I(X,X_r;Y)\}\)

One transmitter sends private messages to receivers whose outputs form a degradation chain.

Broadcast Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Degraded Capacity region Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(\mathcal C=\bigcup_{p(u,x)}\{(R_1,R_2):R_1\le I(X;Y_1|U),\ R_2\le I(U;Y_2)\}\)

A q-ary symbol is correct with probability 1-p and otherwise changes uniformly to another symbol.

Point-to-point q-ary Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Symmetric Capacity Exact
Solved \(C_q(p)=\log_2 q-h_2(p)-p\log_2(q-1)\)

With causal noiseless output feedback and a known initial state, the binary trapdoor channel has capacity equal to the logarithm of the golden ratio.

Point-to-point Finite alphabet Binary Memory Feedback Capacity Exact
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{fb}}=\log_2\varphi\)

The binary trapdoor channel’s exact capacity without feedback remains unknown.

Point-to-point Finite alphabet Binary Memory Capacity Bounds only
Open \(0.572\le C\le0.5765\)

Two independent senders communicate to one receiver through a finite memoryless channel.

Multiple access Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Capacity region Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(\bigcup_{p(q)p(x_1|q)p(x_2|q)}\!\left\{\begin{array}{l}R_1,R_2\ge0,\\R_1\le I(X_1;Y|X_2,Q),\\R_2\le I(X_2;Y|X_1,Q),\\R_1+R_2\le I(X_1,X_2;Y|Q)\end{array}\right\}\)

Under the two strong-interference information inequalities, both receivers decode both messages and the capacity region is a MAC-region intersection.

Interference Finite alphabet Discrete memoryless Capacity region Exact Single-letter characterization
Solved \(\mathcal C_{\mathrm{SI}}=\mathcal C_{\mathrm{MAC},1}\cap\mathcal C_{\mathrm{MAC},2}\)

Two power-constrained Gaussian users share one receiver, giving an exact pentagonal capacity region.

Multiple access Continuous alphabet Gaussian Additive noise Power constraint Capacity region Exact
Solved \(\left\{\begin{array}{l}R_1\le\frac12\log_2(1+P_1/N),\\R_2\le\frac12\log_2(1+P_2/N),\\R_1+R_2\le\frac12\log_2(1+(P_1+P_2)/N)\end{array}\right\}\)

Each of five receivers knows its two neighbours and asks for its own independent message.

Index coding Finite alphabet Side information Multiple unicast Nonlinear coding Symmetric capacity Exact
Solved \(C_{\mathrm{sym}}=2/5\)