1
Channel Models and Reliable Communication
1.1 Principles of Reliable Communication
Ideally, design, development and deployment of communication systems aims at maximally efficient utilization of available resources for transferring information reliably between a sender and a recipient. In real systems, typically some amount of unreliability is tolerated in this transfer to achieve a predefined level of consumption of limited resources. In modern communication systems, primary resources are time, space, and power and frequency bandwidth of the electromagnetic radiation used to convey information. Given such resources, systems must be designed to overcome distortions to transmitted information caused mainly by elements within the system itself, possible external communications, and the environment through which the information propagates. To achieve efficient utilization of available resources, knowledge of the mechanisms that cause interference in a given transmission scenario must be available in designing and analyzing a communication system.
In performance evaluation of wireless communication systems, significance of the communication channel is emphasized, since the degradation of a signal propagating from a transmitter to a receiver is strongly dependent on their locations relative ...