Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)If you have even a modest background in electrical engineering, Dobkins will take you on an entertaining but extremely informative ride into the engineering world that goes on behind RFID. Dobkins avoids the classical, boring, textbook-like approach that wants to turn everything into an abstract mathematical equation. Instead, he uses analogies, intuition, illustrations, animations, and yes, equations, to guide the reader's thought process and imagination. It's filled with fun facts and practical perspectives. It seems like every few pages I want to say out loud, "Wow, that's cool!"
The author's enthusiasm for the subject clearly comes across right from the introduction. Though the sentences may ramble, it us usually punctuated by some wit, humor, or factoid.
This book cuts across a lot of different topics, but primarily focuses on tags and readers. No topic goes too deep; nobody should confuse this with a PhD dissertation. But no topic is glossed over lightly, either. While this is not a "cook book" by any means, it definitely lays the foundation solidly on each topic.
What I enjoy so much about this book is that it is both technically solid, but still so easy to read. It's not "dumbed down" as it addresses the real engineering challenges head on, and leaves you with both an appreciation for the subject and a solid foundation (and lots of references) to go digging for more.
As inevitably happens, when trying to reduce something that is full of complexities and try to make it into something simpler, sometimes some important details get lost in the process. This is inevitable, and is not a problem per se. However, sometimes Dobkins gets carried away and forgets to remind the reader that the real world is actually a little bit more complicated than is presented. For example, the process of designing an RFID tag antenna, as outlined, doesn't quite work. Adding a matching circuit to the antenna, especially the inductive shunt, significantly changes behavior of the antenna, and means you have to go back and change the equivalent circuit of the antenna. Once you get past that, the basic process of modifying the matching circuit based on the principles outlined in the book does work. There are also a number of very minor errors within the book. Neither criticism is enough to detract from my 5-star rating.
Anyone who works with passive UHF RFID and wants to learn more about how this stuff works will definitely learn a lot from this book. If you've been to all the conferences, workshops, short courses, and looking for something more, this book is for you.
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