Net coding gain of error-correcting codes

The paper introduces the concept of `net coding gain¿ as a measure of the effectiveness of error-control systems. It attempts to express the improvement attained by coding in terms of effective signal/noise ratio, so that the effect of coding can be compared with other expedients, such as increasing the power per bit. Theoretical and experimental results are given to show how net coding gain depends upon system parameters such as mean signal/noise, block size, and redundancy. The experimental results show how interleaving can overcome the effect of correlation between errors.