Theory
For an optimized detector for digital signals the priority is not to reconstruct the transmitter signal, but it should do a best estimation of the transmitted data with the least possible number of errors. The receiver emulates the distorted channel. All possible transmitted data streams are fed into this distorted channel model. The receiver compares the time response with the actual received signal and determines the most likely signal. In cases that are most computationally straightforward, root mean square deviation can be used as the decision criterion for the lowest error probability.
Read more about this topic: Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation
Famous quotes containing the word theory:
“The theory of rights enables us to rise and overthrow obstacles, but not to found a strong and lasting accord between all the elements which compose the nation.”
—Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872)
“The weakness of the man who, when his theory works out into a flagrant contradiction of the facts, concludes “So much the worse for the facts: let them be altered,” instead of “So much the worse for my theory.””
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)