ZigBee?

'ZigBee' is a protocol which is developed to send and receive small amounts of data in between hostile Radio Frequency environments. ZigBee protocol is suitable and designed to be used by small, low power embeded devices such as sensors to transfer small amounts of data. 

Following are the advantages of using Zig Bee protocol.

1. Standard based
2. Low cost devices available
3. Has the ability to use globally
4. Reliable and self healing
5. Supports large number of nodes (up to 65,000 nodes per network)
6. Easy to deploy
7. provides long battery life.
8. Secure (128 bit AES encription)
9. Support multiple network topologies (ex: mesh, point to point, point to multipoint)
10. Collision avoidance, retries and acknowledgements is available
11. Low latency

A ZigBee network has the following components;

• ZigBee coordinator  - This is responsible for initializing managing and maintaining the network.
• ZigBee router - This is responsible for controlling the message routing between the nodes.
• ZigBee end device - This is the end point of a ZigBee network.

Image source : http://www.sena.com/products/industrial_zigbee/zigbee_summary.php

ZigBee can be utilized many business applications. Some of the examples can be mentioned as home automation, industrial plant monitoring and vehicle traffic monitoring etc.

Following is a figure which well describes the functionality of a Zig Bee network.

Image Source : http://www.sensor-networks.org/index.php?page=1129929946

What is the importance of a Document Map?

This is how we add a document map to our word document in word 2007.

Go to 'View' ribbon. Navigate to 'Show/Hide' panel and select 'Document Map'.    

So the document map will then be available in a left side panel of our word document.

In document map we have two basic views. Those are the

• Document Map &
• Thumbnail View  

The 'Document Map' will list down all the headings and sub headings in the left panel and the view can also be changed according to preferences. And the thumbnail view will provide an image of each page of our document in the left panel.

Sometimes we wonder why we need a document map which is like another TOC when we already have a TOC in our document.

But which is important in document maps is that it provides a guidance to our word document.

A document map will be really necessary when we are writing  huge word documents and need to add things to different sections and update separate sections in our word document time to time. So then we don't need to travel pages one by one or travel to TOC to find the section each and every time when we need an update.  

Styles in Word need to be utilized in order to obtain the real usage of a document map. Otherwise the document map will look as another copy of our word document.

And the other most vital usage from the document map is that, we can find some formatting errors in our document very easily. For an example lets say that we have applied styles to our document. And the heading styles appear in our document map. Suddenly after updating things in the document, lets say we see normal texts, numbering and captions appearing in the document map. That means our formatting has changed due to some updates in the document. So prior to any DISASTROUS situation, we are able to find that our document formatting has changed . Otherwise what we will encounter issues in our updated TOC.

So we can always use a document map to do our documenting in an easier way.

Adding Cross References (In MS Word 2007)

Adding cross references might not seem useful until you need alteration to a huge document. Even though it is a small document adding cross references will reduce future redoing.

Lets think that you are righting a document and it has about 10 to 15 figures. So you have added the 'captions' using word's captions. Then you have several places where you have added references to those images and those are not cross referenced. Now you need to add a new chapter in between previous ones. So then you'll have to go to the chapters which are below to the added new chapter and change figure reference's chapter number. Or if you have added figures in between the previous figures of the same chapter then you will have to go changing all the figure numbers. Add another time... Do the changes again...Lot of redoing will be there. 

So you can avoid this by cross referencing. This can not only done to the figures, but also to the tables,equations etc.  

This is how the cross referencing is added. I have explained it using Word 2007.

1. First click on the place where you need to add cross referencing. Go to 'References' ribbon, 'Captions' panel and click on cross-reference.

2. Cross References window will pop up.

3.You have multiple choices. Can add references to any element which can be selected from the 'Reference type' drop down.

4.Lets add a cross reference to a figure. Then select the entity that you need to insert reference to from the 'Insert reference to drop down'.

5.Then Select your figure which needs a reference. This can be selected from the 'For which caption' field box.
6.Click on 'Insert' and you're done. The reference will appear at the selected place.

What is SNMP and SNMP Trap?

First lets see what SNMP stands for. It's Simple Network Management Protocol. It is developed with the intention to manage growing elements in the internet. Why it is called Simple is that, it has only five types of messages. And the other fact is that it can rely on a connection-less or unsupervised network link.

SNMP is based on the Manager and Agent model. So that it's Manager provides interface between a human Network Manager and the Managing System while the Agent provides interface between the Manager and  Physical Devices which are being managed. 

SNMP trap is one of the five message types being used in SNMP protocol. The five types of messages that the SNMP trap is using are as follows.

1. GET
2. GET-NEXT
3. GET RESPONSE
4. SET
5. TRAP

GET and GET-NEXT messages are sent by an SNMP Manager to the Agent. Upon the arrival of those messages, the Agent will send a GET RESPONSE message to the manager. SET is for requesting variable changes remotely. 

And at last comes the TRAP. This message type is quite different from the other messages. This message will allow an Agent to send messages to SNMP Manager spontaneously. Usually an SNMP trap is used by an Agent to aleart their Manager about a problem that they experienced.

Following diagram simply illustrates how an SNMP Trap works. 

Image Courtesy : http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk648/tk362/technologies_tech_note09186a0080094aa5.shtml

More information on SNMP Trap can be obtained from the following link:
http://www.dpstele.com/dpsnews/techinfo/snmp/snmp_trap_basics.php

Does appeal to read always created along with sophisticated writing?

When we come across technical documents, we often try to keep them very very professional. So we unknowingly add very sophisticated words to maintain the standard of the document. 

Following are some points which I could come up with reading and writing documents.


#1
The document we are writing is not for showing off our language proficiency but for another human being  to read and understand . So if we forget this point then, ultimately the document will be futile as the reader wont be able to figure the things out. Or sometimes the content might make the reader bored.

Therefore I think that when ever we are writing a document, that document need to be written in a very simple way. For that we can avoid  lengthier sentences with sophisticated words.

#2

Sometimes we add too much of elaborated words to fill up the paragraphs or to present the document with some professionality. This could sometimes make the reader confused or could deviate the reader from the 'point of knowledge'.

#3

There is another important point to consider. That is the value of images in a document. Sometimes a document with thousand words can be replaced and described by a single image. And at another time, an image can be used at the places where we are unable to explain something. Above all, an image will make our document visually appealing to the reader. The image that we are using should not always be a very technical one such as a screenshot or a part of the real scenario. Instead we can use a conceptually relevant image with some text, which can give an idea about the content  of the page. This could even be some graphic image. 

The use of images and the value of them for technical documents is nicely explained at the "I'd rather be writing" blog. There the writer states that 'words combined with images result in incredibly appealing documents. 

Following is the URL for the blog post. 

http://idratherbewriting.com/2011/10/10/visually-appealing-documents-combine-text-with-images/

#4

Another thing to consider when writing is the font type and style. In writing, we tend to use fonts with smaller sizes and styles which are unclear. This happens knowingly or unknowingly. But this could make reading very uncomfortable.

So my conclusion is that the appeal to read does not always come along with sophisticated writing.

Image courtesy : http://languagearts.pppst.com/writingprocess.html

Adding different headers and footers to different pages - in Word 2007

First of all you need to add the section breaks, so that you can clearly add different headers and footers for different sections.

This is the way to add section breaks to your document.

Click on the page that you want to END a section.

Go to Page Layout ribbon and select Breaks from Page Setup panel.

Select Next Page from the option tiles.

Now you have sectioned your document.

You can check whether you have done your task correctly. For this purpose, click on each page. Then examine the bottom right of your word document. So you can see the section you are in. 

I'm in Section: 2. See below.

Now you can start to add and edit your headers and footers. I'll give an example to add different headers. Adding different footers are done similarly.

Go to Insert ribbon, find Header panel and select Edit Header.
Try to add a general header, so that it will appear in every section you have created.

Go to Page Layout ribbon. From the Page Setup panel, click on the little arrow with the square.

You will land at the page setup window. Go to Layout tab in the Page Setup window.

You can select Different first page check box from the headers and footers and choose From this point forward to separately add a header to the document.

Or else here is a more clear way. You can click on the header in each section and select This Section from the Layout tab at the Page Setup window.

Now you can modify your header according to the sections you have already created. Click on the header in each section and edit the header accordingly. And remember to deselect the Link to Previous button before editing the header for each section.

So now you have completed the task !!!

Adding Executable Buttons to PDFs

You can use Adobe Acrobat 8 or 9 to work with buttons. I have used images related to Adobe Acrobat 8 in this post.

Initially you need to complete your document in MS Word and convert it to a PDF. If you are facing problems in converting your word document with Adobe Acrobat, then simply use the pdf converter plugin downloaded from Microsoft site to complete this task.

Open your pdf document and follow the steps below.

Go to Tools--> Forms --> Button Tool

Draw a rectangle or square at the place where you need to have the button on pdf document.

The Button property box will appear when the drawing is finished.

Properties in General tab

Give a unique name to button Name, which is going to be the identifier for the button. Remember that this is not going to be the button label. 

Tooltip can be used to add a caption to the button. So that, the Tooltip will be displayed when the mouse is pointed to the created button. 

In Form Field there are options to select, for visibility (Visible, Hidden, Hidden but printable, visible but doesn't print options are available) of the created button. 

In Orientation you can change the point of reference of the button.  

Properties in Appearance tab

Border Color, Line Thickness, Fill Color and Line Style properties can be modified using the Borders and Colors panel. 

Text panel can be used to adjust the Font Size, Text Color and Font type of the text appear in the label.

You can use non for Border Color and Fill Color and proceed without other modifications, if you are willing to use a text field or image available in the pdf document itself.

Properties in Options tab

In Options tab, we can set the Layout of the button. The selections available for Layout are as follows.

Label Only, Icon Only, Icon top label bottom, Label top icon bottom, Icon left label right, Label left icon right, Label over icon.

• Use Icon Only, and proceed to Actions, if you need to use the already available text in the document. 
• Use Label Only if you are not using the available text, but creating a text for the button using Label field.
• Use Label Over Icon, if you are planning to add an Icon image to your button and a Label description as well. 
• Other available selections can be used according to the preferences as well.

Behavior of the button can be selected from the Behavior drop down. Different States will be available under State for different behaviors.

Edit the label field available at Label to set text to the button.  Use Choose Icon button to browse and add a button image.

The button icon will display inside the field for icon as below.

Properties in Actions tab

Actions tab can be used to add actions for each and every mouse trigger.

Use Select Trigger to choose a trigger and Select Action to set a suitable action. Add button can be used to add required actions after selecting an action.

For an example choose Mouse Down as the Select Trigger and Go to a page view as the Select action. Click on Add button so that a window giving instructions to set the link will appear. Use scroll, zoom or select tools to select the target. So that when you click on the created button, you’ll be directed to the target.

Following is a simple button created in the pdf document.