MOBICOM

It's hard to believe, but MobiCom is 10 years old. Yes, this year we celebrate the diamond anniversary. Many of us who were involved with the conference since its inception cannot but admire how MobiCom evolved over the years to be the prime conference for research in the area of mobile and wireless systems and networks.And this year's conference is no exception. This year, the technical program consists of 26 top quality technical papers in addition to the challenging panel discussion organized by Victor Bahl on "Wireless Community Mesh Networks - Hype or the Next Big Frontier?" The conference will start with four tutorials on Sunday and Monday and will end with five workshops on Friday: POMC, VANET, WiSe, WMash, and MobiWac. Additionally, student papers session and demos session are also planned.I am pleased to have four invited speakers deliver keynote and lunch speeches. Dr. Richard Gitlin will present a keynote speech on "The Wireless Century" and Dr. Dipankar Raychaudhuri will present a keynote speech on "Adaptive Wireless Networking Using Cognitive Radios as a Building Block." Prof. Robert Gallager will deliver a lunch speech on "Technology and its Information Theoretic Roots" and in another lunch speech, Mr. Masaki Yoshikawa will offer his views on "New Directions in Mobile Communications Services.On the social side, the conference will start with a reception on Monday evening and a cruise dinner on Wednesday. We hope that these, as well as other opportunities to socialize, will be useful in establishing new contacts among the conference attendees. Although MobiCom is a conference rather then a workshop, the MobiCom's format of a single-track sessions with ample time for each presentation, was always effective in stimulating discussions among the attendees. So, I strongly encourage you to take full advantage of such technical interactions.In its 10 years of existence, the location of MobiCom has approximately alternated between the East and the West Coasts, with every 3-4 years being held in an international location. This year, it was the East Coast turn and with the assistance of the MobiCom Steering Committee, we have settled on the choice of Philadelphia. Of course, given the historical background of the city, the choice was an easy one - I am sure that most of you will find it worthwhile to spend sometime touring the rich heritage of the place.