APPENDIX: BRIEF OVERVIEW OF MOBILE GENERATIONS


Mobile communication technologies constitute the technical foundations of m-commerce. Such technologies have evolved from first-generation (1G) technologies of the 1980s to third-generation technologies of early 2000s. Further evolution into 4G (and even 5G) is already being planned and promoted by leading mobile technology players. The table below provides brief comparisons of these evolving generations.

Characteristics

IG

2G

3G

4G

General Aspects

Approximate Start

1981

1991

2000

2006 (first deployments)

Analog or Digital

Analog

Mostly analog

Mostly digital

All digital

Traffic Type

Voice

Mostly voice

Voice and data

Multimedia

Network Architecture

Network Coverage

Metropolitan area networks

Wide area networks

Wide area networks, some LAN links

Hybrid: seamless LAN, MAN, & WAN integration

Switching

Circuit-switched

Mostly circuit-switched

Mostly packet-switched

All packet-switched

Terminal Devices

Clunky large phones

Variety of phones and handhelds

Variety of phones, handhelds, laptops, electronic devices

Vast variety of terminals, especially high-end portable audio and video devices

Standards and Protocols

Network Standards and Protocols

NMT, AMPS, TACS

GSM, TDMS, CDMA, PDC-JDC, PCS
Also, 2.5 G: HSCSD, D-AMPS, GPRS

IMT-flavors, including UMTS, CDMA-FDD, W-CDMA, EDGE, DECT

OFDM, MC-CDMA, LAS-CDMA

Devices

Network-proprietary phones

Variety of phones and some handheld devices

Emergence of multimedia devices

Multiple input, Multiple output (MIMO) "smart" antenna, multimedia devices

Transmission Rates

Data Transmission Rates

No data transmission

Up to 64 Kbps

384 Kbps to 2 Mbps

50 to 100 Mbps

Roaming and Handovers

Roaming

Within defined metropolitan area

Roaming within same-type network

Roaming across networks

Global roaming

Handovers

Very limited handovers

Cell-to- cell handovers within a network, cross-network handover agreements

Goal of smooth 2G-3G handovers for interworkability and backward compatibility, some WAN to LAN handoffs

Seamless handover within/across all generations and types of networks

Quality of Service

QoS Standards and Experience

No QoS standards or expectations

Frequent dropped calls, QoS a competitive factor for Digital PCS, etc.

Efforts to monitor, control, negotiate, and guarantee QoS levels

At least 99.99% reliability expected (similar to wireline networks)

Security

Transmission Security

Insecure transmission

Authentication and encryption algorithms introduced ‚ relatively weak

High data integrity, secure links, 2GPP-specified strong security levels

Highly secure transmissions

Source: Author's Research




Mobile Commerce Applications
Mobile Commerce Applications
ISBN: 159140293X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 154

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