Evolution of Third Generation (3G) technology to Fourth Generation (4G) technology

Table of content Introduction 1G to 3G technology The 4G technology Challenge in migration to 4G War between WiMAX and LTE Deployment of 4G technology

The Fourth Generation (4G) candidates is foreseen most likely to be between Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-Advanced) proposed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and Mobile WiMAX using 802.16m standardised by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Distinguish the technical differences between these two technologies and give your opinion on the scenario and deployment of 4G in the near future.

Introduction Over the years, there have been rapid developments in wireless communication technology where every conceptual shift has been characterized as a generation change. These generation changes are briefly described in Table 1. First generation began in the 1970s where most of the system using analogue system and voice was the main traffic. Among the standards used at that time were TDMA, FDMA, NMT, AMPS, Hicap, CDPD, Mobitex, DataTac, TACS and ETACS. Some 1G system remains using AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) as their background universal service. The evolution from 1G to 2G was a transition from analog to digital system. The second generation was designed based on digital technology offering circuit switched data services at a low speed [1]. All the standards belonging to this generation were commercial centric and they were in digital form [2]. Among the standards are GSM, iDEN, D-AMPS, IS95, PDC, CSD, PHS, GPRS, HSCSD, and WiDEN. Above all, most services are now dominated by Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM). Code-division multiple access (CDMA), is a conceptual advance on the 2G systems typified by GSM and so is commonly classified as 2.5G [3]. It is the intermediate generation between 2G and 3G technology. 2.5G provides some of the important basis in the 3G system development as some of the 2G infrastructure in GSM and CDMA networks can be used. As the generation change continues, the third generation or 3G offers a larger capacity with optimum system for broadband data access. 3G includes wideband mobile multimedia networks and broadband mixed wireless systems. They are based on two parallel backbone infrastructures, one consisting of circuit switched nodes, and one of packet oriented nodes [1].

Table 1 : Series of mobile generation and their features

Table 2 : MOBILE TECHNOLOGY EVOLUTION AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTIS

Beyond 3G : The 4G technology The generation beyond 3G should comprise significant changes which make it an above all technology. High performance With 4G technology, users are able to take advantages of rich multimedia content across wireless networks. In contrast to 3G, 4G feature extremely high quality video as good as high definition (HD) TV. Besides, download speed exceeding 100Mbps should be possible using 4G. Standards with high data rate support, intrinsic quality of service (QoS) and mobility capabilities and much wider area of coverage should be realized to meet the increasing performance requirements of mobile broadband.

Interoperability, easy roaming and fully converged services Fixed and mobile convergence is a major concern today as it allows the anywhere/anytime experience to end user and the 4G technology is expected to evolve beyond the fixed and mobile boundary. It is seen as a new initiative to bring together all various wireless and wired system under the same framework, to provide connectivity anytime and anywhere using any available tools. 4G provides a global standard that offers global mobility compared to multiple standards used in 3G make it difficult to roam and interoperate across various networks. Various wireless access networks are different in coverage, data rate, latency, and loss rate. Thus, each of them is practically designed to support a different set of specific services and devices, 4G will includes

various types of terminals, which may have to provide common services independently of their capabilities. This concept is referred to as service personalization [4]. In other words, if a user want to be able to access the network from lots of different platforms: cell phones, laptops, PDAs he is free to do so in 4G which delivers connectivity intelligent and flexible enough to support streaming video, VoIP telephony, still or moving images, e-mail, Web browsing, ecommerce, and location-based services through a wide variety of devices. That means freedom for consumers. Low cost 4G systems is expected to be far cheaper than 3G since they can be develop on existing networks and won't require operators to completely change new device and won't require carriers to purchase costly extra spectrum. In addition to being a lot more cost efficient, 4G is spectrally efficient, so carriers can do more with less [2]. Devices: more user friendly interface 4G devices are expected to be more visual and intuitive rather than todays text and menu based systems. They will be able to interact with the environment around it and act accordingly Enhanced GPS Services In addition to locating individuals, a 4G version of GPS tech might be able to let people be virtually present in a variety of places. Scalability It is most challenging aspect of the mobile networks. It refers to ability to handle ever increasing number of users and services. Since an all IP core layer of 4G is easily scalable, it is ideally suited to meet this challenge. Crisis-Management applications Natural disasters can affect the entire communications infrastructure is in disarray. Restoring communications quickly is essential. With wideband wireless mobile communications Internet and video services, could be set up in hours instead of days or even weeks required for restoration of wire line communications.

Challenge in migration to 4G

A. Multimode user terminals With 4G there will be a need to design a single user terminal that can operate in different wireless networks and overcome the design problems such as limitations in size of the device, its cost and power consumption. This problem can be solved by using software radio approach i.e. user terminal adapts itself to the wireless interfaces of the network. B. Selection among various wireless systems. Every wireless system has its unique characteristics and roles. The proliferation of wireless technologies complicates the selection of most suitable technology for a particular service at a particular place and time. This can be handled by making the selection according to the best possible fit of user QoS requirements and available network resources [6]. C. Security Heterogeneity of wireless networks complicates the security issue. Dynamic reconfigurable, adaptive and lightweight security mechanisms should be developed [6]. D. Network infrastructure and QoS support Integrating the existing non-IP and IP-based systems and providing QoS guarantee for end-to-end services that involve different systems is also a big challenge. E. Charging/ billing It is troublesome to collect, manage and store the customers accounts information from multiple service providers. Similarly, billing customers with simple but information is not an easy task. F. Attacks on application level 4G cellular wireless devices will be known for software applications which will provide innovative feature to the user but will introduce new holes, leading to more attacks at the application level. G. Jamming and spoofing Spoofing refers to fake GPS signals being sent out, in which case the GPS receiver thinks that the signals comes from a satellite and calculates the wrong co-ordinates. Criminals can use such techniques to interfere with police work. Jamming happens when a transmitter sending out signals at the same frequency displaces a GPS signal. H. Data encryption If a GPS receiver has to communicate with the central transmitter then the communication link between these two components is not hard to break and there is a need of using encrypted data.

War between WiMAX and LTE What is WiMAX? [5]WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), is a wireless communication system that can provide broadband access on a large-scale coverage. It enhances the WLAN (IEEE 802.11) by extending the wireless access to Wide Area Networks and Metropolitan Area Networks. The initial version of WiMAX, IEEE 802.16-2004, was designed to provide broadband wireless connectivity to fixed and nomadic users for the last mile. The coverage can go up to 50 km, allowing users to get broadband connectivity in NLOS conditions. IEEE 802.16-2005 (Mobile WiMAX) comes with enhanced QoS and mobility up to 120 km/h. Mobile WiMAX is designed to fill the gap between wireless local area networks and high mobility cellular wide area networks. In order to obtain downlink peak data rates up to 75 Mbps in mobile scenarios, the standard uses scalable OFDMA to dynamically modify FFT size, depending on the channel conditions [6]. Figure 1 illustrates the Network Reference Model (NRM) in WiMAX, consisting of the following logical entities: Subscriber Station (SS), Access Service Network (ASN) and Connectivity Service Network (CSN) together with the reference points for interconnecting the logical entities (R1-R5) [8]. [5]The ASN holds one or more ASN Gateways (ASN GWs) and one or more Base Stations (BSs). The BS provides and manages resources over the air interface and is responsible for handover triggering. ASNGW performs AAA client functionality, establish and manage mobility tunnel with BSs and connections towards selected Connectivity Service Network (CSN) [6]. CSN is defined as a set of network functions that provide IP connectivity to the WiMAX subscribers. The typical CSN comprises AAA proxy/servers, user databases, routers and Interworking gateway devices. CSN is responsible of IP address Management, mobility, roaming and location management between ASNs and roaming between NSPs by Inter-CSN tunneling

Network Reference Model for WiMAX What is LTE? [5]LTE technology evolved from UMTS/HSDPA cellular technology to meet current used demands of high data rates and increased mobility. The LTE radio access is based on OFDM technique and supports different carrier frequency bandwidths (1.4-20 MHz) in both frequency-division duplex (FDD) and timedivision duplex (TDD) modes [7]. The use of SC-FDMA in the uplink reduces Peak-to-Average Power Ratio compared to OFDMA, increasing the battery life and the usage time on the UEs. In downlink peak data rates go from 100 Mbps to 326.4 Mbps, depending on the modulation type and antenna configuration used. LTE aims at providing IP backbone services, flexible spectrum, lower power consumption and simple network architecture with open interfaces. LTE architecture can be seen as a two-node architecture because only two nodes are involved between the user equipment and the core network. These two nodes are the base station (eNodeB) and the serving gateway (S-GW) in the user plane and the mobility management entity (MME) in the control plane, respectively [9]. Through this architecture, LTE offers smooth integration and handover to and from existing 3GPP and 3GPP2 networks, ensuring that operators can deploy LTE in a gradual manner using their existing legacy networks for service continuity [5]. LTE architecture is composed of Core Network (CN) and Access Network (AN), where CN corresponds to the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and AN refers to E-UTRAN. The CN and AN together correspond to Evolved Packet System (EPS). EPS connects the users to Packet Data Network(PDN) by IP address in order to access the internet and services like Voice over IP (VoIP). The overall network architecture is shown in Figure 2 [10], [11]. MME is the control plane entity within EPS supporting the following functions: inter CN node signaling for mobility between 3GPP access networks, S-GW selection, roaming, authentication, bearer management functions and NAS (Non Access Stratum) signaling. Serving Gateway is the gateway which terminates the interface towards E-UTRAN. For each user associated with the EPS, at a given point in time, there is a single Serving GW that is responsible for transferring user IP packets, lawful interception and mobility anchor for inter-eNodeB handover and for inter-3GPP mobility

LTE Overall Architecture Even if both technologies rely on OFDM modulation, allowing them to support very high peak rates and their performances are comparable, the architecture differs and the question arising from this difference is what technology should be used for upgrade based on CAPEX (Capital expenditures) and OPEX (Operating expenditure). LTE architecture was designed in such way that the operators interested in it, will be able to deploy it over their existing infrastructure with a minimum of changes and investments, and this may qualify it as the first choice based on deploying and day-to-day costs.

The Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMAX standards development. 3GPP2 is an organization structured similar to 3GPP. Evolution Data Optimized (EVDO) was developed to target IMT-2000 (3G) and is considered a predecessor of LTE.

Technical Specifications of WiMAX and LTE [8]Table 1 shows the main technical specifications for WiMAX and LTE.For WiMAX, the designation of release (R1.0 or R2.0) indicates the system profile. When certifying various vendors equipment, the WiMAX Forum creates the system profile (such as R1.0), selecting features from the standard to test. The WiMAX Forum tests a subset of features in every system profile. (Because the standard contains a plethora of features, its nearly impossible to test them all at once.) Typically, later releases contain more features and mechanisms.Most of the WiMAX base stations and products on the market are based on 802.16e. The standard created for the IMT-Advanced proposal, 802.16m (see www.ieee802.org/16/tgm), hasnt proliferated the market yet.

Physical Layer [8]Its worth mentioning that both LTE and WiMAX use orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) in the downlink, but they differ in the uplink. WiMAX continues to use OFDMA, while LTEs approach is more advanced. Using OFDMA is power inefficient, but its tolerable in the downlink because the power amplifier is placed at the base station (or at the e-Node-B in 3GPP terminology). At the base station, power is available, and the many mobile terminals share the extra complexity. However, in the uplink, the transmissions start from mobile devices, which are battery powered. The mobile devices are also constrained because they must be low cost to enable mass deployment. 3GPP specifications thus propose a reduced peak-to-average-power ratio (PAPR) transmission scheme for the uplink signal. This scheme is called single-carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC- FDMA).

This makes it easier for the mobile terminal to maintain a highly efficient signal transmission using its power amplifier. The LTE uplink signal achieves this property and saves power without degrading system flexi bility or performance. Latency [7]There is a good difference in the latency of WiMax and LTE, and some real time multimedia services will get benefit of this. Latency is a key point in some online services, and if one wants to deliver these services in a good way, he will need to pay attention to the Latency parameter. In some cases the signal must arrive at its destination as soon as possible, in order to maintain a real time sensation during the data exchange over the net. [8]The latency requirement in the WiMAX and LTE specifications is small enough to support realtime applications, such as voice applications. A voice application could tolerate a delay of between 50 and 200 ms without the user perceiving a decrease in quality. Low latency is thus essential in these mobile broadband standards.The low latency is also coupled with high data rates to satisfy bandwidthintensive applications. Both standards support mobility in that users can carry the device travelling at speeds of up to 350 km/h. So, users on a high-speed train, for example, could connect to a 4G network.

Duplex mode [6]Duplexing refers to the way downlink and uplink data is arranged in a two-way wireless transmission. The downlink carries information from a Base Station (BS) to Subscriber Stations (SSs). Downlink is also known as forward link. The uplink carries information from a SS to a BS. It is also called reverse link. There are two types of duplexing scheme, i.e. FDD and TDD. LTE uses both frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) as duplex modes. In the case of FDD, the downlink and uplink are transmitted using different frequencies. In TDD mode, the downlink and the uplink are on the same frequency and the separation occurs in the time domain, so that each direction in a call is assigned to specific timeslots. Besides, the first release of WiMAX use FDD and the second release of WiMAX implement both FDD and TDD duplexing scheme.

Uplink and downlink in WiMAX base station

Channel bandwidth In LTE and WiMAX, each subcarrier is modulated with a conventional modulation scheme depending on the channel condition. LTE uses QPSK, 16QAM or 64QAM while WiMAX uses BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM or 64QAM for modulation at a low symbol rate. LTE use channel bandwidth of 1.4,3,5,10,15 and 20MHz are used while WiMAX use 5,10,20,40MHz channel bandwidth. Peak data rates The inclusion of MIMO antenna techniques along with flexible subchannelization schemes, Advance Coding and Modulation all enable the Mobile WiMAX technology to support peak DL data rates up to 63 Mbps per sector and peak UL data rates up to 28 Mbps per sector in a 10 MHz channel. Peak data rates for LTE range from 100 to 326.4Mbps on the downlink and 50 to 86.4 Mbps on the uplink depending on the antenna on configuration and modulation depth. The WiMAX system have peak data rate capabilities of 75 Mbps in the downlink and 25Mbps in the uplink. Spectral efficiency Spectral efficiency refers to the information rate that can be transmitted over a given bandwidth in a specific communication system. It is a measure of how efficiently a limited frequency spectrum is utilized by the physical layer protocol, and sometimes by the media access control (the channel access protocol).Spectral efficiency has significant effect on the business case as it lowers the deployment cost per Megabit. LTE advanced has a spectral efficiency of 30 (bit/s)/Hertz on the downlink, and WiMAX systems offer spectral efficiencies at 2.6(bit/s)/Hertz VoiP Capacity Protocol Architecture Figure shows the radio interface protocol architecture defined fort he LTE system. The LTE physical layer provides the data transport services to the higher layer which are accessed through the transport channels via the layer 2 MAC sub-layer. The MAC layer provides the logical channels to the layer 2 radio link control sublayer. The physical layer also has an interface with the layer 3 radio resource control layer. A detailed protocol stack for control plane and user plane defined for LTE are depicted and illustrated in figure

LTE Radio interface protocol architecture around the physical layer

LTE Control Plane Protocol Stack The physical layer is concerned with the modulation and encoding/decoding of the transport channels. The MAC layer handles the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request(HARQ) and mapping functions. The RLC(Radio Link Control) layer provides segmentation, concatenation and ARQ services. In the control plane, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) performs ciphering and integrity protection and transfer of control plane data between RRC and RLC layers. Int hte user plane it performs header compression and decompression, ciphering and transfer of user data between RRC and RLC layers. The WiMAX protocol structure defined in the IEEE802.16e is shown in the figure

WiMAX MAC/PHY protocol structure in control and data plane

The protocol structure of WiMAX is built on a OFDMA-based physical layer and a MAC layer. The MAC layer is composed of two sub layer : MAC Common Part Sublayer(MAC CPS) and convergence sublayer(CS). The CS multiplexes various types of network traffic into the MAC CPS. The funcitonal block in CPS are logically classified into upper MAC and lower MAC functions. It may also be classified based on control plane and data plane functions. The upper MAC functional group includes protocol procedure related to radio resource and mobility related funcitons such as: Network discovery,selection and entry Paging and idle mode management Radio resource management Layer 2 mobility management and handover Qos, scheduling and connection management Multicast and broadcast services

Current Deployment of 4G technology Conclusion

Reference [1] Jawad Ibrahim, 4G Features Bechtel Telecommunications Technical Journal, December 2002. [2] 4G as a Next Generation Wireless Network [3] Beyond 3G [4]Simone Frattasi, Hanane Fathi, Frank H.P Fitzek, and Ramjee Prasad, Aalborg University, Marcos D. Katz, Samsung Electronics, Defining 4G Technology from the Users Perspective, IEEE Network ,January/February 2006 [5] WiMAX versus LTE - An overview of technical aspects for Next Generation Networks technologies [6]http://www.conniq.com/WiMAX/tdd-fdd.htm [7] http://marioeguiluz.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/analysis-of-lte-wimax/ [8] WiMAX vs. LTE: Who Will Lead the Broadband Mobile Internet?