Status of 3g and the Future of 4g and 5g

Status of 3G and the Future of 4G and 5G

Jake Ingram

211

CIS

Professor Pondfield

May 31, 2016

Status of 3G and the Future of 4G and 5G

Mobile technology has been changing with time. This change is attributed to the new changes and innovations by technology experts. The 3rd generation (3G) telecommunications technology is set on standards for mobile technology. To be specific, the 3G technology has to comply with the International Mobile Telecommunicatios-2000 (IMT-2000) regulations. These specifications are set by the International (Smith & Collins, 2000). Progressively, this technology has improved with time with the upcoming inventions like the 4G and 5G.

3G technologies helped to improve the mobile communication as it offers faster communication speeds. Boasting of speeds of up to 200 kbit/s, 3G made things better for the mobile communication industry (Chen et al., 2012). Later on, the technology was improved to have better technology. The later versions were the 3.5G and the 3.75G models which provided better technology options (Wikipedia, n.d.a). Notably, the improved technology allowed for the use of the modems on the laptops. Apparently, there has been a consistent trend in the development of these new technologies. With the advent of the 3G technology, certain standards were met that comply with the set IMT2000/3G standards (da Costa Marques, 2014).

The 3GPP technology was reorganized to better what the older 2G GSM version had in place. It also utilized the same switching methods though with better cellphone RF circuits. It also employed improved base stations (Sulyman et al., 2014). The technology also employed better and improved versions of GSM. 3G technology is used in location-based services, mobile television, video on demand, video conferencing, global positioning system (GPS) (Wikipedia, n.d.b). The technology was later improved to 4G with certain modifications that would help better its performance as well as technological services it could offer.

The fourth generation (4G) technology is the fourth generation in the context of mobile telecommunications technology. It succeeded the 3G technology. With it came better technology in mobile web access. It also incorporated better options in IP telephony. The technology also allowed for better mobile gaming experiences coupled together with video conferencing, cloud computing, 3D television as well as video conferencing.  

WirelessMAN-Advanced and LTE-Advanced were approved for use in the 4g technology. The LTE advanced which was an improvement of the 3G technology. There are certain features that were important in 4G technology (Wikipedia, n.d.c). These included the techniques used in the physical layer transmission. Notably, techniques include the utilization of multi-domain equalization. In 4G, there is the application of scheduling that is channel dependent. The 4G technology also employs better link adaptation. Another popular feature of the technology is the mobile internet protocol (IP) which is used to allow for mobility. Nevertheless, with all the positive advancements in technology, 4G does not support telephony that is circuit switched.

With technology that is based solely on packet switching, the 4G technology requires low-latency when it comes to data transmission. The 4G technology brings about better communication technologies that allow for increased wireless usage. For this reason, the technology is designed to use IPv6 which was essential for the high traffic (Chen et al., 2012). However, this upgrade requires the change in technology that was applied initially in the 3G networks. The 4G technology also employee multiple antennas which help increase the speeds (Chen et al., 2012). This technology also allows for better reliability and increased the range of communications. Although better than 3G networks, 4G technology came with its disadvantages.

The 4G technology was disadvantaged by the fact that it was not possible to provide high bit rates to clients where there were larger portions of the cell. This is especially true where the users are in exposed positions especially if it is between different base stations. The 5G technology is developed in a way to better or improve the networking and mobile technology (Wikipedia, n.d.c). The 5G technology has better speeds compared to the 4G and 3G networks. Certain technologies are a prerequisite for the 5G networks.

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