InfoWave Knowledgeware

Fourth Generation Mobile Technology

The approaching 4G (fourth generation) mobile communication systems are projected to solve still-remaining problems of 3G (third generation) systems and to provide a wide variety of new services, from high-quality voice to high-definition video to high-data-rate wireless channels.

Features in 4G:

• Support interactive multimedia services: teleconferencing, wireless Internet, etc
• Wider bandwidths, higher bit rates
• Global mobility and service portability
• Low cost
• Scalability of mobile networks

For 4G, data rates up to 20 Megabytes per second are planned. This is about 2000 times faster than present mobile data rates and about 10 times faster than top transmission rates planned in the final build out of 3G broadband mobile. It is about 10-20 times faster than standard ASDL services, which are being introduced for Internet connections over traditional copper cables at this time.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said it has successfully demonstrated 4th generation (4G) mobile technology, claiming it is the first in the world to do so.  The new technology enables data transmission at speeds up to 50 times faster than the current mobile WiMAX technology.

Video telephony is not a real killer application for 3G. However, this may change if quality and market penetration improves or different marketing models are found.  We believe, however, that music is a killer application - compare for example the success of iPod. At the moment (3G) only very short music clips can be downloaded. 4G is likely to enable the download of full length songs or music pieces, which may change the market response dramatically.

The focal point of growth in the new IT era will be based on mobile technology, where technological advancements and application introductions are occurring at a historically unprecedented pace. To this end, non-volatile – NAND Flash – memory has become the pivotal enabling technology, boosting adoption of multimedia features in the mobile space while outpacing growth of other components.

As the history of mobile communications show, attempts have been made to reduce a number of technologies to a single global standard. Projected 4G systems offer this promise of a standard that can be embraced worldwide through its key concept of integration. 

Future wireless networks will need to support diverse IP multimedia applications to allow sharing of resources among multiple users. There must be a low complexity of implementation and an efficient means of negotiation between the end users and the wireless infrastructure. The fourth generation promises to fulfill the goal of PCC (personal computing and communication) – a vision that affordably provides high data rates everywhere over a wireless network.