* Modulation and Coding
for Wireless Communications

Alistair Burr

Prentice Hall/Pearson Education

352 pages; $79
ISBN: 0-201-39857-5

Wireless communications have become one of the most rapidly growing industries in the world. This book is concerned with the principles of modulation and coding as they apply to wireless systems and with actual modulation and coding schemes found in modern wireless systems. Here, the term coding refers to error control coding and in particular to forward error correcting coding. Other very important types of code, such as speech/video coding and cryptography are outside of its scope.

It was developed from notes used by the author to teach several university courses. It is essentially a textbook addressed to senior undergraduates and master's candidates. It will be also useful to practicing communications engineers to provide access to more advanced topics in this area and give practical guidance in developing and applying the schemes described. Each chapter, in addition to a full description of the subject concerned, offers several examples, a set of problems to check the reader's understanding and an extensive bibliography.

The book is divided in two streams. The first one consists of three chapters on advanced modulation techniques: principles of linear modulation, modulation for nonlinear systems and modem design. The other one covers forward error correction coding for another three chapters: principles of FEC coding, cyclic block codes and convolutional codes. A discussion of coded modulation techniques follows and a chapter is devoted to modulation and coding on multipath channels.

While modulation and coding are often the subject of heavy mathematical developments, the author has kept the mathematical content of the book to a minimum and makes use of graphical and verbal explanations to illustrate the concepts.

Modulation and coding in wireless systems is a rapidly evolving field and it is often difficult to keep up with advanced techniques. The book is complemented by a companion Web site hosted by Pearson Education at www.booksites.net/burr which will include a variety of materials to supplement the book.

To order this book, contact: Prentice Hall, PO Box 11073, Des Moines, IA 50336 (800) 947-7700.

* Radar Systems Performance Modeling


G. Richard Curry

Artech House Inc.

336 pages; $99, £68
ISBN: 1-58053-095-8

This book addresses the need of system analysts for radar models. It provides and explains equations, computational methods and data for modeling radar performance at the system level, and provides insight on how to use the models in system analysis. The radar models described can be used by system analysts to evaluate systems that include radars, and by modelers and programmers involved in simulating the performance of radars in systems.

The book is aimed at engineers and mathematicians who are not radar specialists. While a general engineering and mathematical background is assumed, no specialized radar engineering or advanced mathematics are required. In developing and describing the models, the book gives the reader a basic understanding of radar principles. This provides useful background for analysts and programmers, and it can also serve as a reference for radar engineers. Most of the models in this book can be found in or derived from materials in standard radar texts. The radar material needed by system modelers is collected and presented in a concise format with guidance for using it in system analysis. A comprehensive bibliography is provided in each chapter for those interested in more details on any topic.

The book opens with a brief overview of radar operation and applications, followed by a discussion of functional radar models and their software representations. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 discuss radar configurations, radar parameters and radar waveform characteristics. The radar equation, detection, search modes and measurements are the subjects of chapters 5 to 8. Environment and mitigation techniques are covered in chapter 9, while chapter 10 discusses radar countermeasures and counter-countermeasures. Finally some radar performance modeling examples are given in chapter 11.

The custom software functions described in the book and supporting material are provided on a computer disk. The disk contains three files: the radar functions described in the book, an Excel file which contains an example of each of the custom radar functions and an Excel file which contains the spreadsheet analysis solutions to the example problems.

To order this book, contact: Artech House Inc., 685 Canton St., Norwood, MA 02062 (781) 769-9750, ext. 4002; or 46 Gillingham St., London SW1V 1HH, UK +44 (0)20 7596-8750.

"This book is concerned with the principles of modulation and coding as they apply to wireless systems..."

"This book addresses the need of system analysts for radar models."