Assignment of Mobile Communication

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CELLULAR

SYSTEM

Introduction

Since the cradle of the cellular communication concept in 1990s, the cellular
communication system has undergone rapid and explosive growth worldwide. The
worldwide cellular and personal communication subscriber base had surpassed 600
million in late 2001 and now it has reached more than 4 billion which is actually more
than 60 percent of world’s population and Nepal has more than 4 million (4,200,000
subscribers in 2008, ranked 94th worldwide according to total number of mobile cellular
telephone subscribers, China is ranked 1st with 634,000,000 subscribers). Figure below
shows the worldwide mobile subscriber numbers and mobile penetration rates of 2008

This rapid growth worldwide in cellular communication, which is replacing fiber optics
or copper lines between fixed points several kilometers apart, has demonstrated
conclusively that wireless communication is a robust, viable voice and data transportation
mechanism and thus has led to further research and development of newer system and
standards. The evolution of communication technology is presented in the table below

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

which will provide us the complete path of communication technology including cellular
system from its humble beginning to its current status. The following table is classified
on the basis of generation (G) including all the mobile technology available worldwide
but we shall be mostly focused on GSM and CDMA evolution since 2G and thus shall
see developments from generation to generation

Generation based Classification Communication Technology

0G (radio · MTS · MTA · MTB · MTC · IMTS

telephones) · MTD · AMTS · OLT · Autoradiopuhelin

AMPS
AMPS · TACS · ETACS
1G family
Other NMT · Hicap · Mobitex · DataTAC

GSM/3GPP
GSM · CSD
family
2G 3GPP2 family CdmaOne (IS-95)
AMPS family D-AMPS (IS-54 and IS-136)
Other CDPD · iDEN · PDC · PHS

GSM/3GPP
HSCSD · GPRS · EDGE/EGPRS
2G transitional family
(2.5G, 2.75G) 3GPP2 family CDMA2000 1xRTT (IS-2000)
Other WiDEN

3GPP UMTS (UTRAN) · WCDMA-FDD · WCDMA-TDD

family · UTRA-TDD LCR (TD-SCDMA)
3G (IMT-2000)
3GPP2
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (IS-856)
family

3GPP
HSDPA · HSUPA · HSPA+ · LTE (E-UTRA)
family
3G transitional 3GPP2
EV-DO Rev. A · EV-DO Rev. B
(3.5G, 3.9G) family
Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e-2005) · Flash-
Other
OFDM · IEEE 802.20

3GPP
4G LTE Advanced
family
(IMT-
WiMAX
Advanced) IEEE 802.16m
family

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

Second Generation (2G) Cellular Network

Second generation 2G cellular telecom networks were commercially launched on the
GSM standard in Finland by Radiolinja (now part of Elisa Oyj) in 1991. Three primary
benefits of 2G networks over their predecessors were that phone conversations were
digitally encrypted, 2G systems were significantly more efficient on the spectrum
allowing for far greater mobile phone penetration levels; and 2G introduced data services
for mobile, starting with SMS text messages.

After 2G was launched, the previous mobile telephone systems were retrospectively
dubbed 1G. While radio signals on 1G networks are analog, and on 2G networks are
digital, both systems use digital signaling to connect the radio towers (which listen to the
handsets) to the rest of the telephone system.

GSM/3GPP family

• GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications: originally from

Groupe Spécial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile telephony
systems in the world. The GSM Association, its promoting industry trade
organization of mobile phone carriers and manufacturers, estimates that
80% of the global mobile market uses the standard. GSM is used by over
4.3 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories. Its
ubiquity enables international roaming arrangements between mobile
phone operators, providing subscribers the use of their phones in many
parts of the world. GSM differs from its predecessor technologies in that
both signaling and speech channels are digital, and thus GSM is
considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This also
facilitates the wide-spread implementation of data communication
applications into the system. The ubiquity of implementation of the GSM
standard has been an advantage to both consumers, who may benefit from
the ability to roam and switch carriers without replacing phones, and also
to network operators, who can choose equipment from many GSM
equipment vendors. GSM also pioneered low-cost implementation of the
short message service (SMS), also called text messaging, which has since
been supported on other mobile phone standards as well. The standard
includes a worldwide emergency telephone number feature

3GPP2 family

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

• CdmaOne (IS-95): Interim Standard 95 (IS-95) is the first CDMA-based

digital cellular standard by Qualcomm. The brand name for IS-95
is cdmaOne. IS-95 is also known as TIA-EIA-95. It is a 2G Mobile
Telecommunications Standard that uses CDMA, a multiple access scheme
for digital radio, to send voice, data and signaling data (such as a dialed
telephone number) between mobile telephones and cell sites. CDMA or
"code division multiple access" is a digital radio system that transmits
streams of bits (PN codes). CDMA permits several radios to share the
same frequencies. Unlike TDMA "time division multiple access", a
competing system used in 2G GSM, all radios can be active all the time,
because network capacity does not directly limit the number of active
radios. Since larger numbers of phones can be served by smaller numbers
of cell-sites, CDMA-based standards have a significant economic
advantage over TDMA-based standards, or the oldest cellular standards
that used multiplexing. In North America, the technology competed
with Digital AMPS (IS-136, a TDMA technology). It is now being
supplanted by IS-2000(CDMA2000), a later CDMA-based standard.
AMPS family

• D-AMPS (IS-54 and IS-136): IS-54 and IS-136 are second-generation

(2G) mobile phone systems, known as Digital AMPS (D-AMPS). It was
once prevalent throughout the Americas, particularly in the United States
and Canada. D-AMPS is considered end-of-life, and existing networks
have mostly been replaced by GSM/GPRS or CDMA2000 technologies.
This system is most often referred to as TDMA. That name is based on the
acronym for time division multiple access, a common multiple access
technique which is used by multiple protocols, including GSM, as well as
in IS-54 and IS-136. However, D-AMPS have been competing against
GSM and systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA) for
adoption by the network carriers, although it is now being phased out in
favor of GSM/GPRS and CDMA2000 technology. D-AMPS uses existing
AMPS channels and allows for smooth transition between digital and
analog systems in the same area. Capacity was increased over the
preceding analog design by dividing each 30 kHz channel pair into three
time slots (hence time division) and digitally compressing the voice data,
yielding three times the call capacity in a single cell. A digital system also
made calls more secure because analog scanners could not access digital
signals. Calls were encrypted, although the algorithm used (CMEA) was
later found to be weak.IS-136 added a number of features to the original
IS-54 specification, including text messaging, circuit switched data (CSD),
and an improved compression protocol. SMS and CSD were both
available as part of the GSM protocol, and IS-136 implemented them in a
nearly identical fashion. Former large IS-136 networks included AT&T in
the United States, and Rogers Wireless in Canada. AT&T and Rogers
Wireless have upgraded their existing IS-136 networks to GSM/GPRS.
Rogers Wireless removed all 1900 MHz IS-136 in 2003, and has done the

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

same with their 800 MHz spectrum as the equipment failed. Rogers
deactivated their IS-136 network (along with AMPS) on May 31, 2007.
AT&T soon followed in February 2008, shutting down both TDMA and
AMPS.Alltel, who primarily uses CDMA2000 technology but acquired a
TDMA network from Western Wireless, shut down their TDMA and
AMPS networks in September 2008. US Cellular, who now also primarily
uses CDMA2000 technology, shut down their TDMA network in February
2009.IS-54 is the first mobile communication system which had provision
for security, and the first to employ TDMA technology.

Other

• CDPD: Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) was a wide-area mobile

data service which used unused bandwidth normally used by AMPS
mobile phones between 800 and 900 MHz to transfer data. Speeds up to
19.2 kbit/s were possible. The service was discontinued in conjunction
with the retirement of the parent AMPS service; it has been functionally
replaced by faster services such as 1xRTT, EV-DO, and
UMTS/HSPA.Developed in the early 1990s, CDPD was large on the
horizon as a future technology. However, it had difficulty competing
against existing slower but less expensive Mobitex and DataTac systems,
and never quite gained widespread acceptance before newer, faster
standards such as GPRS became dominant. CDPD had very limited
consumer offerings. AT&T Wireless first offered the technology in the
United States under the PocketNet brand. It was one of the first consumer
offerings of wireless web service. A company named Omnisky provided
service for Palm V devices. Cingular Wireless later offered CDPD under
the Wireless Internet brand (not to be confused with Wireless Internet
Express, their brand for GPRS/EDGE data). PocketNet was generally
considered a failure with competition from 2G services such as Sprint's
Wireless Web. After the four phones AT&T Wireless had offered to the
public (two from Panasonic, one from Mitsubishi and the Ericsson
R289LX), AT&T Wireless eventually refused to activate the devices.
Despite its limited success as a consumer offering, CDPD was adopted in
a number of enterprise and government networks. It was particularly
popular as a first-generation wireless data solution for telemetry devices
(machine to machine communications) and for public safety mobile data
terminals. In 2004, major carriers in the United States announced plans to
shut down CDPD service. In July 2005, the AT&T Wireless and Cingular
Wireless CDPD networks were shut down. Equipment for this service now
has little to no residual value.
• iDEN: Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) is a mobile
telecommunications technology, developed by Motorola, which provides
its users the benefits of a trunked radio and a cellular telephone. iDEN

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

places more users in a given spectral space, compared to analog cellular

and two-way radio systems, by using speech compression and time
division multiple access (TDMA). iDEN is designed and licensed to
operate on individual frequencies that may not be contiguous. iDEN
operates on 25 kHz channels, but only occupies 20 kHz in order to provide
interference protection via guard bands. By comparison, TDMA Cellular
(Digital AMPS) is licensed in blocks of 30 kHz channels, but each
emission occupies 40 kHz, and is capable of serving the same number of
subscribers per channel as iDEN. iDEN uses frequency-division duplexing
to separately transmit and receive signals, with transmit and receive bands
separated by 39 MHz, 45 MHz, or 48 MHz depending on the frequency
band being used .iDEN supports either three or six interconnect users
(phone users) per channel, and six dispatch users (push-to-talk users) per
channel, using time division multiple access. The transmit and receive
time slots assigned to each user are deliberately offset in time so that a
single user never needs to transmit and receive at the same time. This
eliminates the need for a duplexer at the mobile, since time-division
duplexing of RF section usage can be performed.

• PDC: Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) is a 2G mobile

telecommunications standard developed and used exclusively in Japan.
After a peak of nearly 80 million subscribers to PDC, it had 46 million
subscribers in December 2005, and is slowly being phased out in favor of
3G technologies like W-CDMA and CDMA2000. At the end of October
2008, the count had dwindled down to 10.4 million subscribers. Like D-
AMPS and GSM, PDC uses TDMA. The standard was defined by the
RCR (later became ARIB) in April 1991, and NTT DoCoMo launched its
Digital mova service in March 1993. PDC uses 25 kHz carrier, pi/4-
DQPSK modulation with 3-timeslot 11.2 kbit/s (full-rate) or 6-timeslot 5.6
kbit/s (half-rate) voice codecs.PDC is implemented in the 800 MHz
(downlink 810-888 MHz, uplink 893-958 MHz), and 1.5 GHz (downlink
1477-1501 MHz, uplink 1429-1453 MHz) bands. The air interface is
defined in RCR STD-27 and the core network MAP by JJ-70.10. NEC and
Ericsson are the major network equipment manufacturers. The services
include voice (full and half-rate), supplementary services (call waiting,
voice mail, three-way calling, call forwarding, and so on), data service (up
to 9.6 kbit/s CSD), and packet-switched wireless data (up to 28.8 kbit/s
PDC-P). Voice codecs are PDC-EFR and PDC-HR.Compared to GSM,
PDC's weak broadcast strength allows small, portable phones with light
batteries at the expense of substandard voice quality and problems
maintaining the connection, particularly in enclosed spaces like elevators.

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

• PHS: PHS is essentially a cordless telephone like DECT, with the

capability to handover from one cell to another. PHS cells are small, with
transmission power of base station a maximum of 500 mW and range
typically measures in tens or at most hundreds of meters (some can range
up to about 2 kilometers in line-of-sight), contrary to the multi-kilometer
ranges of CDMA and GSM. This makes PHS suitable for dense urban
areas, but impractical for rural areas, and the small cell size also makes it
difficult if not impossible to make calls from rapidly moving vehicles.
PHS uses TDMA/TDD for its radio channel access method, and 32 kbit/s
ADPCM for its voice codec. Modern PHS phone can also support many
value-added services such as high speed wireless data / Internet
connection (64 kbit/s and higher), WWW access, e-mailing, text
messaging and even color image transfer. PHS technology is also a
popular option for providing a wireless local loop, where it is used for
bridging the "last mile" gap between the POTS network and the
subscriber's home. Actually, it was developed under the concept of
providing a wireless front-end of an ISDN network. Thus a base station of
PHS is compatible with ISDN and is often connected directly to ISDN
telephone exchange equipment e.g. a digital switch.

Second Generation (2G) transitional (2.5G, 2.75G)

GSM/3GPP family

• HSCSD: High-speed circuit-switched data (HSCSD) is an enhancement

to circuit switched data (CSD), the original data transmission mechanism
of the GSM mobile phone system, four times faster than GSM, with data
rates up to 38.4 kbit/s. Channel allocation is done in circuit-switched
mode, as with CSD. Higher speeds are achieved as a result of superior
coding methods, and the ability to use multiple time slots to increase data
throughput. One innovation in HSCSD is to allow different error
correction methods to be used for data transfer. The original error
correction used in GSM was designed to work at the limits of coverage
and in the worst case that GSM will handle. This means that a large part of
the GSM transmission capacity is taken up with error correction codes.
HSCSD provides different levels of possible error correction which can be
used according to the quality of the radio link. This means that in the best
conditions 14.4 kbit/s can be put through a single time slot that under CSD
would only carry 9.6 kbit/s, for a 50% improvement in throughput. The
other innovation in HSCSD is the ability to use multiple time slots at the
same time. Using the maximum of four time slots, this can provide an
increase in maximum transfer rate of up to 57.6 kbit/s (i.e., 4 × 14.4 kbit/s)
and, even in bad radio conditions where a higher level of error correction
needs to be used, can still provide a four times speed increase over CSD

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

(38.4 kbit/s versus 9.6 kbit/s). By combining up to eight GSM time slots
the capacity can be increased to 115 kbit/s. HSCSD requires the time slots
being used to be fully reserved to a single user. It is possible that either at
the beginning of the call, or at some point during a call, it will not be
possible for the user's full request to be satisfied since the network is often
configured to allow normal voice calls to take precedence over additional
time slots for HSCSD users. The user is typically charged for HSCSD at a
rate higher than a normal phone call (e.g., by the number of time slots
allocated) for the total period of time that the user has a connection active.
This makes HSCSD relatively expensive in many GSM networks and is
one of the reasons that packet-switched general packet radio service
(GPRS), which typically has lower pricing (based on amount of data
transferred rather than the duration of the connection), has become more
common than HSCSD. Apart from the fact that the full allocated
bandwidth of the connection is available to the HSCSD user, HSCSD also
has an advantage in GSM systems in terms of lower average radio
interface latency than GPRS. This is because the user of an HSCSD
connection does not have to wait for permission from the network to send
a packet. HSCSD is also an option in enhanced data rates for GSM
evolution (EDGE) and universal mobile telephone system (UMTS)
systems where packet data transmission rates are much higher. In the
UMTS system, the advantages of HSCSD over packet data are even lower
since the UMTS radio interface has been specifically designed to support
high bandwidth, low latency packet connections. This means that the
primary reason to use HSCSD in this environment would be access to
legacy dial up systems.

• GPRS: General packet radio service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile

data service available to users of the 2G cellular communication systems
global system for mobile communications (GSM), as well as in the 3G
systems. In 2G systems, GPRS provides data rates of 56-114 kbit/s. GPRS
data transfer is typically charged per megabyte of traffic transferred, while
data communication via traditional circuit switching is billed per minute of
connection time, independent of whether the user actually is using the
capacity or is in an idle state. GPRS is a best-effort packet switched
service, as opposed to circuit switching, where a certain quality of service
(QoS) is guaranteed during the connection for non-mobile users.2G
cellular systems combined with GPRS are often described as 2.5G, that is,
a technology between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of
mobile telephony. It provides moderate speed data transfer, by using
unused time division multiple access (TDMA) channels in, for example,
the GSM system. Originally there was some thought to extend GPRS to
cover other standards, but instead those networks are being converted to
use the GSM standard, so that GSM is the only kind of network where

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

GPRS is in use. GPRS is integrated into GSM Release 97 and newer

releases. It was originally standardized by European Telecommunications
Standards Institute (ETSI), but now by the 3rd Generation Partnership
Project (3GPP).GPRS was developed as a GSM response to the earlier
CDPD and i-mode packet switched cellular technologies.

• EDGE/EGPRS: Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) (also

known as Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), or IMT Single Carrier (IMT-SC), or
Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution) is a backward-compatible
digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission
rates, as an extension on top of standard GSM. EDGE is considered a 3G
radio technology and is part of ITU's 3G definition.[1] EDGE was deployed
on GSM networks beginning in 2003— initially by Cingular (now AT&T)
in the United States. EDGE is standardized by 3GPP as part of the GSM
family, and it is an upgrade that provides more than three-fold increase in
both the capacity and performance of GSM/GPRS networks. It does this
by introducing sophisticated methods of coding and transmitting data,
delivering higher bit-rates per radio channel. EDGE can be used for any
packet switched application, such as an Internet connection. EDGE-
delivered data services create a broadband internet-like experience for the
mobile phone user. High bandwidth data applications such as video
services and other multimedia benefit from EGPRS' increased data
capacity. Evolved EDGE continues in Release 7 of the 3GPP standard
providing reduced latency and more than doubled performance e.g. to
complement High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA). Peak bit-rates of up to
1Mbit/s and typical bit-rates of 400kbit/s can be expected. EDGE/EGPRS
is implemented as a bolt-on enhancement for 2G and 2.5G GSM and
GPRS networks, making it easier for existing GSM carriers to upgrade to
it. EDGE/EGPRS is a superset to GPRS and can function on any network
with GPRS deployed on it, provided the carrier implements the necessary
upgrade. EDGE requires no hardware or software changes to be made in
Global System for Mobile Communications core networks. EDGE
compatible transceiver units must be installed and the base station
subsystem needs to be upgraded to support EDGE. If the operator already
has this in place, which is often the case today, the network can be
upgraded to EDGE by activating an optional software feature. Today
EDGE is supported by all major chip vendors for both GSM and
WCDMA/HSPA.

3GPP2 family

• CDMA2000 1xRTT (IS-2000) also known as 1x and 1xRTT, is the core

CDMA2000 wireless air interface standard. The designation "1x",
meaning 1 times Radio Transmission Technology, indicates the same RF

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

bandwidth as IS-95: a duplex pair of 1.25 MHz radio channels. 1xRTT

almost doubles the capacity of IS-95 by adding 64 more traffic channels to
the forward link, orthogonal to (in quadrature with) the original set of 64.
The 1X standard supports packet data speeds of up to 153 kbps with real
world data transmission averaging 60–100 kbps in most commercial
applications. IMT-2000 also made changes to the data link layer for the
greater use of data services, including medium and link access control
protocols and QoS. The IS-95 data link layer only provided "best effort
delivery" for data and circuit switched channel for voice (i.e., a voice
frame once every 20 ms).

Other
• WiDEN: Wideband Integrated Digital Enhanced Network, or WiDEN, is
a software upgrade developed by Motorola for its iDEN enhanced
specialized mobile radio (or ESMR) wireless telephony protocol. WiDEN
allows compatible subscriber units to communicate across four 25 kHz
channels combined, for up to 100 kbit/s of bandwidth. The protocol is
generally considered a 2.5G wireless cellular technology

Third Generation (3G) Cellular Network

As the use of 2G phones became more widespread and people began to utilise mobile
phones in their daily lives, it became clear that demand for data services (such as access
to the internet) was growing. Furthermore, if the experience from fixed broadband
services was anything to go by, there would also be a demand for ever greater data
speeds. The 2G technology was nowhere near up to the job, so the industry began to work
on the next generation of technology known as 3G. The main technological difference
that distinguishes 3G technology from 2G technology is the use of packet-switching
rather than circuit-switching for data transmission. In addition, the standardization
process focused on requirements more than technology (2 Mbit/s maximum data rate
indoors, 384 kbit/s outdoors, for example).

Inevitably this led to many competing standards with different contenders pushing their
own technologies, and the vision of a single unified worldwide standard looked far from
reality. The standard 2G CDMA networks became 3G compliant with the adoption of
Revision A to EV-DO, which made several additions to the protocol whilst retaining
backwards compatibility:

• the introduction of several new forward link data rates that increase the maximum
burst rate from 2.45 Mbit/s to 3.1 Mbit/s.
• protocols that would decrease connection establishment time.
• the ability for more than one mobile to share the same time slot.
• the introduction of QoS flags.

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

All these were put in place to allow for low latency, low bit rate communications such as
VoIP. The first pre-commercial trial network with 3G was launched by NTT DoCoMo in
Japan in the Tokyo region in May 2001. NTT DoCoMo launched the first commercial 3G
network on October 1, 2001, using the WCDMA technology. In 2002 the first 3G
networks on the rival CDMA2000 1xEV-DO technology were launched by SK Telecom
and KTF in South Korea, and Monet in the USA. Monet has since gone bankrupt. By the
end of 2002, the second WCDMA network was launched in Japan by Vodafone KK (now
Softbank). European launches of 3G were in Italy and the UK by the Three/Hutchison
group, on WCDMA. 2003 saw a further 8 commercial launches of 3G, six more on
WCDMA and two more on the EV-DO standard. During the development of 3G systems,
2.5G systems such as CDMA2000 1x and GPRS were developed as extensions to
existing 2G networks. These provide some of the features of 3G without fulfilling the
promised high data rates or full range of multimedia services. CDMA2000-1X delivers
theoretical maximum data speeds of up to 307 kbit/s. Just beyond these is the EDGE
system which in theory covers the requirements for 3G system, but is so narrowly above
these that any practical system would be sure to fall short. The high connection speeds of
3G technology enabled a transformation in the industry: for the first time, media
streaming of radio (and even television) content to 3G handsets became possible , with
companies such as RealNetworks and Disney among the early pioneers in this type of
offering. In the mid 2000s an evolution of 3G technology begun to be implemented,
namely High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA). It is an enhanced 3G (third
generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access
(HSPA) family, also coined 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G, which allows networks based on
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer
speeds and capacity. Current HSDPA deployments support down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6,
7.2 and 14.0 Mbit/s. Further speed increases are available with HSPA+, which provides
speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s downlink and 84 Mbit/s with Release 9 of the 3GPP standards.
By the end of 2007 there were 295 Million subscribers on 3G networks worldwide, which
reflected 9% of the total worldwide subscriber base. About two thirds of these were on
the WCDMA standard and one third on the EV-DO standard. The 3G telecoms services
generated over 120 Billion dollars of revenues during 2007 and at many markets the
majority of new phones activated were 3G phones. In Japan and South Korea the market
no longer supplies phones of the second generation. Earlier in the decade there were
doubts about whether 3G might happen, and also whether 3G might become a
commercial success. By the end of 2007 it had become clear that 3G was a reality and
was clearly on the path to become a profitable venture.

3GPP family

• UMTS (UTRAN): Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)

is one of the third-generation (3G) mobile telecommunications
technologies, which is also being developed into a 4G technology. The
first deployment of the UMTS is the release99 (R99) architecture. It is
specified by 3GPP and is part of the global ITU IMT-2000 standard. The
most common form of UMTS uses W-CDMA (IMT Direct Spread) as the
underlying air interface but the system also covers TD-CDMA and TD-

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

SCDMA (both IMT CDMA TDD). Being a complete network system,

UMTS also covers the radio access network (UMTS Terrestrial Radio
Access Network, or UTRAN) and the core network (Mobile Application
Part, or MAP), as well as authentication of users via USIM cards
(Subscriber Identity Module).Unlike EDGE (IMT Single-Carrier, based on
GSM) and CDMA2000 (IMT Multi-Carrier), UMTS requires new base
stations and new frequency allocations. However, it is closely related to
GSM/EDGE as it borrows and builds upon concepts from GSM. Further,
most UMTS handsets also support GSM, allowing seamless dual-mode
operation. Therefore, UMTS is sometimes marketed as 3GSM,
emphasizing the close relationship with GSM and differentiating it from
competing technologies. The name UMTS, introduced by ETSI, is usually
used in Europe. Outside of Europe, the system is also known by other
names such as FOMA or W-CDMA. In marketing, it is often just referred
to as 3G.

UTRAN, short for UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network, is a

collective term for the Node B's and Radio Network Controllers which
make up the UMTS radio access network. This communications network,
commonly referred to as 3G (for 3rd Generation Wireless Mobile
Communication Technology), can carry many traffic types from real-time
Circuit Switched to IP based Packet Switched. The UTRAN allows
connectivity between the UE (user equipment) and the core network. The
UTRAN contains the base stations, which are called Node Bs, and Radio
Network Controllers (RNC). The RNC provides control functionalities for
one or more Node Bs. A Node B and an RNC can be the same device,
although typical implementations have a separate RNC located in a central
office serving multiple Node Bs. Despite the fact that they do not have to
be physically separated, there is a logical interface between them known
as the Iub. The RNC and its corresponding Node Bs are called the Radio
Network Subsystem (RNS). There can be more than one RNS present in
an UTRAN. There are four interfaces connecting the UTRAN internally or
externally to other functional entities: Iu, Uu, Iub and Iur. The Iu interface
is an external interface that connects the RNC to the Core Network (CN).
The Uu is also external, connecting the Node B with the User Equipment
(UE). The Iub is an internal interface connecting the RNC with the Node
B. And at last there is the Iur interface which is an internal interface most
of the time, but can, exceptionally be an external interface too for some
network architectures. The Iur connects two RNCs with each other.

• WCDMA-FDD: Frequency-division duplexing (FDD) means that the

transmitter and receiver operates at different carrier frequencies. The term
is frequently used in ham radio operation, where an operator is attempting
to contact a repeater station. The station must be able to send and receive a
transmission at the same time, and does so by slightly altering the
frequency at which it sends and receives. This mode of operation is

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

referred to as duplex mode or offset mode. Uplink and downlink sub-bands

are said to be separated by the frequency offset. Frequency-division
duplexing can be efficient in the case of symmetric traffic. In this case
time-division duplexing tends to waste bandwidth during the switch-over
from transmitting to receiving, has greater inherent latency, and may
require more complex circuitry. Another advantage of frequency-division
duplexing is that it makes radio planning easier and more efficient, since
base stations do not "hear" each other (as they transmit and receive in
different sub-bands) and therefore will normally not interfere each other.
On the converse, with time-division duplexing systems, care must be taken
to keep guard times between neighboring base stations (which decreases
spectral efficiency) or to synchronize base stations, so that they will
transmit and receive at the same time (which increases network
complexity and therefore cost, and reduces bandwidth allocation
flexibility as all base stations and sectors will be forced to use the same
uplink/downlink ratio)

• WCDMA-TDD: Time-division duplexing (TDD) is the application of

time-division multiplexing to separate outward and return signals. It
emulates full-duplex communication over a half-duplex communication
link. Time-division duplex has a strong advantage in the case where there
is asymmetry of the uplink and downlink data rates. As the amount of
uplink data increases, more communication capacity can be dynamically
allocated, and as the traffic load becomes lighter, capacity can be taken
away. The same applies in the downlink direction

• UTRA-TDD LCR (TD-SCDMA): Time Division Synchronous Code

Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) or UTRA/UMTS-TDD 1.28
Mcps Low Chip Rate (LCR), is an air interface found in UMTS mobile
telecommunications networks in China as an alternative to W-CDMA.
Together with TD-CDMA, it is also known UMTS-TDD or IMT 2000
Time-Division (IMT-TD). The term "TD-SCDMA" is misleading. While
it suggests covering only a channel access method based on CDMA, it is
actually the common name for the whole air interface specification. TD-
SCDMA uses the S-CDMA channel access method across multiple time
slots. TD-SCDMA is based on spread spectrum technology which makes
it unlikely that it will be able to escape completely the payment of license
fees to western patent holders. The launch of a national TD-SCDMA
network was initially projected by 2005 but has still not been achieved;
the latest stage of "commercial trials" across eight cities was launched on
April 1, 2008 and will eventually include 60,000 users. On January 7,
2009 China granted TD-SCDMA 3G license to China Mobile. On
September 21, 2009 China Mobile officially announced that it had 1.327m
TD-SCDMA subscribers as at the end of August, 2009

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

3GPP2 family
• CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) (IS-856) often
abbreviated as EV-DO or EV, is a telecommunications standard for
the wireless transmission of data through radio signals, typically
for broadband Internet access. It uses multiplexing techniques
including code division multiple access (CDMA) as well as time division
multiple access (TDMA) to maximize both individual user's throughput
and the overall system throughput. It is standardized by 3rd Generation
Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) as part of the CDMA2000 family of
standards and has been adopted by many mobile phone service providers
around the world – particularly those previously employing CDMA
networks. It is also used on the Globalstar satellite phone network.

Third Generation (3G) transitional (3.5G, 3.9G)

3GPP family

• HSDPA: High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is an enhanced

3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the
High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, also dubbed 3.5G, 3G+ or
turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds
and capacity. Current HSDPA deployments support down-link speeds of
1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.0 Mbit/s. Further speed increases are available with
HSPA+, which provides speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s downlink and 84 Mbit/s
with Release 9 of the 3GPP standards. HSDPA is part of the UMTS
standards since release 5, which also accompanies an improvement on the
uplink providing a new bearer of 384 kbit/s. The previous maximum
bearer was 128 kbit/s. As well as improving data rates, HSDPA also
decreases latency and so the round trip time for applications. In later 3GPP
specification releases HSPA+ increases data rates further by adding
64QAM modulation, MIMO and Dual-Cell HSDPA operation, i.e. two
5 MHz carriers are used simultaneously.

• HSUPA: High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) is a 3G mobile

telephony protocol in the HSPA family with up-link speeds up to 5.76
Mbit/s. The name HSUPA was created by Nokia. The 3GPP does not
support the name 'HSUPA', but instead uses the name Enhanced Uplink
(EUL).The specifications for HSUPA are included in Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System Release 6 standard published by 3GPP. –
"The technical purpose of the Enhanced Uplink feature is to improve the
performance of uplink dedicated transport channels, i.e. to increase
capacity and throughput and reduce delay." HSUPA uses an uplink

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

enhanced dedicated channel (E-DCH) on which it will employ link

adaptation methods similar to those employed by HSDPA, namely:
o shorter Transmission Time Interval enabling faster link adaptation;
o HARQ (hybrid ARQ) with incremental redundancy making
retransmissions more effective.

Similarly to HSDPA, HSUPA uses a packet scheduler, but it operates on a

request-grant principle where the UEs request a permission to send data
and the scheduler decides when and how many UEs will be allowed to do
so. A request for transmission contains data about the state of the
transmission buffer and the queue at the UE and its available power
margin. However, unlike HSDPA, uplink transmissions are not orthogonal
to each other. In addition to this scheduled mode of transmission the
standards also allows a self-initiated transmission mode from the UEs,
denoted non-scheduled. The non-scheduled mode can, for example, be
used for VoIP services for which even the reduced TTI and the Node B
based scheduler will not be able to provide the very short delay time and
constant bandwidth required. Each MAC-d flow (i.e. QoS flow) is
configured to use either scheduled or non-scheduled modes; the UE
adjusts the data rate for scheduled and non-scheduled flows independently.
The maximum data rate of each non-scheduled flow is configured at call
setup, and typically not changed frequently. The power used by the
scheduled flows is controlled dynamically by the Node B through absolute
grant (consisting of an actual value) and relative grant (consisting of a
single up/down bit) messages. At Layer 1, HSUPA introduces new
physical channels E-AGCH (Absolute Grant Channel), E-RGCH (Relative
Grant Channel), F-DPCH (Fractional-DPCH), E-HICH (E-DCH Hybrid
ARQ Indicator Channel), E-DPCCH (E-DCH Dedicated Physical Control
Channel) and E-DPDCH (E-DCH Dedicated Physical Data Channel).E-
DPDCH is used to carry the E-DCH Transport Channel; and E-DPCCH is
used to carry the control information associated with the E-DCH.

• HSPA+: HSPA+, also known as Evolved High-Speed Packet Access is a

wireless broadband standard defined in 3GPP release 7.HSPA+ provides
HSPA data rates up to 56 Mbit/s on the downlink and 22 Mbit/s on the
uplink with MIMO technologies and higher order modulation (64QAM).
MIMO on CDMA based systems acts like virtual sectors to give extra
capacity closer to the mast. The 56 Mbit/s and 22 Mbit/s represent
theoretical peak sector speeds. The actual speed for a user will be lower.
At cell edge and even at half the distance to the cell edge there may only
be slight increase compared with 14.4 Mbit/s HSDPA unless a wider
channel than 5 MHz is used. Future revisions of HSPA+ support up to
168 Mbit/s using multiple carriers. HSPA+ also introduces an optional all-
IP architecture for the network where base stations are directly connected
to IP based backhaul and then to the ISP's edge routers. The technology
also delivers significant battery life improvements and dramatically

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

quicker wake-from-idle time - delivering a true always-on connection.

HSPA+ should not be confused with LTE, which uses a new air interface.
As of November 2009, there are 20 HSPA+ networks running in the world
at 21 Mbit/s and two are running at 28 Mbit/s. The first to launch was
Telstra in Australia in late 2008, with Australia-wide access in February
2009 with speeds up to 21 Mbit/sec. An all-IP architecture is an option
within HSPA+. Base stations connect to the network via standard gigabit
Ethernet to the ISP's edge routers connected to the internet or other ISP via
peering arrangements. This makes the network faster, cheaper to deploy
and operate. However the legacy architecture is still possible with the
Evolved HSPA. This 'flat architecture' communicates 'user plane' IP
directly from the base station to the GGSN IP router system, using any
available link technology. It is defined in 3GPP TR25.999. User IP data
bypasses the Radio Network Controller (RNC) and the SGSN of the
previous 3GPP UMTS architecture versions. This is a major step towards
the 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) flat architecture as defined in the
3GPP standard Rel-8. In essence the flat architecture turns the cellular
base station into an IP router. It connects to the Internet with cost effective
modern IP link layer technologies like Ethernet, and for user plane data it
is not tied to the SONET/SDH infrastructure or T1/E1 lines any more.

• LTE (E-UTRA): LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the trademarked project

name of a high performance air interface for cellular mobile telephony. e-
UTRAN or eUTRAN is the air interface of 3GPP's Long Term Evolution
(LTE) upgrade path for mobile networks. It is the abbreviation for evolved
UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network, also referred to as the 3GPP
work item on the Long Term Evolution (LTE). It is a project of the 3rd
Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), operating under a name
trademarked by one of the associations within the partnership, the
European Telecommunications Standards Institute. LTE is a step toward
the 4th generation (4G) of radio technologies designed to increase the
capacity and speed of mobile telephone networks. Where the current
generation of mobile telecommunication networks are collectively known
as 3G (for "third generation"), LTE is marketed as 4G. Actually LTE is a
3.9G technology since it does not fully comply with the IMT Advanced
4G requirements. Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility in the United
States and several worldwide carriers announced plans, beginning in 2009,
to convert their networks to LTE. The world's first publicly available
LTE-service was opened by TeliaSonera in the two Scandinavian capitals
Stockholm and Oslo on the 14th of December 2009. LTE is a set of
enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
(UMTS) which was introduced in 3rd Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP) Release 8. Much of 3GPP Release 8 focuses on adopting 4G
mobile communications technology, including an all-IP flat networking

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

architecture. On August 18, 2009, the European Commission announced it

will invest a total of €18 million into researching the deployment of LTE
and 4G candidate system LTE Advanced. While it is commonly seen as a
mobile telephone or common carrier development, LTE is also endorsed
by public safety agencies in the US[ as the preferred technology for the
new 700 MHz public-safety radio band. Agencies in some areas have filed
for waivers hoping to use the 700 MHz spectrum with other technologies
in advance of the adoption of a nationwide standard.

Much of the standard addresses upgrading 3G UMTS to 4G mobile

communications technology, which is essentially a mobile broadband
system with enhanced multimedia services built on top.

The standard includes:

• Peak download rates of 326.4 Mbit/s for 4x4 antennas, and

172.8 Mbit/s for 2x2 antennas (utilizing 20 MHz of spectrum).
• Peak upload rates of 86.4 Mbit/s for every 20 MHz of
spectrum using a single antenna.
• Five different terminal classes have been defined from a
voice centric class up to a high end terminal that supports the peak
data rates. All terminals will be able to process 20 MHz
bandwidth.
• At least 200 active users in every 5 MHz cell. (Specifically,
200 active data clients)
• Sub-5 ms latency for small IP packets
• Increased spectrum flexibility, with supported spectrum
slices as small as 1.4 MHz and as large as 20 MHz (W-CDMA
requires 5 MHz slices, leading to some problems with roll-outs of
the technology in countries where 5 MHz is a commonly allocated
amount of spectrum, and is frequently already in use with legacy
standards such as 2G GSM and cdmaOne.) Limiting sizes to
5 MHz also limited the amount of bandwidth per handset
• In the 900 MHz frequency band to be used in rural areas,
supporting an optimal cell size of 5 km, 30 km sizes with
reasonable performance, and up to 100 km cell sizes supported
with acceptable performance. In city and urban areas, higher
frequency bands (such as 2.6 GHz in EU) are used to support high
speed mobile broadband. In this case, cell sizes may be 1 km or
even less.
• Good support for mobility. High performance mobile data
is possible at speeds of up to 350 km/h, or even up to 500 km/h,
depending on the frequency band used.
• Co-existence with legacy standards (users can transparently
start a call or transfer of data in an area using an LTE standard,
and, should coverage be unavailable, continue the operation

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

without any action on their part using GSM/GPRS or W-CDMA-

based UMTS or even 3GPP2 networks such as cdmaOne or
CDMA2000)
• Support for MBSFN (Multicast Broadcast Single
Frequency Network). This feature can deliver services such as
Mobile TV using the LTE infrastructure, and is a competitor for
DVB-H-based TV broadcast.

A large amount of the work is aimed at simplifying the architecture of the

system, as it transits from the existing UMTS circuit + packet switching
combined network, to an all-IP flat architecture system.

3GPP2 family
• EV-DO Rev. A: Revision A of EV-DO makes several additions to the
protocol while keeping it completely backwards compatible with Revision
0.These changes included the introduction of several new forward link
data rates that increase the maximum burst rate from 2.45 Mbit/s to 3.1
Mbit/s. Also included were protocols that would decrease connection
establishment time (called enhanced access channel MAC), the ability for
more than one mobile to share the same timeslot (multi-user packets) and
the introduction of QoS flags. All of these were put in place to allow for
low latency, low bit rate communications such as VoIP. In the United
States, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel have migrated 100% of their
EV-DO Rev.0 networks to EV-DO Rev. A. In addition to the changes on
the forward link, the reverse link was enhanced to support higher
complexity modulation (and thus higher bit rates). An optional secondary
pilot was added, which is activated by the mobile when it tries to achieve
enhanced data rates. To combat reverse link congestion and noise rise, the
protocol calls for each mobile to be given an interference allowance which
is replenished by the network when the reverse link conditions allow
it. The reverse link has a maximum rate of 1.8 Mbit/s, but under normal
conditions users experience a rate of approximately 500-1000kbit/s but
with more latency than cable and dsl.

• EV-DO Rev. B is a multi-carrier evolution of the Rev. A specification. It

maintains the capabilities of EV-DO Rev. A, and provides the following
enhancements:

o Higher rates per carrier (up to 4.9 Mbit/s on the downlink per
carrier). Typical deployments are expected to include 2 or 3
carriers for a peak rate of 14.7 Mbit/s. Higher rates by bundling
multiple channels together enhance the user experience and
enables new services such as high definition video streaming.
o Reduced latency by using statistical multiplexing across channels
-enhances the experience for latency sensitive services such as

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

gaming, video telephony, remote console sessions and web

browsing.
o Increased talk-time and standby time
o Reduced interference from the adjacent sectors especially to users
at the edge of the cell signal which improves the rates that can be
offered by using Hybrid frequency re-use.
o Efficient support for services that have asymmetric download and
upload requirements (i.e. different data rates required in each
direction) such as file transfers, web browsing, and broadband
multimedia content delivery.

Other
• Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e-2005): The Mobile WiMAX (Wired
Interoperability for Microwave Access) (IEEE 802.16e-2005) mobile
wireless broadband access (MWBA) standard is sometimes branded 4G,
and offers peak data rates of 128 Mbit/s downlink and 56 Mbit/s uplink
over 20 MHz wide channels. The IEEE 802.16m evolution of 802.16e is
under development, with the objective to fulfill the IMT-Advanced criteria
of 1 Gbit/s for stationary reception and 100 Mbit/s for mobile reception.

• Flash-OFDM: Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM),

essentially identical to coded OFDM (COFDM) and discrete multi-tone
modulation (DMT), is a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) scheme
utilized as a digital multi-carrier modulation method. A large number of
closely-spaced orthogonal sub-carriers are used to carry data. The data is
divided into several parallel data streams or channels, one for each sub-
carrier. Each sub-carrier is modulated with a conventional modulation
scheme (such as quadrature amplitude modulation or phase-shift keying)
at a low symbol rate, maintaining total data rates similar to conventional
single-carrier modulation schemes in the same bandwidth. OFDM has
developed into a popular scheme for wideband digital communication,
whether wireless or over copper wires, used in applications such as digital
television and audio broadcasting, wireless networking and broadband
internet access. The primary advantage of OFDM over single-carrier
schemes is its ability to cope with severe channel conditions (for example,
attenuation of high frequencies in a long copper wire, narrowband
interference and frequency-selective fading due to multipath) without
complex equalization filters. Channel equalization is simplified because
OFDM may be viewed as using many slowly-modulated narrowband
signals rather than one rapidly-modulated wideband signal. The low
symbol rate makes the use of a guard interval between symbols affordable,
making it possible to handle time-spreading and eliminate intersymbol
interference (ISI). This mechanism also facilitates the design of single
frequency networks (SFNs), where several adjacent transmitters send the

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

same signal simultaneously at the same frequency, as the signals from

multiple distant transmitters may be combined constructively, rather than
interfering as would typically occur in a traditional single-carrier system.

• IEEE 802.20: IEEE 802.20 or Mobile Broadband Wireless Access

(MBWA) is an IEEE Standard to enable worldwide deployment of multi-
vendor interoperable mobile broadband wireless access networks. It is
hoped that such an interface will allow the creation of low-cost, always-
on, and truly mobile broadband wireless networks, nicknamed as Mobile-
Fi.IEEE 802.20 will be specified according to a layered architecture,
which is consistent with other IEEE 802 specifications. The scope of the
working group consists of the physical (PHY), medium access control
(MAC), and logical link control (LLC) layers. The air interface will
operate in bands below 3.5 GHz and with a peak data rate of over 80
Mbit/s. The goals of 802.20 and 802.16e, the so-called "mobile WiMAX",
are similar. A draft 802.20 specification was balloted and approved on
January 18, 2006.The IEEE approved 802.20-2008, Physical and Media
Access Specification on 12 June 2008. This is now freely available from
the IEEE website. The baseline specifications that have been proposed for
this specification aim considerably higher than those available on our
current mobile architecture.
o The standard's proposed benefits:
 IP roaming & handoff (at more than 1 Mbit/s)
 New MAC and PHY with IP and adaptive antennas
 Optimized for full mobility up to vehicular speeds of
250 km/h
 Operates in Licensed Bands (below 3.5 GHz)
 Utilizes Packet Architecture
 Low Latency
o Some technical details
 Bandwidths of 5, 10, and 20 MHz.
 Peak data rates of 80 Mbit/s.
 Spectral efficiency above 1 bit/sec/Hz using MIMO.
 Layered frequency hopping allocates OFDM carriers to
near, middle, and far-away handsets, improving SNR
(works best for SISO handsets.)
 Supports low-bit rates efficiently, carrying up to 100 phone
calls per MHz.
 Hybrid ARQ with up to 6 transmissions and several choices
for interleaving.
 Basic slot period of 913 microseconds carrying 8 OFDM
symbols.

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

 One of the first standards to support both TDM (FL,RL)

and separate-frequency (FL, RL) deployments

Fourth Generation (4G) Cellular Network

It is a successor to 3G and 2G families of standards. The nomenclature of the generations
generally refers to a change in the fundamental nature of the service, non-backwards
compatible transmission technology and new frequency bands. The first was the move
from 1981 analogue (1G) to digital (2G) transmission in 1992. This was followed, in
2002, by 3G multi-media support, spread spectrum transmission and at least 200 kbit/s,
soon expected to be followed by 4G, which refers to all-IP packet-switched networks,
mobile ultra-broadband (gigabit speed) access and multi-carrier transmission. Pre-4G
technologies such as mobile WiMAX and first-release 3G Long term evolution (LTE) are
available on the market since 2005 and 2009 respectively.

A 4G system is expected to provide a comprehensive and secure all-IP based solution

where facilities such as IP telephony, ultra-broadband Internet access, gaming services
and streamed multimedia may be provided to users.

An IMT advanced cellular system must have target peak data rates of up to
approximately 100 Mbit/s for high mobility such as mobile access and up to
approximately 1 Gbit/s for low mobility such as nomadic/local wireless access, according
to the ITU requirements. Scalable bandwidths up to at least 40 MHz should be provided.

In all suggestions for 4G, the CDMA spread spectrum radio technology used in 3G
systems and IS-95 is abandoned and replaced by frequency-domain equalization
schemes, for example multi-carrier transmission such as OFDMA. This is combined with
MIMO (i.e. multiple antennas(Multiple In Multiple Out)), dynamic channel allocation
and channel-dependent scheduling

3GPP family

• LTE Advanced: The pre-4G technology 3GPP Long Term Evolution

(LTE) is often branded "4G", but the first LTE release does not fully
comply with the IMT-Advanced requirements. LTE has a theoretical net
bit rate capacity of up to 100 Mbit/s in the downlink and 50 Mbit/s in the
uplink if a 20 MHz channel is used - and more if Multiple-input multiple-
output (MIMO), i.e. antenna arrays, are used. Most major mobile carriers
in the United States and several worldwide carriers have announced plans
to convert their networks to LTE beginning in 2011. The world's first
publicly available LTE-service was opened in the two Scandinavian
capitals Stockholm and Oslo on the 14 December 2009, and branded 4G.
The physical radio interface was at an early stage named High Speed

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216

 Assignment of Mobile Communication

OFDM Packet Access (HSOPA), now named Evolved UMTS Terrestrial

Radio Access (E-UTRA).LTE Advanced (Long-term-evolution
Advanced) is a candidate for IMT-Advanced standard, formally submitted
by the 3GPP organization to ITU-T in the fall 2009, and expected to be
released in 2012. The target of 3GPP LTE Advanced is to reach and
surpass the ITU requirements. LTE Advanced should be compatible with
first release LTE equipment, and should share frequency bands with first
release LTE.

WiMAX family

• IEEE 802.16m: It is a series of Wireless Broadband standards authored by

the IEEE. The current version is IEEE 802.16-2009 amended by IEEE
802.16j-2009.IEEE 802.16 is written by a working group established by
IEEE Standards Board in 1999 to develop standards for the global
deployment of broadband Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks. The
Workgroup is a unit of the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee.
Although the 802.16 family of standards is officially called WirelessMAN
in IEEE, it has been commercialized under the name “WiMAX” (from
"Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access") by the industry
alliance called the WiMAX Forum. The mission of the Forum is to
promote and certify compatibility and interoperability of broadband
wireless products based on the IEEE 802.16 standards. The most popular
implementation of the IEEE 802.16 standard is the Mobile WirelessMAN
originally defined by the 802.16e-2005 amendment that is now in process
of being deployed around the world in more than 140 countries by more
than 475 operators.

UMB (Formerly EV-DO Rev. C):UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband) was the brand name
for a discontinued 4G project within the 3GPP2 standardization group to improve
the CDMA2000 mobile phone standard for next generation applications and
requirements. In November 2008, Qualcomm, UMB's lead sponsor, announced it
was ending development of the technology, favoring LTE instead. The objective
was to achieve data speeds over 275 Mbit/s downstream and over 75 Mbit/s
upstream.

Submitted by: Nirajan Raj Pokharel 063/Bex/216