3G Networks
Packet Switching
With Third Generation (3G), the information is split into separate but related "packets" before being transmitted and reassembled at the receiving end. Packet switched data formats are much more common than their circuit switched counterparts. Other examples of packet-based data standards include TCP/IP, X.25, Frame Relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). As such, whilst packet switching is new to the GSM world, it is well established elsewhere. In the mobile world, CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data), PDCP (Personal Digital Cellular Packet), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and wireless X.25 technologies have been in operation for several years. X.25 is the international public access packet radio data network standard.
15.1.2 Internet Everywhere
The World Wide Web is becoming the primary communications interface. People access the Internet for entertainment and information collection, the Intranet for accessing company information and connecting to colleagues and the Extranet for accessing customers and suppliers. These are all derivatives of the World Wide Web aimed at connecting different communities of interest. There is a trend away from storing information locally in specific software packages on PCs to remotely on the Internet.
High Speed
Speeds of up to 2 Megabits per second (Mbps) are achievable with Third Generation (3G). The data transmission rates will depend upon the environment the call is being made in. It is only indoors and in stationary environments that these types of data rate will be available. For high mobility, data rates of 144 kbps are expected to be available. This is only about three times the speed of todays fixed telecoms modems.
New and Better Applications
Third Generation (3G) facilitates several new applications that have not previously been readily available over mobile networks due to the limitations in data transmission speeds. These applications range from Web Browsing to file transfer to Home Automation - the ability to remotely access and control in-house appliances and machines. Because of the bandwidth increase, these applications will be even more easily available with 3G than they were previously with interim technologies such as GPRS.
Service Access
To use Third Generation (3G), users specifically need:
A mobile phone or terminal that supports Third Generation (3G)
A subscription to a mobile telephone network that supports Third Generation (3G)
Use of Third Generation (3G) must be enabled for that user. Automatic access to the 3G may be allowed by some mobile network operators, others will charge a monthly subscription and require a specific opt-in to use the service as they do with other non-voice mobile services.
Knowledge of how to send and/ or receive Third Generation (3G) information using their specific model of mobile phone, including software and hardware configuration (this creates a customer service requirement).
A destination to send or receive information through Third Generation (3G). From day one, Third Generation (3G) users can access any web page or other Internet applications- providing an immediate critical mass of users.
These user requirements are not expected to change much for the meaningful use of 3G.
3G Talking Points
The telecommunications world is changing as the trends of media convergence, industry consolidation, Internet and IP technologies and mobile communications collide into one. Significant change will be bought about by this rapid evolution in technology. Third Generation mobile Internet technology is a radical departure from the first and the second generations of mobile technology. Some of the changes include:
People will look at their mobile phone as much as they hold it to their ear as the visual impact of multimedia enriches the screen.
Data ("non-voice") uses of 3G will be as important as and very different from the traditional voice Business.
Mobile communications will be similar in its capability to fixed communications, such that many people will only have a mobile phone. The mobile phone will be used as an integral part of the many peoples' lives. It could become a core part of how they conduct their daily activities.
As with all new technology standards, there is uncertainty and the fear of displacement. Third Generation(3G) mobile is topical and contentious for several reasons:
Because the nature and form of mobile communications is so radically changed, many people don't understand how to make money in the non-voice world, and do not understand their role in it.
3G licenses have started being awarded around the world, necessitating that existing mobile communications companies in the 2G world think about and justify their continued existence.
3G is based on a different technology platform- Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)- that is unlike the Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology that is widely used in the 2G world. GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) was based on TDMA technology.
Many industry analysts and other pundits have questioned the return on an investment in 3G technology- questioning whether network operators will be able to earn an adequate return on the capital deployed in acquiring and rolling out a 3G network.
Many media and Internet companies have expressed an interest in bidding for and using 3G technology as a new channel to distribute their content, opening the opportunity for new entrants and new partnerships and value chains.
3G Wireless Mobile Communication Systems and Beyond
First-generation wireless mobile communication systems, introduced in the early 1980s, and second generation (2G) systems, fielded in the late 1980s, were intended primarily for voice transmission. Third-generation (3G) systems, to be introduced in the early 2000s, will offer considerably higher data rates and allow significantly increased flexibility over 2G systems. A feature of 3G wireless mobile systems will be to provide this wide variety of services ranging from voice and paging services to interactive multimedia, including teleconferencing and Internet access through a coordinated or transparent system concept - by fixed wireline where that is most efficient, by terrestrial wireless where required, and even by satellite wireless when necessary. The currently proposed 3G systems will, for the most part, not achieve this coordinated system vision or Global seamless roaming, leaving these as goals for fourth generation (4G) and beyond.
Projection beyond 3G wireless mobile systems naturally leads to the consideration of yet wider bandwidths and higher data rates. However, higher data rates will not necessarily provide additional overall capacity for a number of reasons. First, it is by no means clear how system resources should be managed to accommodate the wide mix of traffic types anticipated. Second, power limitations preclude high data rates over geographically large areas, and a hierarchy of cell structures or ad hoc wireless networks to accommodate those users desiring high data-rate services will be necessary. Third, because of the variability of wideband channels and the need to realize the maximum inherent diversity possible, joint adaptivity across several hierarchical layers is necessary, and an integrated research approach is important to resolve the technical tradeoffs. Fourth, in contrast to purely wireline networks, scalability, or the ability to handle increasing numbers of users and diversity of services, is more challenging with mobile networks. A scalable information infrastructure is clearly essential in any future interconnected information system.
It appears reasonable to expect an extension of the capacity of 3G wireless systems by at least an order of magnitude with 4G systems and beyond. The focus of this initiative is to address fundamental research issues, which are critical to these future generation wireless systems. Several attendant benefits and applications of this increased capacity are outlined below.
Potential Applications of 4G Wireless Mobile Systems
Introduction
While people still primarily use their mobile devices for voice, texting and e-mail, the emergence of applications such as audio and video download and streaming, virtual collaboration and Web 2.0 applications will continue to increase demand for faster and more responsive mobile broadband. Enter fourth-generation (4G) technology.
What Is 4G?
4G is high-speed wireless connectivity that enables a real-time multimedia experience. It allows mobile users to not just send and receive emails, but to deal with large file transfers, view high-resolution streaming multimedia or have a high-quality interactive video experience. While there is no formal 4G definition in the market, the competing 4G technologies each include: IP-based architecture: 4G at its most basic level is defined as an all-IP, high-speed, low-latency, flat-architecture network. The network will enable fast, cost-efficient access to the Internet and enterprise applications.
- Packet-switched data: Like existing 3G networks, 4G radio access networks will be optimized for packet-switched data as opposed to circuit-switched voice.
- OFDMA signaling: To enable higher speeds and more users per cell, the 4G air interface will be based on orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA), which makes more efficient use of the wireless spectrum than older technologies (improved spectral efficiency).
- MIMO antennas: 4G radios will make use of multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) technology. MIMO-equipped cell sites send information simultaneously over two or more antennas to improve reception, reduce interference and increase effective throughput.
- Open access: The price/performance improvements of 4G should lead to the expansion of broadband to a wider variety of devices beyond laptops and smartphones, which will lead to market pressure on network providers to open their networks to any compatible device rather than a select few as is true today.
Enterprise Benefits of 4G
- Higher speed: 4G technologies are expected to offer speeds of at least 70 Mbps in each direction, which is at least four times faster than the peak rates of the newest HSPA-based GSM networks and 50 times the speed of prevalent CDMA 3G networks such as those using EV-DO Rev A.
- Lower latency: In a flat, all-IP architecture, the initial data packet connection should be in the 50-millisecond (ms) range with approximately 5 ms of one-way latency—an order of magnitude better than 3G networks. Low latency makes 4G ideal for “mobilizing” real-time applications such as VoIP, video streaming and tele-presence.
- Lower price per bit: Due to their architecture and the spectral efficiency of OFDMA, 4G networks promise a substantially lower cost-per-bit than 3G systems.
- Indoors to outdoors: The promise of 4G to serve as a fixed-line replacement for DSL or cable is spawning the development of indoor femtocells and picocells, which give users high throughput indoors and can transfer them to the wide-area 4G network when they leave the building.
What New Applications Does 4G Help Mobilize?
4G will allow enterprises to extend to mobile workers those applications that were previously restricted to the LAN. It will also allow for brand-new mobile-only applications.
VoIP and Unified Communications
To date, use of mobile VoIP has been driven by end users with internet telephony accounts (e.g. Skype) who have wanted to avoid international long-distance and cellular roaming charges by using a Wi-Fi hotspot or hotel Ethernet link. 4G changes the game by providing sufficient network performance for a mobile device to act as a fully enabled company telephone over a wide-area network. Its functionality could include a corporate phone number; transparent support for PBX features; and integration with voice mail, email and corporate blogs, social networks and other emerging aspects of a unified communications system.
Enterprise IPTV
Industry analyst firm IDC estimates that enterprise video use will grow at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 50 percent over the next five years. Video has the chance to blossom as a business communications media in an era where every employee has some experience using a webcam or video camera.
In a 4G world, where bandwidth and latency are removed as issues, video content can for the first time be economically delivered to mobile devices.
Tele-presence/Virtual Collaboration
Tele-presence solutions attempt to create the richness of a physical face-to-face meeting over a telecommunications network. They help businesses lower travel expenses and increase communications velocity by allowing for instantaneous virtual meetings.
4G promises a world where high-quality video meetings can take place on demand, regardless of where the participants are located or whether they are in motion (e.g. in a taxi). Since tele-presence is a two-way application, upload performance is just as important as download speeds. Historically, 3G technologies were designed primarily for downlink performance, which is fine for broadcasting from a central point but not for high-speed peer-to-peer communications
Specific 4G Technologies
Two technologies comprise the anticipated fourth-generation of mobile wireless technology:
- Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is based on the IEEE 802.16 family of standards and delivers wireless broadband data at up to 70 Mbps in each direction. This technology is already standardized and in use in more than 300 networks. In the U.S., it is backed by a consortium of companies that include Intel, Motorola, Google, Sprint Nextel and major cable operators. A major performance upgrade to the standard known as 802.16m is due out in 2010.
- Long Term Evolution (LTE) is an extension to two key 3G technologies, the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS). . LTE is being backed by leading telecommunications companies that include AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, T-Mobile, NTT DOCOMO. While LTE is not yet standardized, tests with pre-standard equipment have delivered peak speeds of over 100 Mbps. Industry analysts expect the first commercial availability to occur in 2010.
Meet WiMAX
WiMAX is a standards-based technology capable of delivering high-speed wireless broadband access based on an all-IP architecture designed to increase scalability, lower costs and reduce network complexity. Mobile WiMAX hits a sweet spot in today’s market by offering exponentially greater range and throughput than Wi-Fi and superior performance than 3G.
WiMAX is based on IEEE standards and enables the delivery of fixed and mobile wireless broadband services. The 802.16d-2004 standard forms the foundation for WiMAX, delivering 70 Mbps at up to 30 miles. The 802.16e-2005 standard updates WiMAX with key mobility features such as cell handoff capabilities, MIMO support and VoIP Quality of Service.
Getting to Know LTE
LTE is Release 8 of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and updates networks from 3G to 4G technology. LTE specifies a new, ODFMA-based air interface, which will require operators to deploy new base stations with higher-bandwidth backhauls. New end-user devices will also be required to take advantage of the new technology. LTE operates in a number of frequency ranges including the 700 MHz range, which was recently auctioned to carriers in the U.S.
The LTE standard reached the functional freeze milestone in March 2008 with official ratification expected in December 2008. LTE test equipment has been shipping from several vendors since early 2008. Motorola demonstrated a working system at Mobile World Congress 2008.
GSM operators around the world are adopting LTE, such as Verizon and AT&T in the U.S.; France Telecom, T-Mobile and Vodafone in Europe; and NTT DOCOMO and China Mobile in Asia. Along with WiMAX, LTE has been formally endorsed by the CDMA Group, with Verizon, the largest CDMA provider, announcing plans to adopt the technology.
LTE’s Progress So Far
LTE is three years behind mobile WiMAX in terms of standardization; however, vendors in the U.S., Europe and China have already begun testing pre-standard LTE equipment. An early test by Nokia in Berlin achieved system peak throughput of 173 Mbps while NTT DOCOMO’s Super3G (which included some proprietary antenna technology) recently delivered 250 Mbps in a test setting.
Commercial availability for LTE is forecast for 2010, and a complete conversion to LTE will take several years, as carriers start with dense urban areas and then expand into suburban and rural areas.
- MIMO antennas: 4G radios will make use of multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) technology. MIMO-equipped cell sites send information simultaneously over two or more antennas to improve reception, reduce interference and increase effective throughput.
- Open access: The price/performance improvements of 4G should lead to the expansion of broadband to a wider variety of devices beyond laptops and smartphones, which will lead to market pressure on network providers to open their networks to any compatible device rather than a select few as is true today.
