Third Generation Mobile Systems

Abstract

This chapter discusses third generation mobile systems (TGMS) — the evolution of mobile communications towards the goal of universal personal communications, a range of services that can be anticipated being introduced early in the next century to provide customers with wireless access to the information superhighway and meeting the ‘Martini’ vision of communications with anyone, anywhere and in any medium. This goal is known by a number of acronyms — Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunications Systems (FPLMTS) being the most common at an international level, although this has more recently been replaced by IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications — 2000, the latter representing both the year of introduction and the frequency, in MHz, of operation). Within Europe the term Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) has been applied to the standards development for the next generation system although, more generically, third generation mobile systems (or TGMS) is in common use; the latter will be used throughout this chapter as the general term for future mobile telecommunications systems. UMTS will be reserved for the specific European standards development and FPLMTS for those of the ITU.