Virtual Reality Telecommunication Systems (VRTS) will transmit human verbal and nonverbal communication messages, therefore human to network interface considerations are essential. The VRTS will attempt to capture the entire human body by a set of sensors at the transmitting end and will convey these feelings to the human body at the receiving end with actuators. This book provides a broad overview of the current research in the area of creating future VRTS as well as presenting developments in closely-related areas. While many excellent articles have been written on specific applications of Virtual Reality in general, there is little at present that covers the scope of the entire telecommunications network. This book describes the role that VRTS will play in the telecommunications networks of the future. It offers not only a high-level overview of undergoing research, but also a detailed analysis of prototype implementations. * The first comprehensive book that covers the full scope of VRTS in the context of telecommunications and offers a guide to employing Virtual Reality in telecommunications networks * Offers an in-depth discussion of this hot topic * Considers the emergence of both new network architectures and the trend toward convergence between the public switched telephone network and the Internet * Accompanying FTP site with software demos and video footage * Features the shared knowledege and latest findings of top researchers from companies/universities such as NTT Cyber Space Labs (Japan), Lucent Technologies (USA) and QMW (GB) Essential reading for experienced researchers and network planners, engineers and visualisation engineers, as well as advanced undergraduate/graduate students studying electronic engineering, communications technology and computer science.