MasterMath Coding Theory:

"Convolutional Codes and Probabilistic Decoding Methods,"

Dr.ir. F.M.J. Willems (f.m.j.willems@tue.nl)

Exam (January 20, 2009, 10.00-13.00, UvA, Roetersstraat 15, building A, lecture hall D)

Lectures (2.00pm-4.45pm):

• November 11, Lecture notes: First Some Information Theory (updated version) and Introduction to Convolutional Codes, Part I. Exercises of the Information Theory lecture will be discussed on November 18. Solutions. Exercise on Conv. Codes Part I on November 25. Solutions.
• November 18, Lecture notes: Introduction to Convolutional Codes, Part II. Exercise will be discussed on December 2. Solutions.
• November 25, Lecture notes: Introduction to Convolutional Codes, Part III. Exercise will be discussed on December 2. Solutions.
• December 2, Lecture notes: Introduction to Turbo Codes. Exercises will be discussed on December 9. Solutions.
• December 9, Lecture notes (wrap up): From Waveform Channel to Binary Symmetric Channel. Exercise was discussed after lecture.

Article versions of sheets (Thanks to Jort):

• First Some Information Theory, Introduction to Convolutional Codes, Part I, Introduction to Convolutional Codes, Part II, Introduction to Convolutional Codes, Part III, Introduction to Turbo Codes, From Waveform Channel to Binary Symmetric Channel.

Further Reading:

1. R.J. McEliece, The Theory of Information and Coding, (Encyclopedia of Mathematics and its Applications), Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading Massachusetts, 1977.
2. C.E. Shannon, "A Mathematical Theory of Communication,  Bell Syst. Tech. J., pp. 379-423, July 1948, pp. 623-656, Oct. 1948. Made available by Bell Labs, 1998.
3. L.R. Bahl, J. Cocke, F. Jelinek, and J. Raviv, " Optimal Decoding of Linear Codes for Minimum Symbol Error Rate," IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, vol. IT-20, pp. 284-287, March 1974. Type ...\MasterMath\VA.pdf in your webbrowser to download the paper from this page.
4. C. Berrou, A. Glavieux, and P. Thitimajshima, "Near Shannon Limit Error-Correcting Coding and Decoding: Turbo-codes," In Proc. ICC, May 1993, Geneva, pp. 1064-1070.

Exam:

• ABOUT: Information Theory, Convolutional Codes (Part I, II, and III), and Turbo Codes.
• NOTE: You should be able to give solutions for problems that are comparable to the ones that were discussed during the lectures. Study the solutions to these exercises carefully therefore. At least one of the problems will be on the Viterbi, and/or BCJR algorithm. You will have to use your calculator here and there.
• DATE: January 20, 2009
• LOCATION: The exam is at UvA, Roetersstraat 15, building A, lecture hall D (building A is located in the o.a. Psychology department). This is at the Roeterseiland Complex, see link.
• TIME: 10.00 - 13.00

Using lecture notes is not allowed during the exam. Bring your hand-held calculator.