GENERATIONS OF WIRELESS MOBILE SYSTEMS

History of 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies

4G evolution
The existence of several diverse 3G standards (e.g., WCDMA and CDMA2000)
limits seamless global roaming between different cellular networks for a
mobile user with a single handset. In addition, there is a fundamental
difference between wireless cellular networks (1G, 2G, or 3G) and wireless
data networks such as WLANs and PANs.
The difference between wireless cellular networks (1G, 2G, or 3G) and wireless
data networks (WLANS, PANs) is that wireless cellular systems are circuit-
switched while wireless data networks are packet-switched.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, all over the world, the majority of
mobile communication service providers are operating the networks using
two different families of standards:
3GPP based (i.e., GSM, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+)
Objectives of the projected 4G
4G will be a fully IP-based integrated system. This will be achieved after wired
and wireless technologies converge and will be capable of providing between
100 Mbps and 1 Gbps speeds, both indoors and outdoors, with quality and
high security.
4G will offer all types of services at an affordable cost.
The following are the objectives of the 4G wireless communication standard:
A spectrally efficient system (in bps/Hz and bps/Hz/site).
High network capacity: more simultaneous users per cell.
4G systems support streaming video, voice calls, Internet, and many more
broadband services.
A nominal data rate of 100 Mbps while the client physically moves at high
speeds relative to the station, and 1 Gbps while client and station are in
relatively fixed positions.
Advantage of 4G network technology over 3G
4G networks will provide subscribers with a higher bandwidth and a mobile data
rate of 100 Mbps and more.
Applications of 4G
4G offers three-dimensional visual experiences. Thus, 4G will represent another
quantum leap in mobile Internet speeds and picture quality.
4G will have better support of roaming and handoffs across heterogeneous
networks. Users, even in todays wireless market, demand service transparency
and roaming.
4G may support interoperability between disparate network technologies by
using techniques such as LAS-CDMA signalling. Other solutions such as software-
defined radios could also support roaming across disparate network technologies
in 4G systems.
One of the most notable advanced applications for 4G systems is location-based
services. 4G location applications would be based on visualized, virtual navigation
schemes that would support a remote database containing graphical
representations of streets, buildings, and other physical characteristics of a large
metropolitan area.
This database could be accessed by a subscriber in a moving vehicle equipped
with the appropriate wireless device, which would provide the platform on which
would appear a virtual representation of the environment ahead.
CDMA technology allows every mobile phone in a cell to transmit over the entire
bandwidth at all times. Each mobile device has a unique and orthogonal code
that is used to encode and recover the signal. The mobile phone digitizes the
voice data as it is received, and encodes the data with the unique code for that
phone. This is accomplished by taking each bit of the signal and multiplying it by
all bits in the unique code for the phone.
CDMA has been patented in the United States by Qualcomm, making it more
expensive to implement due to royalty fees. This has been a factor for cellular
phone providers when choosing the system to implement. Consumers now
demand more features, which in turn require higher data rates than 3G can
handle. A new system is needed that merges voice and data into the same digital
stream, conserving bandwidth to enable fast data access. By using advanced
hardware and software at both ends of the transmission, 4G is the answer to this
problem.
MIMO systems are an example of smart antenna technique. These systems use
multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver to increase the capacity
of the wireless channel. With MIMO systems, it may be possible to provide in
excess of 1 Mbps for 2.5G wireless TDMA EDGE and as high as 20 Mbps for 4G
systems.
With MIMO, different signals are transmitted out of each antenna simultaneously
in the same bandwidth and then separated at the receiver. With four antennas
at the transmitter and receiver, this has the potential to provide four times the
data rate of a single antenna system without an increase in the transmitted
power or bandwidth.
MIMO techniques can support multiple independent channels in the same
bandwidth, provided that there is a direct line-of-sight between the transmitter
and receiver.
4G software
4G will become a unification of different wireless networks, including WLAN
technologies (e.g., IEEE 802.11), public cellular networks (2.5G, 3G), and even
personal area networks (PANs). Under this umbrella, 4G needs to support a wide
range of mobile devices that can roam across different types of networks. These
devices would have to support different networks, meaning that one device should
have the capability of working on different networks. One solution to this
multinetwork functional device is a software-defined radio.
Comparison of channel capacity for different channel types
Channel Type Capacity (Mbps)
Normalized Capacity with
respect to SISO
SISO 3.45 B 1.0
SIMO 5.66 B 1.64
MISO 5.35 B

Limitations of 4G
4G is still passing through research and, therefore, there are some problems
that need to be fixed in order for the users to benefit from it fully. Still there
are some limitations for 4G communications.
1. Operating area is one of the major limitations. Although 2G networks
are frequently used, still there are many areas not served. This
drawback passes over into future generation.
2. 4G is still passing through research and, therefore, there are some
problems that need to be fixed in order for the users to benefit from
it fully. Still there are some limitations for 4G communications.
3. Operating area is one of the major limitations. Although 2G networks
are frequently used, still there are many areas not served. This
drawback passes over into future generation.
New technologies in cellular data networks
This section looks at a few new generation technologies in cellular data networks.
Technologies introduced in this section include High-speed OFDM Packet Access,
UMB, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, and Mobile Broadband
Wireless Access/IEEE802.20 Personal Communication System and Virtual Private
Networking.
High-speed OFDM packet access
High-speed OFDM Packet Access (HSOPA) is a proposed part of 3GPPs LTE
upgrade path for UMTS systems also called Super 3G, but HSOPA is an entirely
new air-interface system and unrelated and incompatible with W-CDMA.
HSOPA has a flexible bandwidth usage of 1.25 MHz20 MHz and has an
increased spectral efficiency of 24 times compared to 3GPP release 6. The
peak transfer rates can approach 100 Mbps for downlink and 50 Mbps for
uplink.
The roundtrip latency times from terminal to radio access network is around
20 ms, better than W-CDMA and almost the same as combined HSDPA/HSUPA
system.
New core technologies adapted in HSOPA are OFDM and MIMO. These two
give HSOPA the ability to enlarge the users number by 10 times compared to
W-CDMA.