From GSM to LTE: An Introduction to Mobile Networks and Mobile Broadband

Preface

Wireless technologies like GSM, UMTS, LTE, WiMAX, Wireless LAN and Bluetooth have revolutionized the way we communicate and exchange data by making services like telephony and Internet access available anytime and from almost anywhere. Today, a great variety of technical publications offer background information about these technologies but they all fall short in one way or another. Books covering these technologies usually describe only one of the systems in detail and are generally too complex as a first introduction. The Internet is also a good source, but the articles one finds are usually too short and superficial or only deal with a specific mechanism of one of the systems. Because of this, it was difficult for me to recommend a single publication to students in my telecommunication classes, which I have been teaching in addition to my work in the wireless telecommunication industry. This book aims to change this.

Each of the seven chapters in this book gives a detailed introduction and overview of one of the wireless systems mentioned above. Special emphasis has also been put into explaining the thoughts and reasoning behind the development of each system. Not only the ‘how’ but also the ‘why’ is of central importance in each chapter. Furthermore, comparisons are made to show the differences and commonalities between the technologies. For some applications, several technologies compete directly with each other, while in other cases only a combination of different ...