Abstract: A method of channel encoding and channel decoding in a multiple access communication system wherein the channel decoding requirements increase linearly and not exponentially as the number of users increase. A channel encoder converts alphabetic symbols into a preselected geometric representation of a hexagonal lattice known as a symbol constellation. A channel decoder converts the received symbol constellation into a replication of the alphabetic symbols. Each user has a specially defined symbol set that allows the linear-complexity decoding operation.