The Book End
Bluetooth, Connect Without Cables
Jennifer Bray and Charles F. Sturman
Prentice Hall
493 pages; $48.99
ISBN: 0-13-089840-6
Bluetooth is set to be one of the fastest growing technologies since the Internet or the cellular phone. It represents a simple proposition: obviating the need for connectivity via physical wires. Connectivity becomes simple, seamless and intuitive. However, like many things, in order to deliver an apparently simple and transparent function to the user, requires complexity and much work behind the scenes.
The Bluetooth system is both complex and full-featured, with many components and layers of abstractions. Many people are likely to come into contact with Bluetooth from various angles: technology development, commercial exploitation or as users, and this book is intended to provide something to each of these different groups. The text is written to allow the reader to obtain the level of information required.
The book starts with an overview of Bluetooth, which can be read as an introduction to the topics which follow, or as a stand-alone introduction to Bluetooth for the reader who requires much less detail.
To make the text easier to use as a reference and to allow readers to access the information they require, the book is divided in five distinct sections:
Protocol Stack Part 1 - The Bluetooth Module - These chapters describe the lower parts of the system from the radio up to the host interface.
Protocol Stack Part 2 - The Bluetooth Host - Higher parts of the system which would exist on or in a host system that is "Bluetooth enabled" are described in these chapters.
Protocol Stack Part 3 - Cross Layer Functions - This part covers aspects and functions that cross over the boundaries between different layers in the stack.
Test and Qualification - Production testing and conformance or type approval are explained in this section.
Bluetooth in Context - This section addresses product implementation and commercial issues, including an analysis of the Bluetooth market potential and time frame.
A full glossary of terms and acronyms is provided as well as a comprehensive list of references.
To order this book, contact: Prentice Hall PTR, Upper Saddle River, NJ (800) 282-0693.
The Future of Wireless Communications
William Webb
Artech House Inc.
434 pages; $69, £48
ISBN: 1-58053-248-9
It has always been rather difficult to predict the future direction of a specific area of technology. The author of this book has noted that many who try to predict the future typically do so either in a particular area - (such as cellular radio) or in numeric terms often subscriber numbers, over time frames that typically extend out only five years from the current date. There seems to be nobody producing a coherent and well thought out vision as to how the whole world of wireless communications would develop and perhaps converge over the coming years. Furthermore, nobody seems to be prepared to try to predict 20 years out despite the fact that it seems likely that the third generation mobile systems being developed today will still be in service by 2020.
This book is an attempt to fill the apparent gap in developing a picture of the future, without which it is difficult to develop a strategy. It forecasts the changes in mobile communications over the next 20 years to help professionals make informed decisions and develop successful strategies that address the future challenges of this industry. It provides organizations with specific recommendations on the direction of technological development, and examines critical constraints and drivers such as the limits of efficiency, standardization, radio spectrum, industry structure and user requirements.
From cellular and fixed wireless systems, to wireless local area and personal area networks, this book offers an easy to understand overview of current and emerging wireless technologies and systems. It predicts network structures in 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020, and looks at a day in the life of users in 2010 and 2020. The forecast presented in this book is highly unlikely to be correct in every respect. Regardless, the information presented will be of value in helping others to build their own view of the future.
Contributions from worldwide industry experts as well as from the UK Radio-communications Agency are included.
To order this book, contact: Artech House Inc., 685 Canton St., Norwood, MA 02062 (781) 769-9750, ext. 4002; or 46 Gillingham St., London SW1V 1HH, UK +44 (0) 20 7596-8750.