Customer Reviews

Digital Modulation and Coding

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

 

 

Of the graduate-level texts currently available, Wilson's provides the clearest overall picture of the fundamental theoretical tradeoffs in digital communications. Rather than merely regurgitate endless formulas, Wilson sets out the foundations of probability and information theory, then rigorously derives his results. Perhaps the most appealing aspect of the text, however (and the most unusual in the modern era), is the eloquence with which it's written. Wilson's derivations never lack a heuristic explanation, and are always motivated by the inherent compromises in engineering design. In this respect the text harks back to the classic treatments of Wozencraft and Jacobs, Michelson and Levesque, and even Shannon. Finally, its treatment of error-control coding is unsurpassed (save for dedicated texts on the subject), being far more thorough and understandable than most "cookbook" recitations in other communications texts.

This is not a "reference" book (though I have used it countless times in my work), as you will not find formulas for exotic modulation schemes, nonlinear amplifiers, adaptive equalization, or other such techicalities. It is, however, a superb instructional tool and an invaluable aid for those who wish to truly *understand* communication theory.

WARNING: Only for real engineers in communications! . Fundamental theoretical principles for practical digital communications. Precise, will be a classic! . Galois Field, Gilbert bound,Reed-solomon decoding etc. It wont solve your design problems...that's your job, but it really gives an insight to all fundamentals of modulation and coding! . Hope there is a second edition perhaps with some MATLAB examples on coding! .

This is one of the worse books I've ever read. The second chapter has a pretty good conceptual review of probability, stochasitics, and information theory. However, the problems are extremely hard given the information. Also, Wilson attempts to describe everything with extreme brevity and the problems are even worse for the other chapters. The solutions manual also is of poor quality, barely anything is acutally worked out. It seems that very little time and effort went into the making of this book and solution manual. You will learn very little if you try to use this book alone.

This book is very bad in describing the theory and mechanism in detail, as it can not do good in the balance between the detail and brevity. This book is spending a lot words on telling you the trivals behind those basic theory, but make you lost. And the English used in this book is not fit to international student. I even can not understand what the problem is when I try to do the homework. Compared with Prokias's digital communications, this books is only fit with the author himself, or those who already has become the expert in the communicaitons. In eductional perspective, it will be a nightmare for those students.

Just in case you get stuck with this book like I did, it is not a hardcover, it is a soft cover. The book in this format is thick, so you have to watch the binding. I haven't owned mine very long, but I can already see the pages starting to work free (hence why I wanted the hardcover instead). The books is good, the three star rating is more of a reflection on Amazon than a reflection on the author or the books contents.