| Cellular phones, especially those enabled by second-generation
telecommunication systems, have had tremendous impacts on our daily lives.
In some countries such as India, the number of cellular phone subscribers
has far exceeded the number of wired phone subscribers. Meanwhile, the
Internet has also significantly changed our daily lives. More and more ecommerce
applications have been introduced while the number of Internet
users has skyrocketed over the recent five years. The mobile workforce has
also tremendously increased in size. Mobile workers expect to be able to use
the Internet while on the move. However, the data handling capabilities of
second-generation systems are limited. Thus, third-generation (3G) cellular
systems such as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems) and
CDMA2000 (Code-Division Multiple Access) Systems are designed to
provide high bit rate data services that enable multimedia communications.
Such third-generation cellular systems allow high-quality images and video
to be transmitted and received. The third-generation cellular systems also
provide open-access capabilities where value-added services, e.g., locationbased
services, can be introduced by third-party providers. While the 3G
standards are being drafted, and equipment for third-generation cellular
systems is being designed, wireless LAN systems are introduced into our
daily lives to meet our demand for wireless data services while on the move.
This book describes the network architectures of UMTS and CDMA2000
systems and how major network elements within the 3G networks can be
designed. In addition, this book provides discussions on how the end-to-end
performance for voice and data services can be determined. It also provides
guidelines on how the radio access networks and core networks can be
engineered. Last but not least, this book describes the various wireless LAN
standards and how voice and data services can be offered in wireless LAN
systems. |
