Nanotechnology for Telecommunications

With its unique promise to revolutionize science, engineering, technology, and other fields, nanotechnology continues to profoundly impact associated materials, components, and systems, particularly those used in telecommunications. These developments are leading to easier convergence of related technologies, massive storage data, compact storage devices, and higher-performance computing.

Nanotechnology for Telecommunications presents vital technical scientific information to help readers grasp issues and challenges associated with nanoscale telecommunication system development and commercialization—and then avail themselves of the many opportunities to be gleaned. This book provides technical information and research ideas regarding the use of nanotechnology in telecommunications and information processing, reflecting the continuing trend toward the use of optoelectronics. Nanotech will eventually lead to a technology cluster that offers a complete range of functionalities for systems used in domains including information, energy, construction, environmental, and biomedical.

The scale of the physical systems that use nanoscale electronic devices is still large, and that presents serious challenges to the establishment of interconnections between nanoscale devices and the outside world. Also addressing consequent social implications of nanotech, this book reviews a broad range of the nano concepts and their influence on every aspect of telecommunications. It describes the different levels of interconnections in systems and details the standardized assembly process for a broad specrum of micro-, nano-, bio-, fiber-optic, and optoelectronic components and functions. This book is a powerful tool for understanding how to harness the power of nanotech through integration of materials, processes, devices, and applications.

Sohail Anwar is an associate professor of engineering and the coordinator of Electrical Engineering Technology Program at the Altoona College of The Pennsylvania State University, Altoona, Pennsylvania. In addition, he is a professional associate of the management development programs and services at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Texas.

Dr. Anwar is currently serving as the chair of the Electronics Engineering Technology Consulting Faculty Committee of Excelsior College, Albany, New York. Since 1996, he has been serving as a visiting professor of electrical engineering at the Universite d’Artois, Artois, France. He has also been serving as an invited professor of electrical engineering at the Shanghai Normal University, China, since 2009. He has been developing active research collaborations with his colleagues in China.

Dr. Anwar has been a program evaluator for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Baltimore, Maryland. He is currently serving as the editor in chief of the Journal of Engineering Technology, the associate editor in chief of the International Journal of Engineering Research and Innovation, the executive editor of the International Journal of Modern Engineering, and the associate editor of the Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science.

Dr. Anwar is the series editor for the Nanotechnology and Energy Series currently being developed by Taylor & Francis Group/CRC Press. Moreover, he is writing a textbook titled Renewable Energy Systems to be published by Taylor & Francis Group/CRC Press in late 2010. He is also the author of three guide books on renewable energy, solar energy, and biofuels.

Dr. Anwar has been teaching academic courses in the topical areas of digital systems design, microprocessors, circuit analysis, engineering design, signals and systems, quality control, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and nanotechnology. In addition, he developed and conducted industrial training in the topical areas of PLCs, hydraulics, electrohydraulics, electrical machines, pneumatics, and electromechanical circuits. He has extensive experience in developing and teaching online courses in engineering and engineering technology. Dr. Anwar is a senior member of IEEE and a member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE); the Association of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering (ATMAE); and the Pennsylvania Academy of Science.

Salahuddin Qazi received his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Technology, Loughborough, England, and his BS in electronic engineering from the University College of Wales, Bangor, United Kingdom. He is currently a full professor in the School of Information Systems and Engineering Technology at the State University of New York Institute of Technology, Utica, New York. Dr. Qazi has been a chair and coordinator of several programs including electrical engineering technology, photonics, and graduate programs in advanced technology, which he helped to develop. He has worked, conducted research, and taught in the United Kingdom and the Middle East before coming to the United States.

Dr. Qazi won several research awards and grants to conduct research and has published several articles and book chapters in the area of fiber-doped amplifiers, wireless security, optical wireless communications, and microelectromechanial system (MEMS)–based wireless and optical communications. He is currently working on a National Science Foundation (NSF) project to develop an instructional laboratory for the ‘‘Visualization and Manipulation of Nanoscale Components.’’ Dr. Qazi has participated as an invited speaker and presenter in several international conferences and workshops.

He was a CO-PI for a U.S.–Pakistan conference on ‘‘High Capacity Optical Networking and Enabling Technology,’’ for 2004 and 2005, which