Codes and Turbo Codes

The IRIS series consists of computer science, computer networks, and telecommunication books intended for students in higher education (first year university to postgraduate degree level, preparation courses, engineering colleges) and professionals.

Each book in the collection reviews a particular aspect of computer science today. The different themes are explored by authors who have taught the subject for several years or, in the case of emerging concepts, by researchers and specialized engineers working on the subject.

Computer science is an extremely broad scientific and technological discipline which is constantly evolving. Not only does the IRIS collection clarify the foundations of the field by proposing reference books, it also presents the most recent developments through more specialized books.

This book is devoted to one of the essential functions of modern telecommunications systems: channel coding or error correction coding. At the crossroads of information theory, mathematics and electronics, channel coding has undergone many developments since Claude Shannon's founding work. From the simple Hamming code (1950) and LDPC codes (1962) to the more recent turbo codes (1993), channel coding has evolved considerably and has incorporated ever more sophisticated concepts, especially the probabilistic processing of information.

The book's main focus is on iteratively decoded algebraic codes, convolutional codes and concatenated codes; it also examines the digital modulation with which channel coding is closely associated, making up the heart of the physical layer of telecommunications systems. The most important theoretical aspects are presented, and the building of codes is detailed. Decoding algorithms are developed and, whenever possible, accompanied by simulation results characteristic of their correcting power.

Codes and Turbo Codes is intended both as an exploration of the domain, a valuable source of information on the many techniques developed since the mid-twentieth century, and as a step towards addressing those problems which are not yet entirely solved. The authors are researchers and lecturers recognized for their expertise in the field of encoding and decoding algorithms and associated circuits.

Claude Berrou of the Institut Telecom is a Professor at Telecom Bretagne. In collaboration with Alain Glavieux, he introduced the concept of turbo codes and pioneered the extension of turbo-detection and turbo-equalization. He has received several distinctions, including the 2003 IEEE Richard W. Hamming medal and the 2005 Marconi Prize. He was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 2007 and an IEEE Fellow in 2009.