Multimedia Wireless Networks: Technologies, Standards and QoS [Hardcover]

Aura Ganz (Author), Zvi Ganz (Author), Kitti Wongthavarawat (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0130460990 | ISBN-13: 978-0130460998 | Publication Date: September 28, 2003

Now that you can buy a cell phone with integrated multimedia capabilities, integrating QoS is even more important and timely since development and maintenance of those networks is crucial to product success! This book introduces the wireless networks practitioners (designers, implementers, and users) to the art of a wireless system design with integrated QoS support. To ensure users quality satisfaction, end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) support is needed the various underlining networks combined of the wide area network (WAN), the last mile distribution system (WLLs, satellite), and the WLANs. Wireless networks should be designed with integrated QoS control techniquesWith the growing optical based WANs users enjoy an abundance of bandwidth that results in no need for exercising QoS control schemes at the WANs because the edge wireless networks will suffer in the foreseeable future from limited unstable bandwidth (i.e. - unstable QoS). This trend is also observed in the new WLAN and WLL approved and proposed standards. These standards include however only the signaling mechanisms for QoS - not implementation techniques! The QoS techniques implementations are left to the designer. And designer's will turn to this book for answers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

• Integrating QoS in wireless multimedia network design
• Delivering QoS in WLANs, WPANs, WMANs, cellular, and satellite networks
• Covers every leading current and emerging wireless network standard

Integrate QoS into virtually any multimedia wireless network

From entertainment to telephony, emerging wireless systems will make possible a new generation of wireless multimedia applications. To satisfy users, network designers and developers must integrate end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) support throughout all their underlying networks: WANs, WLANs, WPANs, and "last-mile" WLL or satellite distribution systems. However, wireless network standards typically focus on signaling, leaving crucial QoS issues to implementers. Multimedia Wireless Networks is the first book to help network professionals systematically address QoS in today's most important wireless networks -- and tomorrow's.

• Why users' wireless multimedia performance requirements will require extensive QoS support
• The fundamentals of QoS -- and how they drive network design
• WLAN standards from the multimedia network designer's viewpoint: IEEE 802.11, HiperLAN, and HomeRF
• Wireless MANs: introducing the new 802.16 WirelessMAN standard
• Integrating QoS into IEEE 802.15 and Bluetooth wireless personal area networks
• QoS in current and emerging cellular and satellite networks

PRENTICE HALL

Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458

www.phptr.com

ISBN: 0-13-046099-0

About the Author

About the Authors

AURA GANZ is Associate Professor and Director of the Multimedia Networking Laboratory at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has authored 150 papers, and keynoted the NSF-sponsored workshop in mobile computing. She holds a Ph.D in computer science from the Technion in Israel. ZVI GANZ has 15 years experience in network design, operations research, and industrial engineering. He has designed protocols, fixed wireless systems, and WLAN QoS systems. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts. KITTI WONGTHAVARAWAT holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has worked since 1997 at the Multimedia Networking Laboratory, researching resource management and QoS in wireless networks. The authors are also associates of Ganz Associates (www. GanzAssociates.com) that provides network design services.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR (September 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130460990
• ISBN-13: 978-0130460998
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,699,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save your money and time - Buy a better book instead !, June 5, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Multimedia Wireless Networks: Technologies, Standards and QoS (Hardcover)

The book is cooking together information about WLAN, 802.11, 802.16, Bluetooth, 802.15, GPRS, UMTS and so forth. It gives a rudimentary overview of mostly the MAC of each standard (and sometimes also PHY and some higher layer protocols), especially with respect to available QoS mechanisms.

Unfortunately, the book only scratches on the surface of each standard. It fails to give the big picture, instead it provides a mosaic of gory details. Sometimes, the pieces selected for presentation seems to be randomly selecled.

The book describes "what" is in the standard (at least some pieces of it) but it fails to explain "why" things are like they are. The reason might be that the authors have not aquired a fundamental understanding of each of the standards presented. (It might be useful as a strange kind of manual, but not at all as a tutorial of any kind.)

Finally, the book needs editing. It is frustrating with chopped figures, strange font policies for headings, and so forth.

The book deserves a star because the last pages of Ch.2 and most of Ch. 3. provided a good overview of QoS that laid a basis for the rest of the book. Also, it must have been quite much work for the authors to gather together all this (incomplete pieces of) information from various standards.