History of Mobile Communication Systems

Study Notes

Mobile radio telephones were introduced for military communications in the early 20th century.
Car-based telephones were first tested in Saint Louis in 1946, using a single large transmitter on top of a high-rise building and a single channel for sending and receiving.
The "push-to-talk" system was introduced in the 1950s, allowing users to talk and listen at the same time, but with a half-duplex system.
IMTS (Improved Mobile Telephone System) was introduced in the 1960s, using two channels for sending and receiving, bringing telecommunication to full duplex mode.
In the 1970s, private companies developed their own systems, including Analogue Mobile Phone System, Total Access Communication System, and Nordic Mobile Telephone.
The 1st Generation communication was introduced in 1982 by Bell Labs, known as Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), dividing geographical areas into cells and using frequency reuse.
The key concerns of the 1st Generation were weak security on the air interface, full analog mode of communication, and no roaming.
The 2nd Generation system was commercially launched in 1991 in Finland, based on GSM standards, delivering data at up to 9.6 Kbps, with three primary benefits: digitally encrypted phone conversations, spectrum efficiency, and data services for mobile.
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) was introduced, overlaying a packet switching network on the existing circuit-switched GSM network, transmitting data at up to 160 Kbps.
EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) was introduced, using 8 PSK modulation and delivering data at up to 500 Kbps using the same GPRS infrastructure.
The 3rd Generation system, UMTS, was succeeded by EDGE in 1999, using Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) and often referred to as WCDMA.
The governing body, ITU-R, manages the international radio-frequency spectrum and ensures the effective use of spectrum.
ITU-R defines technology families and associates specific parts of the spectrum with these families, proposing requirements for radio technology.
3GPP, 3GPP2, and IEEE started developing standards to meet the requirements proposed by ITU-R.
The goal of UMTS or 3G wireless systems was to provide a minimum data rate of 2 Mbit/s for stationary or walking users, and 384 kbit/s in a moving vehicle.
The upgrades and additional facilities were introduced at successive releases of the 3GPP standard, including Release 4, Release 5, Release 6, and Release 7.
Evolved HSPA provides data rates up to 28 Mbit/s in the downlink and 11 Mbit/s in the uplink.
Long-term evolution (LTE) was introduced, with an initial goal of providing mobility and global connectivity, but expanding to include services beyond voice and SMS.
The whole new architecture was adopted for both non-Radio part (SAE System Architecture Evolution) and Radio part using pure IP Architecture (packet switching).
LTE standardization began in 2004, with a large number of telecom companies collaborating to achieve their common vision.
Release 8 was finally crystallized in June 2005, with significant features including reduced delays, increased user data throughput, increased cell-edge bit-rate, and reduced cost per bit.
The three fundamental technologies that shaped the LTE radio interface design were multicarrier technology, multiple-antenna technology, and the application of packet-switching to the radio interface.
The first commercial deployment of LTE took place by the end of 2009 in northern Europe.
In subsequent releases, multiple services such as Multi Cell HSDPA, HETNET, Coordinate Multipoint, Carrier Aggregation, and Massive MIMO were targeted for a rich customer experience.
The 5th Generation or next generation system will include features such as pervasive networks, group cooperative relay, cognitive radio technology, and smart antennas.

Description

This quiz covers the evolution of mobile communication systems, from the introduction of mobile radio telephones in the early 20th century to the development of 5G networks. Learn about the key features and technologies of each generation, including 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G.