Focused more on core, fundamental topics in each area it covers, a new book written by K. Daniel Wong, "Fundamentals of Wireless Communications Engineering Technologies" or FWCET for short, shows how the topics covered relate to each other in at least two important ways. First, it illustrates how increasingly complex sub-systems and concepts are built from simpler sub-systems and concepts; and secondly, that characteristics in one area might affect design decisions in other areas in wireless systems in ways that are sometimes surprising. Similar to the "Wireless Engineering Body of Knowledge" (WEBOK)  on which Wong was a contributor, FWCET also stresses the linkages between theory and actual practice. Published by Wiley this month, FWCET is 568 pages long and you can review the contents online.

WCET is designed to be helpful to three main groups of readers:

1. 1.     Individuals  who would like to understand a broad range of topics in practical wireless communications engineering, from fundamentals and theory to practical aspects.
2. 2.      Electrical engineering of computer science students with an interest in wireless communications, who might be interested to see how the seemingly dry, abstract theory they learn in class is actually applied in real world wireless systems.
3. 3.     Professionals who are considering taking the WCET exam to become Wireless Certified Professionals (WCP).
    

"The initial idea for the book was that I would share the benefits of my preparation for the WCET exam with others to help them pass too, " shares Wong, "but after coming across university students and professionals looking for resources to broaden their knowledge I decided to widen the scope to meet the needs of all three groups."

To avoid the impression that the different topics in the different chapters are disparate and unrelated, a conscious effort was made in writing FWCET to include many cross-references both within chapters and across chapters. Each chapter has questions at the end, and all questions are answered at the back of the book. Keeping in mind that readers might be unfamiliar or less familiar with certain areas, even though they would be technical/engineering people, the book attempts to ease the entry into these topics by stating assumptions that might otherwise be taken for granted.

WEBOK and FWCET are complimentary in approach and in how they could be used. Wong explains, "A reader might look first at WEBOK to obtain the full range of topics in wireless engineering, even for areas the reader is familiar with, in case there are a few points that are new to her/him. For more details on fundamentals and core topics of each area, the reader might then refer to FWCET." Anyone interested in learning even more would be well positioned to consult more specialized books available in each of these areas.

Focused on helping the consumer electronics industry drive the next wave of anytime/anywhere communications, IEEE CCNC 2012 (IEEE Consumer Communications Networking Conference) consists of nearly 400 keynotes, panels, workshops, tutorials and special sessions designed to advance the development and deploy of technologies fostering new generations of easy-to-use, secure and stunningly interactive experiences.

ComSoc/CCNC will demonstrate prototypes of the new CAPTCHA techniques for securely downloading keys in RFID devices as well as the latest access control systems for enhancing character recognizability in tablet devices at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) January 10 – 13 in Las Vegas.

Both demonstrations will be on display at the IEEE ComSoc/CCNC booth #35307 located in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center and serve as extensions of the 9th annual IEEE Consumer Communications Networking Conference (CCNC)located at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 14 – 17, 2012. 

As an introduction to IEEE CCNC, visitors to the IEEE ComSoc/CCNC booth at CES 2012 will have the opportunity to learn first-hand about the latest methods for securely downloading keys in RFID devices, from an Android NFC enabled mobile.

Today most electronic ticketing or physical access control systems work with Mifare components. This demonstration presented by leading researchers from Telecom ParisTech and EtherTrust will showcase “A New Keying System for RFID Lock Based on SSL Dual Interface NFC Chips and Android Mobiles.” It includes the use of a dual interface RFID running a trusted SSL/TLS stack. As a result, the keys are securely downloaded from WEB servers and afterward used by legacy Mifare systems, such as electronic locks, in order to perform HTTPS operations supervised by Android mobile phones.

In the second demo performed at the IEEE ComSoc/CCNC booth (#35307), representatives from Venture Business Laboratory, Kyoto University and Mutech Trail Inc. will detail a new CAPTCHA technique designed to overcome the usability problems of mobile tablet devices such as smartphones, which do not use keyboards. This entails utilizing multiple noise images instead of twisted characters where invisible objects or messages are hidden. Subsequently, with this new technology objects appear when two images are overlapped at a certain position to resolve the recognizability of characters. Tablet users are then enabled to easily move images with only a finger and without the use of keyboards.

IEEE CCNC 2012 (Consumer Communications & Networking Conference) Website: www.ieee-ccnc.org/2012