THIRD GENERATION (3G) WIRELESS SYSTEM

HISTORY

The first pre-commercial 3G network was launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan on 1998^[8], branded as FOMA. It was first available in May 2001 as a pre-release (test) of W-CDMA technology.^[9] The first commercial launch of 3G was also by NTT DoCoMo in Japan on 1 October 2001, although it was initially somewhat limited in scope;^[10][11] broader availability of the system was delayed by apparent concerns over its reliability.^[12]

The first European pre-commercial network was an UMTS network on the Isle of Man by Manx Telecom, the operator then owned by British Telecom, and the first commercial network (also UMTS based W-CDMA) in Europe was opened for business by Telenor in December 2001 with no commercial handsets and thus no paying customers.

The first network to go commercially live was by SK Telecom in South Korea on the CDMA-based 1xEV-DO technology in January 2002. By May 2002 the second South Korean 3G network was by KT on EV-DO and thus the Koreans were the first to see competition among 3G operators.

The first commercial United States 3G network was by Monet Mobile Networks, on CDMA2000 1x EV-DO technology, but this network provider later shut down operations. The second 3G network operator in the USA was Verizon Wireless in July 2002 also on CDMA2000 1x EV-DO. AT&T Mobility is also a true 3G UMTS network, having completed its upgrade of the 3G network to HSUPA.

3G refers to the third generation of mobile telephony (that is, cellular) technology. The third generation, as the name suggests, follows two earlier generations.

DEFINITION

The first generation (1G) began in the early 80's with commercial deployment of Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) cellular networks. Early AMPS networks used Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (FDMA) to carry analog voice over channels in the 800 MHz frequency band.

The second generation (2G) emerged in the 90's when mobile operators deployed two competing digital voice standards. In North America, some operators adopted IS-95, which used Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) to multiplex up to 64 calls per channel in the 800 MHz band. Across the world, many operators adopted the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) standard, which used Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) to multiplex up to 8 calls per channel in the 900 and 1800 MHz bands.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) defined the third generation (3G) of mobile telephony standards IMT-2000 to facilitate growth, increase bandwidth, and support more diverse applications. For example, GSM could deliver not only voice, but also circuit-switched data at speeds up to 14.4 Kbps. But to support mobile multimedia applications, Wireless Networks, WiMAX, 3G and Wireless Broadband, Basics.

3G had to deliver packet-switched data with better spectral efficiency, at far greater speeds.

However, to get from 2G to 3G, mobile operators had make "evolutionary" upgrades to existing networks while simultaneously planning their "revolutionary" new mobile broadband networks. This lead to the establishment of two distinct 3G families: 3GPP and 3GPP2.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) was formed in 1998 to foster deployment of 3G networks that descended from GSM. 3GPP technologies evolved as follows.

• General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) offered speeds up to 114 Kbps.

• Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) reached up to 384 Kbps.

• UMTS Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) offered downlink speeds up to 1.92 Mbps.

• High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) boosted the downlink to 14Mbps.

• LTE Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) is aiming for 100 Mbps.

ADVANTAGES OF 3G

             The Advantage that 3G tends to have when compared to all earlier forms of next generation mobile communications systems is an improvement in bit rate.  The higher bit rate capabilities have brought about a move in service providers to indulge into producing  many bandwidth intensive applications that would not have been conceived of otherwise.  There are 2 forces bringing about the improvement of these 3G systems.  The first being the need for higher data rate services, such as high-speed wireless Internet access.  The second being more efficient use of the available radio frequency (RF) spectrum.  The second is a consequence of the projected expansion in worldwide usage of wireless services.

Benefits also include packet-based data offers a number of advantages over the existing circuit-switched methods used for transporting mobile voice.  It allows increased call volumes and support for multimedia data applications, such as video and photography.

Consumers will be charged on the quantity of data they transmit, not on how much time they are connected to the network, while with 3G you are constantly online and basically pay for the information you receive.

While third-generation packet based networks will allow users to be online all the time the capability for new applications is huge.




References:
http://home.wlv.ac.uk/~a9814003/advantages_of_3g.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/3g
http://searchtelecom.techtarget.com/definition/3G