This book focuses on issues related to multiple access for cellular mobile communications, with a specific interest in access arbitration through multiple access protocols situated at the lower sub-layer of the second OSI layer, namely the medium access control (MAC) layer. In this chapter, first an introduction to cellular mobile communication systems is provided. This introduction will be further expanded upon in Chapter 2, particularly with respect to the features which distinguish the different generations of mobile communication systems, from analogue first generation (1G) systems to possible fourth generation (4G) scenarios
