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 topic is
iteratively decoded algebraic codes convolutional codes and concatenated codes and it also
presents digital modulation with which channel coding is closely associated to make up the
heart of the physical layer of telecommunications systems. The most important theoretical
aspects are given and the building of codes is detailed and justified. Decoding algorithms are
developed and whenever possible accompanied by simulation results characteristic of their
correcting power. The authors are researchers and lecturers recognised for their expertise in
the field of encoding and decoding algorithms and associated circuits. Codes and Turbo Codes is
intended both as a means for discovering the domain a valuable source of information about the
many techniques imagined since the mid-twentieth century and as a step towards addressing
problems not yet entirely solved.
