Principles of Communication Engineering [Hardcover]

John M. Wozencraft (Author), Irwin Mark Jacobs (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0881335541 | ISBN-13: 978-0881335545 | Publication Date: June 1, 1990

The content and scope of this highly regarded book--the first overall synthesis of its kind--is reflected in three important objectives: (1) to establish a sound frame of reference for further study in communication, random processes, and information and detection theory; (2) to make the central results and concepts of statistical communication theory accessible and intuitively meaningful to the practicing engineer; and (3) to illuminate the engineering significance and application of the theory and to provide a quantitative basis for the compromises of engineering design.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"This classic text in communication theory retains its value completely today. I prefer it to many newer books." -- L. B. Levitin, Boston University

"I'm glad it is still available. It is very readable and covers the basic ideas with reasonable notation." -- Filson Glanz, University of New Hampshire

"This is my favorite communications textbook. Despite its age, the material covered in the book is very much relevant to modern communications systems." -- Venugopal Veeravalli, Cornell University

"An indispensable classic treatment of the basic concepts of communication engineering; a must for serious researchers in the field." -- Ernest L. Walker, West Virginia University

"I like the text's systematic treatment of the concept of signal space, which I find most students struggle to grasp." -- Jing Jiang, North Carolina A&T State University

"In my opinion, nobody has written a text that reflects the development of an emerging technology the way Wozencraft and Jacobs did for communications/telecommunication technology." -- Behnam Kamali, Mercer University

"The rigorous treatment of optimum signaling schemes is superb and should be required reading for advanced graduate students working in communication theory." -- Vijaya Kuman, Carnegie Mellon University

"Your company was wise to reprint this great book. The price is very reasonable and the quality of print is excellent." -- Mohsen Kavehrad, Penn State University

"Students like the textbook because it is easy to read and focuses on fundamentals without the usual clutter." -- Costas N. Georghiades, Texas A&M University

"One cannot help to be impressed by the accomplishments of these authors. It is hard to overestimate the importance of this book. It is one of the basic books used by every communication engineer involved in research and design." -- George Zrilic, New Mexico Highlands University

"I like the book best because it describes the key points immediately and focuses on the most important concepts. Students learn quickly and solidly." -- Henry Yeh, California State University, Long Beach

Product Details

• Hardcover: 720 pages
• Publisher: Waveland Pr Inc (June 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881335541
• ISBN-13: 978-0881335545
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #694,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Communication Theory Text - Buy Two Copies, April 15, 2005

By 

Good_Authors_Are_Retired (Sunnyvale, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Principles of Communication Engineering (Hardcover)

This is one of the best technical/theoretical books I have ever read. It sets the example for teaching the fundamentals of communication theory to a capable audience without diluting the content. Yes it is old, but OLD is GOLD in this case.

This book (combined with Van Trees' "Detection, Estimation, and Modulation Theory, vol.1) is an excellent manuscript for a fundamental understanding of communication theory.

(1) Especially valuable is the chapter 4 (about optimum receiver principles), that makes this book a great buy. For the more enthusiastic student,

(2) Chapter 5 gives the derivation of the Shannon Capacity Theorem, a concept that makes one proud to understand.

(3) Chapters 2 & 3 provide very strong background on probability and random processes. You may have had these on your other courses, but this is a very nice treatment and referred by the later chapters.

(4) Chapter 6,7,8 are about implementation, channel models, and waveform communications, and they are obviously outdated, (e.g., Viterbi algorithm was not invented yet when this book was written) . However, if you feel the need to implement a Fano decoder, this is the best place to look, explanations by other books appear to be wrong!

RECOMMENDATION:
***************
This is one of the most valuable books for me in my personal library. Definitely buy it, you will not regret it.

This book sets the standard so high that other contemporary books on communication theory in general (examples: Proakis, Sklar) look like second rate, and rush job, copy and paste books on certain specialties such as space-time coding, MIMO (example: Paulraj et. al.) recyclable paper quality.

LONG LIVE: Wozencraft and Jacobs!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be in every library, February 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Principles of Communication Engineering (Hardcover)

This 1965 textbook is arguably the most scholarly textbook ever written for communication engineers. Although the Proakis and Sklar (and also McKay) books are the standard textbooks for digital communications and estimation/detection theory nowadays; they don't even come close to this textbook. The Proakis textbook has gotten the unfortunate reputation as having the most comprehensive treatment regarding "hard-core" communication theory. However, the divergence between modern textbooks which are "practical" versus older textbooks which focus more on "theory" is very clear. Somewhere along the way, today's textbooks have truly lost much of the hard-core theory, and this book has it.

The Chapters are as follows: (1) Introduction (2) Probability Theory (3)Random Waveforms (4)Optimum Receiver Principles (5)Efficient Signaling for Message Sequences (6) Implementation of Coding Systems (7) Important Channel Models (8) Waveforms Communications and appendixes (A-D)

The chapter on probability is bar-none the most comprehensive I have ever seen in any digital communications book, and covers multidimensional pdf's and explains the significance of moments and other things you might only find in a book dedicated specifically to stochastic processes. The coverage of the topics on signal-spaces is fantastic, and the chapter on optimum receivers is also extremely thorough despite the age of this book. Wozencrafts treatment of "channel capacity" and the derivations which he provides are unlike anything in any other book, covering the sphere packing argument quite thoroughly (the only other author to ever get this comprehensive was Shannon himself, and Pierce in his 1960'is vintage book on information theory). His coverage of various important bounds is covered very well (i.e. Chernoff bound) such that even an undergraduate can understand it. Other chapters are equally well written. No, the book obviously is not as up to date as Sklar or Proakis and doesn't cover alot of the more "practical" aspects of modern communications.... but if you want a die-hard communication theory book... this is a classic must-have.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Communication Theory Textbook, May 7, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Principles of Communication Engineering (Hardcover)

This book (combined with Van Trees' "Detection, Estimation, and Modulation Theory, vol.1) is an excellent manuscript for a graduate level study of communication theory. Especially valuable is the chapter 4 (about optimum receiver principles), that makes this book a buy. For the more enthusiastic student, Chapter 5 gives the derivation of the Shannon Capacity Theorem, a concept that makes one proud to understand. Chapters 2 & 3 provide very strong background on probability and random processes. Chapter 6,7,8 are about implementation, channel models, and waveform communications, and they are outdated. All in all, this is one of the most valuable books for me in my personal library.