What will 4G be used for?

Samsung Electronics has lined up what it calls a 4G mobile technology demonstrator as part of its 4G Forum yearly event. The demonstration involves cell-to-cell handover of 100 Mbit/s data streams while the equipment (housed in a bus) travels at 60 km per hour. One gigabit per second data links within the forum venue is another part of the demonstration. Such figures match 4G’s performance targets.

Technical detail as to how Samsung achieves such performance is sparse. But Samsung has said it would be using 8x8 MIMO (multi-input multi-output) technology as part of a 3.5Gbit/s data transfer demo. Such a MIMO configuration uses a transmitter and receiver arrangement, each with eight antennas, for multi-path transmissions.

The 3GPP standards development organisation has said it will begin work on 4G only after it has completed the 3G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. Accordingly, 4G will likely reach the market from 2012 at the earliest.

Projecting fixed bandwidth speeds starting from 1995, 100Mbit/s will be the standard high-speed wireline connection rate around 2011. What will 100Mbit/s wireless data rates enable? And once in service, will such a wireless capability tip the balance between fixed and wireless broadband?

Wireless consultancy and market research firm, Sound Partners Ltd, believes not. Sound Partners has looked at future 3G developments and 4G, and thinks there will be three main service uses.

• VoIP over wireless, which 3G LTE will go a long way to resolve. At present 3G cannot deliver the quality of service needed. Such a development will enable operators to flip over to an IP core for fixed and mobile in a cost effective way
• Mobile TV, which will grow very quickly. However, still to be resolved is how much will be transmitted over a separate broadcast network and how much will be sent point-to-point
• Broadband access: multimedia content and applications sent to a mobile

Alastair Brydon, Sound Partners’ CEO, believes fixed broadband will always be ahead of wireless. “If there is a single user then fine, but with lots of users in a cell, signal quality will be variable and performance mixed,” he says.

Meanwhile, expect some frenetic wireless activity before 4G's arrival. Wireless developments include the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service (MBMS) enhancements to 3G, WiMAX and the DVB-H mobile TV standard. These will be followed by the 3G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard that could be in service by 2009. 3G LTE addresses many of the shortfalls of 3G when it comes to delivering broadcast TV services and broadband access.