Mobile and personal communications - Editors' comments [special issue intro.]

The revolution has begun, if you believe the soothsayers and marketeers. The revolution is known by the name personal communications, and its existence is heralded by a plethora of new publications and popular media write-ups. What has been a rather sleepy industry, the land mobile business, is suddenly confronted with the exciting possibility of extending its services to the general public, not just the business people loolung for phones in their cars. The concept is to remove the wire from wireline communications and to offer information-age services over wireless terminals that are conveniently carried by individuals. we have organized t h s Special Issue to present results of work currently aimed at improving our understanding of the fundamentals of the technology. The issue gves no final answers and few specific implementations. Rather, it provides interim results of work undertaken to better understand the underlying principles of the technology. Particular emphasis is placed on digital technologies because most workers feel that the simple voice communications implemented in current land mobile systems will quickly be complemented by the need for data and more generalized information services.