Chapter 1Introduction
1.1 Coded Modulation
The main challenge in the design of communication systems is to reliably transmit digital information (very often, bits generated by the source) over a medium which we call the communication channel or simply the channel. This is done by mapping a sequence of 
bits 
to a sequence of 
symbols 
. These symbols are then used to vary (modulate) parameters of the continuous-time waveforms (such as amplitude, phase, and/or frequency), which are sent over the channel every 
seconds, i.e., at a symbol rate 
. The transmission rate of the system is thus equal to
where the bandwidth occupied by the waveforms is directly proportional to the symbol rate 
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