Preface

Nobody disputes the importance of wireless communications, and while it will surely continue to change and evolve, it is here to stay. Anybody who has received an urgent page, made an emergency call on a mobile phone, watched cable television, or been caught speeding by radar, will attest to its pervasiveness throughout everyday life. It is in recognition of the importance of RF electronics and its role in wireless communications that this book is written.

This book simplifies the subject of RF electronics with analogies, metaphors, and a minimum of mathematics. Many photographs and figures are included to further help explain the subject. Unlike other books of its kind, however, it takes a distinctly lighthearted approach to the subject by incorporating witticisms and sarcasm, occasionally directed at the book's hypothetical protagonist: the RF engineer. This book is intentionally made lighthearted because the subject matter is so dry. My feeling is, no matter how brilliantly written or factually correct an introductory book on RF is, if it is too long and boring, you will never get past the first chapter.

The Essential Guide to RF and Wireless takes an overly simplistic approach to the subject matter. In this vein, it accomplishes two main objectives: it provides a conceptual understanding of RF components and wireless systems, and it exposes you to the main vocabulary used in the industry. You can hardly expect to understand a topic as complex as wireless communications without first learning its lingua franca.

The Essential Guide to RF and Wireless is intended for nontechnical people who know absolutely nothing about RF, but need to or just want to explore the subject. For every engineer working in the field of RF, there are many more nontechnical people working in the field who can benefit from understanding and speaking RF. They include nontechnical managers, sales administrators, distribution specialists, manufacturer's representatives, buyers, marketing and communications personnel, advertising agents, trade show booth staffers, executive recruiters, financial analysts, and technical writers.

This book can be used in three different ways. First, it can be read cover-to-cover as the material is organized in such a way that each successive chapter builds on the one before it, starting with basic concepts and terminology, and ending with the various kinds of wireless systems. Second, each chapter can be read on a stand-alone basis, for those who need to quickly grasp a single subject or concept. Because of this stand-alone structure, some of the subject matter is repeated in an effort to make each chapter understandable by itself. Finally, this book can be used as a reference. The many tables, the Glossary, and Appendices A and B provide quick access to terminology, acronyms, and specifications used in the wireless industry.

Regardless of how you use this book, if you are new to the subject of RF, you should read all of Part 1 (Chapters 1 and 2), as the rest of the book builds on the fundamental concepts and vocabulary introduced there.

Part 2 (Chapters 3, 4, and 5) is primarily intended for those working in the RF and wireless industry, as it covers the workings of an RF system in great detail. All of the important building blocks used to make RF hardware are explained in detail, as are the different technologies used to manufacture them. Also covered is the fascinating topic of modulation, which is how ground-based information gets prepared to enter the wireless world.

Finally, Part 3 (Chapters 6 and 7) is where the fun begins. This part of the book gives you an overview of several wireless systems. Chapter 6 discusses some systems you are already familiar with, but probably never knew how they worked. Finally, Chapter 7 introduces you to the newer systems, for which the term wireless was invented. You will learn about some established wireless systems, as well as some systems that are so new they have yet to be fully deployed, or in some cases, even fully authorized.

I would like to thank one very special person, Deborah Person, who spent her valuable time to help me with this book. She was a tremendous source of encouragement and her effort was invaluable in proofreading the manuscript, which is quite a feat for an accountant.

If you would like to provide me with feedback on this book, feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Enjoy.