Frequency-distribution Books

This is a valiant effort from Sandip to provide right mixture of content appopriately and right point. The content flow is really amazing and it brings hardware engineer , software engineer , project managers and executives to be able to have differnt orthogonal understanding of the same topic.It provides foundation to further explore the possibilities of RFID which is still in infancy.Great piece of work !!!

I needed to come up to speed on RFID technology and application of the technology quickly. This book had all the information I needed in a very consumable form.

I am just getting up to speed on RFID and found this book to be both authoritative and approachable, clear and complete. Mr. Lahiri lays out the important details and limitations of RFID technology and applications as they exist today and as they will evolve in the future. Helpful appendices provide very useful information on industry players, organizations, web sites, etc.

I highly recommend this book.

Radio frequency identification or RFID is not a new technology. The earliest US patent for a passive (no battery) RFID tag that I know of was issued in 1973. Others trace the beginnings of RFID to the use of radio transponders for aircraft identification in World War II. In recent years, RFID has become a pervasive technology; its use is widespread. The users do not often realize that they are using it. Examples include electronic toll collection, electronic credit cards like the Speedpass, employee access control, pet identification, and automobile immobilizers. These applications total tens of millions of users.

The recent interest in the subject of RFID has resulted from the implementation of passive tags for the tracking of pallets and cases in the retail supply chain. The numbers of tags that may be used here figures in the tens of billions per year. If the RFID industry can make the tags at a low enough cost, the potential for labelling individual items is around one trillion per year. No wonder this industry is experiencing explosive growth and the interest to go with it.

In this book, the author gives us a comprehensive introduction to the world of RFID. The presentation is quite clear, readable, and without technical jargon. It does not require a technical background. Details are kept at a high level. The author is careful to present the benefits and drawbacks to every technology discussed. Individual chapters include: Technology Overview, Advantages of the Technology, Limitations of the Technology, Privacy Concerns, RFID vs. Bar Code, Strategy, Business Justification, RFID Solutions, and Standards.

The book is named appropriately. This is a sourcebook. There are lists of standards, vendors, conferences, organizations and their web sites. This is the best book on RFID that I have read.

Introduction

I was interested in reading this book because I intend on deploying a large-scale RFID solution in the future and wanted to enhance my knowledge on the technology. I figured this would be a good start since the author is an IBM RFID Solution Architect, and perhaps something he would state could disqualify my intentions.

"Learning more about the technology" is a very broad statement, and in my case covered just about everything from Frequencies and Business Applications to Public Scrutiny of the technology. Sandip does an excellent job of staying concise, unbiased and objective throughout this publication. Additionally, he provides insight as to why certain "sides" of public RFID critics/advocates may view things the way they do. The book mentions "getting beyond the hype" on the back cover, and Sandip does exactly that.

Sandip wrote:
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology uses radio waves to automatically identify physical objects (either living beings or inanimate items). Therefore, the range of objects identifiable using RFID includes virtually everything on this planet (and beyond). Thus, RFID is an example of automatic identification (Auto-ID) technology by which a physical object can be identified automatically. Other examples of Auto-ID include bar code, biometric (for example, using fingerprint and retina scan), voice identification, and optical character recognition (OCR) systems.


I come from an environment where my RFID hypothesis is already laid out; I just need additional information on the technology to ensure my deployment is a success. Not only does he give consideration to the variations of RFID technology, he discusses the necessity of businesses using RFID versus other technologies available today and the processes of evaluation, experimentation, deployment, and post-deployment.

Contents

The book starts out with a quick preface that gives a general blurt about RFID and narrows down who could find themselves reading the book.

Sandip wrote:

* Corporate decision makers who have received an RFID mandate from a customer or who want to adopt RFID for their enterprise
* IT managers who want to initiate a first RFID program
* Architects or developers who want to get practical tips and guidelines on implementing an RFID system and avoid the potential pitfalls
* Teachers who want to teach a course about RFID
* Students who want to know more about the technology to prepare for the RFID job market
* Consumers who want to be aware of how the technology is being used and its capabilities and limitations
* Anyone who is interested to know about the technology and its aspects


Although I can see "consumers" and "anyone interested" quickly becoming lost in his intelligent vocabulary, technical specifications and continuous references to variables and infrastructure.

Recommended experience in a technical environment before jumping into this book...and NOT intended for your "everyday Wal-Mart shopper".

Table of Contents wrote:

Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 - Technology Overview
Chapter 2 - Advantages of the Technology
Chapter 3 - Limitations of the Technology
Chapter 4 - Application Areas
Chapter 5 - Privacy Concerns
Chapter 6 - RFID Versus Bar Code
Chapter 7 - The RFID strategy
Chapter 8 - Creating Business Justification for RFID
Chapter 9 - Designing and Implementing an RFID Solution
Chapter 10 - Standards
Chapter 11 - Closing Thoughts
Appendix A - RFID Vendors, News Sources, and Conferences
Appendix B - Passive Tag Manufacturing Overview
Glossary
Index


Style and Detail

Each chapter starts with introduction to the topic, then dives into specifics relevant to the topic. His organization throughout the book is very structured and is incredibly easy to follow. If you miss something or don't understand it, you will probably find that in the next paragraph he will discuss it once again except in further detail.

Beware of chapter 1, it is quite lengthy and very technical although necessary for those reading later on to fully understand the concepts he discusses.

Throughout the book, there are plenty of illustrations and pictures of products pertinent to the context. Most illustrations were very "bird's eye view" on topics, but realize he is coming from the position of a high level executive considering a RFID implementation, who instructs all those in charge of the various departments to comply, then supervises and evaluates accordingly.

Because of the "high level executive" standpoint, Sandip doesn't dip into mega-specifics of RFID tags and readers. You are not going to learn how to interact with a RFID tag or reader by reading this book...you're going to learn how to determine implementation considerations (such as environmental factors, etc), the overall purpose, how to evaluate that purpose, select a vendor, comply with standards, implement the solution, and evaluate accordingly. Overall, pretty much covers the 7 P's concept...to cross your t's and dot your i's before spending too much money.

Conclusion

From a business perspective, this book is a must read. If you are considering a RFID solution, reading this book will give you some good pointers and ways of evaluating effectiveness and efficiency. Perhaps you don't even need RFID (that's covered too).

I thought reading this book was going to help me write data to RFID tags in my RFID Solution...instead it gave me new insight as to the scope and path of my Solution. There is no "one stop" book, but this one should be your "first stop". He gives direction as to where to head if you're looking for more specific or technical information, so you're not left in the dark at the end.

His Closing Thoughts (Chapter 11) was probably the most valuable chapter in the book. Here he cuts through all the hype and anti-RFID/pro-RFID sentiment and addresses issues from both sides. Yes RFID is young, and yes its use needs to be responsible. Its capability is directly proportional to the complexity of the infrastructure. If your infrastructure is secure, the implementation will be secure. What good is "10110011101100111011001110110011" going to do anyone if they don't have access to your infrastructure? Crossing the t's and dotting the i's...

Jon Kleinhans
(...)

Power distribution networks are critical to the correct functionality of high performance digital systems. The design of such networks gets harder with the increasing speed of the digital designs they support, in particular, microprocessors. A microprocessor IC consumes an incredible amount of power despite its small physical size and a great amount of work goes into supplying high quality power to that tiny chip. Computers are implemented on boards that combine such power hungry ICs and must feed them simultaneously. This book focuses on the board level power distribution network (as opposed to package and IC).

A successful engineering implementation combines design, analysis, simulation and measurement and this book does a great job in presenting those different aspects of implementation thoroughly and coherently. The reader sees how the different disciplines complement each other in a successful project. The emphasis, however, is on simulation and measurement. I consider that a strength since the other aspects have been treated well in previous publications but this is certainly the most thorough treatment of power distribution network measurement. There is a lot of attention to detail, and one only has to go to the lab to make some measurements to see how some of those details will save you days if not weeks of frustration.

Simulation is used judiciously and for insight as opposed to "blind" verification. The judicious use of simulation may be strongly motivated by the inherent capacity limitations of today's fullwave field solvers, but it also ends up providing valuable intuition to the reader on why as well as the how. The authors have taken great pains to validate their simulation results at every step.

In a field [digital design] dominated by time domain thinking, this book provides a refreshing frequency domain approach. Although it is a difficult leap for most digital designers, it is one worth taking since the additional insights [into the signal integrity implications of frequency domain analysis] could well make the difference between a functional design and one that spends months on the testbench for debugging.

This is a book written not by pure theorists but practitioners of the field and it shows. The authors do not waste much time on hypothetical examples and plunge directly into problems they surely have dealt with themselves as they worked on high performance designs. Although the sections on modeling are rigorous, they are succinct and probably not for people not well trained in the field. But for the expert, this is an invaluable book.

I just bought the book, but I was looking for something like this since a long time ago. Until now, there were only articles about a little part of the subject, or just introductions. So, a complete book was really needed about this topic. All the other parts of high-speed digital design was well documented in books already, except this, until now. I think everyone who designs or/and simulates high-speed digital PCBs should read it. High-speed design is not only about interconnect design. Lots of designers just dont care too much about proper power distribution design. They should.

This book is must-read, the authors cover a range of very important
topics in a thorough yet practical way. It is an enjoyable read that
takes you through the various aspects within power-distribution systems,
from the basics to very advanced topics. In addition, by reading this
book you are bound to find answers to many PI controversial topics as
well. The chapter about planes is a master-piece. The one about
frequency-domain measurements is comprehensive, filled with a slew of
impressive data and measurement advice. The chapter about
3D-field solver simulations is full of suggestions for engineers trying
to accurately model power-distribution elements, in order to help them
avoid many common (and not so) pitfalls. In summary, this book is a
must-have for any engineer who fully wants to understand how to model,
simulate and measure power-distribution systems. I highly recommend it.

The information in this book is based on science. There are equations and graphs on every page. It is not the hand waving Popular Electronics style found in other books.

This is the only book on this subject that I have read that is intelligently and scientifically presented. All the others are written at the Popular Electronics hobby magazine level.

In addition to what the other reviewer has already written, it must be said that this EXCELLENT book gives you tips on placement of transformers, why things should be done that way, etc. It is shocking, and a pity that not all vacuum tube amps are produced with the advice written here applied in their design. If you are into high fidelity vacuum tube audio, and are thinking of building a kit, get this book. It will help you.

description: "Encourages the amateur and professional amplifier designer to experiment with design elements, not just work from a blueprint. The goal of the book is practical achievement, theoretical considerations have been omitted."

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. General Hints on Amplifier Construction;
CHAPTER II. The Valves for the Various Stages;
CHAPTER III. Description of the Valves EF 40, EF 86, ECC 40;
CHAPTER IV. Hints on Practical Uses of the Valve Data;
CHAPTER V. Components and Circuits;
CHAPTER IV. Details of Some Amplifier Circuits:
1. A 3W Gramophone Amplifier
2. A High-Fidelity Amplifier with Two Tubes EL 84 in Push-pull
3. A 10W Class A Amplifier with the EL 34 as Output Valve
4. A 15W AC/DC Amplifier with Two Valves Type PL 81 in Class B Push-pull Circuit
5. A 35W Amplifier with two EL 34 Valves in Class AB Push-pull
6. A 35W Quality Amplifier with Two EL 34 Valves in Class AB
7. A 70W Quality Amplifier with Four EL 34 Valves in Class AB Push-Pull
8. A 100W Amplifier with Two EL 34 Output Valves in Class B

David Miller has drawn from his considerable practical experience to give us a most helpful tool for understanding what frequency distributions are about. The book provides valuable insights into a large number of frequency distributions. As a scientist I found the book to be both exciting and helpful. There is some math and numerous examples which supplement the detailed verbal descriptions, but the math presented is generally enlightening rather than tedious.

I found that this book provided me with what I consider to be useful understanding in a short period of time.

The book is in 2 thick volumes and it is a bargain.

Hosking and Wallis have succeeded in their book to give a complete overview of the methodology for doing a regional frequency analysis with estimation methods based on L-Moments. They have subdivided the methodology in 4 parts: screening data (using the Wilks discordancy measure), formation of homogeneous regions (using grouping methods with fine tuning by a heterogeneity measure), and selection and estimation of a regional frequency distribution (using a goodness-of-fit measure). In all 4 steps the L-Moments of the available data sets are used for parameter estimation and for deciding on discordancy, heterogeneity and goodness-of-fit. H&W have shown (in their 1980 to 1996 papers and summarizing it in this book) that the approach works well and that it is robust against intersite dependence (certainly present between neighboring sites), robust against small heterogeneity between the sites, and robust against a possible misspecification of the regional distribution. Two large case studies show the methodology in practice. This book will be appreciated by hydrologists and civil engineers in general, because the whole RFA-methodology is contained in one single book (224 pages) added with lots of references for the interested reader. I am sure that H&W may expect quite a number of citations to this work in the near future (they will have mine...)!

It is a very good book and pretty well written.
Do not be fooled by the 'For Dummies' title.

However, the book is outdated (2005!!!!) and I would not recommend buying one until an update for 2008 is released.

Otherwise I would give it 5 stars.

If you have ever had to sit through meetings listening to some electrical engineer or other 10 pound brain make you want to gouge out your own eyes to make them shut up, this book is for you. All of the stuff that didn't make any sense in those meetings becomes a little more clear. In all seriousness, if you are not an engineer, I'm a Marine Corps Supply guy, this book lays a great foundation for you to understand what you don't know. This book and the Wiley CompTIA Study Guide helped me not only score an 800 on my RFID+ exam, but actually understand 90% of stuff the folks at the RFID Live! Conference were trying to sell me.

This is a good book on RFID. Lots of useful stuff in there. However, do not use it as yuor first RFID book. The material is quite advance at places.

Excellent book for first timers in gaining knowledge about RFID technology and it's many uses within the supply chain. Easy reading with excellent examples of the what the RFID technology can or can not do for a buisness.

This book was a HUGE dissapointment for me. I have plenty of "For Dummies" series books and this is the only one that really let me down.

The whole book is written by a person who works for the RFID industry. He does not spend any time explaining the security and privacy issues involved with RFID. He makes a childish remark that "RFID is like credit card, it can be tracked"...BUT FORGETS TO MENTION that RFID can be tracked wireless every time everywhere, while your credit card can only be tracker where YOU CHOOSE TO USE IT.

Concidering the recent issues of RFID read/copy/forgery with even latest "high security passports" (like the ones used in EU), this book is really a HUGE thumbsdown. Dont buy it.

I used this book and "RFID For Dummies", also authored by Patrick Sweeney in preparation for my RFID+ exam. As it happened, I was also able to take a one day crash course instructed by RFID4U at the RFID Live! conference. The day after the course I scored an 800 on my exam. I have to give credit to the two books for laying the foundation of my understanding. For those with a solid background, "RFID For Dummies" probably won't be necessary as the CompTIA RFID+ Study Guide sticks to the nuts and bolts of what's on the test. The sample test questions are an excellent indicator of what to expect on the test.

I found this a good book on RFID+ exam, but do not count on it alone. Here are the reasons:
* The coverage of the topics is extremely brief. This is also the problem with many other RFID+ books, though.
* The exam objectives are listed in the beginning of each chapter but so often it's hard to find where in the chapter the objective is actually covered...and as I said, if there is a coverage, it is very brief.
* Lots of the stuff and coverage that should be there is missing, whereas some unnecessary stuff is there...For example Maxwell's equations...
* From the presentation of the material, it's obvious that the book is written for the experts. If you are a beginner, do not use this book as your first RFID or RFID+ book.
*The book has its share of typos and errors; I hope the publisher will provide an Errata.

Bottom line: it's a good book, but do not count on it alone and don't use it as your first RFID book.

Radio Frequency Identification has become a fastest growing area. The technology, after some spectacular failings in the beginning when people didn't know what they were doing, has enabled some spectacular acomplishments. One of my favorites was putting an RFID device into the collar of guard dogs. That way they could track the dog as he entered his pen or went out on duty.

With any emerging technology, there will soon be certification testing to be sure that people working in the field have at least a minimal amount of knowledge about the subject. This book covers the CompTIA exam RFO-001. It covers everthing that is on the test and includes a CD that has a test engine and a practice test that closely mimics the real exam. It also has a series of flash cards that you can run on your PC, Pocket PC or Palm handheld. The CD also has a copy of the entire book in PDF format so you can put it on your notebook and take it where ever you go.

In reading this book, I found it to be more helpful than just cramming for the exam. It covers the material very well, and after reading it, you'll have a feeling for the entire subject.

This book is written by the CEO of a well-known RFID consulting firm who knows his stuff. In addition to the basic technology facts, there is plenty of experienced wisdom included. This book goes much farther than the CompTIA cram guide. There's a lot of content that is not directly applicable to the exam and the author to his credit points out when that is the case. If you are planning an RFID career, then these insights and process descriptions from an experienced industry leader are priceless.

The book is very clearly written. 20 practice questions per chapter is generous, there are ~140 questions across 3 practice exams and there are ~150 flash card questions you can playback on a PC, PPC, or Palm. A great value overall.

This book is not sufficient by itself to prepare you for the actual exam. There were numerous questions on the actual exam that were not covered in this book. The actual exam is always somewhat of a moving target, so this is to be expected to some degree.

Bottom line: Excellent book, good value, plan on supplementing it with ~1-2 others. (I supplemented it with official CompTIA cram guide and the two combined still had quite a few gaps relative to the actual exam).

If you are just learning about statistics, this book cannot be used as a primary text. The main audience of this rather useful workbook are students who are currently taking or just finished a statistics course; or, those who actually need to do real world calculations.
Like all other books in this series, each chapter has an introductory essay of varying clarity and usefulness, many fully worked out examples, and many supplementary questions with the answers in the back.
For those who are having trouble with a particular aspect of statistics, or in search of refresher material, the usefulness of this book is rather more variable. Some chapters have good, clear explanations, while others just present equations and procedures for solving them using various sets of data.
I find this book to be quite useful, especially the chapters on time series and index numbers.

I recommend this text to financial professionals I teach ... VERY helpful to clear the cobwebs several years after college!

This is a handy desk guide to statistics for someone who needs a statistical referemce as part of their job but is not a statistician, ie, performance management, data preparation or other information analysis. I compared this book to many others and found it the most comprehensive.

I bought this book as a study aid for my Elementary Statistics class. Although the book does give you many examples to help solve, it gets a little too complicated for a beginning statistics class. It became hard to sort through the things I needed to gain a basic understanding of the fundamentals of statistics. If you are needing this book for your job or a more advanced statistics course, I would recommend it, but it's one for the beginner to leave alone.

This excellent book provides a comprehensive look at statistical methods. It's a great reference guide with 19 chapters, each of which build nicely on one another.

Chapters 1 through 11 lay the foundation of statistical study and the reader should benefit greatly from this framework.

Specifically, Chapters 1 through 3 cover Variables and Graphs, Frequency Distributions and Mean-Median-Mode concepts. Chapters 4 through 6 move on to cover Standard Deviation, Skewness and Elementary Probability Theory. Chapter 7 then discusses Binomial, Normal and Poisson Distributions.

Chapters 8, 9, 10 and 11 delve into Sampling, Statistical Estimation, Statistical Decision and Small Sampling Theory.

The remaining chapters offer practical insights into such topics as Chi-Square test, Correlation Theory, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Time Series Analysis and Statistical Process Control. Much of this appears in the CFA curriculum and therefore is a worthy supplemental study.

True to its format, this Schaum's book helps readers via its question and answer format in each of its chapters. Going through these problems teaches and reinforces concepts taught in the first pages of each chapter in the book.

Great job authors! I'm hoping others will benefit from this book too.

For those who want faster diving in RFID technology I would recommend to take a look at DataBrokers TagTracker. Their new version works with LF and HF transponders and uses Hibernate to store scanned data in a database. It comes with PIRF-Lite (Java written API) which allows the user to make new transponder layouts and interact with the RFID reader differently than it is shown in TagTracker. TagTracker itself is enough to collect RFID data from different locations (RFID readers) and store it in a common database. Like a data pump. All you need is to create your own interface to query the database using your preferred languages/tools , etc.

This is a compilation of papers from numerous organisations with diverse opinions on how this technology will develop. RFID presents opportunities for great improvement in business efficiencies for corporations and better service for customers and consumers. The flip side is that RFID has the potential to negatively impact individual privacy more than most technologies.

What sets this book apart is that it covers both sides of the argument. The chapters authors represent most perspectives on this emerging technology:
- RFID Hardware and Software Vendors
- Organisations that have deployed RFID
- Privacy Advocates

The cases for and against RFID are both well made. RFID can make shopping easier, stock processing more efficient, speed up payment and aid loss prevention. An excellent example of where privacy concerns are outweighed by convenience is highway tolls.

At the same time, security flaws will likely become evident and individuals, organizations and governments could misuse the very same technology. RFID has the potential to be more invasive than video surveillance.

Papers within the book cover include current real world illustrations and how the technology may develop. Most importantly, this is the most comprehensive survey to date. If anyone can suggest a better one, please do write a review and refernce.

This is not a "how to" book. It does not delve into the technology or provide a detailed methodology. Given the diversity of perspectives and content it couldn't be.

This book is a must read if you want to be informed on a key emerging technology. The issues and rewards of RFID will increase as the processing power of RFID chips increase. Increase in processing power is nearly a given.

In isolation the individual papers (chapters) are good. But this is a clear instance of the the sum being greater than the parts. For my two cents, this book will have a long and useful shelf life.

The chapters are written by different authors, concerning various aspects about RFID. The topics give an idea of the scope of RFID deployment. None of the chapters would be considered technical. You are not required to be an electrical engineer to follow any chapter.

One chapter talks about inserting RFID tags into livestock. In part to combat the age old problem of rustling, which still exists. The chapter has an engagingly termed section "World Livestock Roundup", which showcases RFID in livestock in several countries. The deployment is quite advanced. Already, the EU and New Zealand mandate it for all livestock, and have done so for over 5 years. Given the cost of a cow or sheep, the tags are quite affordable. This chapter is significant. Unlike virtually the rest of the book, it demonstrates RFID as already existing in a mature deployment, and not as blue sky musings.

Other chapters are more speculative. In part because when the tags might be associated with or carried by people, serious issues of privacy arise. Some deployments are described under the rubric of enhancing child safety. But the extension to adults is highly contentious. Even more so when one considers not the carrying of a tag, but the insertion of a tag into a person's skin. In the US, we can readily envisage deep discontent over this, from libertarians to the religious right.

It turns out that many of the suggested difficulties are not primarily technical. Rather, they exist in the business or social realm, and may be harder to solve.

RFID, radio frequency identification, is one the first major
technology of the new century. After building machines
capable of doing things (nineteenth century) and machines
that can mimic thinking (twentieth century), time has come
to have machines to perceive.

The book edited by S. Garfinkel, B. Rosenberg is a balanced,
comprehensive, and digestible presentation of RFID. RFID is
not a Devil plot on spying on everyone, and it is not a
technological form of totalitarism (although there is a
potential to become each of them). RFID is a form of
enabling machines to sense. Warehouses will sense whether
they become low on stock or, perhaps, overstocked, luggage
will be routed automatically from airport to airport;
healthcare, libraries, energy, will be all influenced if
not changed by RFID. Benefits are potentially immense, but
so are the risks.

One (almost) certainty: like or not, this technology is
going to stay, so we cannot afford to ignore it. The book is
an important step towards an informed debated about its
future.

First, you should know that I'm the editor of this book.

Second, there seems to be some confusion in the way that the publisher has positioned the information that the book contains. Although the idea for this book came about because of the 2003 RFID Security & Privacy workshop that I chaired at MIT, only three of the chapters in this book are based on papers that were presented at the workshop. The rest of this book is all new material that was specially written for this project.

In RFID: Applications, Security and Privacy, I've tried to bring together voices from across the RFID debate. In one volume we have chapters from manufacturers, users, critics, policy wonks, and even philosophers of natural science. That is truly an impressive accomplishment.

Yes, this book does not contain nuts-and-bolts information about technical RFID protocols and APIs. That's because the world of RFID is vast and is in flux right now. I and the rest of the authors believe that what's really needed now is information that paints the entire landscape, rather than focusing on the specific technical abilities of, say, the GEN2 tags.

But more than a good book about policy issues, this book is really a fun read. There's the privacy nightmare chapter. There's the chapter written by the student who built a prox card cloner. There's the chapter about implantable RFID chips. It's just a lot of fun. I'm the editor, yes, but as I read the final proofs before it when to the printer, I kept saying to myself over and over, "this is a great book! My gosh, this is really a great book."

And it is.