Bluetooth technology works on radio frequencies, since the radio frequencies can bend hence the devices doesnt

need to be placed in line of sight and can cover larger distance of upto 10mtrs

What can you do with Bluetooth Handset head set One of the most popular usage of bluetooth is to connect it to a blue tooth headset and enjoy wireless hands free voice communication. Handset Handset Exchange all kinds of datas like ringtones, images, music etc Handset Laptop/PC Exchange your own composed ringtones, image Exchange Meeting appointments, Memos, Anniversary in calendar

Network Dial Transfer games and other applications on to the handset

Bluetooth Versions Bluetooth as a technology is getting upgraded day by day, started from version 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 2.0 etc Current popular Bluetooth versions are 1.2 & 2.0, the major difference between these two are the speed, please find the chart below.

Version

Data Rate

Version 1.2 1 Mbit/s

Version 2.0 3 Mbit/s

Versions

Bluetooth 1.0 and 1.0B

Versions 1.0 and 1.0B had many problems, and manufacturers had difficulty making their products interoperable. Versions 1.0 and 1.0B also included mandatory Bluetooth hardware device address (BD_ADDR) transmission in the Connecting process (rendering anonymity impossible at the protocol level), which was a major setback for certain services planned for use in Bluetooth environments.

Bluetooth 1.1

Ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.1-2002. Many errors found in the 1.0B specifications were fixed. Added support for non-encrypted channels. Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI).

Bluetooth 1.2
This version is backward compatible with 1.1 and the major enhancements include the following:

Faster Connection and Discovery Adaptive frequency-hopping spread spectrum (AFH), which improves resistance to radio frequency interference by avoiding the use of crowded frequencies in the hopping sequence. Higher transmission speeds in practice, up to 721 kbit/s, than in 1.1. Extended Synchronous Connections (eSCO), which improve voice quality of audio links by allowing retransmissions of corrupted packets, and may optionally increase audio latency to provide better support for concurrent data transfer. Host Controller Interface (HCI) support for three-wire UART. Ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.1-2005. Introduced Flow Control and Retransmission Modes for L2CAP.

Bluetooth 2.0
It is backward compatible with the previous version 1.2. The main difference is the introduction of an Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) for faster data transfer. The nominal rate of EDR is about 3 megabits per second, although the practical data transfer rate is 2.1 megabits per second. The additional throughput is obtained by using a different radio technology for transmission of the data. Standard, or Basic Rate, transmission uses Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying (GFSK) modulation of the radio signal with a gross air data rate of 1 Mbit/s. EDR uses a combination of GFSK and Phase Shift Keying modulation (PSK) with two variants, -DQPSK and 8DPSK. These have gross air data rates of 2, and 3 Mbit/s respectively. According to the 2.0 specification, EDR provides the following benefits:

Three times faster transmission speed up to 10 times (2.1 Mbit/s) in some cases. Reduced complexity of multiple simultaneous connections due to additional bandwidth. Lower power consumption through a reduced duty cycle.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) published the specification as "Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR" which implies that EDR is an optional feature. Aside from EDR, there are other minor improvements to the 2.0 specification, and products may claim compliance to "Bluetooth 2.0" without supporting the higher data rate. At least one commercial device, the HTC TyTN Pocket PC phone, states "Bluetooth 2.0 without EDR" on its data sheet.

Bluetooth 2.1
Bluetooth Core Specification Version 2.1 is fully backward compatible with 1.2. This specification includes the following features:

Extended Inquiry Response (EIR): provides more information during the inquiry procedure to allow better filtering of devices before connection. This information may include the name of the device, a list of services the device supports, the transmission power level used for inquiry responses, and manufacturer defined data. Sniff Subrating: reduces the power consumption when devices are in the sniff lowpower mode, especially on links with asymmetric data flows. Human interface devices (HID) are expected to benefit the most, with mouse and keyboard devices increasing their battery life by a factor of 3 to 10. It lets devices decide how long they will wait before sending keepalive messages to one another. Previous Bluetooth implementations featured keep alive message frequencies of up to several times per second. In contrast, the 2.1 specification allows pairs of devices to negotiate this value between them to as infrequently as once every 5 or 10 seconds. Encryption Pause Resume (EPR): enables an encryption key to be changed with less management required by the Bluetooth host. Changing an encryption key must be done for a role switch of an encrypted an ACL link, or every 23.3 hours (one Bluetooth day) encryption is enabled on an ACL link. Before this feature was introduced, when an encryption key is refreshed the Bluetooth host would be notified of a brief gap in encryption while the new key was generated; so the Bluetooth host was required to handle pausing data transfer (however data requiring encryption may already have been sent before the notification that encryption is disabled has been received). With EPR, the Bluetooth host is not notified of the gap, and the Bluetooth controller ensures that no unencrypted data is transferred while they key is refreshed. Secure Simple Pairing (SSP): radically improves the pairing experience for Bluetooth devices, while increasing the use and strength of security. It is expected that this feature will significantly increase the use of Bluetooth.

Near Field Communication (NFC) cooperation: automatic creation of secure Bluetooth connections when NFC radio interface is also available. This functionality is part of the Secure Simple Pairing where NFC is one way of exchanging pairing information. For example, a headset should be paired with a Bluetooth 2.1 phone including NFC just by bringing the two devices close to each other (a few centimeters). Another example is automatic uploading of photos from a mobile phone or camera to a digital picture frame just by bringing the phone or camera close to the frame.

Bluetooth 3.0
Its main new feature is AMP (Alternate MAC/PHY), the addition of 802.11 as a high speed transport. Two technologies had been anticipated for AMP: 802.11 and UWB, but UWB is missing from the specification.

Alternate MAC PHY: enables the use of alternative MAC and PHY's for transporting Bluetooth profile data. The Bluetooth Radio is still used for device discovery, initial connection and profile configuration, however when lots of data needs to be sent, the high speed alternate MAC PHY (802.11, typically associated with Wi-Fi) will be used to transport the data. This means that the proven low power connection models of Bluetooth are used when the system is idle, and the low power per bit radios are used when lots of data needs to be sent. Unicast Connectionless Data: permits service data to be sent without establishing an explicit L2CAP channel. It is intended for use by applications that require low latency between user action and reconnection/transmission of data. This is only appropriate for small amounts of data. Read Encryption Key Size: introduces a standard HCI command for a Bluetooth host to query the encryption key size on an encrypted ACL link. The encryption key size used on a link is required for the SIM Access Profile, so generally Bluetooth controllers provided this feature in a proprietary manner. Now the information is available over the standard HCI interface.

GSM: Network Architecture

The GSM technical specifications define the different entities that form the GSM network by defining their functions and interface requirements. The GSM network can be divided into four main parts:

The Mobile Station (MS). The Base Station Subsystem (BSS). The Network and Switching Subsystem (NSS). The Operation and Support Subsystem (OSS).

The architecture of the GSM network is presented in figure 1.

figure 1: Architecture of the GSM network

Mobile Station

A Mobile Station consists of two main elements:

The Subscriber Identity Module (SIM): It is protected by a four-digit Personal Identification Number (PIN). In order to identify the subscriber to the system, the SIM card contains amongst others a unique International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI). User mobility is provided through maping the subscriber to the SIM card rather than the terminal as we done in past cellular systems. Mobile equipment/terminal (ME): There are different types of terminals (MN) distinguished principally by their power and application:
o

`fixed' terminals mainly installed in cars. Their maximum allowed output power is 20W portable terminals can also be installed in vehicles. Their maximum allowed output power is 8W. handheld terminals; their popularity is owed to their weight and volume, which is continuously decreasing. According to some specification these terminals may emit up to 0.8W. However, as technology has evolved their maximum allowed power ouput is limited to 0.1W.

o o

Base Station Subsystem The BSS provides the interface between the ME and the NSS. It is in charge of the transmission and reception. It may be divided into two parts:

Base Station Controller (BSC): It controls a group of BTSs and manages their radio ressources. A BSC is principally in charge of handoffs, frequency hopping, exchange functions and power control over each managed BTSs. Base Transceiver Station (BTS) or Base Station: it maps to transceivers and antennas used in each cell of the network. It is usually placed in the center of a cell. Its transmitting power defines the size of a cell. Each BTS has between 1-16 transceivers depending on the density of users in the cell.

NSS Its main role is to manage the communications between the mobile users and other users, such as mobile users, ISDN users, fixed telephony users, etc. It also includes data bases needed in order to store information about the subscribers and to manage their mobility. The different components of the NSS are described below.

MSC: the central component of the NSS. The MSC performs the switching functions of the network. It also provides connection to other networks. GMSC: A gateway that interconnects two networks: the cellular network and the PSTN. It is in charge of routing calls from the fixed network towards a GSM user. The GMSC is often implemented in the same machines as the MSC. HLR: The HLR stores information of the suscribers belonging to the coverage area of a MSC; it also stores the current location of these subscribers and the services to which they have access. The location of the subscriber maps to the SS7 address of the Visitor Location Register (VLR) associated to the MN. VLR: contains information from a subscriber's HLR necessary to provide the subscribed services to visiting users. When a subscriber enters the covering area of a new MSC, the VLR associated to this MSC will request information about the new subscriber to its corresponding HLR. The VLR will then have enough data to assure the subscribed services without needing to ask the HLR each time a communication is established. The VLR is always implemented together with a MSC; thus, the area under control of the MSC is also the area under control of the VLR. Authentication Center (AuC): It serves security purposes; it provides the parameters needed for authentication and encryption functions. These parameters allow verification of the subscriber's identity. Equipment Identity Register (EIR): EIR stores security-sensitive information about the mobile equipments. It maintains a list of all valid terminals as identified by their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). The EIR allows then to forbid calls from stolen or unauthorized terminals (e.g, a terminal which does not respect the specifications concerning the output RF power). GSM Interworking Unit (GIWU): The GIWU provides an interface to various networks for data communications. During these communications, the transmission of speech and data can be alternated.

Operation and Support Subsystem (OSS) It is connected to components of the NSS and the BSC, in order to control and monitor the GSM system. It is also in charge of controlling the traffic load of the BSS. It must be noted that as the number of BS increases with the scaling of the subscriber population some of the maintenance tasks are transferred to the BTS, allowing savings in the cost of ownership of the system.

Geographical areas
A cell, as identified by its Cell Global Identity (CGI) number, maps to the radio coverage of a BTS. Similarly an LA as identified by its Location Area Identity (LAI) number , is a cluster of

cells served by a single MSC/VLR. A group of LA under the control of the same MSC/VLR defines the MSC/VLR area. A Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) is the area served by one network operator.

Network operations
In this paragraph, the description of the GSM network is focused on the differents functions to fulfil by the network and not on its physical components. In GSM, five main functions can be defined:

Transmission: of data and signaling. Not all the components of the GSM network are strongly related with both types of types of Tx. While the MSC, BTS and BSC, among others, are involved with data and signaling, components such as HLR, VLR or EIR registers, are only concerned with signaling. Radio Resources Management (RRM). Mobility Management (MM). Communication Management (CM). Operation, Administration and Maintenance (OAM).

Radio Resources Management (RRM) The role of the RR function is to establish, maintain and release communication links between mobile stations and the MSC. The elements that are mainly concerned with the RR function are the MN and the BTS. However, since the RR component performs connection management also during cell handoffs, it also affects the MSC which is the handoff management component. The RR is also responsible for the management of frequency resources as well as varying radio interface conditions. Main component operations are:

Channel assignment, change and release. Handoff Frequency hopping. Power-level control. Discontinuous transmission and reception. Timing advance.

Handoff

The user movements may result a change in the channel/cell, when the quality of the communication is degrading; this is known as handoff. Handoffs occur between:

between channels within a cell between cells controlled by the same BSC between cells under the same MSC but controlled by different BSCs between cells controlled by different MSCs.

Handoffs are mainly controlled by the MSC. However to avoid unnecessary signalling, the first two types of handoffs are managed by the respective BSC (thus, the MSC is only notified of the handoff). To perform the handoff the mobile station controls continuously its own signal strengh and the signal strengh of the neighboring cells. The list of cells that must be monitored by the mobile station is given by the base station. Power measurements allow to decide which is the best cell in order to maintain the quality of the communication link. Two basic algorithms are used for handoffs:

The `minimum acceptable performance' algorithm. When the quality of the transmission degrades, the power level of the mobile is increased, until the increase of the power level has no effect on the quality of the signal. Upon this link layer hint, a handoff is initiated. The `power budget' algorithm. Here the handoff pre-empts the power increase, to obtain a good SIR.

Mobility Management (MM) The MM component handles:

Location Management: Location is managed through periodicaly or on-demand. At power-on time, the MH signals an IMSI attach. On-demand location updates are signalled when the MN moves to a different PLMN or new location area (LA). The signal is sent to the new MSC/VLR, which forwards it to the subscriber's HLR. Upon authorization in the new MSC/VLR, the subscriber's HLR removes the registration entry of the MN at the old MSC/VLR. If after the update time interval, the MN has not registered, it is then deregistered. On power-off, the MN performs an IMSI detach. security and authentication: Authentication involves the SIM card and the Authentication Center. A secret key, stored in the SIM card and the AuC together with a ciphering algorithm called A3, are used to authenticate the user. The MN and the AuCcompute a SRES through A3 using the secret key and a nonce generated by the AuC. If the two computed SRES are the same, the subscriber is authenticated. The different services to which the subscriber has access are also checked. Next the a security check is performed in the equipment identity (IMEI). If the IMEI number of the mobile is

authorized in the EIR, the mobile station is allowed to connect the network. To assure user confidentiality, the user is registered with a Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI) after its first location update procedure. Enciphering is another option to guarantee a very strong security.

Communication Management (CM) The CM component manages:

Call control (CC): it controls call setup, management and tear-down in relation to management of type of service. Call routing is the primary task for this component. To reach a mobile subscriber, a user dials the Mobile Subscriber ISDN (MSISDN) number which includes: o a country code o a national destination code; this identifies the subscriber's operator o a code mapping to the subscriber's HLR. o The call is then passsed to the GMSC (if the call is originated from a fixed network) that 'knows' the HLR corresponding to the particular MSISDN number. The GMSC signals the HLR for call routing information. The HLR requests this information from the subscriber's current VLR. This VLR allocates temporarily a Mobile Station Roaming Number (MSRN) for the call. The MSRN number is the information returned by the HLR to the GMSC. It is latter that routes the call through the MSRN number, to the subscriber's current MSC/VLR. In the subscriber's current LA, the mobile is paged. Supplementary Services management: This involves the MN and the HLR. SMS management: Here the GSM network contacts the Short Message Service Center through the two following interfaces: o SMS-GMSC for Mobile Terminating Short Messages (SMS-MT/PP). It has the same role as the GMSC. o SMS-IWMSC for Mobile Originating Short Messages (SMS-MO/PP).

Operation, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) The OAM component allows the operator to monitor and control the system as well as modify the configuration of the elements of the system. Not only the OSS is part of the OAM, but also the BSS and NSS participate in functions such as: provide the operator with all the information it needs. This information is forwarded to the OSS to control the network. perform self-test tasks in addition to the OAM functions.

- 3G refers to the third generation of mobile telephony (that is, cellular) technology. The third generation, as the name suggests, follows two earlier generations. The first generation (1G) began in the early 80's with commercial deployment of Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) cellular networks. Early AMPS networks used Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (FDMA) to carry analog voice over channels in the 800 MHz frequency band. The second generation (2G) emerged in the 90's when mobile operators deployed two competing digital voice standards. In North America, some operators adopted IS-95, which used Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) to multiplex up to 64 calls per channel in the 800 MHz band. Across the world, many operators adopted the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) standard, which used Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) to multiplex up to 8 calls per channel in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) defined the third generation (3G) of mobile telephony standards IMT-2000 to facilitate growth, increase bandwidth, and support more diverse applications. For example, GSM could deliver not only voice, but also circuit-switched data at speeds up to 14.4 Kbps. But to support mobile multimedia applications, 3G had to deliver packet-switched data with better spectral efficiency, at far greater speeds. However, to get from 2G to 3G, mobile operators had make "evolutionary" upgrades to existing networks while simultaneously planning their "revolutionary" new mobile broadband networks. This lead to the establishment of two distinct 3G families: 3GPP and 3GPP2. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) was formed in 1998 to foster deployment of 3G networks that descended from GSM. 3GPP technologies evolved as follows. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) offered speeds up to 114 Kbps. Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) reached up to 384 Kbps. UMTS Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) offered downlink speeds up to 1.92 Mbps. High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) boosted the downlink to 14Mbps. LTE Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) is aiming for 100 Mbps. GPRS deployments began in 2000, followed by EDGE in 2003. While these technologies are defined by IMT-2000, they are sometimes called "2.5G" because they did not offer multi-megabit data rates. EDGE has now been superceded by HSDPA (and its uplink partner HSUPA). According to the 3GPP, there were 166 HSDPA networks in 75 countries at the end of 2007. The next step for GSM operators: LTE E-UTRA, based on specifications completed in late 2008. A second organization the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) -- was formed to help North American and Asian operators using CDMA2000 transition to 3G. 3GPP2 technologies evolved as follows. One Times Radio Transmission Technology (1xRTT) offered speeds up to 144 Kbps.

 Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO) increased downlink speeds up to 2.4 Mbps. EV-DO Rev. A boosted downlink peak speed to 3.1 Mbps and reduced latency. EV-DO Rev. B can use 2 to 15 channels, with each downlink peaking at 4.9 Mbps. Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) was slated to reach 288 Mbps on the downlink. 1xRTT became available in 2002, followed by commercial EV-DO Rev. 0 in 2004. Here again, 1xRTT is referred to as "2.5G" because it served as a transitional step to EV-DO. EV-DO standards were extended twice Revision A services emerged in 2006 and are now being succeeded by products that use Revision B to increase data rates by transmitting over multiple channels. The 3GPP2's next-generation technology, UMB, may not catch on, as many CDMA operators are now planning to evolve to LTE instead. In fact, LTE and UMB are often called 4G (fourth generation) technologies because they increase downlink speeds an order of magnitude. This label is a bit premature because what constitutes "4G" has not yet been standardized. The ITU is currently considering candidate technologies for inclusion in the 4G IMT-Advanced standard, including LTE, UMB, and WiMAX II. Goals for 4G include data rates of least 100 Mbps, use of OFDMA transmission, and packet-switched delivery of IP-based voice, data, and streaming multimedia.

What is the difference between 2.5Generation and 3Generation mobile phone technology?
For general public a mobile phone is nothing but a tool for communication; but what is the technology behind it? It is not well known among the public. The purpose of this article is to simplify some concepts regarding the mobile phone technology and to create further interest for readers, who wish to read more about mobile phone technology. Have you ever wondered why sometimes your call cannot get through to the one, whom you wish to call, when almost everyone around you is making a call? It can be a saturation problem at the base-station when everyone is trying to make connection to it.

In 2.5G mobile phone technology it is usually referred to GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) with GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) in Europe and Southeast Asia; although there are other standards such as CDMAOne (Code Division Multiple Access One) and D-AMPS (Digital-Advanced Mobile Phone System). GSM separates a call connection of mobile phone users into different time slots, which is termed as TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) method. There are 8 time slots for 8 different users, total time is 4.62 msec for all these 8 time slots, and there is a hop into another channel after every 8 time slots. The channel here is referred to as a frequency channel. Example: for GSM900 (refer to operating spectrum range around 900 MHz), there are 124 channels. GSM900 allows 124 x 8 = 992 users to make communication in duration of 4.62 msec.

Figure 1.0: TDMA method for GSM. Hopping between channels is known as frequency hopping, which is used since the early days of military communication to prevent unauthorized personnel from tapping into a conversation. Presently, frequency hopping is used in GSM to improve the quality of a call as some channels may be noisy. Hello, hello, I cant hear you Are you still around? Could it be poor mobile phone coverage? Or maybe a noisy communication channel? Yes, it could be both. How about a delay in message or voice? Dont speak twice, I understand you! Each time slot represents a user, and data transmitted is in bits. The question is how does the base-station know where the information starts? It will need some way to do synchronizationbetween the mobile phone and the base-station; it will simply mean speaking the common language. A mobile phone will send a TS (Training Sequence) pattern, which is a known bit pattern to the base-station, together with information. Then the base-station will know that it is a message sent from a mobile phone and where it can extract the information out. This process of extracting information will be carried out after all authentication checks are done at the base-station regarding a valid user of a network. Why is the downloading of data often so slow? I dont understand either? This scenario can happen to anyone. Have you ever wondered why? Beside voice call, there is also data transfer for 2.5 G mobile phone technology, such as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) or EGPRS (Enhanced General Packet Radio Service). For data transferred, higher speed is required. EGPRS allows a user to download three times as much of information in a time slot as in a GSM voice call, but GPRS is only allowed a user to download the information for one time in one time slot as GSM voice call. All data transmission is in bits. In 3G mobile phone technology we usually refer to WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) in Europe and Southeast Asia; although there are other standards such asCDMA2000 (Code Division Multiple Access 2000) and TD-SCDMA (Time Division-

Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access). WCDMA is very different from GSM as it does not separate the call connection of users into different time slots but separate them into different code, which means CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) method, like different languages in layman term. Yes, your voice is clear now. In CDMA method, a user can use all time resource in a call connection or data transfer, while a user cannot do so in TDMA method as a user is allocated a time slot in a call connection or data transfer. For data transfer in WCDMA, it is known as HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access), data transfer from a base-station to a mobile phone, and HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access), data transfer from a mobile phone to a base-station; instead of transmitting data in bits, it transmits data in chips. A Chip is smaller than a bit, many chips form a bit.

Figure 2.0: Bit converts to chips (simplified example).

Figure 3.0: Two different multiple access methods. Due to a wider bandwidth in the frequency band used the speed of data transfer is higher in 3G than in 2.5G. In WCDMA the frequency bandwidth is 5 MHz (5 million hertz); but in GSM the frequency bandwidth is 200 KHz (200 thousand hertz). A wider frequency band will allow more data to be transmitted or more users to use the available resources at the

same time. This is like a bigger container will be able to hold more. Now, I dont have a problem calling you at urban area. Sometime there is nearly a thousand people making calls at the same time same place

Figure 4.0: Summary of two different mobile phone technologies. In conclusion there are differences between 2.5G and 3G mobile phone technology. Beside data rate, bandwidth, and wireless access method, there are more, such as digital modulation etc. However, to avoid being too technical, may this article create enough interest for any mobile phone user who is curious about mobile phone technology to do further read up on it.

control of multiple BTSs by the BSS.

4G TECHNOLOGY:
4G is being developed to accommodate the quality of service (QoS) and rate requirements set by forthcoming applications like wireless broadband access, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), video chat, mobile TV, HDTV content, Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), minimal service like voice and data, and other streaming services for "anytime-anywhere". The 4G working group has defined the following as objectives of the 4G wireless communication standard:

* A spectrally efficient system (in bits/s/Hz and bits/s/Hz/site) * High network capacity: more simultaneous users per cell * A nominal data rate of 100 Mbit/s while the client physically moves at high speeds relative to the station, and 1 Gbit/s while client and station are in relatively fixed positions as defined by the ITU-R,[1] * A data rate of at least 100 Mbit/s between any two points in the world,[1] * Smooth handoff across heterogeneous networks,[4] * Seamless connectivity and global roaming across multiple networks,[5] * High quality of service for next generation multimedia support (real time audio, high speed data, HDTV video content, mobile TV, etc)[5] * Interoperability with existing wireless standards,[6] and * An all IP, packet switched network.[5]

In summary, the 4G system should dynamically share and utilise network resources to meet the minimal requirements of all the 4G enabled users.

According to the 4G working groups, the infrastructure and the terminals of 4G will have almost all the standards from 2G to 4G implemented. Although legacy systems are in place to adopt

existing users, the infrastructure for 4G will be only packet-based (all-IP). Some proposals suggest having an open platform where the new innovations and evolutions can fit. The technologies which are being considered as pre-4G are the following: Flash-OFDM, WiMax, WiBro, iBurst, 3GPP Long Term Evolution and 3GPP2 Ultra Mobile Broadband. One of the first technology really fullfilling the 4G

requirements as set by the ITU-R will be LTE Advanced as currently standardized by 3GPP. LTE Advanced will be an evolution of the 3GPP Long Term Evolution. Higher data rates are for instance achieved by the aggregation of multiple LTE carriers that are currently limited to 20MHz bandwidth.

3G is already an old technology launched way back in 2001 and we are late by 9 years already. Also, 23 international operators will launch the 4G service globally this year. And if India gives in too, it will only help us match advanced countries in terms of high internet speeds.

There has been much fuss about the 3G launch in India and it still looks like the 3G launch is not going any where atleast among the private players. In such a situation we can not comment on what may happen if 4G spectrum bidding is announced too! We have earlier told you that 4G wont hamper the 3G auction, but now it seems things may change to some extent. 4G provides 10 times faster internet speed than 3G and has support for live Hi-Def TV content. Now, if TRAI seriously plans on Bringing 4G to the country, why would any Telecom Operator waste money and time on implementing the 10 year old 3G technology? BSNL already has 3G services up and running in various parts of India and the reaction of its 3G services have been mixed, i.e. both good and bad. Tata Teles interest in the 4G technology may have many implications. It is quite possible that Tata Tele is working hard to get infrastructure and machinery required for 4G and may be very well one of the first and earliest bidders for the 4G spectrum.

In telecommunications, 4G is the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. It is a successor to the 3G and 2G families of standards. In 2008, the ITU-R organization specified the IMT-Advanced (International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced) requirements for 4G standards, setting peak speed requirements for 4G service at 100 Megabits per second for high mobility communication (such as from trains and cars) and 1 Gbps for low mobility communication (such as pedestrians and stationary users).[1] A 4G system is expected to provide a comprehensive and secure all-IP based mobile broadband solution to laptop computer wireless modems, smartphones, and other mobile devices. Facilities such as ultra-broadband Internet access, IP telephony, gaming services, and streamed multimedia may be provided to users. Pre-4G technologies such as mobile WiMAX and first-release 3G Long term evolution (LTE) have been on the market since 2006[2] and 2009[3][4][5] respectively, and are often branded as 4G. The current versions of these technologies did not fulfill the original ITU-R requirements of data rates approximately up to 1 Gbit/s for 4G systems. Marketing materials use 4G as a description for Mobile-WiMAX and LTE in their current forms. IMT-Advanced compliant versions of the above two standards are under development and called LTE Advanced and WirelessMAN-Advanced respectively. ITU has decided that LTE Advanced and WirelessMAN-Advanced should be accorded the official designation of IMTAdvanced. On December 6, 2010, ITU announced that current versions of LTE, WiMax and other evolved 3G technologies that do not fulfill "IMT-Advanced" requirements could be considered "4G", provided they represent forerunners to IMT-Advanced and "a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed."[6]

In all suggestions for 4G, the CDMA spread spectrum radio technology used in 3G systems and IS-95 is abandoned and replaced by OFDMA and other frequency-domain equalization schemes.[citation needed] This is combined with MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out), e.g., multiple antennas, dynamic channel allocation and channel-dependent scheduling.[citation needed]

Background
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. New generations have appeared about every ten years since the first move from 1981 analog (1G) to digital (2G) transmission in 1992. This was followed, in 2001, by 3G multi-media support, spread spectrum transmission and at least 200 kbit/s, in 2011 expected to be followed by 4G, which refers to all-IP packet-switched networks, mobile ultra-broadband (gigabit speed) access and multi-carrier transmission.[citation needed] The fastest 3G based standard in the WCDMA family is the HSPA+ standard, which was commercially available in 2009 and offers 28 Mbit/s downstreams without MIMO, i.e. only with one antenna (it would offer 56 Mbit/s with 2x2 MIMO), and 22 Mbit/s upstreams. The fastest 3G based standard in the CDMA2000 family is the EV-DO Rev. B, which was available in 2010 and offers 15.67 Mbit/s downstreams.[citation needed] In mid 1990s, the ITU-R organization specified the IMT-2000 specifications for what standards that should be considered 3G systems. However, the cell phone market only brands some of the IMT-2000 standards as 3G (e.g. WCDMA and CDMA2000), but not all (3GPP EDGE, DECT and mobile-WiMAX all fulfil the IMT-2000 requirements and are formally accepted as 3G

standards, but are typically not branded as 3G). In 2008, ITU-R specified the IMT-Advanced (International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced) requirements for 4G systems.

ITU Requirements and 4G wireless standards

This article uses 4G to refer to IMT-Advanced (International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced), as defined by ITU-R. An IMT-Advanced cellular system must fulfil the following requirements:[7]

Based on an all-IP packet switched network. 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.

Dynamically share and utilize the network resources to support more simultaneous users per cell. Scalable channel bandwidth, between 5 and 20 MHz, optionally up to 40 MHz.[8][8][9] Peak link spectral efficiency of 15 bit/s/Hz in the downlink, and 6.75 bit/s/Hz in the uplink (meaning that 1 Gbit/s in the downlink should be possible over less than 67 MHz bandwidth) and similar system spectral efficiency.

Smooth handovers across heterogeneous networks. Ability to offer high quality of service for next generation multimedia support.

In September 2009, the technology proposals were submitted to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as 4G candidates.[10] Basically all proposals are based on two technologies:

LTE Advanced standardized by the 3GPP 802.16m standardized by the IEEE (i.e. WiMAX)

Present implementations of WiMAX and LTE are largely considered a stopgap solution that will offer a considerable boost while WiMAX 2 (based on the 802.16m spec) and LTE Advanced are finalized. Both technologies aim to reach the objectives traced by the ITU, but are still far from being implemented.[7] The first set of 3GPP requirements on LTE Advanced was approved in June 2008.[11] LTE Advanced will be standardized in 2010 as part of the Release 10 of the 3GPP specification. LTE Advanced will be fully built on the existing LTE specification Release 10 and not be defined as a new specification series. A summary of the technologies that have been studied as the basis for LTE Advanced is included in a technical report.[12] Current LTE and WiMAX implementations are considered pre-4G, as they don't fully comply with the planned requirements of 1 Gbit/s for stationary reception and 100 Mbit/s for mobile. Confusion has been caused by some mobile carriers who have launched products advertised as 4G but which are actually current technologies, commonly referred to as '3.9G', which do not follow the ITU-R defined principles for 4G standards. A common argument for branding 3.9G systems as new-generation is that they use different frequency bands to 3G technologies; that they are based on a new radio-interface paradigm; and that the standards are not backwards compatible with 3G, whilst some of the standards are expected to be forwards compatible with "real" 4G technologies. While the ITU has adopted recommendations for technologies that would be used for future global communications, they do not actually perform the standardization or development work themselves, instead relying on the work of other standards bodies such as IEEE, The WiMAX Forum and 3GPP. Recently, ITU-R Working Party 5D approved two industry-developed technologies (LTE Advanced and WirelessMAN-Advanced)[13] for inclusion in the ITUs International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced (IMT-Advanced program), which is focused on global communication systems that would be available several years from now.[citation

needed]

This working partys objective was not to comment on todays 4G being rolled out in the

United States and in fact, the Working Party itself purposely agreed not to tie their IMTAdvanced work to the term 4G, recognizing its common use in industry already; however, the ITUs PR department ignored that agreement and used term 4G anyway when issuing their press release.[citation needed]

The ITUs purpose is to foster the global use of communications.[citation needed] The ITU is relied upon by developing countries,[citation needed] for example, who want to be assured a technology is standardised and likely to be widely deployed. While the ITU has adopted recommendations for technologies that would be used for future global communications, they do not actually do the standardization or development work themselves, instead relying on the work of other standards bodies such as IEEE, The WiMAX Forum and 3GPP. While the ITU has developed recommendations on IMT-Advanced, those recommendations are not binding on ITU member countries.[citation needed]

4G Predecessors and candidate systems

The wireless telecommunications industry as a whole has early assumed the term 4G as a short hand way to describe those advanced cellular technologies that, among other things, are based on or employ wide channel OFDMA and SC-FDE technologies, MIMO transmission and an all-IP based architecture.[citation needed] Mobile-WiMAX, first release LTE, IEEE 802.20 as well as Flash-

OFDM meets these early assumptions, and have been considered as 4G candidate systems, but do not yet meet the more recent ITU-R IMT-Advanced requirements.

4G candidate systems

LTE Advanced

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.[14] LTE Advanced is essentially an enhancement to LTE. It is not a new technology but rather an improvement on the existing LTE network. This upgrade path makes it more cost effective for vendors to offer LTE and then upgrade to LTE Advanced which is similar to the upgrade from WCDMA to HSPA. LTE and LTE Advanced will also make use of additional spectrum and multiplexing to allow it to achieve higher data speeds. Coordinated

Multi-point Transmission will also allow more system capacity to help handle the enhanced data speeds. Release 10 of LTE is expected to achieve the LTE Advanced speeds. Release 8 currently supports up to 300 Mbit/s download speeds which is still short of the IMT-Advanced standards.[15] Data speeds of LTE Advanced LTE Advanced Peak Download 1 Gbit/s Peak Upload 500 Mbit/s

IEEE 802.16m or WirelessMAN-Advanced The IEEE 802.16m or WirelessMAN-Advanced 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.[16]

4G predecessors and discontinued candidate systems

3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) See also: LTE Advanced above

Telia-branded Samsung LTE modem 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. The physical radio interface was at an early stage named High Speed OFDM Packet Access (HSOPA), now named Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA). The first LTE USB dongles do not support any other radio interface. The world's first publicly available LTE service was opened in the two Scandinavian capitals Stockholm (Ericsson system) and Oslo (a Huawei system) on 14 December 2009, and branded

4G. The user terminals were manufactured by Samsung.[3] Currently, the two publicly available LTE services in the United States are provided by Metro PCS, and Verizon Wireless[citation needed]. AT&T also has an LTE service in the works.[citation needed] Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) The Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e-2005) mobile wireless broadband access (MWBA) standard (also known as WiBro in South Korea) is sometimes branded 4G, and offers peak data rates of 128 Mbit/s downlink and 56 Mbit/s uplink over 20 MHz wide channels[citation needed]. The world's first commercial mobile WiMAX service was opened by KT in Seoul, South Korea on 30 June 2006.[2] Sprint Nextel has begun using Mobile WiMAX, as of September 29, 2008 branded as a "4G" network even though the current version does not fulfil the IMT Advanced requirements on 4G systems.[17] In Russia, Belarus and Nicaragua WiMax broadband internet access is offered by a Russian company Scartel, and is also branded 4G, Yota. UMB (formerly EV-DO Rev. C) Main article: Ultra Mobile Broadband 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, favouring LTE instead.[18] The objective was to achieve data speeds over 275 Mbit/s downstream and over 75 Mbit/s upstream. Flash-OFDM

At an early stage the Flash-OFDM system was expected to be further developed into a 4G standard. ] iBurst and MBWA (IEEE 802.20) systems The iBurst system ( or HC-SDMA, High Capacity Spatial Division Multiple Access) was at an early stage considered as a 4G predecessor. It was later further developed into the Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA) system, also known as IEEE 802.20.

Data rate comparison

The following table shows a comparison of 4G candidate systems as well as other competing technologies. Comparison of Mobile Internet Access methods (This box: view talk edit) Downlin Standard Family Primary Use Radio Tech k (Mbit/s) Uplink (Mbit/s) Notes

WiMAX update IEEE 128 (in WiMAX 802.16 Mobile Internet MIMOSOFDMA 20MHz 56 (in 20MHz 802.16m expected to offer peak rates of at least 1 Gbit/s fixed speeds and 100Mbit/s to

bandwidt bandwidt h) h)

mobile users. LTEAdvanced update 100 (in LTE UMTS/4GS M General 4G OFDMA/MIMO/ 20MHz SC-FDMA 50 (in 20 expected to MHz offer peak

bandwidt bandwidt rates up to 1 h) h) Gbit/s fixed speeds and 100 Mb/s to mobile users.

Mobile FlashOFDM Internet mobility up Flash-OFDM to 200mph (350km/h) HIPERMA Mobile N Internet 5.3 10.6 15.9 1.8 3.6 5.4

Mobile range 30km (18 miles) extended range 55 km (34 miles) OFDM 56.9 Antenna, RF 300 (using 4x4 configuration in front end enhancements

Flash-OFDM

HIPERMAN

Wi-Fi

802.11 (11n)

Mobile Inter net

OFDM/MIMO

20MHz bandwidth) and minor or 600 (using 4x4 configuration in protocol timer tweaks have

40MHz bandwidth) helped deploy long range

P2P networks compromising on radial coverage, throughput and/or spectra efficiency (310km & 382km) Cell Radius: 312 km Speed: HCSDMA/TDD/MI 95 MO 36 250km/h Spectral Efficiency: 13 bits/s/Hz/cell Spectrum Reuse Factor: "1" EDGE Evolution UMTS WCDMA HSDPA+HSU PA HSPA+ UMTS/3GS M GSM Mobile Inter net TDMA/FDD 1.6 0.5 3GPP Release 7 HSDPA CDMA/FDD General 3G 0.384 14.4 56 0.384 5.76 22 widely deployed. Typical downlink rates today 2

iBurst

802.20

Mobile Inter net

CDMA/FDD/MI MO

Mbit/s, ~200 kbit/s uplink; HSPA+ downlink up to 56 Mbit/s. Reported speeds according to UMTS/3GS Mobile M Internet IPWireless CDMA/TDD 16 using 16QAM modulation similar to HSDPA+HSU PA Succeeded by EV-DO for CDMA200 Mobile 0 phone data use, but CDMA 0.144 still is used for voice and as a failover for EV-DO EVDO 1x Rev. 0 EVDO 1x Rev.A EV-DO Rev.B CDMA200 Mobile 0 Internet 2.45 CDMA/FDD 3.1 4.9xN 0.15 1.8 1.8xN Rev B note: N is the number of 1.25 MHz chunks of spectrum used. EV-DO is not

UMTS-TDD

1xRTT

designed for voice, and requires a fallback to 1xRTT when a voice call is placed or received. Notes: All speeds are theoretical maximums and will vary by a number of factors, including the use of external antennae, distance from the tower and the ground speed (e.g. communications on a train may be poorer than when standing still). Usually the bandwidth is shared between several terminals. The performance of each technology is determined by a number of constraints, including the spectral efficiency of the technology, the cell sizes used, and the amount of spectrum available. For more information, see Comparison of wireless data standards. For more comparison tables, see bit rate progress trends, comparison of mobile phone standards, spectral efficiency comparison table and OFDM system comparison table.

Objective and approach

Objectives assumed in the literature
4G is being developed to accommodate the quality of service (QoS) and rate requirements set by further development of existing 3G applications like mobile broadband access, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), video chat, mobile TV, but also new services like HDTV. 4G may allow roaming with wireless local area networks, and may interact with digital video broadcasting systems.

In the literature, the assumed or expected 4G requirements have changed during the years before IMT-Advanced was specified by the ITU-R. These are examples of objectives stated in various sources:

A nominal data rate of 100 Mbit/s while the client physically moves at high speeds relative to the station, and 1 Gbit/s while client and station are in relatively fixed positions as defined by the ITU-R[19]

A data rate of at least 100 Mbit/s between any two points in the world[19] Smooth handoff across heterogeneous networks[20] Seamless connectivity and global roaming across multiple networks[21] High quality of service for next generation multimedia support (real time audio, high speed data, HDTV video content, mobile TV, etc.)[21] Interoperability with existing wireless standards[22] An all IP, packet switched network[21] IP-based femtocells (home nodes connected to fixed Internet broadband infrastructure)

Approaches
Principal technologies

Physical layer transmission techniques are as follows:[23]

o

MIMO: To attain ultra high spectral efficiency by means of spatial processing including multi-antenna and multi-user MIMO

Frequency-domain-equalization, for example Multi-carrier modulation (OFDM) in the downlink or single-carrier frequency-domain-equalization (SC-FDE) in the uplink: To exploit the frequency selective channel property without complex equalization.

Frequency-domain statistical multiplexing, for example (OFDMA) or (Singlecarrier FDMA) (SC-FDMA, a.k.a. Linearly precoded OFDMA, LP-OFDMA) in

the uplink: Variable bit rate by assigning different sub-channels to different users based on the channel conditions
o

Turbo principle error-correcting codes: To minimize the required SNR at the reception side

Channel-dependent scheduling: To utilize the time-varying channel. Link adaptation: Adaptive modulation and error-correcting codes Relaying, including fixed relay networks (FRNs), and the cooperative relaying concept, known as multi-mode protocol

4G features assumed in early literature

The 4G system was originally envisioned by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).[citation needed] The DARPA selected the distributed architecture, end-to-end Internet protocol (IP), and believed at an early stage in peer-to-peer networking in which every mobile device would be both a transceiver and a router for other devices in the network eliminating the spoke-and-hub weakness of 2G and 3G cellular systems.[24] Since the 2.5G GPRS system, cellular systems have provided dual infrastructures: packet switched nodes for data services, and circuit switched nodes for voice calls. In 4G systems, the circuit-switched infrastructure is abandoned, and only a packet-switched network is provided, while 2.5G and 3G systems require both packet-switched and circuit-switched network nodes, i.e. two infrastructures in parallel. This means that in 4G, traditional voice calls are replaced by IP telephony. Cellular systems such as 4G allow seamless mobility; thus a file transfer is not interrupted in case a terminal moves from one cell (one base station coverage area) to another, but handover is carried out. The terminal also keeps the same IP address while moving, meaning that a mobile server is reachable as long as it is within the coverage area of any server. In 4G systems this mobility is provided by the mobile IP protocol, part of IP version 6, while in earlier cellular generations it was only provided by physical layer and datalink layer protocols. In addition to

seamless mobility, 4G provides flexible interoperability of the various kinds of existing wireless networks, such as satellite, cellular wirelss, WLAN, PAN and systems for accessing fixed wireless networks.[25] While maintaining seamless mobility, 4G will offer very high data rates with expectations of 100 Mbit/s wireless service. The increased bandwidth and higher data transmission rates will allow 4G users the ability to utilize high definition video and the video conferencing features of mobile devices attached to a 4G network. The 4G wireless system is expected to provide a comprehensive IP solution where multimedia applications and services can be delivered to the user on an 'Anytime, Anywhere' basis with a satisfactory high data rate, premium quality and high security.[26] 4G is described as MAGIC: mobile multimedia, any-time anywhere, global mobility support, integrated wireless solution, and customized personal service.[citation needed] Some key features (primarily from users' points of view) of 4G mobile networks are:[citation needed]

High usability: anytime, anywhere, and with any technology Support for multimedia services at low transmission cost Personalization Integrated services

Components
Access schemes
This section contains information which may be of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter.
Please help improve this article by clarifying or removing superfluous information. (May 2010)

As the wireless standards evolved, the access techniques used also exhibited increase in efficiency, capacity and scalability. The first generation wireless standards used plain TDMA and FDMA. In the wireless channels, TDMA proved to be less efficient in handling the high data rate channels as it requires large guard periods to alleviate the multipath impact. Similarly, FDMA consumed more bandwidth for guard to avoid inter carrier interference. So in second generation systems, one set of standard used the combination of FDMA and TDMA and the other set introduced an access scheme called CDMA. Usage of CDMA increased the system capacity, but as a theoretical drawback placed a soft limit on it rather than the hard limit (i.e. a CDMA network setup does not inherently reject new clients when it approaches its limits, resulting in a denial of service to all clients when the network overloads; though this outcome is avoided in practical implementations by admission control of circuit switched or fixed bitrate communication services). Data rate is also increased as this access scheme (providing the network is not reaching its capacity) is efficient enough to handle the multipath channel. This enabled the third generation systems, such as IS-2000, UMTS, HSXPA, 1xEV-DO, TD-CDMA and TD-SCDMA, to use CDMA as the access scheme. However, the issue with CDMA is that it suffers from poor spectral flexibility and computationally intensive time-domain equalization (high number of multiplications per second) for wideband channels. Recently, new access schemes like Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), Single Carrier FDMA (SCFDMA), Interleaved FDMA and Multi-carrier CDMA (MC-CDMA) are gaining more importance for the next generation systems. These are based on efficient FFT algorithms and frequency domain equalization, resulting in a lower number of multiplications per second. They also make it possible to control the bandwidth and form the spectrum in a flexible way. However, they require advanced dynamic channel allocation and traffic adaptive scheduling. WiMax is using OFDMA in the downlink and in the uplink. For the next generation UMTS, OFDMA is used for the downlink. By contrast, IFDMA is being considered for the uplink since OFDMA contributes more to the PAPR related issues and results in nonlinear operation of amplifiers. IFDMA provides less power fluctuation and thus avoids amplifier issues. Similarly,

MC-CDMA is in the proposal for the IEEE 802.20 standard. These access schemes offer the same efficiencies as older technologies like CDMA. Apart from this, scalability and higher data rates can be achieved. The other important advantage of the above mentioned access techniques is that they require less complexity for equalization at the receiver. This is an added advantage especially in the MIMO environments since the spatial multiplexing transmission of MIMO systems inherently requires high complexity equalization at the receiver. In addition to improvements in these multiplexing systems, improved modulation techniques are being used. Whereas earlier standards largely used Phase-shift keying, more efficient systems such as 64QAM are being proposed for use with the 3GPP Long Term Evolution standards.

IPv6 support
Main articles: Network layer, Internet protocol, and IPv6 Unlike 3G, which is based on two parallel infrastructures consisting of circuit switched and packet switched network nodes respectively, 4G will be based on packet switching only. This will require low-latency data transmission. By the time that 4G was deployed, the process of IPv4 address exhaustion was expected to be in its final stages. Therefore, in the context of 4G, IPv6 support is essential in order to support a large number of wireless-enabled devices. By increasing the number of IP addresses, IPv6 removes the need for network address translation (NAT), a method of sharing a limited number of addresses among a larger group of devices, although NAT will still be required to communicate with devices that are on existing IPv4 networks. As of June 2009, Verizon has posted specifications that require any 4G devices on its network to support IPv6.[27]

Advanced antenna systems

Main articles: MIMO and MU-MIMO The performance of radio communications depends on an antenna system, termed smart or intelligent antenna. Recently, multiple antenna technologies are emerging to achieve the goal of 4G systems such as high rate, high reliability, and long range communications. In the early 1990s, to cater for the growing data rate needs of data communication, many transmission schemes were proposed. One technology, spatial multiplexing, gained importance for its bandwidth conservation and power efficiency. Spatial multiplexing involves deploying multiple antennas at the transmitter and at the receiver. Independent streams can then be transmitted simultaneously from all the antennas. This technology, called MIMO (as a branch of intelligent antenna), multiplies the base data rate by (the smaller of) the number of transmit antennas or the number of receive antennas. Apart from this, the reliability in transmitting high speed data in the fading channel can be improved by using more antennas at the transmitter or at the receiver. This is called transmit or receive diversity. Both transmit/receive diversity and transmit spatial multiplexing are categorized into the space-time coding techniques, which does not necessarily require the channel knowledge at the transmitter. The other category is closed-loop multiple antenna technologies, which require channel knowledge at the transmitter.

Software-defined radio (SDR)

SDR is one form of open wireless architecture (OWA). Since 4G is a collection of wireless standards, the final form of a 4G device will constitute various standards. This can be efficiently realized using SDR technology, which is categorized to the area of the radio convergence.