OPPORTUNITIES & THREATS FOR

IMPLEMENTATION OF 4G CELLULAR
NETWORKS.
 ABSTRACT
The emerging technologies today have opened a lot of issues in the user oriented
service developments. Customers support technologies with cost effectiveness and
easy to handle at the end of service provider are the major issues developing any
system. Consequently similar effects can be seen in recent developments in cellular
networks. Initially started with simply analog voice service (known as 1G), the
cellular service today are expected to provide high quality smooth video interaction
(known as 4G).Besides this , the high speed data transfer is also a major
requirement for the same. And all these must be fulfilled anywhere, anytime
whenever the user wants to access. Thus, as the demands increase, the technologies
have to find a commercial way to implement the user demands with an adequate
quality of service. Such requirements put a Challenge to develop the network
fulfilling the requirements of 4G cellular networks. This paper concentrates on the
requirements of 4G cellular networks and what are the opportunities and threats if
such networks are implemented.
Introduction

The concept of cellular communication is not new in the sense that wireless
technology was already in operation for TV broadcast, terrestrial microwave link,
F.M.Radio, satellite communications, etc. But here the idea is new to renovate the
old wireless technology in the form of small service areas (Zones) known as cells,
thus the system is called cellular system. The concept of cellular was implemented
initially to provide simple voice services only in analog domain. Then the
technology moved towards the development of digital technology. Hence the older
systems were analog while nowadays they are digital cellular systems. The
technology evolved in steps of 1G, 2G, 2.5G, 3G and now 4G. As the user density
and various demands for services like high speed data, audio ,video, seamless
connectivity, service at any time, anywhere increases, it becomes much complex to
implement in real time systems which can be treated as key problems to 4G cellular
technology. People often say that it will be realized successfully but it is not so
simple. We hope the reader will realize the opportunities and threats for making 4G
systems operational worldwide soon after reading this paper.
Brief History of Past & Present Cellular Technologies:

1G (First Generation) Cellular Systems:

Initially the cellular services were started with simple analog voice based
services. The development of cellular technologies were started around 1970 and
implemented in around 1984. All these systems use two separate frequency bands
for (from base station to mobile) and reverse (from mobile to base station) links.
Such a system is referred to as Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) scheme. The
typical allocated overall bandwidth in each direction is 25MHz. The widely used
spectrum for these systems is 800-900MHz bands. The system uses analog
frequency modulation scheme. There are different standards adopted in different
countries are simply due to lack of vision for a common universal service and
opinion difference of various bodies responsible for deciding the standards for their
own countries ,which led the major issues in realization and implementation of 4G
networks today.
Basic features of 1G cellular system are Voice Oriented Analog Cellular
Service, Limited Local and Regional Coverage, Circuits Switched Network and
Core Network was PSTN.

2G (Second Generation) Cellular Systems:

The drawbacks in 1G and growing demands for seamless connectivity led
the cellular industry to design the second generation cellular systems. Further the
quality of service also improved by using digital cellular technology instead of
analog. The development of 2G was started in 1980 and implemented in around
1991. Like 1G, the 2G networks still use FDD scheme. The widely used spectrum
for these systems is 800-900MHz bands. Global System for Mobile (GSM), IS-95,
Japanese Digital Cellular (JDC) and IS-54 are the major standards in this category.
The Table 1 indicates the important properties of 2G cellular systems. Basic
features of 2G Cellular System are voice and basic data service at low data speeds
(14.4 kbps), circuit switched network for voice application, packet switched
network for basic data applications, enhancement towards packet switching
networks and high data rates, etc. 2G Cellular System offered international roaming
facility. Core network was PSTN
 Table 1: Properties of 2G cellular systems

System GSM IS-95 JDC IS-54

Region Europe/Asia US/Asia Japan US
Access TDMA/FDD CDMA/FDD TDMA/GDD TDMA/FDD
method
Modulation GMSK SQPSK/OPSK p/4-DQPSK p/4-DQPSK
scheme
Frequency 935-960 869-894 810-826 869-894
bands(MH 890-915 824-849 940-956 824-849
z)
Carrier 200 1250 25 30
Spacing(K
Hz)

2G+/3G (Third Generation) Cellular System

2G+ Cellular System:

Present Cellular Technologies are some where around 2.5G also known as
2G+. The additional features of mixed services, increased capacity, flexible billing
and personalization are implemented in the 2G+ system.
The development was started in around 1985 and implemented in around
1999.Increased data rates (384kbps) allow users to communicate faster than the 2G
Systems. Further the mobility is now worldwide instead of limited regions. Still
there are different standard in different countries as discussed above, which led to
restrict the user access to become worldwide. General Packet Radio
Systems(GPRS) and Enhanced Data For Global Evolution(EDGE) are the
technologies added in the 2G Systems to enhance the services provided and also to
enhance data rate which is known 2G+. The Basic access technologies are (TDMA
& FDMA), CDMA in these types of systems. GSM Standards apply combined
TDMA + FDMA technology to increase the capacity of the system while IS-95
system uses WCDMA technology for the same purpose. Basic features of 2G+
cellular system are digital voice and data applications, packet & Circuit switched
network, EDGE-GPRS in GSM and 1xRTT in CDMA technologies to provide data
rates upto 384kbps, increased capacity and higher data rates compared to 2G
systems. Core networks of PSTN and packet network User oriented services are
introduced in 2G+ like flexible billing and personalization.
3G Cellular System:

Development of 3G was started in 1990 and implemented in some countries

in around 2002. The purpose of migration to 3G networks was to develop an
international standard that combines and gradually replaces 2G, 2G+ digital cellular
networks, PCS and cellular data services. At the same time, 3G is expected to have
improved quality of voice, capacity of the network and data rates. Inter network
communication either voice or data should be possible. The technology is now data
oriented rather than voice as enormous data applications are in demand from the
users. 3G also provides multimedia services to the users everywhere WCDMA,
CDMA2000 are the technologies as options to use. Though yet not completely
implemented in India, 3G is expected to have features like digital voice, data,
multimedia applications. Expected data rates are upto 2Mbps packet switched
networks, global coverage and global roaming.
Why 4G is required?
At the first, we might have a question that why we even require 4G if 3G systems
are working well. It is because of basically two reasons that one is substantial
growth in overall number of subscribers and other is massive demand of new data
services which can be either data , audio, image or video (interactive or non-
interactive). These two factors are enough to cause a substantial bottle neck in
cellular communication services. Though the projected data rate is around 2Mbps in
3G, the actual data rates are slower, especially in crowded areas or when network is
congested. Further the data rates also depends on the users activity (moving or
steady state) and location (indoor/outdoor) as expected , the data services like
multimedia are going to play modest role and will dominate the cellular traffic
instead of voice in future. In such scenario the present 1G & 2G systems will
saturate and will have no room to survive. Also the demand for increasing data rates
leads to higher band width requirement. These factors cause the cellular industry to
develop a common standard for a system that can work to overcome almost all the
limitations imposed by the previous cellular technologies.
The expected features of 4G systems are much higher data rates around 100Mbps,
higher bandwidth requirements of an order of hundreds of MHz, plenty of services
like data, audio, video etc. Seamless connectivity and improved quality of service
keeping in mind the all existing networks can be merged or interconnected i.e. all in
one.

What is 4G?
The figure1 (4G Cellular Network) shows the concept of 4G cellular
network. The future 4G infrastructure will consist of a set of various networks using
internet protocol. As a common protocol so that the users are in control as they will
be able to choose every application and environment. Accessing information
anywhere, anytime with seamless connection to a wide range of information,
obtaining services, receiving a large volume of information, data, pictures, video
and so on are the key of 4G infrastructure.

Legends:

DAB : Digital Audio Broadcasting

LAN : Local Area Network
PAN : Personal Area Network
WLAN : Wireless Local Area Network
DVB : Digital Video Broadcasting
MAN : Metropolitan Area N/w
WAN : Wide Area Network
UMTS : Universal Cellular Telecommunications Systems
One of the terms popularly used to describe 4G is MAGIC stands for
 M : Mobile Multimedia
 A : Anytime anywhere
 G : Global mobility support
 I : Integrated wireless solutions
 C : Customized personal service
Main features of 4G cellular services are application, adaptability and dynamisms.
In this full motion video, home entertainment systems, advance location systems
and many different services are expected with enhanced response time and quality
of service. The expected data rates are 2Mbps for vehicular applications,
10\20Mbps for pedestrian applications and 100Mbps for indoor applications. Such
high data rates obviously require much high bandwidth in terms of several hundred
MHz. Concentrating on access technology, ultra WCDMA and Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) being spectral efficient are the two
major options that can help to realize the expected features of 4G cellular networks.
OFDM\COFDM allows many users to transmit in an allocate band, by subdividing
the available bandwidth into many narrow bandwidth carriers. Each user is
allocated several carriers to transmit their data. The transmission is generated in
such a way that the carriers used are orthogonal to each other, thus allowing them to
be packed together much closer than standard Frequency Division Multiplexing
(FDM). Hence this leads to have high spectral efficiency in OFDM\COFDM
technology. Seamless connectivity requires fast HAND OFFs between different
networks as the user moves from one to another. This can be satisfied as the core
network is IP based. While
Maintaining the connectivity, the emphasis is also on quality of service, security
and providing services at the cheapest rate. Although most service providers are
still expanding and improving their existing 2G+ network, research towards 4G
systems is making significant progress. This research has been launched worldwide
in major companies such as Motorola, Qualcomm, AT&T, Nokia, Ericsson, Sun,
HP, Nippon Telephone and Telegraph DoCoMo and other infrastructure vendors as
well as academic
Institutes. NTT, DoCoMo, Japan leads the research work of 4G and has announced
that
They have already made up an indoor experiment of 100Mbps data rate, though the
exact
Specifications of the experiment are not yet announced.

Within a matter of years, the demand for cellular data services will outgrow the
3G’s advances It’s commonly accepted that 4G will be a super-enhanced version of
3G. Other 4G points are that 4G systems will be deployed with software defined
radios, allowing the equipment upgrades for new protocols and services via
software upgrades. In addition, 4G holds the promise of worldwide roaming using a
single handheld device. 4G outlook is embodied in five key elements of fully
converged services, ubiquitous cellular access, diverse user devices, autonomous
networks and software dependency. The aim of 3G was to provide multimedia,
multi rate, cellular communications any time and anywhere. It is uneconomical to
meet this requirement with only cellular radio. 4G systems will extend the scenario
to an IP Network that integrates broadcasts, cellular, cordless, WLAN/PAN and
fixed wire.4G is the “network of networks “with which users are in control. They
will be able to decide the right system and even the right terminal for each
applications and for each environment (mobility, coverage) providing personalized
service irrespective of the underlying network. As a result, this makes the most
efficient use of the available spectrum by directing users to the most appropriate
network.

Opportunities for implementing the 4G Network:

As the matter is clear now that to meet the 4G requirements of high data rate,
seamless connectivity, cost effective services, the core network for 4G must be an
IP (Internet Protocol) based network. The vision to merge all networks in one core
network requires to have an intermediate layer that provides the interface between
the existing network protocols and required protocols. Hence the opportunities are
open if all the networks are going to update their present network architecture and
allow the desired change or upgradation in the existing network. If we examine the
present status in India, GSM is dominating presently and CDMA is now competing
with GSM in cellular market. EDGE and GPRS are just introduced and will take
sometime to work fine according to the expectation. While complete 3G services
are yet not introduced. It may happen that the cellular network waiting for 3G and
upgrading themselves with 2G+ may switch over directly to 4G by completely
bypassing 3G as it seems a better option regarding cost effectiveness in the network
upgradation and replacement. Since the expected technology for 4G is ultra
WCDMA and /or OFDM, the present GSM networks must upgrade or replace the
whole network to CDMA or OFDM networks, which is a big critical issue for the
present GSM networks to survive.
Migration of all networks like LAN, MAN, WLAN, HIPERLAN, DVB, DAB also
requires transparent protocols and smart HAND OFFs which should be able to work
for maintaining the quality of service and offering such services at the lowest cost.
The path to the final 4G may be plotted in 4 steps:
 Internet working of 2G+, 3G and internet (Circuit Switched Voice /Data)
 Integration of all networks (Circuit Switched Voice & Packet Data)
 IP based harmonization (Packet based Voice/Data) and
 Full convergence of the networks (All IP based Voice /Data /Multimedia /End
to End quality of service /Better Security /Seamless Connectivity /Entertainment
and so on) Figure 2 (4G an integration of major growing fields) illustrates the
advantages of 4G cellular if the integration of all networks is possible according
to the projected path. It indicates the integration of media, information
technology and communication fields which are the majoe growing fields in the
user applications. Merging all the services in one hand-set like Voice, non
Voice, Internet, e-Commerce, Multimedia, entertainment like News, Sports,
Video on demand, Audio and so on are the attractive features for the future
customer of 4G cellular industry if implemented with reliable end to end quality
of service and faster data rates.
Threats for implementing the 4G Network
Because deployment of 4G wireless technology is not expected until 2006 or
even later, developers will hopefully have time to resolve issues involving multiple
heterogeneous networks such as
 Access,
 Handoff,
 Location coordination,
 Resource coordination to add new users,
 Support for multicasting,
 Support for quality of service,
 Wireless security and authentication,
 Network failure and backup, and
 Pricing and billing.
 Network architectures will play a key role in implementing the features required
to address these issues.
One of the most challenging problems facing deployment of 4G technology is how
to access several different mobile and wireless networks. Figure3 shows three
possible architectures: using a multimode device, an overlay network, or a common
access protocol. (The figure 3 is given in the next page)

(a) A multimode device lets the user, Device or network initiate handoff between
networks without the need for network modification or interworking devices

(b) An overlay network—consisting of several universal access points (UAPs) that store
user, network, and device information—performs a handoff as the user moves from one
UAP to another
(c) A device capable of automatically switching between networks is possible if wireless
networks can support a common protocol to access a satellite-based network and another
protocol for terrestrial networks.

Multimode devices

One configuration uses a single physical terminal with multiple interfaces to access
services on different wireless networks. Early examples of this architecture include
the existing Advanced Mobile Phone System/Code Division Multiple Access dual-
function cell phone, Iridium’s dual function satellite-cell phone, and the emerging
Global System for Mobile telecommunications/Digital Enhanced Cordless Terminal
dual-mode cordless phone. The multimode device architecture may improve call
completion and expand effective coverage area. It should also provide reliable
wireless coverage in case of network, link, or switch failure. The user, device, or
network can initiate handoff between networks. The device itself incorporates most
of the additional complexity without requiring wireless network modification or
employing interworking devices. Each network can deploy a database that keeps
track of user location, device capabilities, network conditions, and user preferences.
The handling of quality-of-service (QoS) issues remains an open research question.
Overlay network

In this architecture, a user accesses an overlay network consisting of several

universal access points. These UAPs in turn select a wireless network based on
availability, QoS specifications, and user defined choices. A UAP performs
protocol and frequency translation, content adaptation, and QoS negotiation-
renegotiation on behalf of users. The overlay network, rather than the user or
device, performs handoffs as the user moves from one UAP to another. A UAP
stores user, network, and device information, capabilities, and preferences. Because
UAPs can keep track of the various resources a caller uses, this architecture
supports single billing and subscription.

Conclusion
Thus from the above discussion we can see that by implementing 4G accessing
information anywhere, anytime with seamless connection to a wide range of
information, obtaining services, receiving a large volume of information, data,
pictures, video and so on can be achieved in no time with a single handheld Device.
But 4G also faces some following threats as mentioned below.

 Connecting all networks in one common platform

 Seamless connectivity and smart Hand Offs
 Acquiring the required Data rates and Bandwidth

Reference
1. Kaveh Pahalvan & Prashant Krishnamurthy: “Principles of Wireless Networks”
2. Dr.Vijay K.Garg: “Wireless Network Revolution: 2G to 3G”
3. http://www.scirus.com, a technical search Engine which shows all technical
content on the web.