What is 4G ???

4G, short for fourth generation, is the fourth generation of mobile telecommunications technology,
succeeding 3G and preceding 5G. A 4G system, in addition to the usual voice and other services of
3G, provides mobile ultra-broadband Internet access, for example to laptops with USB wireless
modems, to smartphones, and to other mobile devices. Conceivable applications include
amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video
conferencing, 3D television, and cloud computing.
Two 4G candidate systems are commercially deployed: the Mobile WiMAX standard (first used in
South Korea in 2007), and the first-release Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard (in Oslo, Norway
and Stockholm, Sweden since 2009). It has however been debated if these first-release versions
should be considered to be 4G or not, as discussed in the technical definitionsection below.
In the United States, Sprint (previously Clearwire) has deployed Mobile WiMAX networks since
2008, while MetroPCSbecame the first operator to offer LTE service in 2010. USB wireless modems
were among the first devices able to access these networks, with WiMAX smartphones becoming
available during 2010, and LTE smartphones arriving in 2011. The consumer should note
that 3G and 4G equipment made for other continents are not always compatible, because of different
frequency bands. Mobile WiMAX is currently (April 2012) not available for the European marke.

Technical Understanding
In March 2008, the International Telecommunications Union-Radio communications sector (ITU-R)
specified

set

of

requirements

for

4G

standards,

named

the International

Mobile

Telecommunications Advanced (IMT-Advanced) specification, setting peak speed requirements for

4G service at 100 megabits per second (Mbit/s) for high mobility communication (such as from trains
and cars) and 1 gigabit per second (Gbit/s) for low mobility communication (such as pedestrians and
stationary users).[1]
Since the first-release versions of Mobile WiMAX and LTE support much less than 1 Gbit/s peak bit
rate, they are not fully IMT-Advanced compliant, but are often branded 4G by service providers. On
December 6, 2010, ITU-R recognized that these two technologies, as well as other beyond-3G
technologies that do not fulfill the IMT-Advanced requirements, could nevertheless be considered

"4G", provided they represent forerunners to IMT-Advanced compliant versions and "a substantial
level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation
systems now deployed".[2]
Mobile WiMAX Release 2 (also known as WirelessMAN-Advanced or IEEE 802.16m') and LTE
Advanced (LTE-A) are IMT-Advanced compliant backwards compatible versions of the above two
systems, standardized during the spring 2011, and promising speeds in the order of 1 Gbit/s.
Services are expected in 2013.
As opposed to earlier generations, a 4G system does not support traditional circuitswitched telephony service, but all-Internet Protocol (IP) based communication such as IP telephony.
As seen below, the spread spectrum radio technology used in 3G systems, is abandoned in all 4G
candidate systems and replaced by OFDMA multi-carrier transmission and otherfrequency-domain
equalization (FDE) schemes, making it possible to transfer very high bit rates despite
extensive multi-path radio propagation (echoes). The peak bit rate is further improved by smart
antenna arrays for multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) communications.
The term "generation" used to name successive evolutions of radio networks in general is arbitrary.
There are several interpretations, and no official definition has been made despite the consensus
behind ITU-R's labels. From ITU-R's point of view, 4G is equivalent to IMT-Advanced which has
specific performance requirements as explained below. According to operators, a generation of
network refers to the deployment of a new non-backward-compatible technology. The end user
expects the next generation of network to provide better performance and connectivity than the
previous generation. Meanwhile, GSM, UMTS and LTE networks coexist; and end-users will only
receive the benefit of the new generation architecture when they simultaneously: use an access
device compatible with the new infrastructure, are within range of the new infrastructure, and pay the
provider for access to that new infrastructure.

Background

The nomenclature of the generations generally refers to a change in the fundamental nature of the
service, non-backwards-compatible transmission technology, higher peak bit rates, new frequency
bands, wider channel frequency bandwidth in Hertz, and higher capacity for many simultaneous data
transfers (higher system spectral efficiency in bit/second/Hertz/site).
New mobile generations have appeared about every ten years since the first move from 1981 analog
(1G) to digital (2G) transmission in 1992. This was followed, in 2001, by 3G multi-media
support, spread spectrum transmission and at least 200 kbit/s peak bit rate, in 2011/2012 expected
to be followed by "real" 4G, which refers to all-Internet Protocol (IP) packet-switched networks giving
mobile ultra-broadband (gigabit speed) access.
While the ITU has adopted recommendations for technologies that would be used for future global
communications, they do not actually perform the standardization or development work themselves,
instead relying on the work of other standards bodies such as IEEE, The WiMAX Forum and 3GPP.
In mid-1990s, the ITU-R standardization organization released the IMT-2000 requirements as a
framework for what standards should be considered 3G systems, requiring 200 kbit/s peak bit rate.
In 2008, ITU-R specified the IMT-Advanced(International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced)
requirements for 4G systems.
The fastest 3G-based standard in the UMTS family is the HSPA+ standard, which is commercially
available since 2009 and offers 28 Mbit/s downstream (22 Mbit/s upstream) without MIMO, i.e. only

with one antenna, and in 2011 accelerated up to 42 Mbit/s peak bit rate downstream using
either DC-HSPA+ (simultaneous use of two 5 MHz UMTS carriers)[3] or 2x2 MIMO. In theory speeds
up to 672 Mbit/s are possible, but have not been deployed yet. The fastest 3G-based standard in
theCDMA2000 family is the EV-DO Rev. B, which is available since 2010 and offers 15.67 Mbit/s
downstream.

IMT- Advanced requirement

This article uses 4G to refer to IMT-Advanced (International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced),

as defined by ITU-R. An IMT-Advanced cellular system must fulfill the following requirements

Be based on an all-IP packet switched network.

Have peak data rates of up to approximately 100 Mbit/s for high mobility such as mobile
access and up to approximately 1 Gbit/s for low mobility such as nomadic/local wireless access.

Be able to dynamically share and use the network resources to support more simultaneous
users per cell.

Using scalable channel bandwidths of 520 MHz, optionally up to 40 MHz.

Have peak link spectral efficiency of 15 bit/s/Hz in the downlink, and 6.75 bit/s/Hz in the
uplink (meaning that 1 Gbit/s in the downlink should be possible over less than 67 MHz
bandwidth).

System spectral efficiency is, in indoor case, 3 bit/s/Hz/cell in downlink and 2.25 bit/s/Hz/cell
in uplink.

Smooth handovers across heterogeneous networks.

The ability to offer high quality of service for next generation multimedia support.

In

September

2009,

the

technology

proposals

were

submitted

to

the

International

Telecommunication Union (ITU) as 4G candidates. Basically all proposals are based on two
technologies:

LTE Advanced standardized by the 3GPP

802.16m standardized by the IEEE (i.e. WiMAX)

Implementations of Mobile WiMAX and first-release LTE are largely considered a stopgap solution
that will offer a considerable boost until WiMAX 2 (based on the 802.16m spec) and LTE Advanced
are deployed. The latter's standard versions were ratified in spring 2011, but are still far from being
implemented.
The first set of 3GPP requirements on LTE Advanced was approved in June 2008. LTE Advanced
was to be standardized in 2010 as part of Release 10 of the 3GPP specification. LTE Advanced will
be based on the existing LTE specification Release 10 and will not be defined as a new specification
series. A summary of the technologies that have been studied as the basis for LTE Advanced is
included in a technical report.
Some sources consider first-release LTE and Mobile WiMAX implementations as pre-4G or near-4G,
as they do not fully comply with the planned requirements of 1 Gbit/s for stationary reception and
100 Mbit/s for mobileConfusion has been caused by some mobile carriers who have launched
products advertised as 4G but which according to some sources are pre-4G versions, commonly
referred to as '3.9G'which do not follow the ITU-R defined principles for 4G standardsbut today can
be called 4G according to ITU-R.A common argument for branding 3.9G systems as new-generation
is that they use different frequency bands from 3G technologies that they are based on a new radiointerface paradigm ; and that the standards are not backwards compatible with 3Gwhilst some of the
standards are forwards compatible with IMT-2000 compliant versions of the same standards.

Data Rate Comparision

The following table shows a comparison of the 4G candidate systems as well
as other competing technologies.

Comparison of mobile Internet access methods

Common
Name

Family

Primary

Radio

Use

Tech

Downstr
eam
(Mbit/s)

Upstre
am
(Mbit/s

Notes

HSPA+

is

widely
deployed.
Revision 11 of

HSPA+

3GPP

3G Data

21

5.8

the

3GPP

CDMA/FDD

42

11.5

states

MIMO

84

22

that HSPA+ is

672

168

expected

to

have

throughput
capacity

of

672 Mbit/s.

LTE

3GPP

General

OFDMA/MIM

100

Cat3 50 Cat3/4 LTE-Advanced

4G

O/SC-FDMA

150

Cat4 75

300

Cat5 (in

(in

Cat5 update

20 MHz 20 MHz

FDD)[25]

FDD)[25]

expected
offer
rates
1 Gbit/s

to
peak

up

to

fixed

Comparison of mobile Internet access methods

Common
Name

Family

Primary

Radio

Use

Tech

Downstr
eam
(Mbit/s)

Upstre
am
(Mbit/s

Notes

speeds

and

100 Mb/s to
mobile users.

WiMax rel 1

802.16

WirelessM MIMOAN

SOFDMA

37 (10 MHz
TDD)

802.16-

WirelessM MIMO-

2009

AN

SOFDMA

TDD)
141
(2x20 MHz
FDD)

WiMAX rel 2

802.16m

With
MIMO.

2x2
[26]

46

With

2x2

(20 MHz

MIMO.Enhanc

TDD)

ed

138

20 MHz

with

(2x20 MH channels
z FDD)

802.16-2009

2x2

AN

110

MIMO

mobility users

(20 MHz

70

can aggregate

TDD)

(20 MHz

multiple

183

TDD)

channels

to

(2x20 MHz

188

get

FDD)

(2x20 MH download

SOFDMA

MIMO 2x2

in

MIMO z

219

Also,

[26]

WirelessM MIMO-

4x4

(10 MHz
TDD)

83 (20 MHz
WiMax rel 1.5

17

low

FDD) throughput

4x4

(20 MHz

MIMO

TDD)

140

up
1 Gbit/s

of
to

[26]

Comparison of mobile Internet access methods

Common
Name

Family

Primary

Radio

Use

Tech

Upstre

Downstr

am

eam

(Mbit/s

(Mbit/s)

Notes

(20 MHz
365

TDD)

(2x20 MHz

376

FDD)

(2x20 MH
z FDD)

Mobile
Flash-OFDM

FlashOFDM

Internet

5.3

1.8

mobility up Flash-OFDM

10.6

3.6

to 200 mph

15.9

5.4

Wi-Fi

HIPERMA Mobile

range

30 km

(18

miles)
extended
range 55 km

(350 km/h)

HIPERMAN

Mobile

(34 miles)

OFDM

56.9

Internet

802.11

Mobile Inte OFDM/MIMO

288.8

(11n)

rnet

configuration in 20 MHz

(using

bandwidth)
(using

or

4x4
600
4x4

configuration in 40 MHz
bandwidth)

Antenna, RF
front
endenhancem
ents and minor
protocol timer
tweaks

have

helped deploy
long
range P2Pnet
works
compromising

Comparison of mobile Internet access methods

Common
Name

Family

Primary

Radio

Use

Tech

Downstr
eam
(Mbit/s)

Upstre
am
(Mbit/s

Notes

on

radial

coverage,
throughput
and/or spectra
efficiency
(310 km &382
km)
Cell

Radius:

312

km

Speed:

iBurst

802.20

Mobile Inte
rnet

250 km/h

HCSDMA/TDD/M 95

36

IMO

Spectral
Efficiency:

13

bits/s/Hz/cell
Spectrum
Reuse Factor:
"1"

Mobile Inte

EDGE Evolution

GSM

UMTS W-CDMA

UMTS/3G General

HSPA(HSDPA+H

SM

SUPA)

rnet

3GPP Release

TDMA/FDD

1.6

0.5

CDMA/FDD

0.384

0.384

HSDPA

14.4

5.76

widely

3G

CDMA/FDD/M

deployed.

IMO

Typical

is

downlink rates
today 2 Mbit/s,
~200 kbit/s
uplink; HSPA+
downlink up to

10

Comparison of mobile Internet access methods

Common
Name

Family

Primary

Radio

Use

Tech

Downstr
eam
(Mbit/s)

Upstre
am
(Mbit/s

Notes

)
56 Mbit/s.
Reported
speeds
according

UMTS-TDD

UMTS/3G Mobile
SM

Internet

toIPWireless u
CDMA/TDD

16

sing

16QAM

modulation
similar
toHSDPA+HS
UPA
Rev B note: N
is the number
of

1.25 MHz

carriers used.
EV-DO is not
EV-DO Rel. 0
EV-DO Rev.A
EV-DO Rev.B

CDMA20

Mobile

00

Internet

CDMA/FDD

2.45

0.15

designed

for

3.1

1.8

voice,

4.9xN

1.8xN

requires

fallback

to

and

1xRTT when a
voice

call

placed

is
or

received.
Notes: All speeds are theoretical maximums and will vary by a number of factors, including the use
of external antennas, distance from the tower and the ground speed (e.g. communications on a train
may be poorer than when standing still). Usually the bandwidth is shared between several terminals.
The performance of each technology is determined by a number of constraints, including

11

the spectral efficiency of the technology, the cell sizes used, and the amount of spectrum available.
For more information, see Comparison of wireless data standards.
For more comparison tables, see bit rate progress trends, comparison of mobile phone
standards, spectral efficiency comparison table and OFDM system comparison table.

12

History of 4g and pre 4g technology

The 4G system was originally envisioned by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA). The DARPA selected the distributed architecture and end-to-end Internet protocol (IP),
and believed at an early stage in peer-to-peer networking in which every mobile device would be
both a transceiver and a router for other devices in the network, eliminating the spoke-and-hub
weakness of 2G and 3G cellular systems. Since the 2.5G GPRS system, cellular systems have
provided dual infrastructures: packet switched nodes for data services, and circuit switched nodes
for voice calls. In 4G systems, the circuit-switched infrastructure is abandoned and only a packetswitched network is provided, while 2.5G and 3G systems require both packet-switched and circuitswitched network nodes, i.e. two infrastructures in parallel. This means that in 4G, traditional voice
calls are replaced by IP telephony.

In 2002, the strategic vision for 4Gwhich ITU designated as IMT-Advancedwas laid out.

In 2005, OFDMA transmission technology is chosen as candidate for the HSOPA downlink,
later renamed 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) air interface E-UTRA.

In November 2005, KT demonstrated mobile WiMAX service in Busan, South Korea

In April 2006, KT started the world's first commercial mobile WiMAX service in Seoul, South
Korea.

In

mid-2006, Sprint announced

that

it

would

a WiMAX technology buildout over the next few years

13

[33]

invest

about

US$5 billion

in

($5.85 billion in real terms). Since that

time Sprint has faced many setbacks that have resulted in steep quarterly losses. On 7 May
2008, Sprint, Imagine, Google, Intel, Comcast, Bright House, and Time Warner announced a
pooling of an average of 120 MHz of spectrum; Sprint merged its Xohm WiMAX division
with Clearwire to form a company which will take the name "Clear".

In February 2007, the Japanese company NTT DoCoMo tested a 4G communication system
prototype with 44 MIMOcalled VSF-OFCDM at 100 Mbit/s while moving, and 1 Gbit/s while
stationary. NTT DoCoMo completed a trial in which they reached a maximum packet
transmission rate of approximately 5 Gbit/s in the downlink with 1212 MIMO using a 100 MHz
frequency bandwidth while moving at 10 km/h, and is planning on releasing the first commercial
network in 2010.

In January 2008, a U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) spectrum auction for
the 700 MHz former analog TV frequencies began. As a result, the biggest share of the
spectrum went to Verizon Wireless and the next biggest to AT&T. Both of these companies have
stated their intention of supporting LTE.

In January 2008, EU commissioner Viviane Reding suggested re-allocation of 500800 MHz

spectrum for wireless communication, including WiMAX.[

On 15 February 2008, Skyworks Solutions released a front-end module for e-UTRAN.

In November 2008, ITU-R established the detailed performance requirements of IMTAdvanced, by issuing a Circular Letter calling for candidate Radio Access Technologies (RATs)
for IMT-Advanced.

In April 2008, just after receiving the circular letter, the 3GPP organized a workshop on IMTAdvanced where it was decided that LTE Advanced, an evolution of current LTE standard, will
meet or even exceed IMT-Advanced requirements following the ITU-R agenda.

In April 2008, LG and Nortel demonstrated e-UTRA data rates of 50 Mbit/s while travelling at
110 km/h.

On 12 November 2008, HTC announced the first WiMAX-enabled mobile phone, the Max 4G

In 15 December 2008, San Miguel Corporation, the largest food and beverage conglomerate
in southeast Asia, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Qatar Telecom QSC (Qtel)
to build wireless broadband and mobile communications projects in the Philippines. The jointventure formed wi-tribe Philippines, which offers 4G in the country. Around the same time Globe
Telecom rolled out the first WiMAX service in the Philippines.

14

On 3 March 2009, Lithuania's LRTC announcing the first operational "4G" mobile
WiMAX network in Baltic states.

In December 2009, Sprint began advertising "4G" service in selected cities in the United
States, despite average download speeds of only 36 Mbit/s with peak speeds of 10 Mbit/s (not
available in all markets).

On 14 December 2009, the first commercial LTE deployment was in the Scandinavian
capitals Stockholm and Oslo by the Swedish-Finnish network operator TeliaSonera and its
Norwegian brandname NetCom (Norway). TeliaSonera branded the network "4G". The modem
devices on offer were manufactured by Samsung (dongle GT-B3710), and the network
infrastructure created by Huawei (in Oslo) and Ericsson (in Stockholm). TeliaSonera plans to roll
out nationwide LTE across Sweden, Norway and Finland. TeliaSonera used spectral bandwidth
of 10 MHz, and single-in-single-out, which should provide physical layer net bitrates of up to
50 Mbit/s downlink and 25 Mbit/s in the uplink. Introductory tests showed a TCP throughput of
42.8 Mbit/s downlink and 5.3 Mbit/s uplink in Stockholm.

On 25 February 2010, Estonia's EMT opened LTE "4G" network working in test regime.

On 4 June 2010, Sprint released the first WiMAX smartphone in the US, the HTC Evo 4G.

In July 2010, Uzbekistan's MTS deployed LTE in Tashkent.

On 25 August 2010, Latvia's LMT opened LTE "4G" network working in test regime 50% of
territory.

On November 4, 2010, the Samsung Galaxy Craft offered by MetroPCS is the first
commercially available LTE smartphone[

On 6 December 2010, at the ITU World Radiocommunication Seminar 2010, the ITU stated
that LTE, WiMax and similar "evolved 3G technologies" could be considered "4G".

On 12 December 2010, VivaCell-MTS launches in Armenia a 4G/LTE commercial test

network with a live demo conducted in Yerevan.On 28 April 2011, Lithuania's Omnitel opened a
LTE "4G" network working in the 5 largest cities.

In September 2011, all three Saudi telecom companies STC, Mobily and Zain announced
that they will offer 4G LTE for USB modem dongles, with further development for phones by
2013.

15

In 2011, Argentina's Claro launched a 4G HSPA+ network in the country.

In 2011, Thailand's Truemove-H launched a 4G HSPA+ network with nation-wide availability.

On March 17, 2011, the HTC Thunderbolt offered by Verizon in the U.S. was the second LTE
smartphone to be sold commercially.

On 31 January 2012, Thailand's AIS and its subsidiaries DPC under cooperation with CAT
Telecom for 1800 MHz frequency band and TOT for 2300 MHz frequency band launched the first
field trial LTE in Thailand with authorization from NBTC.

In February 2012, Ericsson demonstrated mobile-TV over LTE, utilizing the new eMBMS
service (enhanced Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service).

On 10 April 2012, Bharti Airtel launched 4G LTE in Kolkata, first in India.

On 20 May 2012, Azerbaijan's biggest mobile operator Azercell launched 4G LTE.

On 10 October 2012, Vodacom (Vodafone South Africa) became the first operator in South
Africa to launch a commercial LTE service.

In December 2012, Telcel launches in Mexico the 4G LTE network in 9 major cities

In Kazakhstan, 4G LTE was launched on December 26, 2012 in the entire territory in the
frequency bands 18651885/17601780 MHz for the urban population and in 794-799/835840 MHz for those sparsely populated

16

4G is a collection of fourth generation cellular data technologies. It succeeds 3G and is also

called "IMT-Advanced," or "International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced." 4G was
made available as early as 2005 in South Korea under the name WiMAX and was rolled out in
several European countries over the next few years. It became available in the United States
in 2009, with Sprint being the first carrier to offer a 4G cellular network.
All 4G standards must conform to a set of specifications created by the International
Telecommunications Union. For example, all 4G technologies are required to provide peak
data transfer rates of at least 100 Mbps. While actual download and upload speeds may vary
based on signal strength and wireless interference, 4G data transfer rates can actually
surpass those ofcable modem and DSL connections.
Like 3G, there is no single 4G standard. Instead, different cellular providers use different
technologies that conform to the 4G requirements. For example, WiMAX is a popular 4G
technology used in Asia and Eastern Europe, while LTE (Long Term Evolution) is more popular
in Scandinavia and the United states.

17

18

Types of 3g and 4g

19

20

CONTENTS

*Certificate.
*Acknowledgement.
*What is 4G
*Background.
* IMT- advanced requirement.
* data rate comparision.
*history.
* 4G WORLD.
* Types of 3g and 4g.
*Comparision of 3g and 4g.
*refrences.

21

22