LINEAR SYSTEMS IN COMMUNICATION AND CONTROL.

By Dean K.Frederick and A. Bruce Carlson '58. NewYork: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1971.575 pp. $16.95.

A. Bruce Carlson, Dartmouth '58, M.S. Stanford '60, Ph.D. Stanford '64, and Dean K. Frederick, Yale '55, Sc.M. Brown '61, Ph.D. Stanford '64, and both currently Associate Professors of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, have recently collaborated to produce Linear Systems in Communication and Control. This book presents an excellent introduction to the concepts and mathematics of systems analysis and an integrated treatment of communication signal systems along with the more conventional control systems.

The book assumes that for any system of interest the basic simultaneous differential equations describing its performance have been derived; from this starting point the basic mathematical tools of system analysis are developed. Techniques presented include classical time domain and frequency domain techniques, and the more modern sampling and discrete transform techniques.

The book is clearly written and moves briskly through the material; it would form an excellent basis for self instruction for the advanced student or reference for the practising engineer. If accompanied with suitably motivated lecture material, the text should form an excellent basis for undergraduate instruction as well. Each chapter is accompanied by a rich variety of homework problems.

This book is a second for Professor Carlson; in 1968 he authored CommunicationSystems: An Introduction to Signalsand Noise in Electrical Communication, published by the McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Thayer School Associate Professor of Engineering, Mr. Piatkowski teaches in theSystems, Electrical Engineering, and Computerareas, and is currently involved in aproject with the Music Department toprovide a computer-driven music, terminalfor the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System.