Computer communication networks have come of age. Today, there is hardly any professional, particularly in engineering, that has not been the user of such a network. This proliferation requires the thorough understanding of the behavior of networks by those who are responsible for their operation as well as by those whose task it is to design such networks. This is probably the reason for the large number of books, monographs, and articles treating relevant issues, problems, and solutions in this field. Among all computer network architectures, those based on broadcast mul tiple access channels stand out in their uniqueness. These networks appear naturally in environments requiring user mobility where the use of any fixed wiring is impossible and a wireless channel is the only available option. Because of their desirable characteristics multiple access networks are now used even in environments where a wired point-to-point network could have been installed. The understanding of the operation of multiple access network through their performance analysis is the focus of this book.

In leicht verständlichem Stil erläutern die Autoren dieses Buches Anforderungen an Multiple-Access-Protokolle für den Mobilfunk. Zu Beginn werden zellulare Kommunikationssysteme der 2. und 3. Generation eingeführt. Ausführlich beschrieben werden dann MA-Protokolle für paketorientierte zellulare Systeme. Ein großer Teil der vorgestellten Resultate stammt aus eigenen Forschungsarbeiten der Autoren, u.a. zur Verbesserung der Protokolle und zur Modellierung der physikalischen OSI-Schicht.

This is a book about the bricks and mortar from which are built those edifices that will permeate the emerging information society of the future-computer networks. For many years such computer networks have played an indirect role in our daily lives as the hidden servants of banks, airlines, and stores. Now they are becoming more visible as they enter our offices and homes and directly become part of our work, entertainment, and daily living. The study of how computer networks function is a combined study of communication theory and computer science, two disciplines appearing to have very little in common. The modern communication scientist wishing to work in this area soon finds that solving the traditional problems of transmission, modulation, noise immunity, and error bounds in getting the signal from one point to another is just the beginning of the challenge. The communication must be in the right form to be routed properly, to be handled without congestion, and to be understood at various points in the network. As for the computer scientist, he finds that his discipline has also changed. The fraction of computers that belong to networks is increasing all the time. And for a typical single computer, the fraction of its execution load, storage occupancy, and system management problems that are in volved with being part of a network is also growing.

This is a book about the bricks and mortar out of which are built those edifices that so well characterize late twentieth century industrial society networks of computers and terminals. Such computer networks are playing an increasing role in our daily lives, somewhat indirectly up to now as the hidden servants of banks, retail credit bureaus, airline reservation offices, and so forth, but soon they will become more visible as they enter our offices and homes and directly become part of our work, entertainment, and daily living. The study of how computer networks work is a combined study of communication theory and computer science, two disciplines appearing to have very little in common. The modern communication scientist wishing to work in this area finds himself in suddenly unfamiliar territory. It is no longer sufficient for him to think of transmission, modulation, noise immun ity, error bounds, and other abstractions of a single communication link; he is dealing now with a topologically complex interconnection of such links. And what is more striking, solving the problems of getting the signal from one point to another is just the beginning of the communication process. The communication must be in the right form to be routed properly, to be handled without congestion, and to be understood at the right points in the network. The communication scientist suddenly finds himself charged with responsibility for such things as code and format conversions, addressing, flow control, and other abstractions of a new and challenging kind.

Broadcast media, such as satellite, ground radio, and multipoint cable channels, can easily provide full connectivity for communication among geographically distributed users. One of the most important problems in the design of networks (referred to as packet broadcast networks) that can take practical advantage of broadcast channels is how to achieve efficient sharing of a single common channel. Many multiple access protocols, or algorithms, for packet broadcast networks have been proposed, and much work has been done on the performance evaluation of the protocols. A variety of techniques have been used to analyze the performance; however, this is the first book to provide a unified approach to the performance evaluation problem by means of an approximate analytical technique called equilibrium point analysis. Two types of packet broadcast networks - satellite networks and local area networks are considered, and eight multiple access protocols are studied and their performance analyzed in terms of throughput and average message delay. Contents Part I: Fundamentals - Multiple Access Protocols and Performance - Equilibrium Point Analysis - Part II: Satellite Networks - S-ALOHA - R-ALOHA - ALOHA-Reservation - TDMAReservation - SRUC - TDMA - Performance Comparisons of the Protocols for Satellite Networks - Part III: Local Area Networks - Buffered CSMACD - BRAM Performance Analysis of Multiple Access Protocols is included in the Computer Systems Series, Research Reports and Notes, edited by Herb Schwetman.

As part of a satellite communications network, VSATs allow earth terminals to be located on users' premises to provide data or voice and video services; they can be established rapidly and reconfigured to respond to changing communications needs flexibly and cost effectively. Twenty-eight contributions describe the key technology underlying these systems, representative systems from various vendors, budgets, protocols, service provision, economic, and regulatory issues. For those involved in telecommunications systems management or the engineering aspects. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Consisting of 25 articles contributed by expert authors from around the world, this handbook begins with a detailed introduction that provides an overview of LAN technologies, performance, security, and security protocols. It then delves further into WLAN technology, covering space-time processing, WLAN and cellular convergence, and a peer-to-peer approach to roaming, along with other topics. The Handbook continues by exploring WLAN applications, followed by an extensive discussion of security that includes the steps that can be taken to minimize WLAN security risks. This text concludes with an analysis of standards, describing 3G UMTS - IEEE 802.11b internetworking and security.