| The market for wireless communications has enjoyed tremendous growth. Wireless technology now reaches or is capable of reaching virtually every location on the face of the earth. Hundreds of millions of people exchange information every day using laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, cellular phones, and other wireless communication devices. Success of outdoor and indoor wireless communication networks has led to numerous applications in sectors ranging from industries and enterprises to homes and universities. No longer bound by the harnesses of wired networks, people are able to access and share information on a global scale nearly anywhere they venture.
Some of the most remarkable growth has occurred in the deployment of wireless LANs (WLANs) where IEEE 802.11 based wireless networks have been used to provide connectivity not only as hotspots but also to substantial portions of a city. At the same time, we are also witnessing a significant trend in the emergence of small and low-cost computation and communication devices. While these tiny devices, called sensor nodes, are tightly constrained in terms of energy, storage capacity, and data processing capability, they have the potential to serve as a catalyst for a major change in how we communicate and interact with the environment.
This book aims to address challenging issues in wireless networks, in particular, wireless LANs, multihop wireless networks, sensor networks and their applications. In addition, the book discusses emerging applications and new paradigms, for example, middleware for RFID, smart home design, and ‘‘on-demand business’’ in the context of pervasive computing.
The objective of the book is twofold: to bridge the gap between practice and theory and between different types of related wireless networks. We believe that the theme and focus of the book is timely. The book focuses on important topics of current interest in wireless, mobile, and sensor networks and covers issues ranging from architecture, protocols, modeling and analysis to new applications, solutions, and emerging paradigms. |