Customer Reviews

Wireless and Mobile Network Architectures

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The reviewer was in search of a book that could provide the basis for a course on mobile communications at the graduate level for students from a mixed (EE and CS) background. The new book by Lin and Chlamtac fits the bill perfectly. It assumes neither knowledge of wireless physical layer, nor knowledge of higher layer applications and application interfaces. In fact, it is a book with an original approach, being the first to present mobile networks by emphasizing the services that can be provided and the mobility management schemes needed to support such services. Because of its particular focus, the book is also an excellent text for systems and systems software developers as well as the senior undergrad or grad level science and engineering reader who is curious about the particular subject. Certain decisions were necessary to keep the book focused. For example, it stays clear of elaborating on modulation, coding and modeling for wireless communication (presenting just the essential info). It also avoids being IP-centric, although, naturally, it cannot escape discussing data services, such as SMS, GPRS, WAP etc.

An aspect that weighs in favor of the book is the inclusion of research results from the research of its two world renowned authors. The included research results can help the graduate level reader appreciate the available research opportunities, and the context in which solutions can be developed. The researcher will also find the collection of references (as recent as 2000) extremely helpful in studying the area. The teacher can use the material to develop simulation and analytical models for students to gain better insight to the workings of mobile services.

Another objective of the book, is to function as reference material. Its authors have done the hard work of distilling the essence of a large collection of standards documents related to mobility management. >From this point of view, the book will be of value in the longer term as well, making it an a perfectly sound investment.

A challenge dealt with successfully in this book is that in order to present mobility management, it ultimately needs to discuss about signaling protocols, and SS7 in particular. The book takes an approach of presenting background material on signaling on "as needed" basis. A reader not familiar with signaling, will likely progress slowly when signalling is first introduced, but, at the end, will have the double benefit of being exposed to signaling's central role in advanced communication services, and gain understanding on how mobile networks really work. Certainly, there are parts of the text where the density of acronyms calls for careful parsing of the sentences, but such is the case for any technical book that maintains a formal presentation style. It still beats reading standards documents.

After a short review and classification of the systems covered in the text, the book introduces the need and nature of mobility management followed by the most important aspect of mobility management, that of handoff management (detection, assignment and radio link transfer). Following the introduction, extensive attention is given to IS-41 (where, in a way, AMPS, IS-136 and IS-95 "meet" together) and to the GSM counterpart, the Mobile Application Part (MAP). Covered GSM services include the Short Message Service (SMS), International Roaming, and Operations, Administration and Maintenance. In this, first part of the book, what may appear odd at first is the inclusion of low-tier systems with few mobility management capabilities (such as CT 2, DECT etc.) but it serves as a reminder that little gems of protocols can be found in places one may not think looking at. Certainly the point is justified by the discussion of PACS signalling in a separate chapter. Another topic placed in this first part of the book (due to its relation with AMPS and IS-136) is CDPD's architecture and its radio resource allocation and roaming management.

The remaining half of the book is service-oriented. It covers how different types of services can be supported. The services include mobile number portability, VoIP service for mobile networks, GPRS, prepaid mobile phone services, and WAP. Following are two chapters covering the topic of heterogeneous PCS systems integration and the new (3rd) generation mobile services. The final three chapters cover three addition services that follow their own evolution path. Namely, paging systems, the wireless local loop and wireless enterprise networks.

Overall, this book is worth having. Whether you approach it as a student, as an instructor, as an engineer or just as interested to expand your knowledge, it has something to give you. It is unique in its approach and future books on the topic will be measured against it.

Wireless and Mobile Network Architectures is an excellent introduction to fundamental concepts of mobile communications. The book's co-authors, who are leading experts in the field, provide a well-written, thorough description of today's wireless mobile systems. Emphasis is on mobile network protocols and standards rather than radio technology. In particular, the book provides in-depth explanations of IS-41 and GSM protocols. Topics covered include international roaming, short message services, OA&M, mobile number portability, mobile prepaid services, mobile VoIP and WAP. 2.5G technology such as GPRS and 3G systems/trials, Bluetooth, and aspects of signal handoff. The explanations and descriptions of architectures and protocols are made clear through the use of many diagrams. Each chapter includes questions that can be used to reinforce the material, or for course assignments. There is also an extensive bibliography for those wishing to further explore mobile networking issues. This book is a comprehensive resource for anyone interested in understanding wireless and mobile networks. It would also make an excellent advanced undergraduate or graduate course textbook.

This is a broad and comprehensive overview of wireless networking architectures. It's timely and very relevant. The book enables the reader to gain a good technical foundation across various wireless networks including PCS, 2.5G, and 3G cellular networks as well as Voice over IP and wireless local loop systems.However, the discussion on Bluetooth is too brief and the book does not cover wireless local area networks (e.g., the 802.11b standard).

This book provides an excellent background materials for mobile network architectures, mobility management (handoff and roaming), network management and services provisioning for wireless and mobile networks. Unlike many wireless and mobile networks books that focus on radio (physical layer) aspects of the systems, this book emphasizes on network protocols and services facilitating personal communications services (PCS). Topics covered in the book include PCS architectures, mobility management, GSM, GPRS, 3G, VoIP for mobile networks, mobile number portability, WAP, wireless local loop, and others. This book can both be used for an one-semester PCS course for seniors and graduate students, and serve as an informative reference for networking professionals.

This book provides a great overview of wireless and mobile network architectures, while providing appropriate depth for both the novice to learn and reference for more experienced readers.

Wireless and Mobile Network Architectures is an excellent complement to the book Wireless Intelligent Networking, which focuses more on SS7, intelligent mobile network standards and capabilities, related applications and business issues.

Last time when I visited Hong Kong, a friend of mine in Hong Kong called my GSM phone. We expected that it was a local call. However, it turned out to be two international phone calls. I was puzzled until I read this book. Chapter 13 explains why we were charged for the expensive call and the authors propose four solutions to reduce the cost. There are several interesting topics in this book. For example, there are many literatures relating number portability. Before reading this book, I never figured out that in IS-41 the separation of MDN (i.e. MSISDN in GSM) from MIN (IMSI in GSM) is the key step for implementing mobile number portability. I enjoy reading this book.

I used this book as the textbook for an undergraduate course in our computer enginnering department last semester. Unlike its alternatives, this book does not require a signal and systems background which makes it the ideal choice for departments such as ours. If you are teaching a group of CS or mixed EE/CS undergraduate students, I strongly recommend the book. In general, the book is easy to read and gives the reader a broad understanding of the topic. Chapters are organized in a manner that the book will be useful for the North American, European or Far Eastern community as examplified in the inclusion of different signalling systems from different regions. Another property of the book which makes it attractive is the inclusion of very hot topics such as VoIP,GPRS,WAP, 3G services, wireless local loop which makes the book timely and complete.

I use this book as a reference for many technologies I work which. Sometimes I need to focus on data, sometimes on voice, sometimes signalling. In order to review the basis or even to go into details, this book is very useful. I highly recomend this book as part of the library of telecom workers.

A simple, easy yet complete overview of the most important mobile network architectures. Can be used at the university as teaching material or as studying text.

I found the book to be very informative and well laid out for use as a reference. It has been a life saver in giving a good background on each technology. I have been asked by several of my wireless networking peers about the book and all have found it an excellent reference.