Mobile Systems

Mobile systems - primarily cellular telephony - have been the fastest moving telecommunications development to date with a world-wide customer base that in the ten or so years to April 1996 reached 100 million and continues with a current growth rate of 60% per annum world-wide. Predictions suggest that the customer base will exceed 1 billion within the next ten years and that the saturation level is around 80% of any population. Faced with such statistics any book such as this can proffer little more than a snapshot of the activities and developments that are at present taking place within the mobile world. It can, however, reflect on some of the underlying principles that support the industry. The opening chapter offers a vision for the future of mobile communications - that of more mobile than fixed connections to the world's telecommunica­ tions networks - one which, interestingly, pre-dates the emergence of the information superhighway. The Internet whose growth of computer networks has, in recent years, exceeded that of even mobile systems is demanding ever more bandwidth to support its multimedia applications and access for people on the move. The communications needs of the next century customer are the driv­ ers behind the convergence of computing and telecommunications networks, the mobile component of which will be realized as Third Generation Mobile Sys­ tems (fGMS). Front Matter....Pages i-xii The Mobile Revolution....Pages 1-13 Radio Spectrum for Mobile Networks....Pages 14-35 Mobile Network Design and Optimization....Pages 36-66 Global System for Mobile Communications — What’s in Store?....Pages 67-80 Cordless Technology in a Mobile Environment....Pages 81-96 An Overview of Aeronautical Telecommunications in Europe and World-Wide....Pages 97-116 Satellite Personal Communications....Pages 117-129 Mobile Network Transmission Quality....Pages 130-149 Mobile Data Services....Pages 150-179 Mobile Communications for an Operational Field Force....Pages 180-189 Third Generation Mobile Systems....Pages 190-202 The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System — A Mobile Network for the 21st Century....Pages 203-217 Cellular Environmental Issues....Pages 218-237 Back Matter....Pages 239-254 This book provides an authoritative overview of current mobile systems, both cellular and cordless, and examines their evolution towards the next generation of systems. It focuses on the key issue of Radio Spectrum and its management and discusses important environmental and safety issues, addressing radio interference and the environmental impact of mobile base stations, as well as the alleged health hazards associated with the use of mobile phones. Satellite systems and the application of cellular techniques to aeronautical applications for the travelling customer are discussed, and the book ends with an exploration of the latest developments in the next generation of systems.