Computers are the foundation of the information age, but communication technology is the foundation of the foundation. Without the theories and practical applications of theory brought to us by the pioneers of communication, the computer age would perhaps have remained in the back office, hidden away as infrastructure like electricity or running water – critical to modern life, but not as transforming as the combination of communications and computing. The information age exploded once machines were endowed with the ability to talk among themselves. The Signal connects everything to everything else, in both communication, and in the metaphorical sense as the link between and among people. Features:
- Identifies the key ideas underlying modern communications technology, and documents the contributions of its inventors
- Explores the signal in communication, and also in the metaphorical sense as the link between and among people
- Leads the reader through a journey from ancient number systems to Voyager II to radio and MP3s to quantum cryptography
- Includes coverage of 'Signals from Hell,' including memes and 'fake news' on the Internet
- Looks to the future of communication, with emergent 5G
Author(s): Ted G. Lewis
Publisher: Taylor & Francis / CRC Press
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 203
Tags: History, Signal Processing
Cover......Page 1
Half Title......Page 2
Title Page......Page 4
Copyright Page......Page 5
Dedication......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 12
1: The Blasphemy of Zero......Page 16
Gog’s Memory Stick......Page 17
Bigger Signals......Page 19
Zero Is Evil......Page 21
The Nothing and Everything Signal......Page 22
Zero Remains Evil......Page 23
A Better Code (Advanced)......Page 29
Comment......Page 33
2: Most People Think I Am Dead......Page 34
The Holes in the First Code......Page 37
Example of H(7, 4) Code Word (Advanced)......Page 38
What is Information, Anyway?......Page 42
Benford’s Law......Page 48
Channel Capacity......Page 49
Comment......Page 50
3: Elvis Has Left the Building......Page 52
Inside Project Voyager......Page 54
How Reed Met Solomon......Page 58
The Bad Boy of Math......Page 60
Galois Fields as FEEDBACK-SHIFT Registers......Page 63
Self-Correcting Codes (Advanced)......Page 64
Comment......Page 68
4: Butterflies and Bits......Page 72
Oscillating Signals......Page 73
Meanwhile, 100 Years Later......Page 77
A Brief Intermission......Page 79
The Delicious Secret of FFT (Advanced)......Page 80
Can You Hear Me Now?......Page 82
Signals Are Mathematical Functions......Page 85
Spreading Information Across the Spectrum......Page 87
Orthogonality to the Rescue......Page 89
IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi™......Page 91
Comment......Page 92
5: The Fountainhead......Page 94
The Chain Reaction......Page 95
Heavy Funding......Page 97
Say Aloha......Page 102
Let the Screaming and Yelling Begin......Page 105
Original Sin......Page 108
Comment......Page 109
6: The Day the Music Died......Page 110
Huffman Code is Lossless......Page 111
To Be, Or Not To Be Redundant......Page 114
Music to the Human Ear......Page 115
More Deviant Innovation......Page 118
A Good Idea Gets Copied (Advanced)......Page 119
Moving JPEG Images......Page 122
The Story of Zip......Page 123
Comment......Page 128
7: Radio Is Dead—Long
Live Radio......Page 130
Action at a Distance......Page 132
Physical Information......Page 136
A Misstep?......Page 138
Kings of Analog......Page 139
It’s Infrastructure, Stupid!......Page 141
Kings of Computing......Page 143
Comment......Page 146
8: 128 Ears to Listen......Page 148
Emergent 5G......Page 150
Massively MIMO......Page 151
Turbo-Charging the Signal......Page 152
Codes as Belief Networks......Page 154
Polar Codes......Page 158
Comment......Page 160
9: Spooky Action at a Distance......Page 162
The EPR Paradox......Page 165
Heisenberg’s Secret (Advanced)......Page 168
Spooky Action Redux......Page 169
Attack of the Sophons from Trisolara......Page 170
The Key Distribution Problem......Page 172
Heinrich and Helmut, Secret Agents......Page 175
When Can I Get One?......Page 178
10: Signals from Hell......Page 180
Chirping in Conspiracy Networks......Page 183
Chirping Networks......Page 186
Peer‑Pressure Networks......Page 188
Counter Measures......Page 190
Comment......Page 192
Index......Page 194
