Abstract: In the following article, the reader will be informed about the new technologies that are being developed on cellular telephony, that is, the fourth generation, which will provide not only higher transmission speed, but will incorporate other essential characteristics, due to the fact that it uses Internet Protocol version 6, such as mobility and even security. Possible start dates and differences with past generations will be established. Introduction "When you want to locate me, you must call this number, anytime, anywhere, because I already have my cell phone." Thus begins the song "the cell phone" of the northern tigers and it even seems that it was yesterday when the cell phone was only used for that, to communicate with someone else and to "shield" as they say in another part of the song.
The truth is that in these times having a cell phone is no longer a privilege that few people enjoy, or as another stanza of the song says: "I look like a Roman of old, because a high-ranking executive has no figure without his cell phone", it is now a necessity and easier to get than a flu in winter.
About a decade ago, to listen to music, talk on the phone, play games, see the time and date, take photos or videos, search for the meaning of words, translate them, light up a dark place, read a book and even current news, or results from matches or raffles it was necessary to have an article for everything; Nowadays, only a simple device called a cell phone is necessary. With the simple act of pressing a button you can do the aforementioned activities and even many more, and what's missing…
The first cell phones were for few people, that is to say for those who could afford them, in fact the first cell phones were only possible in luxury cars, but little by little their costs have decreased so much that now with the purchase of a newspaper and a small amount you can get one.
Not only have prices fallen, but their size and weight have also decreased. Before, cell phones were large devices that you can even build a house with them using them as bricks. Instead, cell phones are now so small and light that they fit in your pants pocket and can even be used as a keychain.
A few years ago, not even thinking about storing as much information on a cell phone, not to mention transferring it to another cell phone or some other device such as a computer, with the new generation of cell phones, this will be possible in less than what a rooster crows, that is, the transfer speed will be up to 20 Mbps. And this without counting on the memory capacity of the cell phone, whether on chip or hard disk, can have up to 100 Gigabytes.
The history of cell phones
The first generation of cell phones was 0G (Zero Generation). These first cell phones were integrated into some cars, having a transmitter on the back of it.
The next generation, that is, the 1G. This technology used analog transfer and only voice could be transmitted. In the early 80's in Saudi Arabia, automatic roaming started.
For 2G it became a digital system, the first GSM network (Global System for Mobile Communications) was created. In these cell phones the size changed dramatically as well as its weight and data could be transferred in addition to voice. As of this generation there is already global roaming.
The next generation was 2.5. This generation was an improvement over 2G and anticipated what 3G could contain, such as packet data switching. The GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) was developed for the GSM system. Then the EDGE (Enhanced Data rates applied to GSM Evolution) was introduced. Another type of technology such as CDMA 2000 1x was also developed.
For the 3G generation, 3 types of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) technologies were created using broadband CDMA (Multiple Division by Code Division), this system provides packet data transmission and high-speed switching circuits, that is, up to 2 Mbps. The other technology was CDMA 2000 1xEV-DV, which offers total voice and data services and is compatible with CDMA and CDMA 2000 1x and its transfer was up to 3.1 Mbps. The third technology that was Development for this generation was developed in China, the TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous CDMA).
4G or "Beyond 3G"
This generation is not yet considered as 4G by IEEE, that is why it is also known as “Beyond 3G”.
This generation is about a year and a half old which was introduced in Japan by the NTT DoCoMo company, which is the largest cell phone company in Japan and has been around since the first generations. When this Japanese company carried out its tests on 4G, it managed to carry out a transfer at 100 Mbps, that is, 100 times faster than current cell phones transfer.
Because 3G is relatively short on the market, it is highly likely that we will not see 4G until the money invested in 3G and 3.5G has been affordable. One of the main objectives of this technology is to be able to transmit between 20 Mbps and 1 Gbps (1000 Mbps).
DoCoMo has said that it will not build a 4G network until 2010, but that before that date it will increase transmission speed. By the end of this year (2007), this Japanese company is expected to decide on the technical specifications of a new technology that will be called "Super 3G", which will offer downloads of up to 100 Mbps and data transmission of up to 50 Mbps. This network should be running between 2008 and 2010.
Although because 4G is eagerly awaited in the United States, it is said to be available by the end of this year; that is why the Japanese company may change the dates it had planned.
One of the differences from 3G to 4G is of course the transmission speed. In 3rd generation cell phones, their transfer was between 384 Kbps and 2 Mbps, while for the 4th generation, the minimum expected transfer is 20 Mbps, including 1 Gbps.
Technologies used by 4G
This generation uses the TCP / IP protocol which is the same Internet protocol, but for this generation the Internet Protocol version 6 IPv6 will be used. This protocol is expected to act as a hub for the different radio technologies, because the improvements in IPv6 compared to the protocol that is still in use (IPv4) are notable, including mobility, addressing and security. Due to this, the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) has started to define the Mobile IP Protocol.
One of the problems encountered for this generation is that with this protocol they still do not know how to add paging since this protocol does not provide it. Paging is when a mobile node reports its position to the network.
To avoid this problem, there is a project, called Geopaging, which is a multicast protocol designed to carry out the transport of paging messages over an IPv6-based cellular network. This project is known as Mcast.
Another essential feature that this technology will present is that with the TCP / IP protocol you will not be interested in which radio frequency makes the physical link, that is, in the United States it will do it through Wimax (OFDM - Modulation by Orthogonal Frequency Division -) in Japan it will do it through VSF-Spread OFDM and in Europe Flash-OFDM is expected.
With the technology that has been presented, it is expected that even phone calls will have no cost and cell phone rental will be as it has been currently done with the Internet, that is, with a monthly rent depending on the bandwidth desired.
NTT DoCoMo, the Japanese company, says on its website that they are also developing a new concept that will eliminate the need for base stations allowing direct connection between terminals. They are even investigating the versatile mobile networks in which base stations will have the ability to automatically install themselves, creating a network that truly has the ability to think for itself.
Conclusions
Given the current dependence on cell phones, there is no choice but to improve them according to current needs, that is, it would be useless to have to use a device to only talk on the phone if you can have the same device to carry out endless activities. at the push of a button.
Currently in Mexico, 3G technology has been going on for about a year, and we are barely discovering what we can do with this type of cell phone. A clear example is watching television in real time.
Given the accelerated advance of technology, it is very likely that we will soon see 4G, but as already mentioned before, surely we will not be able to see it until the research and expenses made to develop 3G are profitable, therefore, although 4G is already It is just around the corner, we will have to wait at least a couple of years more.
For now we will have to take advantage of 3G where transmissions are not as fast as 4G but still, they bring things that could only be expected in science fiction, who knows maybe soon we can control the home or work from the cell phone.
Bibliography
NTT DoCoMo: Toward 4G
Technologies Beyond 3G. 4G - Beyond 2.5G and 3G Wireless Network
Telephony Cellular
www.monografias.com/trabajos34/telefonia-celular/telefonia-celular.shtml
4G phones
www.ehui.com/?c=9&a=56746
4G cell phone: data at 100 Mbps
4v cellular networks based on IPv6: transport of paging with multicast
4G phones
