CALL FOR PAPERS 
                    Elsevier Journal on Computer Networks 
                              Special Issue on 
    Wireless IP Through Integration of Wireless LAN and Cellular Networks 

 Wireless Internet technology will be the next milestone for modern
telecommunications technology. In order to provide Internet connectivity
over a wide geographical area, it is necessary to utilize the advanced
features of modern cellular systems ­ known as third generation wireless
cellular ­ such as UMTS and cdma2000 and their future evolution. One
obstacle toward such utilization is the current technological shortcomings
of cellular systems that limit the data rate. One interim way to bypass this
limitation is to use wireless LAN in cooperation with cellular networks.
Wireless LAN is a very cost-effective alternative to cellular access
networks in hot spot areas, such as business centers, supermarkets and
airports, as the equipment cost is relatively low and they operate in the
unlicensed industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band. Data rates
provided by the wireless LAN standards is far above the targeted 144 kbps of
GPRS and 384 Kbps ­ 2 Mbps of the UMTS cellular systems, making the wireless
LAN an important and attractive, yet easy to implement add-on service to the
usual 3G cellular systems. As a result, most cellular system providers have
now considered the integration of the wireless LAN with their wide area
cellular network in order to cope with the ever-increasing demand from high-
speed data applications at least in hot spot and indoor environments. At the
same time, such integration will ultimately reduce the cost and provide
service affordability to mobile data users.

       Internetworking of the wireless LAN (as an extension of the wired
LAN) with the mobile cellular technology however, will not be a
straightforward task. As a first step, an architecture that can provide
adaptation of different elements implemented in the two systems must be
designed. ETSI (the European Telecommunications Standards Institute) has
already specified two generic approaches toward the integration of the
Wireless LAN and GPRS/UMTS systems, known as loose coupling and tight
coupling.  Although the two approaches are promising, there is no final
decision on whether the future integrated network would use either of those
approaches or a completely different one. The first step will be followed by
many other steps such as mobility management, data security, user
authentication and authorization, traffic and congestion control, quality of
service guarantee, real-time and constant/variable bit-rate support for
voice and video. Without all these steps, a seamless internetworking between
the two systems will not be feasible.

       This special issue of the Computer Networks is devoted to the
research activities within industry and academia toward the integration of
the wireless LAN and cellular 3G systems. Articles for this special issue
will be solicited through an open call-for- papers and invitation to experts
in the field from industry and academia. The special issue will accommodate
in-depth research and tutorial papers discussing different aspect of the
wireless LAN, cellular systems for Internet connectivity, integration of the
two systems, and performance analysis. Topics of interest include but not
limited to:
·  Architecture design alternatives and performance analysis for an integrated wireless LAN-cellular system  
·  Design of internetworking functional units and their performance analysis  
·  Smooth handoff techniques between wireless LAN and cellular systems  
·  Quality of service establishment in heterogeneous networks 
·  Network selection criteria and selection techniques in heterogeneous networks 
·  Traffic control techniques and traffic monitoring in heterogeneous networks 
·  IP address selection techniques in the wireless LAN/cellular integrated environment  
·  Macro-mobility techniques for seamless internetworking 
·  Pricing and subscription database techniques in integrated wireless LAN-cellular systems 
·  Security techniques in heterogeneous networks 
·  Location management and database management techniques  
·  Convergence of link layer functionality in wireless LAN and cellular systems 
·  Standardization activities as well as proprietary solutions for the wireless LAN-cellular integration 

Submissions  
Articles discussing in-depth research on performance analysis, simulation
results, data collection and data management, architecture design, and
techniques for the above topics are solicited. Author's guideline can be
found at http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/comnet.  Each submission should
include a cover page with the title of paper, name and affiliation of all
authors, name and contact address, fax, and email address of the
corresponding author, a list of five key words, and a short abstract of
maximum 200 words. Please send PDF (preferred) or Microsoft Word formatted
papers to Abbas Jamalipour (a.jamalipour@ieee.org) according to the
following timetable. The cover page and the manuscript must be sent in
separate files. All papers will be reviewed by experts for technical merit,
correctness, and relevance.

                                                       Guest Editor                                      Contacts: 
     Full Manuscript Due          1 January 2004       Professor Abbas Jamalipour                         
                                                                                                         Phone:  +61 2 9351 2843 
     Acceptance Notification    1 March 2004           School of Electrical & Information Eng.           Fax:      +61 2 9351 3847 
     Final Revised Manuscript    1 May 2004            University of Sydney                              Email: a.jamalipour@ieee.org 
                                                       Sydney NSW 2006, Australia