Message reconstruction design criteria

It is noted that there has been increased activity recently in developing computer algorithms that can automatically reconstruct messages received over record communications systems. These algorithms exploit the redundancy available when either multiple copies are transmitted or the message is expanded in the phonetic alphabet. The authors describe the characteristics of the communications systems which provide the input sequences to, and which are likely to impact the design of, message reconstruction algorithms. They discuss the potential variability of the received sequences and describe, in some cases, when the use of certain techniques is not appropriate. Particular attention is given to error control, anomalies, and cross-channel correction