Unlocking High-Fidelity Analog Joint Source-Channel Coding on Standard Digital Transceivers

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Yao, Shumin, Chen, Hao, Sun, Yaping, Ma, Nan, Xu, Xiaodong, Zhao, Qinglin, Cui, Shuguang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Yao, Shumin
Chen, Hao
Sun, Yaping
Ma, Nan
Xu, Xiaodong
Zhao, Qinglin
Cui, Shuguang
author_facet Yao, Shumin
Chen, Hao
Sun, Yaping
Ma, Nan
Xu, Xiaodong
Zhao, Qinglin
Cui, Shuguang
contents Analog joint source-channel coding (JSCC) has demonstrated superior performance for semantic communications through graceful degradation across channel conditions. However, a fundamental hardware-software mismatch prevents deployment on modern digital physical layers (PHYs): analog JSCC generates continuous-valued symbols requiring infinite waveform diversity, while digital PHYs produce a finite set of discrete waveforms and employ non-differentiable operations that break end-to-end gradient flow. Existing solutions either fundamentally limit representation granularity or require impractical white-box PHY access. We introduce D2AJSCC, a novel framework enabling high-fidelity analog JSCC deployment on standard digital PHYs. Our approach exploits orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing's parallel subcarrier structure as a waveform synthesizer: computational PHY inversion determines input bitstreams that orchestrate subcarrier amplitudes and phases to emulate ideal analog waveforms. To enable end-to-end training despite non-differentiable PHY operations, we develop ProxyNet-a differentiable neural surrogate of the communication link that provides uninterrupted gradient flow while preventing JSCC degeneration. Simulation results for image transmission over WiFi PHY demonstrate that our system achieves near-ideal analog JSCC performance with graceful degradation across SNR conditions, while baselines exhibit cliff effects or catastrophic failures. By enabling next-generation semantic transmission on legacy infrastructure without hardware modification, our framework promotes sustainable network evolution and bridges the critical gap between analog JSCC's theoretical promise and practical deployment on ubiquitous digital hardware.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_09080
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Unlocking High-Fidelity Analog Joint Source-Channel Coding on Standard Digital Transceivers
Yao, Shumin
Chen, Hao
Sun, Yaping
Ma, Nan
Xu, Xiaodong
Zhao, Qinglin
Cui, Shuguang
Information Theory
Information Retrieval
Analog joint source-channel coding (JSCC) has demonstrated superior performance for semantic communications through graceful degradation across channel conditions. However, a fundamental hardware-software mismatch prevents deployment on modern digital physical layers (PHYs): analog JSCC generates continuous-valued symbols requiring infinite waveform diversity, while digital PHYs produce a finite set of discrete waveforms and employ non-differentiable operations that break end-to-end gradient flow. Existing solutions either fundamentally limit representation granularity or require impractical white-box PHY access. We introduce D2AJSCC, a novel framework enabling high-fidelity analog JSCC deployment on standard digital PHYs. Our approach exploits orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing's parallel subcarrier structure as a waveform synthesizer: computational PHY inversion determines input bitstreams that orchestrate subcarrier amplitudes and phases to emulate ideal analog waveforms. To enable end-to-end training despite non-differentiable PHY operations, we develop ProxyNet-a differentiable neural surrogate of the communication link that provides uninterrupted gradient flow while preventing JSCC degeneration. Simulation results for image transmission over WiFi PHY demonstrate that our system achieves near-ideal analog JSCC performance with graceful degradation across SNR conditions, while baselines exhibit cliff effects or catastrophic failures. By enabling next-generation semantic transmission on legacy infrastructure without hardware modification, our framework promotes sustainable network evolution and bridges the critical gap between analog JSCC's theoretical promise and practical deployment on ubiquitous digital hardware.
title Unlocking High-Fidelity Analog Joint Source-Channel Coding on Standard Digital Transceivers
topic Information Theory
Information Retrieval
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.09080