Iterative Estimation, Equalization and Decoding

Date Approved _________________ iii To my beloved wife Túria, with my endless gratitude, love and admiration. iv Acknowledgments First, I would like to thank Dr. John Barry for his guidance during my stay at Georgia Tech. His very clear and objective view of technical matters, as well as his deep insights, have influenced a lot my view of research in telecommunications, and hopefully made this work more clear and objective. I would also like to thank Drs. Lanterman and McLaughlin for their constructive and timely feedback on my thesis, and Drs. Stüber and Wang for being part of my defense committee. to thank the School of ECE, CRASP and the Brazilian government, through CAPES, for their financial support during different stages of this program. I am deeply indebted to my wife, Túria, for her support, love and encouragement, and for having pushed me when I needed pushing. I consider myself blessed to be married to such a wonderful person. Without her, this work and a lot more would not have been possible. For all she has done and put up with, I dedicate this thesis to her. v I would also like to thank my parents for their unconditional support and love. They have always taught me the importance of a positive attitude, and how learning can be fun. These lessons, and their unshakable believe in me, have been very important for the completion of my studies. I am also grateful to my parents-in-law, who have shown great patience and faith. and the list could go on forever. These incredible people showed me how vast the area of telecommunications is, and helped me have a deeper understanding of many research questions. And the discussions with them about music, cooking, religion, politics, cricket, etc., greatly broadened my horizons. They helped make this experience all the more worth it. Finally, there is the Brazilian crowd of Atlanta, who provided delightful breaks from the daily struggles of the Ph.D. program, and from the occasional struggle of life abroad: