Mobile Internet [Guest Editorial]

As most terminals sold today offer wireless Internet as primary feature for personal communication requirements. the “Mobile Internet” is rapidly flourishing in the information society. And, yet, the mobile Internet is still young and growing at a rapid pace. More than ever, engineers and theoreticians are challenged to enable the continued safe growth of the mobile Internet. We face a continuing increase of physical diversity, with WiFi competing with LTE and 3G networks to satisfy the nearly insatiable demands for consuming mobile content. As of last year, WiFi has become the major wireless carrier and new IEEE specifications will serve to further accelerate this trend. To increase frequency re-use and wireless network capacity, cell sizes must continue to decrease, as enabled and accelerated by the deployment of new technologies such as IEEE 802.11ac and so-called “small cells”. Nowhere is the demand for growth more evident than in China, which long ago has become the nation with the greatest number of wireless users, and which has devoted huge emphasis on manufacturing equipment for wireless communications as well as encouraging many related research efforts.