Since 1990 the German Research Society (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) has been funding PhD courses (Graduiertenkollegs) at selected universi- ties in the Federal Republic of Germany. TU Berlin has been one of the first universities joining that new funding program of DFG. The PhD courses have been funded over aperiod of 9 years. The grant for the nine years sums up to approximately 5 million DM. Our Grnduiertenkolleg on Communication-based Systems has been assigned to the Computer Science Department of TU Berlin although it is a joined effort of all three universities in Berlin,...