Dr.Andrew Viterbi - Inventor of the famous Vitterbi Algorithm and Co-Founder of Qualcomm needs no introduction to those who are in the Wireless Communication arena.
Dr.Viterbi was very keen and interested in teaching.
So, a year after receiving his doctorate in 1962, he accepted an
invitation to become an assistant professor at the
University of California, Los Angeles. There, he
started teaching information theory and digital
communications. When it came to teaching the
problem of extracting digital signals out of noise,
the standard way of presenting the subject was
“complex and hard to teach,” Viterbi said. so he set about
trying to simplify the concepts “to teach the advanced
course in a better way.” After three months of concen-
trated thought, in March 1966 he figured out a simplified
solution.
Thrilled at having devised a powerful new teaching aid,
he wrote a paper (published in 1967 in IEEE Transactions
on Information Theory) that frst expressed what is now
called the Viterbi algorithm, for teasing a faint digital signal
out of strong noise . But a colleague pointed
out that the algorithm—if it could be implemented in hard-
ware—also had powerful practical application in improving
the actual performance of communication systems. In fact,
it was so powerful that engineers using it for missiles,
spacecraft tracking, or cellular telephones could pick from
a wonderful smorgasbord of choices: reducing transmitter
power, reducing receiving-antenna diameter, extending the
range of a transmitter, operating in a jammed environment,
or increasing the number of users supported in a cellular
system.
And therein lay the fundamental secret of the Viterbi
algorithm’s long, fruitful application in so many industries.
Excerpts from The Quiet Genius: Andrew J. Viterbi by Trudy e. bell
Dr.Viterbi was very keen and interested in teaching.So, a year after receiving his doctorate in 1962, he accepted an
invitation to become an assistant professor at the
University of California, Los Angeles. There, he
started teaching information theory and digital
communications. When it came to teaching the
problem of extracting digital signals out of noise,
the standard way of presenting the subject was
“complex and hard to teach,” Viterbi said. so he set about
trying to simplify the concepts “to teach the advanced
course in a better way.” After three months of concen-
trated thought, in March 1966 he figured out a simplified
solution.
Thrilled at having devised a powerful new teaching aid,
he wrote a paper (published in 1967 in IEEE Transactions
on Information Theory) that frst expressed what is now
called the Viterbi algorithm, for teasing a faint digital signal
out of strong noise . But a colleague pointed
out that the algorithm—if it could be implemented in hard-
ware—also had powerful practical application in improving
the actual performance of communication systems. In fact,
it was so powerful that engineers using it for missiles,
spacecraft tracking, or cellular telephones could pick from
a wonderful smorgasbord of choices: reducing transmitter
power, reducing receiving-antenna diameter, extending the
range of a transmitter, operating in a jammed environment,
or increasing the number of users supported in a cellular
system.
And therein lay the fundamental secret of the Viterbi
algorithm’s long, fruitful application in so many industries.
Excerpts from The Quiet Genius: Andrew J. Viterbi by Trudy e. bell
