ADSL Standards, Implementation, and Architecture (Advanced & Emerging Communications Technologies) [Hardcover]

Charles K. Summers (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 084939595X | ISBN-13: 978-0849395956 | Publication Date: June 21, 1999 | Edition: 1

With its promise of high speed Internet access, Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) techniques are now making their way out of the laboratory and into the general consumer market. This creates the need for telecommunications professionals to have not just an awareness of the technology, but an in-depth understanding of its workings, its potential, and its applications.

ADSL: Standards, Implementation, and Architecture provides this knowledge with a detailed treatment of current ADSL standards along with overviews of the implementation, marketing, and architectural issues involved in the rollout of ADSL technology. Beginning with an overview of analog and digital communication-including the difficulties of using existing lines for new services-the author discusses the various types of xDSL transmission methods, the specific transmission, equipment, and hardware requirements of ADSL, and devotes considerable attention to the protocols-ATM, Ethernet, and TCP/IP-used in conjunction with ADSL. The final chapter pulls together all of the aspects of ADSL to address software architecture issues, such as nesting protocols, coordinating signaling control with data processes, special real-time issues, and strategies for the migration to ADSL and beyond.

As a collection of topics, ADSL: Standards, Implementation, and Architecture explains why and how ADSL will take its place within the family of data transmission protocols used around the world. It serves as a primary resource for telecommunications professionals who need to know more about ADSL and how they can use it. It also provides technical managers and manufacturers with the ideal reference for an overview of the technology and how it might be applicable to their needs.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: CRC Press; 1 edition (June 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 084939595X
• ISBN-13: 978-0849395956
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,454,498 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:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not your usual xDSL book..., November 26, 1999

By 

Gary C. Kessler (Burlington, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ADSL Standards, Implementation, and Architecture (Advanced & Emerging Communications Technologies) (Hardcover)

There are several "ADSL" titles on the market and most discuss the spectrum of xDSL services, focused on the wire itself. This book is notably different. I have to partially agree with some things that the previous reviewer wrote... this book does not appear to focus on ADSL and the editing is spotty. BUT, like many CRC texts, this book takes a rather technical perspective and focuses more on the protocols *over* ADSL than on the ADSL physical layer itself. This is not an ADSL primer nor is it an xDSL broad survey book, and it is not intended for the neophyte. It does a pretty good job, IMO, of covering the higher layer and implementation aspects for an ADSL product developer. Here's where you'll learn about ADSL frame formats, ATM over ADSL, and signaling protocols, but you won't see ADSL business applications, sample products, nor a debate about CAP vs. DMT.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good concise overview that puts ADSL in context, November 28, 1999

By 

Tricia - See all my reviews

This review is from: ADSL Standards, Implementation, and Architecture (Advanced & Emerging Communications Technologies) (Hardcover)

This book provides a concise, readable treatment of ADSL, and is useful in placing ADSL within the context of a total implementation. The book begins with a short, intuitive treatment of analog and digital communications that highlight some of the key design issues. Then there is a good survey of alternative DSL techniques. Chapter 3 covers the ADSL transmission technology. At only 20 pages, the chapter necessarily sticks to a concise overview. The reader looking for a detailed examination of ADSL will not find it here. However, the remainder of the book looks at other communications design issues that must be addressed in implementing ADSL. This include the communications software that rides on top of the ADSL physical layer, the buffering required at each end of the line, signaling protocols, and interface chipset design. The book also introduces the topic of ATM over ADSL and looks at the issues involved there. For the reader looking for this type of broad treatment, covering related issues as well as ADSL design, this book is a good choice.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good technical overview of ADSL systems, December 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: ADSL Standards, Implementation, and Architecture (Advanced & Emerging Communications Technologies) (Hardcover)

I have no idea just what the one reviewer thought that he "knew to be the truth" about ADSL, or where he learned it -- but the technical information in the book seemed to be both accurate and relevant -- from the context of comparison with other ADSL technical references -- Chen, Rauschmayer, ADSL Forum, and ANSI and ITU-T specifications. It contains less information about the ADSL trasmission protocol than Chen or Rauschmayer but much more than Goralski and presents a greater breadth than Rauschmayer. It IS, however, a technical book rather than a marketing book and, therefore, does not cover the political aspects or business applications in great depth.

The book does have a problem, however, in that the chapters dealing with the physical layer make assumptions about the readers background. If the reader is familiar with digital transmission framing architectures, the chapter on ADSL presents a well-written and organized summary of ADSL-specific physical layer attributes. Without this background, the material can become very confusing. For example, he talks about the ADSL control channel commands without really explaining what a control channel is. In an apparent attempt to avoid the mathematical formulas needed, the distinction between QAM and CAP is blurred somewhat. If this ranking system had 1/2 stars, I would deduct a half star for this.

It is too bad that the one reviewer did not bother to read the rest of the book -- ADSL is of very little practical use without the surrounding protocols and applications -- and the physical layer will normally be handled transparently by the hardware anyway. I haven't read "Implementing ADSL" yet but,from the description, it also looks like a book that takes a system point of view of ADSL.

If this book ever does go to a second edition, I hope the assumptions are better eliminated and specific products are added as examples.