Models for channels with memory and their applications to error control

Abstract

Errors encountered in digital transmission over most real communication channels are not independent but appear in clusters. Such channels are said to exhibit memory, i.e., statistical dependence in the occurrence of errors; and thus cannot be adequately represented by the classical memoryless binary symmetric channel. The existence of memory implies additional capacity. To exploit this through efficient coding schemes, it is necessary to describe and model the underlying statistical structure of the error process. This paper reviews various channel models, noting the interaction between channel modeling and error control.