The special theme of ISIT '98 is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the field of information theory in Claude Shannon's 1948 paper, A Mathematical Theory of Communication. Topics in these papers on the conference include nomadic computing, and CDMA in war and peace."

This book collects 63 revised, full-papers contributed to a research project on the "General Theory of Information Transfer and Combinatorics" that was hosted from 2001-2004 at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZIF) of Bielefeld University and several incorporated meetings. Topics covered include probabilistic models, cryptology, pseudo random sequences, quantum models, pattern discovery, language evolution, and network coding.

Recent developments such as the invention of powerful turbo-decoding and irregular designs, together with the increase in the number of potential applications to multimedia signal compression, have increased the importance of variable length coding (VLC). Providing insights into the very latest research, the authors examine the design of diverse near-capacity VLC codes in the context of wireless telecommunications. The book commences with an introduction to Information Theory, followed by a discussion of Regular as well as Irregular Variable Length Coding and their applications in joint source and channel coding. Near-capacity designs are created using Extrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) chart analysis. The latest techniques are discussed, outlining radical concepts such as Genetic Algorithm (GA) aided construction of diverse VLC codes. The book concludes with two chapters on VLC-based space-time transceivers as well as on frequency-hopping assisted schemes, followed by suggestions for future work on the topic. Surveys the historic evolution and development of VLCs Discusses the very latest research into VLC codes Introduces the novel concept of Irregular VLCs and their application in joint-source and channel coding

Performance Analysis of Linear Codes under Maximum-Likelihood Decoding: A Tutorial focuses on the performance evaluation of linear codes under optimal maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding. Though the ML decoding algorithm is prohibitively complex for most practical codes, their performance analysis under ML decoding allows to predict their performance without resorting to computer simulations. Performance Analysis of Linear Codes under Maximum-Likelihood Decoding: A Tutorial is a comprehensive introduction to this important topic for students, practitioners and researchers working in communications and information theory.

CDMA Techniques for Third Generation Mobile Systems presents advanced techniques for analyzing and developing third generation mobile telecommunication systems. Coverage includes analysis of CDMA-based systems, multi-user receivers, Turbo coding for mobile radio applications, spatial and temporal processing techniques as well as software radio techniques. Special emphasis has been given to recent advances in coding techniques, smart antenna systems, spatial filtering, and software implementation issues. Internationally recognized specialists contributed to this volume, and each chapter has been reviewed and edited for uniformity. CDMA Techniques for Third Generation Mobile Systems is an invaluable reference work for engineers and researchers involved in the development of specific CDMA systems.

"This book provides a central source of reference on visual information processing in wireless sensor network environments and its technology, application, and society issues"--