Customer Reviews

Ad Hoc Mobile Wireless Networks: Protocols and Systems

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book gives a broad overview over ad hoc wireless
networks. Being broad in 300 pages necessarily implies
being shallow, at least in some of the topics. Interestingly,
the topic that's covered in most detail is the author's
own routing algorithm, which is not one of the most popular
ones.
While it certainly provides valuable information,
the book has some serious flaws and inconsistencies
in both contents and presentation.
Some examples of flaws include:
(1) Propagation delay does _not_ depend on packet size.
(2) TCP does _not_ establish a virtual circuit.
(3) The TCP header does _not_ include the IP address.
(4) Bluetooth supports 8 (not 7) devices per piconet;
transmit power is not 800uA (power is not expressed in
amps anyway). (5) If for a two-hop connection, the
throughput is 1/2 (compared to the link capacity), and
for a three-hop connection, it's 1/3, that can _not_
be extrapolated to 1/N for an N-hop connection. Rather,
the throughput will stay constant after 3-5 hops,
depending on the ratio between the transmission and interference
radius. (6) A constant function f(x)=c is _not_ a linear
function. (7) The output power of the Lucent WaveLAN
card is not -80dBm.
Section 8 is heavily based on simulation, and the
text lacks a detailed interpretation that could be
much more insightful than just the simulation results.
The impression that this book was written in a big
hurry stems from the following facts:
Figures are helpful but are sometimes drawn carelessly
(including most of the photographs); the book has lots of
typos; at one point a whole paragraph is repeated word by
word two pages later, which should have been discovered
when proofreading.
Personally I would refrain from calling Bluetooth
"ridiculous" - there were a lot of smart people involved
in the development. If this is the author's opinion, he
should declare it as such.
In summary, I was quite disappointed by the book.

This is the second (expensive) book I bought that is authored by CK Toh. I am disappointed once again. The book is nice in a sense that it's the first to cover ad hoc networks in general, not just routing. However, I find this book extremely biased. The author could have maintained objectivity in deciding what to cover in this book, and how they are described. He spends too much space explaining his own protocols (unfortunately, they are not well recognized in the research area) while fails to give in-depth study of other important protocols. Clearly disappointing.

Luckily I had an ability to read this book before buying. I was very dissapointed with the content. There are quite a number of serious errors especially in TCP description. The coverage lacks depth. The new methodology proposed by the author in his unicast routing algorithm is just another kind of metrics with the same good old SPF idea behind (the description of the idea makes good 1/3 of the book).

I would not recommend it to anyone.

This book is very good for introduction in ad-hoc networks and protocols. It also can be used for quick start in this field.
Another good thing for this book, it is very useful when you write your research paper or thesis because the author already summalized concepts and pros/cons of many ad-hoc network protocols. However, if you need to know and learn in deep detail, do not buy it. The author should insert "Introduction" in the title of this book. Furthermore, the price of this book is too expensive that it should be.

Luckily I bought this book. It teaches me from basic to more
complex topics, allowing me to understand and master ad hoc networking. Found it rather a timely book for consultants in
the field of wireless office computing, networking, and automation. This book is very helpful, with lots of diagrams and clear explanations. This is the book I need and I highly recommend it to others. My engineers are reading them!
- from VP in an IT consulting firm.

I have been using this book for parts of my defence
work. It has provided me the content I needed and
clear enough for me to understand. We were looking
for performance numbers and this book provided us
with the number we wanted from a working system.
Good coverage on issues overall.

I am a graduate PhD student and found this book
extremely useful. I had spent many years in
industries. It is comprehensive and provides
good information on the topics. I think
this book was written for educational purposes.
Although I knew that there are other researchers
out there, not many care to write a book! Also,
it is nice to have an author who is one of the
few pioneers to author this book. I do not view
a book as a "bible" and hence I do not expect
books to be free from errors. I spotted some
typos but overall this book is valuable for me.
The review written by the reader from midwest
seemed inappropriate to me. It sounded to me that he
does not have sufficient networking background
to understand the topics. For example, packet
size will impact total packet propagation time.
BT has 7 devices plus 1 controller (as stated in
the book). Section 8 is about experimental
results from a field trial, not simulation!
Again, overall I am happy with this book. No one
else has written a better book in this area yet. :-)

performance data are collected in a purely fixed wireless environment, lacking the most important part of mobility. it is very disappointing to read the whole book written by a PhD holder. the book introduces elementary concepts about everything. in essence, it tells nothing

Presentation is clear, logical, lucid, and understandable. My compliments to the author.

I think this book is important not only to the reader with a direct interest, but also as a tool for communicating aspects of the subject to management.

This book provides excellent coverage on Ad-Hoc networking. Other books only talk about Ad-Hoc routing, but this one goes beyond and includes all the relevant topics. This is the FIRST book I have read that answers many of my questions on Ad-Hoc networking.
All the pieces of the puzzle seem to fall in place at last!!
An Excellent book!