3G is an one of a most recent radio
transmission technologies (RTTs).
To Completely Understand The
Modern Technology, We Have To
Know What is 3G Standards and 3G
Spectrum.
The Third Generation (3G) digital mobile multimedia offering
broadband mobile communications with voice, video, graphics, audio and
other information.
The mobile communications industry has evolved in three stages, and
correspondingly three generations of mobile phones have emerged thus
far. Each one has provided more flexibility and usability than the
previous ones.
(1G) Analog: Analog phones helped to make voice calls inside one's country
without roaming facilities.
(2G) Digital mobile phone systems added fax, data and messaging capabilities
as well as voice telephone service in many countries offering worldwide roaming.
(3G) Multimedia services add high speed data transfer to mobile devices,
allowing new video, audio and other applications (including Internet services)
through mobile phones.
1. With 3G, the information is split into
separate but related packets before being
transmitted and reassembled at the receiving end.
Packet switched data formats are much more
common than their circuit switched counterparts.
2. The World Wide Web (WWW) is becoming
the primary communications interface. People access
the Internet for entertainment, services, and
information collection, the intranet for accessing
enterprise information and connecting with colleagues
and the extranet for accessing customers and
suppliers.
3. Speeds of up to 2 Megabits per second
(Mbps) are achievable with 3G. The data
transmission rates will depend upon the environment,
the call is being made in, however, only indoors and
in stationary environments that these types of data
rates will be available. For high mobility, data rates
of 144 kbps are expected to be available.
3G facilitates several new applications that have not previously
been readily available over mobile networks due to the limitations in data
transmission speeds.
These applications range from Web Browsing to file transfer to
Home Automation (the ability to remotely access and control in-house
appliances and machines).
Because of the bandwidth increase, these applications will be even
more easily available with 3G than they were previously with interim
technologies.
Simplex vs. Duplex
TDD vs. FDD
Symmetric vs. Asymmetric Transmission
TDMA vs. CDMA
Spread spectrum
Circuit Switching vs. Packet Switching
When people use walkie-talkie radios to communicate, only one
person can talk at a time (the person doing the talking has to press a
button). This is because walkie-talkie radios only use one communication
frequency - a form of communication known as simplex:
Simplex: Using a walkie-talkie you have to push a button to talk
one-way. Of course, this is not how mobile phones work. Mobile phones
allow simultaneous two-way transfer of data - a situation known
as duplex (if more than two data streams can be transmitted, it is called
multiplex):
Duplex: Allows simultaneous two-way data transfers.
The communication channel from the base station to the mobile device is
called the downlink, and the communication from the mobile device back to
the base station is called the uplink.
How can duplex communication be achieved? Well, there are two
possible methods which we will now consider: TDD and FDD.
Wireless duplexing has been traditionally implemented by
dedicating two separate frequency bands: one band for the uplink and one
band for the downlink (this arrangement of frequency bands is called
(paired spectrum). This technique is called Frequency Division Duplex, or
FDD. The two bands are separated by a "guard band" which provides
isolation of the two signals:
FDD: Uses paired spectrum - one frequency band for the uplink,
one frequency band for the downlink.
TDD: Duplex communications can also be
achieved in time rather than by frequency. In this
approach, the uplink and the downlink operate on
the same frequency, but they are switched very
rapidly one moment the channel is sending the
uplink signal, the next moment the channel is
sending the downlink signal. Because this switching
is performed very rapidly. This is called Time
Division Duplex, or TDD. TDD requires a guard
time instead of a guard band between transmit and
receive streams.
Data transmission is Symmetric if the data in the downlink and the data
in the uplink is transmitted at the same data rate. This will probably be the
case for voice transmission - the same amount of data is sent both ways).
Asymmetric applications, e.g., the internet- 384kbps for the downlink, and 64kbps for the uplink
We have considered how a mobile phone can send and receive calls at
the same time (via an uplink and a downlink). Now we will examine how many
users can be multiplexed into the same channel (i.e., share the channel)
without getting interference from other users, a capability called multiple
access. For 3G technology, there are basically two competing technologies to
achieve multiple access: TDMA and CDMA.
TDMA is Time Division Multiple Access. It works by dividing a single
radio frequency into many small time slots. Each caller is assigned a specific
time slot for transmission.
CDMA is Code Division Multiple Access. CDMA works by giving each
user a unique code. The receiver has knowledge of the sender's unique code,
and is therefore able to extract the correct signal no matter what the
frequency
Traditional connections for voice communications require a physical
path connecting the users at the two ends of the line, and that path stays open
until the conversation ends. This Kind of connection is called circuit switching.
Most modern networking technology is radically different from this traditional model
because it uses packet data.
chopped into pieces (packets),
given a destination address,
mixed with other data from other sources,
transmitted over a line with all the other data,
reconstituted at the other end. A data packet.
Packet data was originally developed as the technology behind the Internet
Macro Cells, Micro Cells, and Pico Cells
The 3G network might be divided up in hierarchical fashion:
•Macro cell - The area of largest coverage, e.g., an entire city.
•Micro cell - The area of intermediate coverage, e.g., a city centre.
•Pico cell - The area of smallest coverage, e.g., a "hot spot" in a hotel or
airport.
smaller regions (shorter ranges) allow higher user density and faster
transmission rates. This is why they are called "hot spots".
TDD mode does not allow long range transmission (the delays
incurred would cause interference between the uplink and the downlink).
For this reason, TDD mode can only be used in environments where
the propagation delay is small (Pico cells).
As was explained in the previous section on symmetric transmission
vs. asymmetric transmission,.
TDD mode is highly efficient for transmission of internet data in
Pico cells.
In the old days, when all phones were fixed rather than mobile, making
a call involved establishing a direct electrical connection between your
handset and the one you were calling.
The same happens with GSM mobiles, but instead of setting up a
dedicated circuit, a small portion of the airwaves are reserved for your
call.
This is a really bad way of dividing up the available airwaves because it
means that the spaces and pauses in speech get the same priority as the
words.
3G networks change all this. Instead of reserving airspace each
conversation is chopped up into packets, each one of which is labelled
with a code denoting which dialogue it is from.
This radical change means 3G mobile networks can support lots more
subscribers and let them download data much faster. On current GSM
networks data chugs around at 9.6 kilobits per second (kbps).
By contrast the upper limit for 3G networks is 2 megabits per second
if you are standing still and 384 kbps for those on the move.
These are maximum rates and possible speed will fall as more people
download data in any particular cell. It is possible that at peak times
phone users will be lucky to do better than the 56kbps possible over a
fixed phone.
Using packets of information to carry voice and data also means that
your phone is effectively always connected to the network.
This will mean a huge change in the way that you pay for your phone.
Mobile operators will have to stop charging on the basis of talk time and
move to a model based on the packets you download or a single charge
per month covering anything and everything you do.
The day of 3G may be dawning but it will be a long time before the sun
sets on our existing mobile phones .
