Book excerpt: Introduction to Digital Communications explores the basic principles in the analysis and design of digital communication systems, including design objectives, constraints and trade-offs. After portraying the big picture and laying the background material, this book lucidly progresses to a comprehensive and detailed discussion of all critical elements and key functions in digital communications. - The first undergraduate-level textbook exclusively on digital communications, with a complete coverage of source and channel coding, modulation, and synchronization. - Discusses major aspects of communication networks and multiuser communications - Provides insightful descriptions and intuitive explanations of all complex concepts - Focuses on practical applications and illustrative examples. - A companion Web site includes solutions to end-of-chapter problems and computer exercises, lecture slides, and figures and tables from the text