Channel Coding in Communication Networks – From ory to Turbocodes

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the subject of channel coding. It starts with a description of information theory, focusing on the quantitative measurement of information and introducing two fundamental theorems on source and channel coding. The basics of channel coding in two chapters, block codes and convolutional codes, are then discussed, and for these the authors introduce weighted input and output decoding algorithms and recursive systematic convolutional codes, which are used in the rest of the book. Trellis coded modulations, which have their primary applications in high spectral efficiency transmissions, are then covered, before the discussion moves on to an advanced coding technique called turbocoding. These codes, invented in the 1990s by C. Berrou and A. Glavieux, show exceptional performance. The differences between convolutional turbocodes and block turbocodes are outlined, and for each family, the authors present the coding and decoding techniques, together with their performances. The book concludes with a chapter on the implementation of turbocodes in circuits. As such, anyone involved in the areas of channel coding and error correcting coding will find this book to be of invaluable assistance.

Table of Contents:
Homage to Alain Glavieux. Chapter 1. Information theory (Gerard Battail). Chapter 2. Block codes (Alain Poli). Chapter 3. Convolutional codes (Alain Glavieux and Sandrine Vaton). Chapter 4. Coded modulations (Ezio Biglieri). Chapter 5. Turbocodes (Claude Berrou, Catherine Douillard, Michel Jezequel and Annie Picart). Chapter 6. Block turbocodes (Ramesh Pyndiah and Patrick Adde). Chapter 7. Block turbocodes in a practical setting (Patrick Adde and Ramesh Pyndiah). List of Authors. Index.

About the Author :
Alain Glavieux , was an Associate Professor at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications de Bretagne (ENST Bretagne), where he lectured in signal processing and communication theory and set up a digital communications research group. He was appointed Professor in 1989, and became Head of the Signals and Communications Department in 1994. In 1998, he took charge of ENST Bretagne's Corporate Relations with Industry and, in 2002, became Head of the CNRS laboratory Algorithmic and Hardware Processing of Information, Communications and Knowledge. In 2003, he was appointed assistant director of ENST Bretagne. Together with Professor Claude Berrou, Alain Glavieux developed a new family of error correction codes called turbo codes. He also pioneered the principle of turbo equalization. He received an IEEE Golden Jubilee Award for Technological Innovation in 1998, the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal in 2003, and the French Academy of Sciences Grand Prix France Telecom in 2003. He passed away after a long illness on September 25th, 2004 at the age of 55.

Review :
"The book offers a very good overview of channel coding topics, selected and proposed by a group of experienced researchers including inventors of turbocodes from ENST Bretagne ... The presented material is well illustrated with examples, referring to both encoding and decoding schemes ... The most valuable part of the book consists of chapters from 3 to 7 and is connected with convolutional codes, trellis coded modulations and especially turbocodes." (Einzelbeleg, 2010) "This book provides a comprehensive overview of the subject of channel coding ... as such, anyone involved in the area of channel coding and error correcting coding will find this book to be of invaluable assistance." (Mathematical Reviews, 2010)