Having trouble deciding which coding scheme to employ, how to design a new scheme, or how to improve an existing system? This summary of the state-of-the-art in iterative coding makes this decision more straightforward. With emphasis on the underlying theory, techniques to analyse and design practical iterative coding systems are presented. Using Gallager's original ensemble of LDPC codes, the basic concepts are extended for several general codes, including the practically important class of turbo codes. The simplicity of the binary erasure channel is exploited to develop analytical...