FM as "analog FEC"

One of the comments on the "VCO in a PLL" thread got me to thinking.

I remember being struck by the similarity in the waterfall curves between 
FEC coding on the one hand, and FM radio on the other.  One is in BER vs. 
Eb/No, and the other is in output SNR vs. input SNR, but both are showing 
that when you transmit a signal with redundant information you'll get 
improved performance up to some noise threshold, and after that things go 
to hell in a hurry.

Get the right book, or pair of books, and look at one and then the 
other.  Then allow yourself to be boggled by the similarities in the 
curves.

There's something deep and philosophical in there, but I never managed to 
grab onto it.  I do think it's amazing that Major Armstrong managed to 
INTUIT the advantages of frequency modulation at a time when most people 
were still fumbling around trying to understand how carrier-wave 
transmission worked.

-- 

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Tim!!!!!!

Yes i realized the same thing years ago.  Wideband FM is a form of Analog FEC.

FM is amazing.

Mark

makolber@yahoo.com writes:

> Tim!!!!!!
>
> Yes i realized the same thing years ago.  Wideband FM is a form of Analog FEC.
>
> FM is amazing.

"F --- M, no static at all"...
-- 
Randy Yates
Digital Signal Labs
http://www.digitalsignallabs.com

Tim Wescott <tim@seemywebsite.really> writes:
> [...]
> There's something deep and philosophical in there, but I never managed to 
> grab onto it.  

<LIKE>
-- 
Randy Yates
Digital Signal Labs
http://www.digitalsignallabs.com