4G Mobile Technology

Introduction:
First generation (1G) mobile systems, introduce in early
1980's, initiated commercial mobile voice services. 1G
mobile system offered voice and low speed data
transmission and was operated in circuit switched mode.
These 1G network systems use Frequency Division
Multiple Access (FDMA) schemes and operate in the 450
and 800MHz frequency bands. The major problems of 1G
mobile system were internetworking between different
networks and the quality was far from the standard
offered by wire line telephony. These shortcomings were
overcome with the advent of the Second Generation (2G)
mobile systems. By using digital technology instead of
analog one, 2G systems such as Global System for Mobile

Communications (GSM) increased the number of

supported users within a cell and enhanced voice quality
significantly. In its original form, the GSM in the 900, 1800
and 1900MHz frequency bands uses a Time Division Code
Multiple Access (TDMA) schemes for circuit mode
transmission of digitized speech and digital data at up to
9.6kb/s. Since its commercialization in 1990's, GSM has
been currently upgraded, by the introduction of High
Speech Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD), General Packet
Radio Services (GPRS), and Enhanced Data rates for GSM
Evolution (EDGE), Enhanced Circuit Switched Data (ECSD)
and Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS). 20's success story
prompted the development of 2.50 and (30) mobile
systems. Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
(UMTS) standards were also developed to yield higher
voice capacity and higher-speed data using a wideband
carrier (5.2 MHz). The introduction of UMTS, based on
Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCOMA)
technology is a further step towards the increasing
demand of high data rates.
In the 3G, circuit mode speech and data as well as packet
mode data transmission are possible with UMTS.
Furthermore, higher data rates were designed to provide
new innovative services, like mobile videophone, video
streaming, and voice over IP. Moreover, wider coverage
was promised with the help of macro, micro, and Pico
cells. 30 technologies supports 144 Kbps data rate, with
high speed movement (vehicles), 384 Kbps (on campus)
& 2 Mbps for stationary (in building).

Even before 3G networks are fully launched and utilized,

various study groups are considering the shape of the
next generation of cellular technology, so called 4G.
There is no single global vision for 4G as yet, but the next
generation of network is likely to be all IP-based. In 4G
the radio interfaces will support up to approximately 100
Mbps for high mobility and up to approximately 1 Gbps
for low mobility such as nomadic/local wireless access. 4G
networks will also feature IP interoperability for seamless
mobile Internet access. 3G is based on a wide-area
concept applying circuit and packet switching for
transmission with limited access technology, such as
WCOMA, CDMA and TD-SOMA. However, the 4G standard
will base on broadband IP-based, entirely applying packet
switching method of transmission with seamlessly access
convergence. 4G mobile system will include all systems
from various networks, from public to private, From
operator- driven broadband networks to personal areas
and from cellular to ad hoc networks.

Limitations of 3G:
It has been observed that after every 10 years a new
mobile generation comes up with new capabilities and
functionalities. As the roll out took around 10 years for
2G, a similar period will apply to 3G which has started
deploying since 2001 and by the year 2010 it will be the
time to deploy 4G networks and with this assumption the
work on 4G has been started since year 2000. However
3G systems have some limitations which are stated as:
3G can support multimedia internet type services at
high data rates up to 384kb/s for moving up to 2Mb/s in
limited coverage area.

 In 3G, extension to higher data rate is difficult with

COMA due to excessive interference between the services
and users.

To ensure connection ubiquity together with high

bandwidth and mobility, the network architecture must
be heterogeneous rather than homogeneous.

It is difficult to provide full range of multi-rate services

with different QoS and performance requirements due to
the constraints imposed on the core network by the air
interface standard, e.g. 3G is not a fully integrated
system.

The bandwidth available in the 3G mobile systems will

be saturated and there are limitations on the combination
of frequency and time division duplex modes.
Multi-modes appliances have to implement software
configurable hardware architectures.

Limitation ofspectrum and its allocation.

Difficult to roam across distinct service environment in
different frequency bands.

Need for 4G:

When the 3G was launched, it was assumed that it would

become popular among the users but this didn't happen.
Network operators were forced to reduce their
expectations. Despite the work is going on the higherspeed 3G mobile networks, the main reasons for the leap
towards 4G are:

 As compare to 3G, 4G will provide rich multimedia

contents. The downloading speed of 4G system will
exceeds 100 Mbps, which is about 260 times greater than
3G wireless networks.
Because of single global standard, the roaming
between the different networks will be possible. Many
services can be access by the users from the same
mobile terminal
The 3G mobile network is based on primarily a widearea concept. In 4G system, utilizing both wireless LAN
and cellular design the users will be connected to a highspeed network anywhere, anytime.
In near future, there will be a great demand for high
data rates and bandwidth. The 4G technology, would
offer high-bandwidth services with the transmission
speeds of more than 20 Mbps within the reach of LAN
"hotspots", which are installed everywhere in offices,
homes, malls and airport lounges. The 2G networks for
voice and low speed coverage can be used by the users if
they are away from these hotspots.
The 4G mobile networks systems will be cheaper than
3G. This is because they can be built on the existing
networks and there will be no need for the operators to
completely change their equipments nor will they be
required extra spectrum.
The problem of handling increasing numbers of users
and diversity of services can be solved by the 4G system
as it was based on IP layer technology.

Features of 4G:
User Friendliness and User Personalization:
The combination of user friendliness and user
personalization appears to be the winning concept when
we try to encourage people to move towards a new
technology, which is a time taking process and involves a
great deal of effort from the operator's side. In user
friendliness the interaction between the applications and
users can be minimized and simplifies. In user
personalization, the users can configure the mobile
terminal and chose services according to their
preferences.
Terminal Heterogeneity and Network
Heterogeneity:
Terminal Heterogeneity and Network Heterogeneity 4G
provides not only higher data rates but also a clear and
valuable advantage in people's everyday life, with the
combination of terminal heterogeneity and network
heterogeneity. Terminal heterogeneity refers to the
different types of terminals in terms of display size,
energy consumption, portability/weight, complexity, etc.
Network heterogeneity is related to the increasing
heterogeneity of wireless networks due to the large
number of access technologies available (e.g., UMTS,
WiMAX, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth).
Other possible features of the 4G systems are:

 Support interactive multimedia, voice, video, wireless

internet and other broadband services.
High speed, high capacity and low cost per bit.
Global roaming and inter-working between different
access technologies; both horizontal (intra-system) and
vertical (intersystem) handover.
Better scheduling and call admission control
techniques.
A common platform to complement other services
connection through a common, flexible, seamless, IPbased core network.
Enabling person to person, person to machine, and
machine to machine communications.
Can handle pre-existing 30 systems along with other
wireless technologies.

A. LTE Evolution:
A highly flexible radio interface was deployed in 2009
known as 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long
Tem Evolution (LTE).LTE has many legacy technologies
which led to its development. These technologies are
discussed below.

1)

WiMAX:

The first major WiMAX standard for fixed access was

developed by IEEE in 2004 known as IEEE 802.16 standard.
Later in 2005, IEEE developed IEEE 802.16e known as
Mobile WiMAX . Interoperability of WiMAX products from
various vendors is certified by the WiMAX Forum which
comprises of more than 300 companies. Around the world,
a number of WiMAX networks have been commercially
deployed.

2)

LTE:

Advancements in High Speed Packet Access led to the

development of 3GPP LTE . First commercial deployment of
LTE was done by Swedish telecom operator TeliaSonera in
December 2009 in Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway.
Ericsson supplied Stockholms network and Huawei
supplied Oslos network. Samsung supplied the modems.

Characteristics of LTE system:

There are many characteristics possessed by LTE
networks. On the basis of these characteristics a
comparison of LTE network is shown with WiMAX in Table .
Some of these are discussed below:
1) High throughput: High data rates can be
achieved in both downlink as well as uplink.
This causes high throughput.
2) Low latency: Time required to connect to the
network is in range of a few hundred
milliseconds and power saving states can now
be entered and exited very quickly.

3) Seamless Connection: LTE network will also

support seamless connection to existing
networks such as GSM, CDMA and WCDMA.
4) High Quality of Service (QoS).
5) Smooth handover across heterogeneous
networks.
6) High network capacity.
7) Simple architecture.

Architecture of LTE system:

Architecture of LTE comprises of two networks: the EUTRAN (as shown in Fig. 1) and the Evolved Packet Core
(as shown in Fig. 2) .
Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) handles the communications between the mobile
and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and has just one
component, the evolved base stations, called eNodeB or
eNB. Each eNB is a base station that controls the mobiles.
The base station that is communicating with a mobile is
known as its serving eNB.
Two main functions supported by eNB are:
1. The eNB sends and receives transmissions to all the
mobiles.
2. The eNB controls the low-level operation of all its
mobiles, by sending them signaling messages such as
handover commands.

Each eNB connects with the EPC by means of the S1

interface and it can also be connected to nearby base
stations by the X2 interface, which is mainly used for
signaling and packet forwarding during handover.
Interfaces connecting each of the network elements are
standardized in order to provide multi- vendor
interoperability. Thus, it is possible for network operators
to source different network elements from different
vendors.This overall network architecture comprising of
E-UTRAN, i.e., the access network and EPC, i.e., the core
network should provide users with security and privacy,
and network protection against fraudulent use.

Fig(1) E-UTRAN

Fig(2) EPC Network

The Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network has the following
components :
The Home Subscriber Server (HSS) is a central database
that contains information about all the network operator's
subscribers. The Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (PGW) acts as a default router for the User Equipment (UE)
and communicates with the outside world, using SGi
interface.
The Serving Gateway (S-GW) acts as a router, and forwards
data between E-UTRAN and P-GW.
The Mobility Management Entity (MME) controls the highlevel operation of managing mobiles and their sessions.
There are many interfaces used as reference point in LTE
network architecture:
SGi is the interface between P-GW and PDN, S1-U is the
reference point between E-UTRAN and S-GW, S5/S8 is the

reference
reference
reference
reference
reference

point
point
point
point
point

between
between
between
between
between

S-GW and P-GW, S6a is the

MME and HSS, S11 is the
MME and S-GW, S1-MME is the
E-UTRAN and MME, and S10 is the
MME and MME.

Conclusion:

Wireless networks avoid the installation costs incumbent in

wired networks. Nowadays, users of mobile Internet have
grown significantly and require instant accessibility of
various high speed Internet applications. LTE is currently
one of the most widely used 4G technologies. In this paper,
the performance of existing mobile technologies e.g.
WiMAX and LTE networks is analyzed and their aspects are
tabulated along with their characteristics. It is shown that
LTE is advantageous over WiMAX in every aspect. LTE
architecture consists of two networks- the access network,
i.e., E-UTRAN network and the core network, i.e., EPC
network. Some challenging issues for research in LTE
networks are also discussed. These issues need to be
addressed to further improve the performance of LTE
networks.

References:
Zakhia Abhichar, J. Morris Chang and Chau-Yun Hsu,
WiMAX vs. LTE: Who Will Lead the Broadband Mobile
Internet? IEEE Computer Society, vol. 12, issue 3, 2010,
pp. 26-32.

M. Gupta, S.C. Jha, A.T. Koc and R. Vannithamby, Energy

Impact of Emerging Mobile Internet Applications on LTE
Networks: Issues and Solutions, IEEE Communications
Magazine, vol. 51, issue 2, 2013, pp. 90-97.
Amit Kumar, Jyotsna Sengupta and Yun-fei Liu, 3GPP LTE:
The Future of Mobile Broadband, Wireless Personal
Communications, vol. 62, issue 3, February 2012, pp. 671686.
J. Brouet and She Feng, LTE and Future Evolutions for the
Benefits of Security Wireless Networks, Wireless Mobile
and Computing (CCWMC 2011), IET International
Communication Conference, 2011, pp. 447-454.
L. Yi, Kai Miao and A. Liu, A Comparative Study of WiMAX
and LTE as the Next Generation Mobile Enterprise
Network, Advanced Communication Technology (ICACT),
2011 13th International Conference, 2011, pp. 654- 658.
F. Rezaei, M. Hempel and H. Sharif, A Comprehensive
Performance Analysis of LTE and Mobile WiMAX, Wireless
Communications and Mobile Computing Conference
(IWCMC), 2012, pp. 939-944.
David Astely, Erik Dahlman, Anders Furuskar, Ylva Jading,
Magnus Lindstrom and Stefan Parkvall,LTE: The Evolution
of Mobile Broadband, IEEE Communications Magazine,
April 2009.

Jihai Han and Bingyang Wu, Handover in the 3GPP Long

Term Evolution (LTE) Systems, Mobile Congress (GMC),
2010 Global, 2010, pp. 1-6.
R. Sanyal, Challenges in Interoperability and Roaming
between LTE-Legacy Core for Mobility Management,
Routing, Real Time Charging, Telecom World (ITUWT),
2011 Technical Symposium at ITU, 2011, pp. 116-122.
Rouffet, S. Kerboeuf, L. Cai, V. Capdevielle, "4G Mobile"
Technical paper Alcatel Telecommunications Review- 2nd
Quarter2005.
Nee, R., and R., Prasad, OFDM for wireless multimedia
communications, Artech House.
Marcus L. Roberts, Michael A. Temple, Robert F. Mills, and
Richard A. Raines, "Evolution of the air interface of cellular
communications systems toward 4G realization", IEEE
Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 8,
no.1,1stQuarter2006, pp. 2-22.
S. Y. Hui and K. H. Yeung, "Challenges in the Migration to 4G
Mobile Systems," IEEE Communication Magazine, vol. 41,
no. 12, Dec. 2003, pp.54-59.