|
Optical Networks: A Practical Perspective (Second Edition)
 |
Author: Rajiv Ramaswami, Kumar Sivarajan
List Price: $73.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 1558606556
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann (15 October, 2001)
Edition: Hardcover
Sales Rank: 89,328
Average Customer Rating: 4.64 out of 5
|
Customer ReviewsRating: 5 out of 5
Excellent "Big Picture" book for students in optics
I got this book while working on my masters in electro-optics, and found that it completed the big picture of optical communications and how network components fit together which was lacking in my detailed graduate work. I especially recommend it to those with a background other than EE, as it fills in a lot of gaps that EE folks assume that others know.It starts off pretty light and qualitative, then begins incorporating some equations and formulas to accompany the qualitative descriptions. It does not waist time deriving anything, nor will you find pages of just mathematical equations. It has references and problems at the end of each chapter for the more technical reader. For non-technical readers, this book is not light reading, but if you are patient enough to breeze over certain sections of math, you will find plenty of useful qualitative descriptions that do not depend on a full understanding of the math. There are even large sections of the book with no math at all. In short, this book offers an excellent bridge between quantitative and qualitative descriptions of optical communications and optical networks.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Nicely Balanced Introduction
This is surely the best book on fiber optics networks. It's that rarity - an accessible academic book which doesn't ignore the practical side of things either. Therefore it is useful both as a textbook as well as a refresher for professionals.
We studied the draft of this book in a course in the Indian Institute of Science in 1997 conducted by Professor K.N.Sivarajan, one of authors and a world-wide authority on the subject. It was an enjoyable course,and we felt that we were truly studying the latest technology - in fact, even some of the future technology, since the book included architectures that hadn't been built yet(ie conceptual architectures)!
Later on, as a professional systems engineer i worked in a team writing firmware for a SONET based product,and this book was much admired by my colleagues as well.
This book has all the basic scientific and engineering concepts and considerations involved in understanding and designing fiber optic networks. The treatment is mathematical and the writing is lucid.Towards the later part, there are detailed case studies that will be truly helpful for the professionals designing their own networks.
Since it was writen almost 4 years ago, it cannot have all the latest information is this rapidly expanding field - but for a sound, balanced introduction to the fundamentals, this is your book.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Best book on Optical Networks
Over the past year, I've been involved in a project which required me to learn a lot more about optical networks. In addition to reading the papers from ANSI T1X1 and the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), I purchased several books on the subject, including Siller and Shafi's "SONET/SDH," Goralski's "SONET" and Laches' "Fiber Optic Communications". Ramaswami and Sivarajan's book "Optical Networks" is definitely the best of the group. "SONET/SDH" gives a good overview, but you need to already know something about SONET in order to understand it. Goralski's "SONET" is too basic, while "Fiber Optic Communications" is too theoretical. "Optical Networks" is "just right" (to quote a famous young lady's comments about a baby bear's porridge). Whenever I need to know something about optical networks, this is the book I turn to. The only problem is that the field of optical networks is moving quite fast right now and this book provides a snapshot of the 1997-1998 timeframe. I wish the authors would put up a web site discussing some of the recent activity in the field, but I suppose it's a bit much to ask them to devote their lives to the book. All in all, if you want an excellent introduction to optical networks, this is the book for you.
Similar Products
· Next Generation Optical Networks: The Convergence of IP Intelligence and Optical Technologies
· Optical Networking & Wdm
· Understanding Optical Communications
|
