Page 24 - Fundamentals of Communications Systems

xxii Preface

would magically take place while my professional and family life flourished.
I eagerly wrote more material and was up to 400 pages.
6. . . . And Then Depression Set In. When I looked at my project with the
critical eye produced by signing a contract, it quickly became apparent that
lots of pages do not necessarily equate to a book of any quality. At this time
I also got my first reviews back on the book and quickly came to realize
why all textbooks on communications look the same to me. If you took the
union of the reviews you would end up with a book close to all the books
on the market (that I obviously did not fully appreciate). During this time I
struggled mightily at trying to smooth out the rough edges of the book and
address reviewers’ concerns, while trying to keep what I thought was my
personal perspective on communications. This was a significant struggle for
me, as I learned the difficult lesson that each person is unique in how they
perceive the world and consequently in what they want in a textbook but I
stubbornly soldiered through to completion.

In summary the book resulted not from a well thought out plan but from two
disjointed themes: (1) my passionate enjoyment of communication engineering,
(2) my constant naive thinking as a professional. The book is done and it is
much different than I first imagined it. It is unique in its perspective but not
necessarily markedly different than the other books out there. It is time to
release my creation.

Heresies in the Book
The two things I learned in writing this book is that engineering professionals
do not see the field the same and engineering professors do not like change.
In trying to tell my version of the communication story I thought long and
hard about how to make the most consistent and compelling story of commu-
nication engineering for my students. In spite of what I considered a carefully
constructed pedagogy, I have been accused (among other things) of making up
nomenclature and confusing the student needlessly. Since I now realize that
I am guilty of several potential heresies to the field of communication educa-
tion, I decided to state these heresies clearly in the preface so all (especially
those that teach from this book) know my positions (and structure their classes
appropriately).

1. System Engineering Approach. I have worked as a communication en-
gineer in industry and academia. I do not have a detailed knowledge of
circuit theory and yet from all outward appearances I have thrived in my
profession by only being an expert in system modeling and analysis. This
text will not give circuits to build communication systems as circuits will
change over time but will discuss mathematical concepts as these are con-
sistent over time. I am a firm believer that communications engineering is
perhaps unique in how theory directly gets implemented in practice.