Mobility in PCN and other personal communication systems

There has been a dramatic increase in the attention devoted to personal communications. In the UK, this was initiated by changes in the regulatory environment and the publication of the `Phones on the move document´. This lead to the licensing of operators of personal communication networks (PCNs) and the subsequent implementation using the pan-European standard DCS 1800 by Mercury One-2-One. In the US, the major catalyst was the issue of the FCC Notice of Inquiry into Personal Communication Services (PCS). This has resulted in intense activity and the trialing of a variety of proprietary and second generation digital systems. These developments have been complemented with the initiation by ETSI of work on a third generation system known as the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) and CCIR on Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunication System (FPLMTS). Another recent trend has been to integrate `mobility management´ features into fixed networks, blurring the distinction between mobile and fixed systems