Explore the present and future trends of WLANs and WPANs with this new, forward-looking resource. You discover the path that these infrastructures are following from a perspective of synergies with 3G systems, and how they will pave the way for future 4G systems. The book presents a thorough overview of 3G networks and standards, and discusses interworking and handover mechanisms between WLANs and UMTS. You learn what performance can be expected from WLANs and WPANs when they support the TCP/IP stack. Several critical issues are examined in depth, including IP routing and mobility, , PHY and MAC layers for the main WLAN specifications, the TCP-UDP/IP protocol stack, and performance of TCP/IP over IEEE 802.11b.

An entire chapter is devoted to the WPAN domain, where a detailed treatment of Bluetooth as well as a second-generation outlook are provided. Moreover, the book explains how the PEP paradigm provides internetworking capabilities between WLANs and WPANs and how it enhances performance over these platforms. This practical resource is designed to help you save time when planning your next generation networks, offering solutions for Internetworking between WLANs and public cellular networks and for improving the performance of these networks when they support IP.