This tutorial covers broad aspects of both telecommunication and data communication wireless networks, including network architectures, mobility management, and network access. The tutorial is intended for researchers or practitioners working in the field of mobile and wireless networking. The focus of the tutorial is on control issues related to the link layer through the application layer, and the effects of mobility and wireless communication on these protocols and algorithms. We explore both data communication (e.g., TCP/IP) and cellular telephony systems, and compare the salient features of each. We focus on solutions for Personal Communications Services (PCS) in which users are expected to have ubiquitous access to high bandwidth and a service-rich environment.

We start the tutorial by presenting an overview of wireless communications. We then explore higher layer issues of mobility and session management, including routing, mobile tracking, and handoffs. We present the telecommunication and data communication models by way of example. Topics covered in this section of the tutorial include:

We then briefly present current research in the areas of mobility management and call processing.

We continue the tutorial by presenting issues at the channel and link-layer. These issues concern both telecommunication and data communication networks. The topics presented in this section include: