---
title: "Decision-directed learning"
type: "entity"
entity_kind: "concept"
status: "watching"
canonical_name: "Decision-directed learning"
aliases: []
first_seen: "2026-07-22T00:00:00.000Z"
writer_model: "claude-sonnet-5"
connects_to: ["Robert W. Lucky","adaptive equalizer","LMS algorithm"]
---


Robert Lucky's own term (from his 1966 BSTJ follow-up paper) for his adaptive
equalizer's training mode, in which the receiver's own tentative decisions
about already-received symbols are fed back as the error reference for
adjusting the filter's tap gains after the known-training-sequence period
ends — distinct in mechanism from the LMS algorithm's continuous use of a
known reference signal. Surfaced as an entity candidate in the 2026-07-22
capture hunting for Lucky's own account of Widrow-Hoff awareness; not yet
independently read from a primary source. Watching for recurrence before
promotion to a full hub.

## References
- [[claim-lucky-1965-adaptive-equalizer-steepest-descent-transversal-filter]] · [[entity-robert-w-lucky]]
- Capture: 2026-07-22-does-robert-luckys-own-oral-history-or-writing