Emerging technologies in communications

This JSAC special issue is covering four emerging areas in communications: Area 1 - e-Health; Area 2 - Peer-to-Peer Networking; Area 3 - Vehicular Networks and Telematics Applications; and Area 4 - Social Networks. This is the first issue of a brand new series in JSAC focusing on "Emerging Technologies in Communications." These emerging technical areas were selected from ComSoc\´s Technical Committees and Technical Sub-Committees. (The second issue will be published later in 2013 on the following areas: Area 5 - Applications of Nanotechnologies in Communications; Area 6 - Autonomic Communications; Area 7 - Fiber Wireless Integration; and Area 8 - Nanoscale and Molecular Networking.) The papers selected are briefly summarized. For this issue, 55 regular papers were selected for publication out of 197 open-call submissions. Also included are three overview (invited) papers. It is devoted to reporting on cutting-edge research achievements covering the following four emerging technical areas in communications.