Customer Reviews

Digital Communications: Fundamentals and Applications (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the best books on the market for communications. As a university professor I am always looking for that special book that can take the student from the formative learning stage into maturity in the field of communication and signal processing. This book is an excellent text for such a journey. It provides a good mix of theory and practice with many worked examples. Unlike many texts in communications theory that provide their audiences with a lot of theory and abstractions that leave them confused, this book is so well written and the theory so well handled and presented, that its concepts are easily grasped. Then, to supplement this, the book has numerous worked examples showing practical applications. As an educator in the field of communications I have adapted this book for my course because its stated attributes above make my work in educating students that much easier. I recommend this book without reservation to anyone who needs a good reference in the field of communications.

Digital Communications by Sklar is an excellent introduction to the field for the student or the practicing engineer. There is a logical flow from beginning to end, and the book is written in an easy to read style, which allows the reader to grasp the engineering tradeoffs involved in digital communications.

The book is not mathematically rigorous; although formulas are presented, they are not derived. However, I feel that to correct this shortfall may make the book too long, and harder to read. I think it is better to get a general overview of the topic from this book, and to look to other sources where mathematical rigor is desired.

Some additional background is helpful, but not necessary to understand the mathematical details that are glossed over. These include a course in Detection and Estimation to understand concepts such as signal spaces, noise, decision regions and probability of error, and an introductory DSP course to understand the issues surrounding aliasing, quantizing, equalization, and source coding. Familiarity with Fourier Transforms and prior background with Probability and Random Processes is essential to understanding the math that is presented in the book.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for someone who wants to appreciate the engineeering constraints that need to be met in the design of digital communication systems.

I was introduced to the 1st edition of this book as an undergrad at UCLA where Sklar taught. Since then as I have worked in the wireless and telecom fields, it has remained one of my main references. I've added other comm. books such as Proakis', but Sklar remains my favorite. It is well arrange, making it easy to reference any material you may be interested in. It touches on every area of comm. theory from modulation to coding. If you are looking for a general communication theory reference book, then this should be the one. But if you are only interested in learning in detail about one particular area of commmuncation theory such as CDMA or Trellis Coding, then you should seek a book specializing in that area only. No book can cover everything in the depth.

This digital communication book is more readable than the Proakis' book. It explains concepts and theory in plain words. I particularly like the section of viterbi algorithm. Well illustrated diagrams too.

I have not read the first edition, but I have long depended on Sklar's tutorial articles in various publications to improve my understanding of digital comms concepts, so it was with some anticipation that I opened this book. It certainly did not disappoint; the author's characteristic style, which imparts an intuitive understanding rather than simply instruct, is present throughout. In certain sections, the theory is not just presented alone but supplemented with nuggets of practical knowledge.

Proakis is undoubtedly still the benchmark for such texts, but this book will be a valuable addition to the bookshelf for both students and engineers alike. Remember to have a look at the checklist in the preface to straighten out your concepts.

Digital Communications: Fundamentals and Applications makes a fine addition to any signal processing engineer's library. Dr. Sklar manages to give a comprehensive view of the subject discussing Bandwidth Efficient Modulation, Bit Error Rates, Multiple Access signaling and a variety of other subjects. This book resides somewhere between upper division undergraduate and graduate level coursework. At this level, a certain amount of study is assumed, and this is an engineering textbook with derivations not listed for a variety of reasons (it is assumed that students are familiar with Fourier transforms and high level calculus. Information presented is for the purpose of Asic/FPGA/chip/software design with a lot of the formulas coming from industry definitions). The accompanying CD is fantastic and anyone looking to apply some of the knowledge with one of the best tools in the industry (Systemview) will find the CD invaluable.

This book has been golden for two of my undergrad communications classes and is turning out an invalvuable reference for my graduate level comm class, which the professor is teaching from a variety of books. It is very easy to understand and the best part is it covers all the rigorous math. It could be more rigorous with the math in some cases. Still it is such a broad and complete coverage of all important topics it will serve as your comm encyclopedia.

I have followed Dr. Sklar's writing since 1982/83 when a two part article was presented in IEEE Communication Magazine. The tilte was "A Structural Overview od Digital Communication". I used that article in my understanding of the subject and delivered lectures to communication engineers in my presentations to them in 1985/86 time frame. At that time I guessed, and knew that Dr. Sklar would write a book on the subject and this article is actually an introduction to the subject. Then, in 1987, I did find this book (first Edition) and used it for further uderstanding of the subject. I was very happy. I was lucky to have this book in 1998 when I taught this course to MSEE class.The second edition along with Systemview is an excellent combination for teachers as well as for practicing engineers. I have loved this book and is always with me (even during holidays). After Dr. Shannon, Dr, Gallager, Dr. Wozencraft and Dr. Viterbi, and other contemporaries, I found Dr. Sklar giving a satisfactory expalanation on various aspects of Digital Communication. My salutations to Dr. Sklar. We communication engineers should be thankful to his efforts for such a presentation. This is an easy to understand and uses mathematical representations in an appropriate manner. Some of the explanations, like Bandwidth, and Probability of Error, etc. are excellent. I found the flow of chapters as lelegant as a sequence of music that appeals staightawy to the audience. As I love "A mathematical Theory of Communicarion" the same way I love this book.

This is a good introductory book and only that. However its usefulness to a graduate student or a practitioner is limited because of two factors.

1)Many mathematical derivations like error probabilities are stated directly without proof, even in simple cases.

2)Practcal and commercial use of the theory is not covered in detail.

Given the above two factors the cost of the book is not at all justified.

If you are taking a course or just interested on the principles of digital communications this is an excellent reference. Prof. Sklar explain in a very simple way many topics, solving very illustrative examples that complements your understanding of the subject. I use it along with Proakis' book and the results are improved.