Book excerpt: This practical new resource gives you a comprehensive understanding of the design and deployment of transmission networks for wireless applications. From principles and design, to equipment procurement, project management, testing, and operation, it's a practical, hands-on engineering guide with numerous real-life examples of turn-key operations in the wireless networking industry. This book, written for both technical and non-technical professionals, helps you deal with the costs and difficulties involved in setting up the local access with technologies that are still in the evolutionary stage. Issues involved in the deployment of various transmission technologies, and their impact on the overall wireless network topology are discussed. Strategy and approach to transmission network planning, design and deployment are explored. The book offers practical guidelines and advice derived from the author's own experience on projects worldwide. You gain a solid grounding in third generation wireless networks with increased capacity requirements, while learning all about packet data architecture, and how it will impact future transmission network design and deployment.