UMTS: Origins, Architecture and the Standard

Description

The Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) is the key third generation (3G) mobile communications technology. The UMTS standard consists of roughly 300 specification documents, so this book fulfills the real need for a good, current introduction to the area, based on the requirements laid out in the standard. With full and up-to-date coverage of the standard, the book looks at the topic from the point of view of systems, and covers both the architecture and the techniques employed in the UMTS network. The introductory chapters cover the origins of UMTS and its relation to the other third generation technologies, while later chapters are more technical and describe different aspects of the standard, such as: architecture, structure of the radio interface, protocols used, importance of the GSM inheritance. This book will be indispensable to developers, designers, project managers and other telecommunications professionals who need an easy-to-read overview of this important new technology and a comprehensive guide to the main points of the standard. It will also be useful for those attending courses on modern digital communications and 3G systems.