4G Forum was held in Jeju Island, Korea on31 August to take a look at the state of the technology that is slated to go commercial in 2010.
The key point distinguishing the generations of telecom services is their data transmission speed. In the long slow age of analogue communication, only voice transmission was possible. Since the 1990s, it has been possible to send text messages, photographs and videos, at an ever faster clip. Fourth-generation technology will be able to send data at 1 Gbps in stationary and 100 Mbps in its mobile form, about 10-100 times each faster than current capacity. At 1 Gbps, a movie stored on a CD can be sent in 6.4 seconds. One hundred songs in the form of an MP3 file can be sent in 2.4 seconds.
The basic point of the fourth-generation service is a smart antenna, multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) technologies and a something snappily named “orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing,” a method of digital modulation where a signal is split into several narrowband channels at different frequencies to minimize interference. It means we can use the so-called triple play service (TPS), which can handle voice and video data at the same time, meaning we can make video calls and watch TV on the cell phone. Users can download HD movies and watch them on their phone and also interact, for instance by taking part in a poll while watching TV.
Long-distance medical diagnosis via cell phones will also become possible. Users can use the wireless Internet on an overseas business trip by simply connecting their cell phone to their notebook computer, since the principle of the fourth-generation service is to connect networks around the world.
July 7, 2007