Mobile Wireless Communications Tomorrow

by Puneet Gupta

Introduction

3rd Generation Wireless, or 3G, is the generic term used for the next generation of mobile communications systems. 3G systems aim to provide enhanced voice, text and data services to user. The main benefit of the 3G technologies will be substantially enhanced capacity, quality and data rates than are currently available. This will enable the provision of advanced services transparently to the end user (irrespective of the underlying network and technology, by means of seamless roaming between different networks) and will bridge the gap between the wireless world and the computing/Internet world, making inter-operation apparently seamless. The third generation networks should be in a position to support real-time video, high-speed multimedia and mobile Internet access. All this should be possible by means of highly evolved air interfaces, packet core networks, and increased availability of spectrum. Although ability to provide high-speed data is one of the key features of third generation networks, the real strength of these networks will be providing enhanced capacity for high quality voice services. The need for landline quality voice capacity is increasing more rapidly than the current 2nd generation networks will be able to support. High data capacities will open new revenue sources for the operators and bring the Internet more closer to the mobile customer. The use of all-ATM or all-IP based communications between the network elements will also bring down the operational costs of handling both voice and data, in addition to adding flexibility.

On The Way To 3G

As reflected in the introduction above, the drive for 3G is the need for higher capacities and higher data rates. Whereas higher capacities can basically be obtained by having a greater chunk of spectrum or by using new evolved air interfaces, the data requirements can be served to a certain extent by overlaying 2.5G technologies on the existing networks. In many cases it is possible to provide higher speed packet data by adding few network elements and a software upgrade.

Next: A Look At GPRS, HCSD, and EDGE