Mobile computing is one of the biggest issues of computer technology, science and industry today. This book looks at the requirements of developing mobile computing systems and the challenges they pose to computer designers. It examines the requirements of mobile computing hardware, infrastructure and communications services. Information security and the data protection aspects of design are considered, together with telecommunications facilities for linking up to the worldwide computer infrastructure. The book also considers the mobility of computer users versus the portability of the equipment. The text also examines current applications of mobile computing in the public sector and future innovative applications.

As the Internet becomes larger and larger, and consequently more difficult to control and to manage, telecommunication operators, manufacturers and companies require tools to perform management and control tasks. A large number of tools coming from different areas have been proposed, but these are not sufficient to handle an evolving and dynamic environment. This book presents and explains all the techniques which integrate a certain level of intelligence (through intelligent software agents for example) in order to represent knowledge, take appropriate decisions, communicate with other entities and achieve a self-managing network.

It is probably an overstatement to say that the discipline of telecommunication systems is becoming an application of digital signal processing (DSP). However, there is no doubt that by the mid-I980s integrated circuit technology has advanced to such an extent that revolutionary advances in telecommunications are fostered by the introduction of new and poweiful DSP algorithms. Actually, DSP has been recently playing a major role in the development of telecommuni cations systems: to name just one of the most widespread applications where this interaction has been most effective, we may mention the use of intelligent DSP to improve the peiformance of transmission systems by allowing sophisticated algorithm to be implemented in radio transmitters and receivers for personal communications. Other areas have equally benefited by the latest advances of DSP: speech coding and synthesis, speech recognition and enhancement, radar, sonar, digital audio, and remote sensing, just to cite afew. With this in mind, when choosing the topic for the 7th Tyrrhenian Workshop on Digital Communications, whose contributions are collected in this book, we aimed at focusing on the state of the art and the perspectives of the interaction between DSP and telecommunications, two disciplines that are becoming increasingly intertwined. Although by no means exhaustive of all the applications of DSP to telecommu nications, we believe that the material presented in this book pinpoints the most interesting among them, and hence it will be considered as a useful tool for investigating this complex and highly challenging field.

Featuring contributions from major technology vendors, industry consortia, and government and private research establishments, the Industrial Communication Technology Handbook, Second Edition provides comprehensive and authoritative coverage of wire- and wireless-based specialized communication networks used in plant and factory automation, automotive applications, avionics, building automation, energy and power systems, train applications, and more. New to the Second Edition: 46 brand-new chapters and 21 substantially revised chapters Inclusion of the latest, most significant developments in specialized communication technologies and systems Addition of new application domains for specialized networks The Industrial Communication Technology Handbook, Second Edition supplies readers with a thorough understanding of the application-specific requirements for communication services and their supporting technologies. It is useful to a broad spectrum of professionals involved in the conception, design, development, standardization, and use of specialized communication networks as well as academic institutions engaged in engineering education and vocational training.

This volume presents lectures delivered at a workshop held at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Bejing). The following articles are included: "Nonlinear Systems Control" by R. Brockett, "Adaptive Control of Discrete-Time Nonlinear Systems with Structural Uncertainties" by L.-L. Xie and L. Guo, "Networks and Learning" by P. R. Kumar, "Mathematical Aspects of the Power Control Problem in Mobile Communication Systems" by C. W. Sung and W. S. Wong, and "Brockett's Problem on Nonlinear Filtering Theory" by S. S.-T. Yau. Basic concepts and current research are both presented in this book. The volume offers a comprehensive and easy-to-follow account of many fundamental issues in this diverse field. It would be a suitable text for a graduate course on wireless communication. Titles in this series are co-published with International Press, Cambridge, MA.

The Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) is undoubtedly the most successful second generation digital mobile radio system. One of the key factors for this exceptional performance is the constant evolution of the GSM systems and its derivatives DCS-1800 and PCS-1900. The objective of the book is to address new concepts in the GSM system, dealing with both standardised features as well as theoretically and technologically feasible improvements, which contribute to evolutionary changes in general. Dynamic evolution of GSM presents a platform for the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) introduction and major trends in UMTS development will be addressed in this book, in particular progress towards new radio interface. The book is the collection of individual contributions from a number of authors. The intention of the editors was to gather the most prominent specialist in the GSM area. Ongoing efforts in GSM standardisation are focused on Phase 2+ with items planned to be added gradually on demand. Being mostly independent of each other, each of them could be introduced with little impact on the rest of the system. Speech remains the prime service of cellular systems with ongoing work on spectral efficiency taking into account the trade-off between cost of the system and transmission quality. Most notable result from novel speech service implementations is the introduction of new Enhanced Full Rate (EFR) speech coder. International railway organisation (Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer - UIC) has influenced the development of Advanced Speech Call Items (ASCI).