EE 6341: Information Theory

Fall 2008


Instructor Aria Nosratinia,
ECSN 4.208, Tel: 972-883-2894
Time Mon-Wed. 4:00-5:15pm
Cancelled classes: October 29, December 1, 3. Makeup classes will be announced.
Place ECSS 2.312
Textbooks Cover and Thomas, Elements of Information Theory, 2nd Edition, John Wiley (required)
Gallager, Information Theory and Reliable Communication, John Wiley (recommended)
Grading Midterms (20%+20%), Class Project (40%), Homeworks (10%), class participation (10%)
Important Dates: Midterm 1: Sept. 24 Midterm 2: October 27, project presentations Dec 5,8.
Office Hours Mon-Wed 3-3:50pm, otherwise by appointment
Course Notes Will be made available via WebCT
Teaching Assistant Balkan Kecicioglu


Information theory has been responsible for the key ideas behind cell phones, music CD's, portable music palyers like ipod, HDTV cable and sattelite television, as well as high-capacity hard disks on computers and laptops. The data compression, communication, and storage that is key to the operation of all these devices started from ideas developed in infomration theory.

This course is designed for the beginning graduate student in the areas of communications or signal processing. It will illuminate the underlying reasons for many of the topics learned in other courses, and prepare the student for high-quality research. The background needed for this course is limited to basic calculus and the ability to calculate simple probabilities.

The grading is based on homeworks, midterms, and a course project. For the course project, the students will choose, with the instructor's assistance, paper or papers to read, understand, and analyze, which they will eventually present to the entire class.


Suggested Projects

An interesting movie about Shannon, the father of information theory.


Contents:


Aria Nosratinia
Last modified: August 2008