Communication everywhere, with everybody, and at any time ± we have come much closer to this goal during the last few years. Digitalization of communication systems, enormous progress in microelectronics, computers, and software technology, inventions of ef®cient algorithms and procedures for compression, security, and processing of all kinds of signals, as well as the development of ¯exible communication protocols have been important prerequisites for this progress. Today, technologies are available that enable the realization of high-performance and cost-effective communication systems for many application areas
