PERSONAL COMMUNICATION-SYSTEMS (PCS)

Personal communication systems (PCS) represent a rapidly growing and i ncreasingly important segment of the telecommunication industry. The g oal of PCS is to provide truly personal, cost-efficient communication services to users through portable handsets. In this paper, we present a survey on the research and development in PCS, emphasizing several important aspects such as the PCS concept, service requirements, syste m architecture, operation, and management. Some ongoing field trials a re described as well. We focus on the wireless and the mobility-relate d features of PCS, discuss their impact on the system design and perfo rmance, and provide an overview of different technology choices.