Digital radios have undergone an astonishing evolution in the last century. Born as a set of simple and
power-hungry electrical and electromechanical devices for low data rate transmission of telegraph data
in the Marconi age, they have transformed, thanks to substantial advances in electronic technology,
into a set of small, reliable and sophisticated integrated devices supporting broadband multimedia
communications. This, however, would not have been possible unless significant progress had been
made in recent decades in the field of signal processing algorithms for baseband and passband signals.
In fact, the core of any modern digital radio consists of a set of algorithms running over programmable
electronic hardware. This book stems from the research and teaching activities of its co-authors in
the field of algorithmic techniques for wireless communications. A huge body of technical literature
has accumulated in the last four decades in this area, and an extensive coverage of all its important
aspects in a single textbook is impossible. For this reason, we have selected a few important topics
and, for ease of reading, organized them into two parts. Part I concerns digital modulation techniques,
characterization and modeling of wireless channels, channel estimation, and channel equalization metrics
and algorithms. Part II focuses on channel coding, coded modulation, and combined equalization
and decoding. For each of these topics, we have tried to provide an advanced introduction, blending
basic principles with advanced concepts and techniques which play an important role at the forefront
of research in wireless communications. In addition, for each topic we have provided some historical
notes, so that the reader can analyze it in the right perspective, understanding both its roots and its
possible evolutionary paths.