Foreword
Recently, modern radio has generated much interest because of its
potential to facilitate access to the global information infrastructure, and
to close the ‘digital divide’ as named it Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary
General. Many projects have been launched to solve the problem, but
without active involvement of young scientists and engineers in
developing countries, without wide dissemination of the ‘know-how’,
there is no hope to bridge the “digital gap” in the foreseeable future.
Training activities on digital radio have been initiated at ICTP schools and
colleges, some of which were carried out in collaboration with other
entities, such as the International Union of Radio Science (URSI), and the
International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication
Development Bureau (ITU/BDT). These activities included tutorial
lectures and laboratory work, where both computer networking and
innovative digital radio techniques were experienced by some 1500
participants from all the continents since 1996. As a result, a series of
concrete ICT projects have been initiated, developed and successfully
completed in Nigeria, Sudan, Benin, Ghana and Romania.
This book was prepared for the participants in the 2004 School on
Digital Radio Communications for Research and Training in Developing
Countries, but also other people may found it useful. Following the
request of the participants, the school program is focused on innovative
solutions in design and implementation of 2.4 GHz low-cost wireless local
area networks (WLANs) not only interconnecting computers, but also
offering data, audio, and video communications at distances up to about 25
kilometers. The goal is to provide the participants with knowledge and
skills needed to setup wireless networks for campus WLANs and links to
remote internet service providers, using modest resources available locally
in their home countries. Much of the school time is thus devoted to handson
sessions of antenna building, installation, testing and measurements,
and this volume guides through these activities step-by-step.
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The book contains also some theoretical background and bases on the
experience the authors gained at the previous schools and elsewhere. The
contents of this volume will be available also on CDROM and at the
webpage
http://wireless.ictp.trieste.it. It will be complemented by other
teaching material and documentation, tutorials, and open source software,
as well as by reviews of the state-of-the-art technologies and will be
updated from time to time. The free on-line access to lecture notes,
hands-on guides, manuals and tutorials from previous schools has already
enjoyed a daily average of some 450 visits and 260 MB of data retrieved.
We hope that the 2004 school and this material will contribute to
advancing scientific development in academic and research institutions in
Developing Countries, and it is up to the scientists and professors
employed there to make use of information offered and to disseminate it
further.
Comments on this book and on the school can be submitted to
sandro.radicella@ictp.trieste.it
Prof. Dr. Sandro M. Radicella, Co-Director of the School
Prof. Dr. Ryszard Struzak, Co-Director of the School
Radio Laboratory Handbook, Vol 1 Cables And Antennas (2004).part1.rar
