Euclidean information theory of networks

In this paper, we extend the information theoretical framework that was developed in [1] to multi-hop communication networks. For a given network, we construct a deterministic model that models the ability of the channels in transmitting private and common messages between users in this network. Based on this model, we formulate a linear optimization problem to study the network throughput, where the solution indicates what kind of common messages should be generated in a network to optimize the throughput. Our results provide fundamental guidelines of how users in a network should cooperate with each other to communicate efficiently.