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CALL FOR PAPERS
International Journal of
Wireless and
Special Issue
on
Towards Ubiquitous Wireless Communication: The Integration of 3G/WLAN
Networks
Guest
Editors
Nidal Nasser and Hossam
Hassanein
Telecommunications Research
Laboratory
nasser@cs.queensu.ca, http://www.cs.queensu.ca/~nasser/
hossam@cs.queensu.ca, http://www.cs.queensu.ca/~hossam/
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Theme:
Future wireless
networks will generally be characterized by heterogeneity in architecture,
protocols and air interfaces. The wireless networking scene is dominated by two
distinct networking platforms: (a) cellular networks, which passed through
multiple generations -1G, 2G and 3G, and (b) Wireless Local Area Networks
(WLANs) championed by the IEEE 802.11 networks. Recent trends indicate that 3G
networks and WLANs will co-exist to offer public wireless broadband services to
end users. The two platforms offer characteristics that complement each other
perfectly.
The 3G cellular
systems such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and Code
Division Multiple Access (cdma2000) will support real-time and non-real-time
multimedia services with data rates from 144 kb/s to 2 Mb/s with wide coverage
and nearly universal roaming. However, the costs of acquiring the necessary
radio spectrum and the required network equipment upgrades are very high. This
is in contrast to WLAN systems such as IEEE 802.11 a/b/g, which provide
affordable services and bit rates surpassing those of 3G systems, up to 11 Mb/s
with 802.11b and 54 Mb/s with 802.11a/g. However, the coverage offered by WLANs
is quit limited and lacks roaming support.
The
complementary characteristics of 3G cellular systems (slow, wide coverage) and
WLAN (fast, limited coverage) make it attractive to integrate these two
technologies to provide ubiquitous wireless access. The purpose of integrating
3G systems and WLANs is to make it possible to use the best parts of both
systems. High bandwidth WLANs are used for data transfer where available and 3G
systems can be used where WLAN coverage is lacking. Development and
standardization efforts are currently underway for defining suitable
architectures for 3G/WLAN integration. However, designing a network architecture
that efficiently integrates 3G systems and WLAN is a challenge task that needs a
lot of research efforts.
In this special issue, we intend to publish a collection of high quality papers by world leading researchers that present state-of-the-art research in the area of 3G/WLAN integration.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
1. Mobility management
2. Seamless vertical handoff techniques between 3G and
WLAN
3. Location management
techniques
4. Architecture design scenarios for integrating 3G and WLAN
systems
5. Network selection criteria
6. Bandwidth adaptation
7. Consistent quality of service across 3G and
WLAN
8. Adaptive quality of service
provisioning
9. Performance evaluation
studies
10. Pricing and Billing Issues
11. Standardization activities
Paper Submission:
Submitted papers must represent original material that is not
currently under review, and has not been previously published. Paper length
should not exceed 25 double spaced pages with reasonable margins and a font size
of no less than 11pt, including figures and references, and should include an
abstract, not to exceed 250 words. Papers should be submitted in PDF or
Microsoft Word format by e-mail to 3GWLAN@cs.queensu.ca. Submissions should
include a cover page with authors' names, affiliations, fax and telephone
numbers and e-mail addresses. All papers will be peer reviewed.
Schedule:
Submission deadline:
Notification of acceptance:
Submission of final revised manuscript:
Expected date for publication: Third quarter of
2005
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For further details information please refer to the CFP at: http://www.cs.queensu.ca/~trl/ijwmc
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