Teaching information theory using a wireless optical transceiver platform

Abstract

Information theory is important in many applications but many students find its ideas highly abstract and theoretical, making it a difficult and boring subject. Practical hands-on demonstrations can be used to complement computer simulation and modeling to enhance students' understanding of the underlying concepts. This paper presents a prototype platform for teaching information theory using a wireless optical transceiver system and MATLAB graphical user interface. Source coding and channel error-correction coding, in particular Huffman and Hamming codes, were studied.