Introduction to Communication Systems

Progress in telecommunications over the past two decades has been nothing short of revolutionary, with communications taken for granted in modern society to the same extent as electricity. There is therefore a persistent need for engineers who are well-versed in the principles of communication systems. These principles apply to communication between points in space, as well as communication between points in time i.e, storage. Digital systems are fast replacing analog systems in both domains. This book has been written in response to the following core question what is the basic material that an undergraduate student with an interest in communications should learn, in order to be well prepared for either industry or graduate school A student who masters the material here should be well-prepared for either graduate school or the telecommunications industry. The student should leave with an understanding of baseband and passband signals and channels, modulation formats appropriate for these channels, random processes and noise, a systematic framework for optimum demodulation based on signal space concepts, performance analysis and power-bandwidth tradeoffs for common modulation schemes, introduction to communication techniques over dispersive channels, and a hint of the power of information theory and channel coding. Given the significant ongoing research and development activity in wireless communication, and the fact that an understanding of wireless link design provides a sound background for approaching other communication links, material enabling hands-on discovery of key concepts for wireless system design is interspersed throughout the textbook. The goal of the lecture-style exposition in this book is to clearly articulate a selection of concepts that I deem fundamental to communication system design, rather than to provide comprehensive coverage.