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802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly Networking)
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Author: Matthew Gast, Matthew S. Gast
List Price: $44.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0596001835
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates (April, 2002)
Edition: Paperback
Sales Rank: 7,270
Average Customer Rating: 4.21 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 4 out of 5
An Excellent Choice
I really liked this book. It helped me write my research paper for UMUC MSIT 640 - Data Communications and Networks. The book has a lot of useful information. It has a good section on the different types of antennas. The book has a lot of Acronymns that are clearly explained. Generally, I think all oreilly books are very good. The book talks a lot about the wireless LAN. It includes many disadantages and advantages. The book also has a lot of useful diagrams. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the wireless LAN.
Rating: 4 out of 5
The best reference in this field till now
It is organized well according to the IEEE 802.11 version of 1999. The concept of WLAN is clarified clearly.
But the content of 802.11a seems lacking for a better understanding. Several chapters introducing the products from vendors are useless to me.
I hope the next edition will give more description on 802.11a, 11e and 11g.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Very Comprehensive; Valiant Effort.
Recently I've been designing a system to run atop 802.11b radios and this book has served as an excellent introduction to the 802.11b standard. For example, Gast's description of spread-spectrum radios, chipping, and OFDMA radio systems is a broad overview without going into excessive mathematical formulas and it gives a non-RF engineer a basic understanding of what are the issues underlying each of the 802.11 radios of today.I found myself reading a chapter of this book, and then looking at the 802.11b standard itself (now available free on the website ieee.org) for more detailed information. I found only a couple of minor errors in this book. This book serves as an outstanding introduction to the protocol standard, which is large and which contains little or no practical information for the practitioner. However, I did also use Radia Perlman's book on Routing in conjunction with this book to help me understand IEEE 802.1 issues. Gast attempts to be a be-all and end-all book for everyone. For example, he attempts to describe all 802.11 RF modulation schemes. He attempts to give a full description of all the packet formats. He attempts to describe which cards are based on which baseband (Intersil or Orinoco). This stuff is changing very fast but he gave it his best shot, and its very important to people installing *NIX drivers. He attempts to tell you how to set up an 802.11 Ethereal packet sniffer. All of his information is invaluable to anyone setting up 802.11b on any flavor of UNIX or Linux. Anyway, he makes a really valiant effort and I've never seen a networking book try to play in all 4 spaces at once - RF Theory, Network Protocols, Hardware Selection, and Practicum - all at the same time. He should be applauded for this attempt. I have not found a book that is nearly as comprehensive (6/2003) and I've lent this book to at least 5 other people, most of them PhD's or VP's in EE or CS and/or wireless communications.
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