Principles of Digital Communication and Coding (Dover Books on Electrical Engineering)
The three-part approach begins with the fundamentals of digital communication and block coding, including an analysis of block code ensemble performance. The second part introduces convolutional coding, exploring ensemble performance and sequential decoding. The final section addresses source coding and rate distortion theory, examining fundamental concepts for memoryless sources as well as precepts related to memory, Gaussian sources, and universal coding. Appendixes of useful information appear throughout the text, and each chapter concludes with a set of problems, the solutions to which are available online.
Why Read This Book
You should read this book if you need a rigorous, unified foundation in digital communication theory and coding: it walks from detection and block codes through convolutional coding, sequential decoding, and source coding with deep mathematical insight. You will gain the theoretical tools needed to analyze code performance and decoding strategies that still underpin modern communications systems.
Who Will Benefit
Advanced students, researchers, and communications or signal-processing engineers designing or analyzing digital links, modems, and coding schemes.
Level: Advanced — Prerequisites: Undergraduate-level probability and random processes, linear algebra, signals and systems; familiarity with basic digital communications concepts is helpful.
Key Takeaways
- Understand the fundamentals of digital communication, detection, and error probability analysis
- Analyze block-code ensembles and compute their performance bounds
- Design and evaluate convolutional codes and understand their distance properties
- Apply and analyze sequential decoding and maximum-likelihood decoding methods (including the Viterbi algorithm)
- Understand source coding principles and rate–distortion theory for memoryless and Gaussian sources
- Relate coding theory results to practical channel and modem design through performance metrics and bounds
Topics Covered
- Part I — Fundamentals of Digital Communication
- 1. Introduction and Signal-Space Concepts
- 2. Detection and Optimum Receivers
- 3. Performance Measures and Error Probability Analysis
- 4. Block Codes and Ensemble Performance
- 5. Algebraic Properties and Decoding of Block Codes
- Part II — Convolutional Coding and Sequential Decoding
- 6. Convolutional Codes: Structure and Properties
- 7. Distance Spectra and Union Bounds
- 8. Decoding: Viterbi and Sequential Methods
- Part III — Source Coding and Rate–Distortion Theory
- 9. Lossless Source Coding
- 10. Rate–Distortion Theory and Gaussian Sources
- Appendices: Mathematical Tools and Tables
How It Compares
Covers similar theoretical ground to Proakis' Digital Communications but places heavier emphasis on coding ensembles and decoding methods; for a more coding-focused, implementation-oriented view compare with Lin & Costello's Error Control Coding.
