4G MOBILE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
INTRODUCTION 1. 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 Mbit/s for high mobility communication (such as from trains and cars) and 1 Gbit/s for low mobility communication (such as pedestrians and stationary users). 2. A 4G system is expected to provide a comprehensive and secure all-IP based mobile broadband solution to laptop computer wireless modems, smart phones, and other mobile devices. Facilities such as ultra-broadband Internet access, IP telephony, gaming services, and streamed multimedia may be provided to users. 3. Pre-4G technologies such as mobile WiMAX and first-release 3G Long term evolution (LTE) have been on the market since 2006 and 2009 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. 4. 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 IMT-Advanced. 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." 5. The approaching 4G (fourth generation) mobile communication systems are projected to solve still-remaining problems of 3G (third generation) systems and to provide a wide variety of new services, from high-quality voice to high-definition video to high-data-rate wireless channels. 6. The term 4G is used broadly to include several types of broadband wireless access communication systems, not only cellular telephone systems. One of the terms used to describe 4G is MAGIC—Mobile multimedia, anytime anywhere, Global mobility support, integrated wireless solution, and customized personal service. As a promise for the future, 4G systems, that is, cellular broadband wireless access systems have been attracting much interest in the mobile communication arena. The 4G systems not only will support the next generation of mobile service, but also will support the fixed wireless networks. This article presents an overall vision of the 4G features, framework, and integration of mobile communication.
2
Figure 1. 3G Vs 4G 7. The features of 4G systems might be summarized with one word- Integration. The 4G systems are about seamlessly integrating terminals, networks, and applications to satisfy increasing user demands. The continuous expansion of mobile communication and wireless networks shows evidence of exceptional growth in the areas of mobile subscriber, wireless network access, mobile services, and applications. An estimate of 1 billion users by the end of 2013 justifies the study and research for 4G systems. HISTORY 8. The history and evolution of mobile service from the 1G (first generation) to fourth generation are discussed in this section. Table 1 presents a short history of mobile telephone technologies. This process began with the designs in the 1970s that have become known as 1G. The earliest systems were implemented based on analog technology and the basic cellular structure of mobile communication. Many fundamental problems were solved by these early systems. 9. Numerous incompatible analog systems were placed in service around the