Transmission of Command Information
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to reconsider the concept of an information measure with respect to a command transmission system. As an introduction, the basis for Shannon's entropy function is considered. Difficulties which arise in the attempt to use either Shannon's single-letter distortion measure or local distortion measure are illustrated. A model of a command transmission system is proposed which differs fundamentally from the usual communication channel model in that the information source does not select symbols or messages on a probabilistic basis. As an approach to the redefinition of the entropy of an information system, a thermodynamic analogy is considered. The implications of measuring the information content of a command transmission by means of the Boltzmann entropy function are explored. It is shown that the functional form of the entropy is independent of an additive constant in the cost function and that a constant or zero cost results in zero entropy as required. Two approaches to the definition of the Lagrange multiplier beta (proportional to temperature in a thermodynamic system and later redefined for a command transmission system) are taken. The application of correlation techniques in the achievement of appropriate transitional probabilities. It is shown that for a command situation in which 'removal of uncertainty' is not an adequate measure of information, Viterbi's independent variable ST/N(o)log(2)M (S.W. Golomb et al. 'Digital Communications with Space Applications'. New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1964) is not appropriate.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0626833
Entities
People
- Leonard Farkas
Organizations
- Institute for Defense Analyses