The author offers a broad and long-term forecast across all the different elements of wireless communications and into related areas such as wired communications. The book starts with a careful analysis of the current situation, looking at underlying technological drivers, user demands, existing and emerging standards and technologies, and business drivers among the key players. It then gives views from a range of experts, in varying areas of the industry and from across the world. This range of views, coupled with the earlier analysis of constraints, is brought together into a single vision of the world of wireless communications for the next twenty years.
Preface. Acknowledgements. About the Author. 1 Predicting the Future is a Necessary Part of Business. 2 Previous Predictions have been Accurate. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 There have been Huge Changes in the Telecoms Climate. 2.3 What we Predicted for the Period 20002005. 2.4 How Well did we do? 2.5 Our Predictions for 20052010. 2.6 How Good do these Predictions Look Now? 2.7 Implications for Forecasting the Future. 3 How to put Together a Forecast. 4 The Current Position. 4.1 The Value of a Good Understanding of the Starting Position. 4.2 Mobile Communications. 4.3 Fixed wireless. 4.4 Short-range Devices. 4.5 Core Networks. 4.6 Broadcasting. 4.7 Industry Structure. 4.8 Summary. 4.9 Appendix: The Role for OFDM. 5 End User Demand. 5.1 Why What the User Wants is Critical. 5.2 How People React to New Concepts. 5.3 Changing Patterns of Spending. 5.4 What they have Today. 5.5 What they want Now. 5.6 Security, Privacy and Health Concerns. 5.7 The Handset Subsidy Problem. 5.8 In Summary. 6 Technology Progress. 6.1 Technology is a Critical Input to any Forecast. 6.2 Key Technical Fundamentals: The True Laws. 6.3 Key Technical Observations: The Empirical Laws. 6.4 Technologies on the Radar Screen. 6.5 Technology Prognosis: No Key Breakthrough. 6.6 Implications for the Futur. 7 Major World Events. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 World Events. 7.3 Events in Related Industries. 7.4 Summary. 7.5 The Next Chapters. 8 Future Military Wireless Solutions (Paul S. Cannon and Clive R. Harding). 8.1 Introduction. 8.2 Operational Context. 8.3 Technical Features Important to Secure and Robust Global Military Communications. 8.4 New Platforms and Missions: Their Impact on Military Communication Systems. 8.5 Developments in Military Communications Systems. 8.6 Emerging Communications Techniques. 8.7 Some Emerging Technologies with Communications Relevance. 8.8 The Role for Commercial Off-the-shelf for Military Communications. 8.9 Summary and Conclusions. 9 From the Few to the Many: Macro to Micro (Peter Cochrane). 9.1 In the Beginning. 9.2 The Need for Planning, Regulation and Control. 9.3 Some General Trends. 9.4 What do People Want and Need? 9.5 What can People Expect /Have? 9.6 Likely Technology Developments. 9.7 Clusters of People and Things. 9.8 Finally. 10 The Role of Ad-hoc Technology in the Broadband Wireless Networks of the Future (Gary Grube and Hamid Ahmadi). 10.1 Introduction. 10.2 The Need for Flexible Wireless Broadband Solutions. 10.3 Current and Emerging Models of Peer-to-Peer Broadband Connectivity. 10.4 Enabling the Next Generation of Ad-hoc Connectivity. 10.5 Types of Ad-hoc Network. 10.6 Integrated Ad-hoc and Wide Area Networks. 10.7 Enabling Technologies. 10.8 New Business and Usage Models. 10.9 Benefits of Ad-hoc Technology Wireless Carriers and Internet Providers. 10.10 A Decentralised Future and Boundless Opportunities. 11 Interference and Our Wireless Future (Dennis A. Roberson). 11.1 Introduction. 11.2 History. 11.3 Spectrum Scarcity. 11.4 Regulatory Directions Toward Scarcity Amelioration. 11.5 Scarcity Amelioration Approaches. 11.6 Emerging Wireless Communications Devices and Systems. 12 Three Ages of Future Wireless Communications (Simon Saunders). 12.1 Introduction. 12.2 The Age of Wireless Proliferation: 2007 to 2011. 12.3 The Age of Wireless Similarity: 2012 to 2016. 12.4 The Age of Wireless Mundanity: 2017 to 2026. 12.5 Conclusions and Summary. 13 Mobile Cellular Radio Technology Disruption (Stephen Temple CBE). 13.1 Extrapolating from the Past 25 Years of Public Mobile Radio. 13.2 The Law of Large Network Momentum. 13.3 Third-generation W-CDMA Future. 13.4 Fourth-generation Technology. 13.5 Where does this Leave the Switch-off of GSM? 13.6 The 3G Cellular Radio Network Landscape Ten Years from now. 13.7 Convergence as a Disruptive Force. 13.8The Blindside Forces of Disruption. 13.9 Conclusions. 14 Assimilating the Key Factors. 14.1 Introduction. 14.2 Summary of the Current Position. 14.3 Summary of End User Demand. 14.4 Summary from Technology Advances Section. 14.5 Summary from the Contributors. 14.6 Key Factors brought out by the Contributors. 14.7 Reaching a Verdict on the Areas of Disagreement. 14.8 Drawing these Key Factors Together. 15 The Future Roadmap. 15.1 Introduction. 15.2 Predictions for 2011. 15.3 Predictions for 2016. 15.4 Predictions for 2021. 15.5 Predictions for 2026. 15.6 Key New Applications. 15.7 Key New Technologies. 15.8 Key Changes in Networks. 15.9 Major Growth Areas. 15.10 Areas we Predict Will not be Successful. 15.11 Implications for Stakeholders. 15.12 Differences from the Prediction Made in 2000. 15.13 The Future in a Page. 15.14 And the Elevator Pitch. List of Acronyms. Index.
William Webb is Head of R&D and Senior Technologist, Ofcom, UK. William is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and has worked in the wireless communications industry since his graduation in 1989. William has published over 60 papers in various journals, chairs some six conferences a year, including the 3GSM Congress and the BlueTooth Congress, and speaks at many more.