Enhancing wireless capacity and coverage: a new cellular evolution [Message from the Editor-In-Chief]

Due to the emergence of more diversified applications provided by smart devices such as smart phones, traditional telecommunications systems such as wireless cellular systems no longer meet the traffic demand. For example, ever popular short messages enabling online social network services or mobile healthcare services from smart phones and real-time phone services may require anywhere anytime coverage, while streaming videos or peer-to-peer multimedia sharing may demand somewhere sometime high-capacity support. These kinds of traffic may be supported to some degree with the current cellular technologies, but definitely not satisfactorily. There are tremendous research and implementation activities to improve service support via harmonized integration of heterogeneous telecommunications systems. In order to really support anywhere anytime support for diversified traffic with varying capacity support, new paradigms and technologies must be developed. The recently emerging multihop cellular systems, and integration of wireless cellular systems and ad hoc networking technologies may pave the way toward this goal.