Reference Texts:

• Complete CompTIA® A+ Guide to PCs by Cheryl Schmidt (6th Ed, Pearson Certification, 2013, ISBN: 978-0-7897-4976-5, online at CSULA Library Site for free reading).
  
  • If you are on campus, you can go directly to this link. If you are off campus, you will need to go to Campus Library’s website first, then select the Safari Books Online option. You will next be asked to login with you campus User Name and Password. Once you login with you campus credentials, you should be able to search and read the book.
• A+ Guide to Managing & Maintaining Your PC by Jean Andrews (8th Edition, Cengage Learning, 2014, ISBN: 978-1-133-13509-8).
• The Architecture of Computer Hardware and System Software: An Information Technology Approach by Irv Englander (4th Edition, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2009, ISBN: 9780471715429).
• Computer Organization and Architecture: Designing for Performance by W. Stallings (8th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2009, ISBN: 0136073735).

Useful Links:

IT Online Dictionaries

• Webopedia - an online dictionary and search engine you need for computer and Internet technology.
• Whatis.com - definitions for thousands of the most current IT-related words.
• Wikipedia - a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
• w3schools - the largest web development site.

• ACM - the Association for Computing Machinery, the premeire computing organization
• IEEE Computer Society - the division of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers devoted to computing
• IEEE Standards Association - an international membership organization serving today's industries with a complete portfolio of standards programs.
• ITU - International Telecommunications Union
• World Wide Web Consortium - the primary organization guiding the evolution of Web technologies
• U.S. Federal Communications Commission - the primary regulatory agency for telecommunications in the United States

• Decimal Number System
• Binary Number System - a number system uses a base number of 2 instead of 10
• A Tutorial on Binary Numbers
• Conversion Between Different Number Systems
• Analog vs. Digital
• ASCII code

• CNet Tech News - current technical for computers, networking and IT
• CNET - a computing and technology news source
• ZDNET - also a computing and technology news source
• IT CertCities - news and information about computer and IT certifications
• CompTIA Certifications - CompTIA's certification exams inclding A+, Network+, Security+, etc
• Tom’s Hardware Guide: Home page and News - a leading website for hardware and technology reviews and news
• The PC Guide - offers detailed PC reference information
• Network Magazine - a good entry level magazine for networking
• Windows and .NET Magazine - a good magazine highlighting Microsoft networking
• Tech Web - a business technology portal
• The Tech - an online museum of technology
• Tom’s Hardware Guide: Home page and News - a leading website for hardware and technology reviews and news
• The PC Guide - Offers detailed PC reference information
• Web History - the W3C's history of the WWW
• Charles Babbage Institute - Center for the history of information technology
• Computer History Museum - a huge set of archives and exhibits
• CertCities - news and information about computer and IT certifications
• CertTutor.net - practice exams and practical advice for people seeking IT certification
• Braindump Central - a valuable site to get sample questions for certification exams

• C/C++ Users Journal Web Site
• Java World Magazine Web Site

• IETF home page - the TCP/IP folks
• Internet RFCs - Internet "Request For Comments."
• Internet drafts - possibly future RFC's in a draft stage
• How OSI works
• Get IEEE 802
• IEEE 802
• Wireless Communications Technologies
• Wireless Communications FAQ
• Protocols.com - Offers a comprehensive listing of data communications protocols, their functions in respect to the OSI model, the structure of the protocol and various errors and parameters.

• Personal Area Networks (PANs) - a group of technologies that are designed for short-range communications
• Personal Area Networks: Near-field intrabody communication
• Infrared Data Association
• Infrared WPANs (IrDA)
• IEEE 802.15 Working Group for WPAN
• Bluetooth
• IEEE 802.15.1 and Bluetooth
• IEEE 802.15.1 standard - fully compatible with Bluetooth version 1.1.
• IEEE 802.15.1
• IEEE 802.15.4-Low Rate WPANs (ZigBee)
• ZigBee
• QuickStudy: ZigBee
• WiMedia Alliance
• Bluejacking
• Bluesnarfing

• IEEE 802.11 - first IEEE standards for wireless LANs
• IEEE 802.11 from TechWeb
• IEEE 802.11 from Wikipedia
• Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)
• Wireless LAN from Wikipedia
• IEEE 802.11a standard
• IEEE 802.11b standard - also known as Wi-Fi
• An article comparing performance of 802.11b and 802.11a wireless technologies
• IEEE 802.11g - enhances 802.11b networks
• Read an article about the advantages and disadvantages of IEEE 802.11g.
• IEEE 802.11e Standard - defines enhancements to the MAC layer of 802.11 to expand support for LAN applications that require Quality of Service (QoS).
• IEEE 802.11e Standard from Wikipedia
• IEEE 802.11n Standard - aimed at providing data rates higher than 100 Mbps
• Unified 802.11n Wi-Fi Standard to Emerge in Mid-2006
• IEEE 802.11r Standard - expected to enhance the convergence of wireless voice, data, and video.
• IEEE 802.11r Standard from Wikipedia
• IEEE 802.11s Standard - help you solve a task, such as deploying a wireless network over the entire downtown area of a medium-sized city to provide seamless connectivity to all city employees.
• HiperLAN - offers high-speed wireless connectivity with up to 54 Mbps and seamless connectivity with other types of communications systems, such as cellular telephone systems and FireWire networks.
• Enabling Fast Wireless Networks with OFDM
• Access Points - provides wireless LAN devices with a point of access into a wired network
• Power over Ethernet (PoE) - how DC power is delivered to the AP through the unused wires in a standard UTP Ethernet cable
• Power over Ethernet (PoE)
• Wireless Bridges - expand the functionality of WLANs

• Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMAN) - a group of technologies that provide wireless connectivity across a substantial geographical area such as a large city
• Wireless MAN from Wikipedia
• Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS)
• What is LMDS?
• Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) - sometimes called wireless cable
• Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) from Wikipedia
• What is MMDS?
• IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) - a standard for wireless broadband metropolitan area networks

• Wireless Short Message Service (SMS) SMS allows for the delivery of short, text-based messages between wireless devices.
• SMS from Wikipedia
• Cellular Networks
• 1G Cellular Networks
• 1G: Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) from Wikipedia
• 1G: Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS)
• 2G: Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)
• How a GSM Network Operates
• GSM from Wikipedia
• 2.5G: General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
• 2.5G: General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) from Wikipedia
• 3G Cellular Networks
• 3G Today
• Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) - provide a standard way to transmit, format, and display Internet data for devices such as cell phones.
• Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
• i-mode - an Internet access system
• i-mode from Wikipedia
• Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) - a Java subset for programming wireless devices, which enables a cellular phone to access remote applications and e-mail as well as run programs on the cellular phone itself.
• Sun Java Wireless Toolkit for CLDC
• Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) - a very small program that resides on a wireless device and is capable of running applications that can be downloaded by the device on demand.
• Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) from wikipedia
• Wi-Fi VoIP and Cellular Network Integration
• Low Earth Orbit (LEO) - LEO satellites circle the Earth at an altitude of 200 to 900 miles.
• Elliptical Orbits - Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). MEO satellites orbit the Earth at altitudes between 1,500 and 10,000 miles.
• Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) - GEO satellites are stationed at an altitude of 22,282 miles. A GEO satellite’s orbit matches the rotation of the Earth and moves as the Earth moves.
• Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) - from Wikipedia
• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
• About RFID
• Frequencies for RFID Systems
• Electronic Product Code (EPC) - a standardized numbering scheme that can be programmed in a tag and attached to any physical product.
• Electronic Product Code (EPC)
• Electronic Product Code (EPC) from Wikipedia
• EPCglobal Inc.
• RFID Tags - commonly known as transponders, a combination of transmitter and responder.
• RFID Tags
• RFID Tag Balances Privacy and Retailer Interests
• RFID Tag Privacy Concerns
• Security Concerns Regarding RFID Applications
• Inductive Coupling - Some RFID tags and readers exchange information using inductive coupling between their antennas.

• Radio Waves - Radio waves are the most common and effective means of wireless communications today. Energy travels through space or air in electromagnetic waves.
• Radio Frequency - the rate at which a radio circuit creates the waves or the number of times a cycle occurs within one second.
• Frequency of a Wave
• Wavelength
• Infrared
• Infrared Light - adjacent to visible light (although invisible), and is a much better medium for data transmission because it is less susceptible to interference.
• Modulation - the process of encoding the digital signals (bits) onto an analog wave.
• Binary Signals
• Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)
• Spread Spectrum - Spread spectrum transmission takes a narrow band signal, and spreads it over a broader portion of the radio frequency band, resulting in less interference and fewer errors.
• Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)
• Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
• Baud Rate vs. Bits per Second (bps) - both used in measuring the speed of radio transmission.
• Bandwidth
• Decibel
• Decibel A, B and C:
• Calculate Decibel
• Radiation Patterns
• Radiation Pattern from Wikipedia
• Antenna Polarization Considerations in Wireless Communications Systems
• Horn Antenna
• Smart Antenna
• Coaxial Cable

• Bandpass Filters
• Low-pass filter
• High-pass filter
• Frequency Mixers - combine two radio frequency inputs to create a single output
• Amplifiers
• Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) - divides the bandwidth of a channel into several smaller frequencies bands
• Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) - divides the transmission time into several slots
• Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) - used primarily for cellular telephone communications
• Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W–CDMA)
• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) - splits a high-speed digital signal into several slower signals running in parallel, and sends the transmission in parallel across several lower-speed channels.
• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) from Wikipedia
• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Forum
• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)
• Circuit Switching - A dedicated and direct physical connection is made between the sender and the receiver.
• Packet Switching - Data transmissions are broken into packets, and each packet is sent independently.
• CSMA
• CSMA/CA & CSMA/CD
• Ultra Wideband (UWB) Technology
• UWB Forum
• Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band - intended for devices that provide short-range, high-speed wireless digital communications
• Baseband and Broadband Transmissions
• Free Space Optics (FSO) - an optical, wireless, point-to-point, line-of-sight broadband technology
• Fixed Wireless

• Advanced Encryption Standard
• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) - a unique security code, or key, provided by a certificate authority
• Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
• Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
• IEEE 802.11i - a robust security network association (RSNA)

• Uganda Wireless Health-Care Aid
• For more information about wireless communications in the health care industry, read the following articles: article 1 and article 2
• Voice over Wireless LAN (VoWLAN) - VoWLAN takes advantage of Voice over IP (VoIP) technology but uses the wireless infrastructure to carry both voice and data.
• Voice over Wireless LAN (VoWLAN)
• Voice over Wireless LAN (VoWLAN)
• Voice over Wireless LAN (VoWLAN)
• Smartphone - a full-featured mobile phone with personal-computer-like functionality