Product Description

Mobile communications bring profound changes to our everyday lives.

The launch of 3rd generation mobile systems in 2001 in Japan and from 2002 throughout the rest of the world, will enable us to communicate at anytime and anywhere, by using a variety of services which have up to now only been available to fixed network users.

By the end of 2003, there are expected to be over one billion mobile telephones in use around the world, which surpasses the number of fixed telephone lines projected for that date.

⋅ Illustrates the current situation and forthcoming developments of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System)

⋅ Outlines the rationale and motives behind the evolution of this new mobile telephony system

⋅ Analyzes the requirements of the UMTS system and describes the radio UTRA (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access) and the UTRAN (UTRA Network) together with Core Network Issues

⋅ Provides an overview of the new voice, data and multimedia services that will be available to users

⋅ Reviews the current trends that will affect future research and discusses key topics, including SDMA (Space Division Multiple Access) smart antennas and software radio

Written in an easily accesible style, UMTS: Mobile Communications for the Future will prove indispensable reading for all those working in the area of mobile communciations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1543688 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 264 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Amidst the sea of hype that has surrounded the arrival of mobile internet services, one technology in particular has been held up as being the sure promise of a bright, exciting future. UMTS is the mobile communications system on which 3G wireless systems will depend. Using UMTS, we are told, streaming video to mobile devices and a host of other media-rich applications will be possible.

Commercial implementation of UMTS is scheduled for 2002, so this timely publication, UMTS: Mobile Communications for the Future is a valuable analysis of the design and development of the technology. UMTS is the European version of the broader family of 3G technologies, known as IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications-2000), and this book has been written by a group of authors from CSELT, Telecom Italia Group, which was the Italian delegation to the IMT-2000 international standardisation efforts.

UMTS analyses the requirements the new system had to satisfy, how radio access to the UMTS core system will be implemented and the core network itself, and how the system has been designed as an upgrade to existing GSM and GPRS technologies. It goes on to look at possibilities to integrate satellite communications into the system, and covers the terminals required and the testing infrastructure. Finally, we get a look at innovative mobile communications research such as SDMA and 'software radio'.

All told, a valuable resource for those working in the area of mobile communications. --Andy Wigley

From the Back Cover
UMTS Mobile Communications for the Future Edited by Flavio Muratore, CSELT, Telecom Italia Group, Italy Mobile communications bring profound changes to our everyday lives. The launch of 3rd generation mobile systems in 2001 in Japan, and from 2002, throughout the rest of the world, will enable us to communicate at anytime and anywhere, by using a variety of services which have until now, only been available to fixed network users. By the end of 2003, there are expected to be over one billion mobile telephones in use around the world, which surpasses the number of fixed telephone lines projected for that date. Written in an easily accessible style, UMTS: Mobile Communications for the Future will prove indispensable reading for all those working in the area of mobile communications. This timely publication:
∗ Illustrates the current situation and forthcoming developments of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System)

∗ Outlines the rationale and motives behind the evolution of this new mobile telephony system

∗ Analyses the requirements of the UMTS system and describes the radio UTRA (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access) and the UTRAN (UTRA Network) together with Core Network Issues

∗ Provides an overview of the new voice, data and multimedia services that will be available to users

∗ Reviews the current trends that will affect future research and discusses key topics, including SDMA (Space Division Multiple Access), smart antennas and software radio

Excerpted from UMTS: Mobile Communications for the Future by Flavio Muratore. Copyright © 2000. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
Introduction

There can be no doubt that mobile telephony and data transmission on the Internet were the two outstanding successes in telecommunications during the closing years of the century, and there is every sign that these successes will be no more than the starting point for those of the new millennium. For a number of years, in fact, development work has focused on new 'third generation' systems, or in other words, systems with the enhanced capabilities needed to make user mobility compatible with the growing demand for multimedia communication. Given the success of mobile telephony, the world's major players in telecommunications and the information society are working to specify these new third-generation mobile systems. In Europe, specifications have been drawn up for UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), which will he a significant innovation over today's systems because of its high operating flexibility, its ability to provide a wide range of applications and, more generally, to extend the services now provided to fixed network users to mobile customers. What, however, are the driving forces behind this move to develop new mobile communication systems? What exactly are these systems, and how are they organised? What kind of services can they give us? How will today's terminals change?

This book will attempt to provide an answer to these and other questions.

Mobile radio systems have now reached levels of usage which few people would even have dared imagine just a few years ago.

Around the world, some 400 million people use these systems, with penetration levels that already exceed 50 percent of the population in certain countries.

At the same time, these systems' geographical radio coverage has far outstripped the most optimistic expectations, and some of the systems are present in a large number of countries. GSM, for instance, now extends well beyond the borders of Western Europe, the area for which it was originally conceived.

The most recent forecasts indicate that, by the end of the year 2003, there will be over one billion mobile terminals in operation around the world, which also means that they will exceed the number of fixed telephone lines foreseen for that date (as indeed is already the case in certain areas such as Italy).

On the Internet front, around 18 million new users log on every month, while data traffic doubles every six months or so. At this rate, it is clear that the Internet is becoming the most important channel for collecting and distributing information throughout the world.

A new era of multimedia communication, whereby voice, text and video can be combined in the same call, is rapidly becoming a reality in the world of mobile communications, where growth prospects are nothing if not excellent. The new sector of multimedia mobile communications will make it possible to combine ongoing work on mobile telephony and the Inter- net in a single, concerted effort which will give the growth potential of the two areas - already brilliant when taken separately - a further boost.

The revolution that has taken place in the world of telecommunications over the last few years has not only changed our habits and lifestyles, but has also changed the outlook for developing countries, who quite rightly see access to telecommunications as one of the keys to economic and social success.

The time is now ripe for a further move forward, both because this is what people want and expect, and because the state of the art now makes such a move possible. Increasing numbers of people want access to information on the move, and want this information to cover a wider and more variegated range than can currently be provided.

For example, market surveys indicate that the demand for visual information continues to grow. At the moment, images can be acquired and transferred, stored in memory and processed, using commercial devices such as video camcorders, personal computers and cameras. These new tools brought to us by digital technology can be used to send 'electronic postcards' in real time, view potential purchases located anywhere in the world, share moments in our lives with distant friends and relatives, or to help people who are hurt, lost or are otherwise in distress. We will also be able to look up flight schedules and timetables for other forms of transportation, check our bank accounts and make remote payments with procedures that are simpler and more straightforward than those that are beginning to be available to us today.

If we look at what is happening around us now, it is clear that the new age of multimedia mobile communications has already begun.

On the Internet, a large number of multimedia applications are already available today. For instance, we have tele-working applications that make it possible to manage voice and text simultaneously, or to share documents and video clips that can be updated or edited by several users at the same time. There are applications that permit simultaneous communication between multiple users, e-commerce or stock trading. The latter kinds of transaction, in fact, are gradually ousting more traditional ways of doing business. Other examples of interactive services include latest-generation video games, where several players in different places can interact in a three-dimensional virtual environment, or applications that make it possible to choose films, radio channels or TV programs in real time. Alongside these developments on the Internet, many companies have set up their own internal networks - or intranets - to manage the information and documents they produce using the same methods and applications as are used on the Internet.

Customer Reviews

Superb introduction into UMTS
This book is a real introduction into the UMTS field. Showing the current situation of the UMTS and the evolution of the system. It also provides an introduction of new services as voice, data and multimedia services. It is a superb book for starting into the UMTS field, but more research will be necesary.