Intelligent building systems [Book Review] - IEEE Circuits and Devices

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and artificial intelligence, which are nec- essary to perceive intelligent building sys- tems. These chapters are full of flow diagrams and equations, unlike the.
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REVIEWS INTELLIGENT BUILDING SYSTEMS Albert Ting-pat So and Wai Lok Chan, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999. This is the fifth book of the Kluwer International Series on Asian Studies in Computer and Information Science. The 13th book published recently, and most of them are fairly valuable books like this one. The phrase “Intelligent Buildings” sounds like a concern of the future. How many intelligent buildings are there in the world? Not even one in a thousandth building today has intelligent systems one way or another. However, no one is able to predict the near future in our time. Within the next five years, probably 10% of the buildings in the world will have intelligent systems. Who knows? So and Chan introduce us to intelligent building systems in 17 short chapters. Therefore, “Introduction to Intelligent Building Systems” would have been a better title for this book, I suppose. The first seven chapters summarize the structure and operating principles of building systems like heating, air conditioning and fire, security, and transportation systems. The next four chapters are on electronics and artificial intelligence, which are necessary to perceive intelligent building systems. These chapters are full of flow diagrams and equations, unlike the easy-to-read previous chapters. The last part of the book summarizes research on the applications of heat, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems; electrical systems; fire services; vertical transportation; and energy management and design. Quite a number of data are from the research of the authors. The future of intelligent building systems is discussed in the last chapter. There are nice and clear figures in the book as well as some pale and some tiny ones, which would be somewhat difficult ■ 42

to make out by some elderly readers. Up-to-date references are given at the end of each chapter, and I think it is better this way since the subjects of the chapters are rather discrete from each other. The titles of the tables in the first half of the book are below the table, which should not be in a scientific publication. Nevertheless, they go above the tables in the second half. There is another phenomenon in the book—all the chapters end at the bottom of the even numbered pages. I do not understand how they managed that. The book would be useful for researchers in the area and for students as well; in other words, it is suitable as a textbook and as a reference book. It could be of interest to any engineer since the subject covers almost all the engineering disciplines. It is a nice book to start with. Dr. Agah Uguz Uludag University, Turkey

HANDBOOK OF CDMA SYSTEM DESIGN, ENGINEERING AND OPTIMIZATION Edited by Kyoung Il Kim, Prentice Hall PTR (NJ), 2000. Mobile communication has developed very quickly in recent years and CDMA mobile communication networks have been deployed worldwide. This book provides a good system design method on CDMA technology as it applies successfully to cellular or PCS. CDMA PCS is deals with digital communication in a variable-parametric channel. The optimization design of communication networks is also important. In my opinion: 1) This book provides an in-depth discussion of various engineering guidelines but lacks necessary basic theory analysis. 2) It would also be nice to provide microcellular design geared to the needs 8755-3996/02/$17.00 ©2002 IEEE

of PCS (there is some analysis of sectors in the book). 3) The basic station collocated adaptive antenna should be geared to the needs of the channel change. This book is an introduction and summary of the IS-95 CDMA system design and development work. It may help the reader to understand the whole view of the CDMA mobile communication system. It concisely describes the topics that are concerned with the system and the necessary development foundations. The contents of the book are described around the design and optimization of the system. The steps of design and optimization are executable for practice. It is the guideline of design and development. This book is an excellent reference for students. The appendix on design systems is a benefit for the laboratory work of technical people. While, CDMA technology is developing rapidly, the material in the book is based prior to the year 2000. Thus, we are waiting for the recent results of the contributions to the wideband CDMA 2000 system. Wang Cheng-Shu, Beijing University of Post & Telecommunication

THE MEMS HANDBOOK Edited by M. Gad-el-Hak, CRC Press, 2002. The field of electronics has made great progress over the years, from the ages of electron tubes, to transistors, to integrated circuits and VLSI with the dimensions changing from cm, to mm, to microns and submicrons. Currently, there is a trend to push further towards nanometer and develop microdevices called microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) capable of performing some additional mechanical operations. For example, optical switches are great for transferring high-speed data but not for IEEE CIRCUITS & DEVICES MAGAZINE



SEPTEMBER 2002