Technology trends for personal communications terminals

Developments in personal communications terminals are considered and the key underlying technologies are examined. Applications centre around “mobile phone handsets”, although relatively advanced products that are essentially hand-portable intelligent communicators are also considered. User requirements and product trends which influence the technology options are examined in some detail and the current research scene is briefly overviewed to indicate major challenges. Particular emphasis is placed on component count reduction (towards single-chip) and various scenarios are outlined