Preface
It was only a few years ago that “ubiquitous connectivity” was recognized as the future of wireless communication systems. In the era of ubiquitous connectivity, it was expected that the broadband mobile Internet experience would be pervasive, and seamless connectivity on a global scale would be no surprise at all. The quality of service would be guaranteed no matter when/where/what the users wanted with the connectivity. Connectivity would even be extended to object-to-object communication, where no human intervention was required. All objects would become capable of autonomous communication.
Looking around at life today, those expectations are no longer what we imagine for the future, but what we already experience – ubiquitous connectivity is becoming reality. We are living in the era of this ongoing revolution of connectivity.
The revolution has been accelerated by the recent monumental enhancement of mobile communication technologies. At the center of the enhancement is the LTE system. It is well known that the development of the initial LTE specifications was completed within an unprecedented tight time schedule. During the course of development of the specifications, all the mobile business sectors including global mobile operators, network vendors, and terminal/chipset vendors have made tremendous efforts with regard to the standardization working process. The success of the LTE system as a truly global mobile communication standard is being proven by the mobile ...
