From Research to Reward: Search for a Signal: The Role of Mathematical Codes in Fostering a Cell Phone Communication Revolution

Error-correcting codes have a different purpose from secret codes, which are more familiar to people thanks to spy movies and news about cryptography. Secret codes are intended to conceal information: for example, to prevent someone from eavesdropping on your phone call. Error-correcting codes reveal information. They help your cell phone scrub unwanted noise from an incoming call. Both operations are essential for a cell phone, but recent years have seen major advances in error-correcting codes, with each new generation of phone incorporating vastly improved coding technology.