This ground-breaking book offers you a comprehensive, in-depth presentation of GPRS (general packet radio service). The book helps you understand how this system is used as a major building block technology for the emerging mobile Internet. You explore the most critical aspects of GPRS in great detail, and gain a real-world understanding of the inevitable implementation challenges you will face in the field.

After a general overview of the GSM and GPRS systems, the book provides you with detailed coverage of a wide range of important topics, including the radio interface, Gb interface, BSSGP, signaling plane, user plane, and RLC (radio link control) principles. Case studies throughout present simple approaches to implementation problems that arise during the development process, along with proposed resolutions. This unique resource is an essential reference for engineers working in the field, and also serves well as a text for advanced graduate and post-graduate students in related courses.

Emmanuel Seurre is platforms and applications product manager in the handset division of Alcatel Business Systems. He holds an Engineering degree from the Ecole Speciale de Mecanique et d' Electricite.

Patrick Savelli is an RF and system engineer at Mitsubishi Electric, and has done research at the Center for Communication Systems Research (CCSR) at the University of Surry in the UK. He holds a Diplome D'Ingenieur Degree from the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications (ENST), in Paris.

Jean-Pierre Pietri works for ST Microelectronics, where he has done extensive work on the development of technical solutions for GSM, GPRS and EDGE handsets. He has also worked on the GSM network infrastructures at Alcatel Business Systems in a system specification team.