University of Technology, Sydney

32702 Contemporary Telecommunications

The evolution how 3G to 4G technologies

Ming H. Zhao (10810164)
University of Technology, Sydney
minghui.zhao@student.uts.edu.au
Lecturer: Gay Valerie
13th September, 2010
1. Introduction
Since contemporary communication came into daily life, people always keep seeking unrestricted
communication at all time. Mobile telecommunication satisfied people's demand with the first
generation (1G) and the second generation (2G). In the wake of development in multimedia and internet,
most of telecommunication mobile networks operators have offered the third generation (3G) to the
customers to replace 2G over the past two years. Currently, many ICT professionals and research
institutes began to focus on the theory and practice of fourth generation (4G).
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) recognizes the standards of 3G including WCDMA,
CDMA2000 and TD-SCDMA (Whalley, Zhou & An 2009). Relative to analogue wireless network (1G)
and GSM/TDMA (2G) narrow band technologies, 3G is introduced to solve the disadvantage of narrow
band network. But 3G does not meet people's expectation yet. For example: 3G voice switching
architecture is still carried on the circuit-switched which is used by 2G systems, not the way of pure IP.
Streaming media and video applications are not satisfactory. 3G high-speed data transmission is still
immature and access speed is limited by vary factors. With more and more types of wireless technology
are coming, telecommunication industry has an urgent need to integrate those wireless technologies into
an unified network environment which is emerging the beyond third generation mobile communication
system (B3G) and the future 4G communication system. B3G and 4G communication system will
provide broadband mobile access in the future. Global seamless roaming, ubiquitous data and voice
would be the most suitable best technology (Yu et al. 2005).
ITU has been drawing the standards of 4G and making terms that combine telecommunication and other
network technologies together, such as W-LAN and Bluetooth, to make data transmission speed up to
100Mbps (Lu, Walke & Shen 2004). 4G telecommunication will achieve a qualitative leap in the
technologies and applications rather than 3G. Also 4G would be suitable for all mobile users to
implement seamless convergence of wireless network, broadcast and satellite communications.
This paper analyses the actual state of mobile technologies progress, describes the motivation that drive
3G mobile technologies evolve to 4G, present new conceptual technologies of 4G in particular. Finally,

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it carries out a deeper discussion about the future 4G's trend.

2. The concept of 4G mobile communication
4G stands for fourth generation mobile communication and technology which is able to transmit high
quality image and video that can be comparable to high-definition television. The concept of 4G can be
described as broadband access and distribution network with more than 2Mbps data transmission
capacity of non-symmetric. Moreover, this is the first time that applies three-dimensional images of
high-quality transmission and allows mobile user to communicate in three-dimensional virtual reality. It
includes broadband wireless access, W-LAN, mobile broadcasting system and network interoperability
(Osseiran et al. 2007). 4G would not only be available in different platforms or any wireless network
across different frequency band, but also access broadband Internet everywhere including satellite and
stratospheric communication. Furthermore, 4G provides timing and positioning system, data acquisition
and remote control integrated functions. Thus, 4G is multi-functional integrated broadband mobile
communication system with capable broadband access based on internet protocol (IP).
3. Comparison of 3G and 4G
3.1 Core technology
3G is based on Code－Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology. CDMA is the orthogonal
code which is assigned to the different modulation signals of different users to implement multi-user
access system on the same frequency.
The core technology of 4G is orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) which belongs
to Multi-Carrier Modulation (MCM). It divides assigned channel into orthogonal sub channels,
modulating and transmitting on each sub channel of narrowband (Aceña 2005).
3.2 Telecommunication system structure
3G is based on cellular network (shown in Figure 1), the core network of 3G is developed from
GSM-MAP, AMPS and ANSI-41 which is the core network of GSM, the air interface and the
corresponding system is backward 2G compatibility (Luo et al. 2003).
GSM-MAP SC-FDD

Air interface SC-FDD TDD

ANSI-41 FDD

Figure 1: 3G system

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But contemporary communication requires to provide mobile user multimedia service over
broadband to enable full function of next generation mobile network based on internet technology.
As the 3G core network evolved from the 2G, it is not the optimal system that processing
Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP) packets. Meanwhile, it cannot handle
data transmission with containing large images and information either. Therefore, a critical need is
to create a new telecommunication network with the optimal transmission of TCP / IP data packet, it
would be completely different from the 2G and 3G wireless network infrastructure (Saha, Jamtgaard
& Villasenor 2001).
4G is developed a digital broadband based network. With advantages of complete IP network are: It
can achieve a seamless interconnection among different networks, low cost method to integrate
current networks. 4G core network system is a full IP-based network (Santhi et al. 2003). The core
network is independent of specific wireless access solution and able to provide end-to-end IP
service and also working with existing core network and PSTN (shown in Figure 2).
PSTN/ISDN Internet

Gateway
Ad hoc Router

IP core network
4G
Multimedia Service 4G
Terminal Gateway

W-Lan
2G/3G Terminal

Terminal
Terminal
Figure 2: 4G system infrastructure
3.3 Specification of 3G and 4G
At the ITU-R WP 8F 17th conference, ITU has formal named the 4G technology IMT-Advanced in
2007 (3G Americas 2007). In accordance with the ITU definition, the WCDMA, HSDPA and other
technologies collectively known as IMT-2000 technology. The new air interface technology, called
IMT-Advanced technology. IMT-Advanced standards continue to rely on 3G standards organization
and then develop some extended standards, such as IP core network, open service architecture and
IPv6. Meanwhile, the plans also meet the overall system architecture which can evolve 3G into the
needs of the future 4G architecture shown as the following table.

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Feature 3G 4G
Character Prior to voice and message Data and VoIP integration
Network Cellular Mixed Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Frequency range 1.6-2.5 GHz 2-8 GHz, 800MHz LF
Bandwidth 5-20 MHz 100+ MHz
Rate 385 Kbps-2 Mbps 20-100 Mbps
Access Method WCDMA/CDMA200/TD MC-CDMA/OFDM
Switch Method Circuit/packet switching Packet switching
Mobility 200Kmph 200Kmph
IP Multi-version Full IP (IPv6)
In short, 4G is a further evolution of 3G technology in traditional communication networks and
technologies based on wireless communication networks that continue to improve the efficiency and
functionality. At the same time, it contains not only a technical, but the integration of multiple
technologies. It includes not only the traditional field of mobile communications technology, but
also broadband wireless access in the field of new technologies and broadcast television technology.
4. Current 4G research progress
According to ITU, 4G can offer up to 100 Mbps for mobile and 1Gbps for immobile device (Kumar, Liu
& Sood 2010). The core technologies include: orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM),
smart antenna (SA) and multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO).
Long Term Evolution (LTE) project is the evolution of 3G that launched at 3GPP Toronto, Canada
conference in 2004. LTE can be seen as a transitive technology between 3G and 4G (Dahlman et al.
2006). It is the global standard for 3.5G that improving and enhancing air access technology of 3G.
OFDM / MIMO are the unique criterion for wireless network evolution. Telecom equipment maker
Nokia - Siemens said they already made a phone call by the next generation mobile communication
technology as the first LTE phone call on 18 September 2009 (Nokia Siemens Networks 2009). ITU
called for next generation of mobile communication (IMT-Advanced technology) in Dresden, Germany
on 26 October 2009. There were six candidate technologies for 4G proposal including China's TD-LTE
Advanced.
Currently, the views of telecom companies for 4G around the world are vary. National organizations
such as the Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF), the European Union Sixth Framework
Programme, Japan's mobile IT Forum (mITF), South Korea's next generation mobile communication

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committee (NGMC) , China's FuTURE Forum and other forums.

These 4G committees dedicate to joint more strength before formal standards organization is established,
to promote their own technology standards in order to gain more benefits in 4G era. The well-known
European 4G research include the European Union Sixth Framework research Programme and WWRF
WINNER organization. WINNER project team completed the first phase of 4G research at the end of
2005, mainly focusing on a variety of key technologies extensive research and systematic conclusions.
The ongoing second phase was 4G system design and performance evaluation process. In 2008, the third
phase was launched for the development and experimental demonstration system.
Based on mITF research, Japanese telecoms are actively engaged such as NTTDoCoMo and KDDI to
determine the goals and the evolution of 4G Development. IEEE of North America is in the
corresponding research work focused on WiMAX of 802.16m standards. They believe that during the
evolution of 4G, WiMAX should be the first point to catch up and WLAN should play a significant role
in 4G. In addition, some large U.S. telecommunications companies are making preparations positively
for 4G era (Bourse & Tafazolli 2007).
5. Conclusion
Along with the development of 3G, most of customers will be exposed to the usability and convenience.
At the same time, low speed of 3G will be the bottleneck to hinder the development of
telecommunication. In order to achieve the rate requirement of 4G, mobile operators need to deploy
more base stations. It is estimated that 4G need at least three times the number of existing base stations
to achieve 10 times the speed rate of 3G.
4G communication technologies is not out of the past, but based on the traditional communication
technologies, use new communication technologies and equipment to continually improve wireless
communication network efficiency and functionality. Integration and coexistence are the development
trend. Since 4G is the integration of multiple technologies, it can provide high speed data traffic and
download speed. With the mobile broadband development trend, main communication will also be
primarily extended from person-person to person-object, such as three-dimensional virtual world. 3G
and 4G technologies are and will be changing the traditional social network through high-speed, high-
quality and high-capacity multimedia services. From the characteristics of the current communication
technology development, 4G applied for commercial times may be in 2011 years or later. In accordance
with the mobile communication technology generation every 10 years, 2011 would be a milestone in 4G
development.

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Reference list
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Saha, S., Jamtgaard, M. and Villasenor, J. 2001, 'Bringing the Wireless Internet to Mobile Devices',
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