Mobile users benefit from integrated wireless communication service
The evolution of business practices has seen an ever-increasing demand for high quality wireless applications and their ease of use. Business users, for example, may travel frequently and need to have access to central contacts and schedule databases, to send images and videoconference with clients and associates. It is also important that access be secure and widely available even through areas of patchy coverage or poor reception. These facilities, no more than a concept a few years ago, are now feasible in the near future through the use of a single device. Major companies in the field of telecommunications and commercial electronics cooperated with university research teams in order to provide the technological foundation for a new integrated type of service in the field of mobile and wireless communications. Within the framework of the TRUST project, this consortium addresses the development of a single re-configurable terminal platform. This platform offers the end user with the capability to integrate all types of radio systems (e.g. paging to cellular, numerous wireless LAN deployments, terrestrial to satellite, personal communications to broadcasting) within the same terminal with ubiquitous operation. By using this application, the user will be able to communicate seamlessly across network boundaries receiving access to services anytime, anywhere without being concerned with the underlying technological details. The plethora of currently available and standardized Radio Access Technologies in conjunction with the market requirements, provides a unique background for the development of the system as well as the provision of low cost services to the end user. Re-configurable Radio Systems and Networks will offer the next major leap forward in mobile and wireless communications.
