Codes are central to electronic communication and storage.
In the 19th-century, Morse code was designed for efficiency so that messages
could be sent quickly. Similarly, today we use the jpg file format for efficient
storage of photographs. Modern codes often include redundant bits that allow
errors to be detected and corrected. Bob McEliece has been developing decoding
methods for the new turbo codes that can be used at signal-to-noise ratios near
theoretical limits. Babak Hassibi has been investigating space-time codes that
enable fast communications with multiple antennas. Michelle Effros and Tracey Ho have been
exploring new opportunities for network coding that tolerate packet loss and
avoid transmission bottlenecks.
