The demand for technology by the consumers is rapidly growing. Whether it is a refrigerator, television, or cellular phone, the consumers prefer spending on those with the new and advanced features. Since the introduction of the internet, the most-preferred feature is faster and better access to information. Apparently, the cellular subscribers are over willing to pay more than the basic bills to access such features. To support such system, high-speed persuasive wireless connectivity is needed, and it is for this reason that a number of technologies presently exist to offer the same. 802.11 and Bluetooth are examples of standards that provide high-speed connections over short distances, basically tens of meters. For the same goal, high-speed wireless connections over long range, the purpose for which this research focuses on the 4G, for the fourth-generation wireless system. This paper provides an overview of different aspects of the 4G connection including its features, applications, and technological requirements it fulfills.
The mobile communication technologies changes and improves day by day across the globe. These changes are as a result of the increasing desires of human beings to communicate with each other at a distance which in turn increases the needs as well as the requirements of wireless communication. The evolution of mobile networks has had great leaps in the last few decades in attempts to meet expectations of the users. With over 6 billion people around the globe owning mobile phones, the wireless communication is one of the most active areas of technology of the era. From 1G to the 4G system the today’s telecommunication system is experiencing enormously high rates of data to large subscribers at the same time (Vora 281).
Evolution of Wireless Network.
First Generation 1G introduced in the early 1980s was analog signaling-based (Vora 281). The Analog system had the Analog Phone System (AMPS) which were implemented in the Northern America and the Total Access Communication System which were implemented in Europe and other parts of the world. This system was operated on circuit-switched technology and was primarily designed for voice (Vora 282). The Second Generation (2G) of digital phones appeared in the late 1980s, alongside the first digital mobiles. The 2G network was based on a digital low-band data signaling with the most popular technology of 2G known as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) (Vora 284). GSM technology is a combination of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) or the Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA). Currently, GSM is operating in the 900MHz and 1.8GHz bands (Vora 284).
The Third Generation (3G) wireless network was launched in 2001, and it converged various telecommunications system of 2G network into a single worldwide system that includes both satellite and terrestrial components (Vora 287). The unique feature of the 3G wireless technology is its ability to combine the available cellular standards such as GSM, CDMA, and TDMA. 3G network consists of a core network and a Radio Access Network (RAN) (Vora 287).
The Fourth Generation (4G) wireless Network.
Also called the Next Generation Network (NGN), the 4G network offers a single platform for various wireless networks. A successor of 2G and 3G networks, 4G has a faster downloading speed of up to 100Mbps alongside improved services of 3G. It is also enabled with access to Multi-Media Newspapers and T.V programs (Varshney 34). Additionally, it allows the fastest data sharing with secure and comprehensive information of all Internet Protocol (IP-based) computers, mobile broadband, smartphones, and modems. Facilities such as IP telephony, ultra-broadband Internet access, gaming services, and streaming are also available with 4G (Varshney 35).
Being highly dynamic and application adaptability are the main features offered by the 4G network (Varshney 36). These services mean they can be available and be delivered according to personal preference of different subscribers and support the subscriber's traffic, radio environment, air interface, and quality of service. Connections with the applications of the network can be transferred into various levels and forms effectively and efficiently (Varshney 37). Worth noting is that 4G network also encompasses different systems from multiple networks from private to public, personal areas to operator driven networks as well as ad hoc networks.
Key 4G Technologies
OFDMA is used to transmit signals from the station to the mobile device of the symbol to achieve high efficiency in spectral. It improves the technological robustness of multipath transmission and also avoids the problems of synchronization at the receiver side (Sun et al. 54) SC-FDMA is used in up linking symbol transmission. It is allocation channel used in data transmission using carrier frequency division techniques of multiplexing allowing for transmission symbols in a single carrier.
Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output (MIMO). This is an antenna technology using multiple radio channels to provide the functions of the receiver and the transmitter of the data over a network. The MIMO is also used together with OFDMA for reception and transmission from and to different users using one band (Sun et al. 54).
Why 4G is Ideal.
The vision that considered 4G over other wireless networks was known as the linear 4G vision. However, the capabilities of this network have gone beyond the cellular services with the best network available in the pool known as concurrent 4G vision. Using what is already discussed in the paper, the features of 4G that cater for the end-users benefits can be summarized as; user-friendliness, 4G provides a myriad of services at a very high speed (Varshney 37). The application that has been developed to avail these services is user-friendly minimizing the interaction between the user and the application, for example, recognition of speech technology in the user interface is integrated to ease the use of the application by everybody. Also, the services provided by 4G are user personalized (Varshney 38). Ubiquitous coverage and high transfer of data give the user's access to an extensive repository of services and data as per their preferences.
With 4G, there is network and terminal heterogeneity. Terminal heterogeneity refers to the various terminals regarding display feature, weight, size, and power consumption. Network heterogeneity, on the other hand, applies to the different types of network access like wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), WiMAX, and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) which differ in their area of coverage, data rate, data loss and latency (Varshney 38). All these terminals cater to different users, different requirements. However, 4G is designed in such a manner that all the networks and the terminals provide a universal service irrespective of their capabilities.
Moreover, 4G has high performance and is interoperable. The 3G network has low rates of transfer which restrict the user’s ability to take advantage of the full range of multimedia contents available in the wireless network (Varshney 39). 4G provides the fastest downloading speed ever that goes up to 1Gbps in the Local Area Network (LAN) and 100Mbps for Wide Area Network (WAN) which is almost 260 times better than the 3G network. Alongside high performance, 4G provides a unified international standard facilitating global portability and mobility. This implies that end users can access different services from different providers using the same mobile device.
Threats to the 4G network.
It is not obvious that 4G, being the fastest and the best wireless network of the era, lacks challenges. In fact, 4G network faces more than a single threat. Arguably, as different service providers and network operators share one core network infrastructure, a compromise by one operator may cripple the entire network infrastructure (Sun et al. 58). Also securing of IP based solution by the 4G makes it vulnerable to security threats in the internet world
Conclusion.
The advent of the 4G wireless network has revolutionized the telecommunication field bringing the wireless communication to an entirely new level. It has provided wealth of services and features making the world an even smaller than it has always been with other wireless networks. However, the 4G network ought to take lessons from the failure of the 3G network to capture the imaginations of its end-users. To attain this, a user-centric approach to 4G’s development should be adopted. A common consensus on the technologies and standards of the 4G need to be reached to accelerate the deployment of 4G. Lots of research also needs to be taken to investigate the different designs and parameters to provide an excellent 4G world. Also, threat analysis that surrounds the field of telecommunication should be taken into consideration for a complete analysis of 4G. Further, comprehensive research is needed to in the security network field to tackle any future threat.
Works Cited.
Sun, Songlin, et al. “Integrating Network Function Virtualization with SDR and SDN for 4G/5G Networks.” IEEE Network, vol. 29, no. 3, 2015, pp. 54–59, doi:10.1109/MNET.2015.7113226.
Varshney, Upkar. “4G Wireless Networks.” IT Professional, vol. 14, no. 5, 2012, pp. 34–39, doi:10.1109/MITP.2012.71.
Vora, Ms Lopa J. “Evolution of Mobile Generation Technology : 1G To 5G and Review of Upcoming Wireless Technology 5G.” Scientific Journal Impact Factor, vol. 2, no. 10, 2015, pp. 281–291.
