referencebooks (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} referencebooks) wrote,@ 2006-03-16 17:47:00 |
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| Entry tags: | engineering |
The Telecommunications Fact Book and Illustrated Dictionary
The Telecommunications Fact Book and Illustrated Dictionary, 2nd edition
By Ahmed S. Khan
Published by Thomson / Delmar Learning, 2006.
This is a 7.5" by 9" paperback book, a slender 374 pages in length including a list of acronyms and an index, plus a single-page preface.
Partially a dictionary of the vocabulary of telecommunications and partially a sort of an almanac of the telecommunications industry, this book communicates a lot of technical basics very efficiently, aiming at an undergraduate audience with introductory-level background knowledge in electronics and electrical engineering.
Definitions in the dictionary portion are extremely brief, usually just one or two short sentences. For an idea of what's included in it, here is the full list of terms in the "K" sequence (one of the shorter sequences), excluding "see" references:
- k (kilo)
- K band
- Ka band
- kbps
- Kerberos
- kernel
- Kerr-Cell modulator
- key
- keyboard
- keyboard send and receive (KSR)
- Key Service Unit (KSU)
- Key Telephone System
- kHz (kiloHertz)
- killer channel
- klystron
- Ku band
- kW (kilowatt)
- kWh (kilowatt-hour)
The definitions in this section are copiously illustrated with tables and diagrams, as are the chapters in the part two, which mainly provide data. Opening the book at random in this second part, I'm looking at the chapter titled "Optical Amplifiers," which is a reprint from a 1996 issue of the Annual Review of Communication, which is interesting given the logic in assuming that much progress would have been made in fiber-optic communication in the last ten years. This chapter gives the basics of optical amplifiers in 10 pages including the bibliography, going into a little detail about different types (semiconductor laser amplifiers, doped-fiber amplifiers, erbium doped fiber amplifiers, praseodymium doped flouride-fiber amplifiers, raman and brillouin amplifiers, and solitons). Despite the author's declared intention of addressing an audience with no background knowledge, I find the discussion rather impenetrable given my lack of knowledge of engineering. However, it does seem to present a lot of solid information in an efficient way.
Seems very useful for engineering students.
