History of Wireless Communication

The history of the wireless communications started with the understanding of magnetic and electric properties observed during the early days by the Chinese, Roman and Greek cultures and experiments carried out in the 17th and 18th centuries. A short history of wireless communication is presented in the tabular form:

Generations of Wireless Communication

1G

• This is the first generation of wireless telephone technology, mobile telecommunications, which was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979.
• The main technological development in this generation that distinguished the First Generation mobile phones from the previous generation was the use of multiple cell sites, and the ability to transfer calls from one site to the next site as the user travelled between cells during a conversation.
• It uses analog signals.
• It allows the voice calls in one country.

Disadvantages

• Poor quality of voice
• Poor life of Battery
• Size of phone was very large
• No security
• Capacity was limited
• Poor handoff reliability

2G

• This is the second generation of mobile telecommunication was launched in Finland in 1991.
• It was based on GSM standard.
• It enables data transmission like as text messaging (SMS - Short Message Service), transfer or photos or pictures (MMS ? Multimedia Messaging Service), but not videos.
• The later versions of this generation, which were called 2.5G using GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and 2.75G using EDGE (Enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution) networks.
• It provides better quality and capacity.

Disadvantages

• Unable to handle complex data such as Video
• Requires strong digital signals

3G

• 3G is the third generation was introduced in early 2000s.
• The transmission of data was increased up to 2Mbits/s, which allows you to sending or receiving large email messages.
• The main difference between 3G and 2G is the use of packet switching rather than circuit switching for data transmission.
• Faster communication
• High speed web or more security
• Video conferencing
• 3D gaming
• TV streaming, Mobile TV, phone calls etc. are the features of 3G.

Disadvantages

• Costly
• Requirement of high bandwidth
• Expensive 3G phones
• Size of cell phones was very large.

4G

• 4G is the fourth generation of mobile telecommunication which was appeared in 2010.
• It was based on LTE (Long Term Evolution) and LTE advanced standards.
• Offer a range of communication services like video calling, real time language translation and video voice mail.
• It was capable of providing 100 Mbps to 1Gbps speed.
• High QoS (Quality of Service) and High security.
• The basic term used to describe 4G technology is MAGIC. Where :
  M - Mobile multiedia
  A - Anytime anywhere
  G - Global mobility support
  I - Integarted wireless solution
  C - Customized personal service

Disadvantages

• Uses more battery
• Difficult to implement
• Expensive equipment are required

5G

• It is refered to fifth generation wireless connection which will be probably implemented by 2020, or even some years earlier.
• Machine to machine communication can be possible in 5G.
• 5G will be able to performs Internet of Things (IoT) for smart home and smart city, connected cars etc.
• This generation will be based on lower cost, low battery consumption and lower latency than 4G equipment.
• There will be much fater transmission rate of data to the previous versions. Thus the speed of 5G will be 1Gbit/s.