The advent of ubiquitous IP networks enables users to freely move and continue network services anytime, anywhere by means of mobile handheld devices. This paper exploits network ubiquity and advanced device capability to develop a novel mobile group communication system. Our work presents the design and implementation of a proof-of-concept software system. This system architecture consists of four components: central tracking, handheld tracking, handheld messaging and Web-based administration subsystems. Their functional integration thus fulfills both location tracking and mobile messaging services in support of mobile group communication. After prototype and demonstration, the proposed system is able to offer a variety of novel location-aware and text/voice communication scenarios to mobile social communities in ubiquitous IP network environments(1).
