Wireless Books

Mobile electronic commerce is a field that is struggling to grow. Widely believed to have vast promise. Shi here presents a series of articles suggesting how this could come about.

Currently, there are still numerous problems. But the multiyear success of simple applications like buying music tones in Europe and Japan has inspired speculations as to what more could happen.

One thing to note is that the current successes involve the cellular operator acting as a gatekeeper, who handles the billing. Needless to say, the operators wish to keep this central role. Future growth might involve a means of sidelining the operators, and letting users do business with each other more directly.

When I first saw this book, I was very astonished. I think its content is very useful to many engineers dealing with wireless communications product. This book has many useful analysis and tips which we must consider in mass-producting wireless product such as CDMA, PCS phones. In RF and Mass Product world, noise, interference and Environment is very important and this book deals with it. In short, it will be very helpful practically.

The book is a detailed, top level explanation of the various major wireless standards currently in use throughout the world. To understand the bulk of the narrative, you need a professional background in electrical engineering and communications theory. For example, in one chapter there is a discussion of codes used by these standards, like Gold and VL-Kasami.

There is useful advice about some suboptimal schemes, especially LMDS. This suffers from its signal often being absorbed by rain and foliage. Plus it needs Line of Sight to work. LMDS is best used when the wireless communication is between two fixed (ie. non-mobile) devices. Think perhaps of linking two buildings this way. So that free space optics comes into play.

Asif also points out that for Mobile IP, then using IPv6 is better than IPv4 in 3G (or in an eventual 4G) systems, due to faster handover and built in Quality of Service. And of course, v6 won't run out of addresses.

The last 2 chapters talk about the merging of standards into something that might be called 4G. Yielding a seamless transition in wireless across all length scales. From Bluetooth at meter distances to wide area networks. There is some speculation about possible applications. But this is relatively sparse. If you want a more extensive inquiry into applications, take a garner at this book from the same publisher, 4G Roadmap and Emerging Communication Technologies (Universal Personal Communications).

Like it or not, mobile cellular phones and their owners have become part of the landscape, and to paraphrase Pogo, "We have met the enemy, and it is the loudmouthed cellular user." Author Peter Laufer to the rescue: "People jut need to use common sense." Through historical context, New Yorker cartoons, and interesting anecdotes, Laufer points out the impact that the use of phones in certain environments, such as crowded elevators, may have. Technology of developers faster than its users do - hence the need to bring the issue of cellular phone courtesy to the forefront of dinner-table conversation and water-cooler banter.

We liked this book enough to name it a VB:Book-of-the-Week in our weekly e-mail technology briefing, VB:TechWatch.

The book has papers by various authors that explore the problems in wireless or mobile computing. You might naively think that cellphones work, so doesn't that prove the thesis? Certainly, cellphones are vital to this discussion, in part because the cellphone networks underwrote the research and development that proved that one type of mobile network is practical and easy to use.

But there may well be other types of networks. For remote Internet access, say. And when users move from cell to cell, the problems of updating the user on the network are not simple. The book also goes into how to efficiently send non-trivial amounts of data to a moving user. Caching issues can be very difficult.

The book has many challenges that you might want to research.

This is one of the earliest books on modern wireless communications. It has an extensive coverage of the lower layers and makes a good reference. Especially interesting are the chapters on indoor radio propagation.

"Wireless Internet & Mobile Business How to Program" contains a good discussion of the various elements of programming for wireless devices. The reader will come away from the programming chapters with a solid understanding of how to implement simple structures. The chapter that introduces algorithms is clear and concise; the chapter that introduces control structures is easy to understand (if somewhat odd in its ordering). The chapter that introduces Object Oriented Programming provides a clear introduction to objects. This approach, using several real-world examples, is a good way to orient the non OO-minded to the use of objects. It covers the different aspects of objects in the abstract well. However, it could use a clearer explanation of why developers should use objects instead of the regular, top-down structured programming they've (possibly just) learned. For those new to programming, this is essential.

The book is not really just a "How to Program" manual, as are some of Deitel & Deitel's other similarly named texts. (Their excellent C++ and Java books come to mind.) Some of the chapters, like the one on employment opportunities, are in danger of becoming obsolete quickly. However, overall this is a solid text with good treatment of wireless programming and other loosely related topics.

The United Nations believes that the wireless Internet may give developing countries an affordable and practical boost to their economies. The book goes into many reasons why this should be so. It suggests that unlike the vast majority of technical innovations, which trickle down slowly from the developed countries, the wireless Internet's uptake may actually be comparable or even faster in some of the latter than in the former.

Cell phones are the main example. While it might be objected that these do not typically use the Internet Protocol, with time that difference will disappear. Take the rise of Voice Over IP as the prime example. The book makes the cogent point that cell phones in a developing country are attractive because they can be deployed almost immediately. Whereas landlines might well take a year (or more) to install. And these necessitate a much greater physical buildout, which explains part of that delay.

Plus, cell phones can be used quickly as a vital means for farmers and others to gain access to information. Where previously this might have been the monopoly of middlemen. Thus, there could be a quick boost to productivity and income in low-income groups.

The book also suggests that the mass uptake of these wireless gadgets may lead to innovations rising out of the developing countries. Certainly, the potential sheer size might give them leverage in terms of having devices made that are affordable to them.

Very promising future.

If you are one of those people who accept that we are all part of a
multifaceted universe from the physical to the many astral planes that
are said to exist, then this very rare and old book may be of interest to
you, published originally in London in 1915 by L.N.Fowler and Co, it is
a work concentrating on mediums and their contacts with other peoples on
other planets in our solar system, the contacts revolve around five planets
those of Mars, Neptune, Jupiter, Mercury, and the peoples lifestyles and
descriptions though only brief of their daily lives, some will dismiss
this book as a work of total fantasy, yet others may find solace in the
problems of earth as discussed, I myself found the Mars contact to be
very interesting insofar as the basic lifestyle described, including the
diet the martians have, if you have read the books of UFO contactee
George Adamski, you will find many parallels in the descriptions of the
diet mentioned, again a book only for those already familiar with the
spirit world books from this early period of the 20th century

I work at a company which produces wireless networking products. In my search for books on the subject, this is the best one I've found that explains wireless networking from the point of view of someone who wants to design or install wireless networks. Also included are details of the best commercial products and contact information for the makers of those products.