Joint source-channel coding of uniform memoryless sources over binary symmetric channels

A joint design of source and channel coding is considered for digital transmission over a binary symmetric channel (BSC). Three major techniques are used. For a binary source, channel optimized coder design (COCD) is proposed. This method has non-binary decoding values and minimizes the MSE distortion measure. It can be understood as a channel coder specifically designed to be robust under transmission errors. Then, this tool is applied to the transmission of a uniform source. This is done through a bitwise decomposition structure in which the samples of a uniform source are first expressed in binary representation and bits of the same weight are encoded together. Finally, a practical optimization algorithm is explained that delivers the best set of coders, for a given raw error probability (BER) of the channel.