© 2015 IJSRSET | Volume 1 | Issue 1 | Print ISSN : 2395-1990 | Online ISSN : 2394-4099

Themed Section: Engineering and Technology

Comparative Study of Mobile Generations

M.SUSHMA SRI
ECE, Jaya Prakash Narayan College of Engineering, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

ABSTRACT

Today wireless services are the most preferred services of the world. The rapid increase in the service is due to the
advancement of technology consecutively. The worldwide revolution in mobile and internet technology have
changed our way of living life. Every new technology has come to hide the drawbacks of previous technology. In
this paper we throw a light on the various generations of mobile wireless technologies (1G to 5G) and also presents
an overview of 5G technology trends in the wireless technology market, a comparative overview of 5G v/s all other
previous generation technologies and the major improvements which could be made to 5G technology.

Keywords: First Generation, Second Generation, Third Generation, Fourth Generation and Fifth Generation

I. INTRODUCTION available in the 1980s. 2G denotes initial digital systems,

introducing services such as short messaging and lower
The era of communication is a vast technology where speed data. 3G requirements were specified by the ITU
we see improvement will be day by day grown on. In as part of the International Mobile Telephone2000 IMT-
this advanced technology, the techniques were emerging 2000) project, for which digital networks had to provide
in all the fields of mobile and wireless communications. 144 kbps of throughput at mobile speeds [2]. The ITU
With all this the simultaneous existence of the has recently issued requirements for IMT- Advanced,
generations, the impact of services on network which constitutes the official definition of 4G.
efficiency have become more critical [3]. As the Requirements include operation in up-to-40 MHz radio
communication industry has got the custom of channels and extremely high spectral efficiency. 5G
classifying the developments into various generations. technologies began to be deployed. The Generation
Likewise the wireless networks are classified into five blocks are shown below figure 1.
generations, namely, first generation, second generation,
third generation, fourth generation and fifth generation
networks. Many more designing scenarios have
developed with not only 1G network but also with the
evolution of 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks. Along with
this, inter-operability of the networks has to be
considered. The cellular concept was introduced in the
1G technology which made the large scale mobile
wireless communication possible. Digital
communication has replaced the analogy technology in
the 2G which significantly improved the wireless
communication quality [1]. Data communication, in
addition to the voice communication, has been the main Figure 1: Mobile Wireless Technology
focus in the 3G technologies and a converged network
for both voice and data communication is emerging.1G
II. CELLULAR NETWORKS
refers to analog cellular technologies and it became

IJSRSET151127 | Received: 24 Jan 2015 | Accepted: 2 Feb 2015 | January-February 2015 [(1)1: 125-129] 125
A cellular network or mobile network is a radio network security at all since voice calls were played back in radio
distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at towers, making these calls susceptible to unwanted
least one fixed-location transceiver, known as a cell site eavesdropping by third parties. However, 1G did
or base station [1]. In a cellular network, each cell uses a maintain a few advantages over 2G. In comparison to
different set of frequencies from neighbouring cells, to 1G's analog signals, 2G's digital signals are very reliant
avoid interference and provide guaranteed bandwidth on location and proximity. If a 2G handset made a call
within each cell. When joined together these cells far away from a cell tower, the digital signal may not be
provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area. strong enough to reach it. While a call made from a 1G
This enables a large number of portable transceivers(e.g., handset had generally poorer quality than that of a 2G
mobiles phones, pagers, etc.) to communicate with each handset, it survived longer distances. This is due to the
other and with fixed transceivers and telephones analog signal having a smooth curve compared to the
anywhere in the network, via base stations, even if some digital signal, which had a jagged, angular curve. The
of the transceivers are moving through more than one carrier spacing of the channel was 25 to 30 kHz.
cell during transmission [2]. Therefore the first generation system developed did not
cater to the needs of all four kinds of information like
voice, picture, data, and text.
III. EVOLUTION OF GENERATIONS

A. FIRST GENERATION:

First generation of wireless telephone technique, mobile

telecommunication which was first introduced in 1980's
and completed in early 1990's. It has speed 2.4 kbps and
it allows voice calls in only one country. It uses analog
Figure 2: 1G Technology
signal. This system used frequency multi-access
technique in duplexer mode (i.e., transmission and
reception possible at the same point). The frequency B.SECOND GENERATION:
band employed by many countries during first
generation was in the range of 800-900MHz. The first Second generation is based on GSM (Global System
generation cellular mobile communication systems did Module). It is launched in Finland in year 1991. This
not have vision of universal operation. Most of the generation standards provide to the needs of all four
cellular systems developed were localized. This nature types of information text, picture data and voice. The
of first generation cellular system paved the way for second generation standards were developed for digital
variation in the standards among countries [5]. The cellular, PCS, mobile data and WLAN. Code division
features of 1G technology are mobile radio telephones multi-access was introduced at the fag end of second
and such technologies as Mobile Telephone System generation [5]. Even the second generation wireless
(MTS), Advanced Mobile Telephone System (AMTS), standards did not provide the needs of international
and Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS). standards. It cannot normally transfer data, such as email
Frequency modulation was adopted by many countries. or software, other than the digital voice call itself, and
The transmission power was decided according to the other basic ancillary data such as time and date.
size of the cell. Its successor, 2G, which made use of Nevertheless, SMS messaging is also available as a form
digital signals, 1G wireless networks used analog radio of data transmission for some standards. Second
signals. Through 1G, a voice call gets modulated to a generation 2G cellular telecom networks were
higher frequency of about 150MHz and up as it is commercially launched on the GSM standard. 2G
transmitted between radio towers. This is done using a technologies can be divided into Time Division Multiple
technique called Frequency-Division Multiple Access Access (TDMA) based and Code Division Multiple
(FDMA).In terms of overall connection quality, 1G Access (CDMA) based standards depending on the type
compares unfavourably to its successors. It has low of multiplexing used. Through this technology, a 2G
capacity, unreliable handoff, poor voice links, and no network can pack more calls per amount of bandwidth

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as a 1G network. 2G cellphone units were generally accounts for IMTTC (time code), IMT-SC (single
smaller than 1G unit, since they emitted less radio power. carrier). FDMA has only one radio interface known as
IMT-FC or frequency code. Third generation technology
Some benefits of 2G were Digital signals require is really affordable due to the agreement of industry.
consume less battery power, so it helps mobile batteries This agreement took pace in order to increase its
to last long. Digital coding improves the voice clarity adoption by the users. 3G system is compatible to work
and reduces noise in the line. Digital signals are with the 2G technologies. The aim of the 3G is to allow
considered environment friendly. The use of digital data for more coverage and growth with minimum
service assists mobile network operators to introduce investment. As a relative comparison the third
short message service over the cellular phones. Digital generation mobile systems attempted on the following
encryption has provided secrecy and safety to the data qualities of services:
and voice calls. The use of 2G technology requires  Better system capacity
strong digital signals to help mobile phones work. If  Wireless internet cess up to 2Mbps
there is no network coverage in any specific area, digital  Wireless multimedia networking including
signals would be weak. audio, video , text and data information.
 Better speed in information transformation.

Figure 3: 2G Technology

C.THIRD GENERATION Figure 4: 2G Technology

The migration to the third generation mobile system was D.FOURTH GENERATION:
to develop an international standard by deriving benefits It is basically the extension in the 3G technology with
for many ideas and technologies available worldwide. more bandwidth and services offers in the 3G. The
The first and second generation standards were expectation for the 4G technology is basically the high
developed to cater to the needs of speech and low bit quality audio/video streaming over end to end Internet
rate data services. Any enhancements to new services Protocol. If the Internet Protocol (IP) multimedia sub-
were not matching them [5]. 3G technologies enable system movement achieves what it going to do, nothing
network operators to offer users a wider range of more of this possibly will matter. WiMAX or mobile
advanced services while achieving greater network structural design will become progressively more
capacity through improved spectral efficiency. Services translucent and therefore then acceptance of several
include wide area wireless voice telephony, video calls, architectures by a particular network operator ever more
and broadband wireless data, all in a mobile common. Some of the companies trying 4G
environment. 3G technologies make use of TDMA and communication at 100 Mbps for mobile users and up to
CDMA. 3G (Third Generation Technology) 1 Gbps over fixed stations. They planned on publicly
technologies make use of value added services like launching their first commercial wireless network
mobile television, GPS (global positioning system) and around 2010. As far as other competitor’s mobile
video conferencing. The basic feature of 3G Technology communication companies working on 4G technology
is fast data transfer rates. 3G technology is much flexible, even more quickly. Sprint Nextel was planned to launch
because it is able to support the 5 major radio WiMAX over 4 G broadband mobile networks in United
technologies. These radio technologies operate under States. Some of the other developed countries like
CDMA, TDMA and FDMA.CDMA holds for IMT-DS United Kingdom stated a plan to sale via auction of 4G
(direct spread), IMT-MC (multi carrier). TDMA

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wireless frequencies couple of years back. The word experienced ever before such a high value technology.
“MAGIC” also refers to 4G wireless technology which Nowadays mobile users have much awareness of the cell
stands for Mobile multimedia, Any-where, Global phone (mobile) technology. The 5G technologies
mobility solutions over, integrated wireless and include all type of advanced features which makes 5G
Customized services. The emergence of new technology most powerful and in huge demand in near
technologies in the mobile communication systems and future. The gigantic array of innovative technology
also the ever increasing growth of user demand have being built into new cell phones is stunning. 5G
triggered researchers and industries to come up with a technologies which are on hand held phone offering
comprehensive manifestation of the up-coming fourth more power and features than at least 1000 lunar
generation (4G) mobile communication system. 4G modules. A user can also hook their 5G technology cell
refers to the fourth generation of cellular wireless phone with their Laptop to get broadband internet access.
standards [5]. It is a successor to 3G and 2G families of 5G technology including camera, MP3 recording, video
standards [6]. The nomenclature of the generations player, large phone memory, dialling speed, audio player
generally refers to a change in the fundamental nature of and much more you never imagine. For children rocking
the service, non-backwards compatible transmission fun Bluetooth te5G technology has changed the means
technology and new frequency bands. The first was the to use cell phones within very high bandwidth. User
move from 1981 analogue (1G) to digital (2G) never experienced ever before such a high value
transmission in 1992. This was followed, in 2002, by 3G technology. Nowadays mobile users have much
multi-media support, spread spectrum transmission and awareness of the cell phone (mobile) technology. A new
at least 200 kbit/s, soon expected to be followed by 4G, revolution of 5G technology is about to begin because
which refers to all-IP packet-switched networks, mobile 5G technology going to give tough completion to normal
ultra-broadband (gigabit speed) access and multi-carrier computer and laptops whose marketplace value will be
transmission. effected. There are lots of improvements from 1G, 2G,
3G, and 4G to 5G in the world of telecommunications.
The new coming 5G technology is available in the
market in affordable rates, high peak future and much
reliability than its preceding technologies. The 5G
technologies include all type of advanced features which
makes 5G technology most powerful and in huge
demand in near future.

Figure 5: 4G Technology

E.FIFTH GENERATION

As the successor of 1G 2G was far better than 1G but Figure 6: 5G Technology

still it lags very much to compete with 5G. 2G provides
facility of messaging as well as data transfer. But the IV.COMPARISION OF GENERATIONS
speed of 2ginternet was very slow as compared to 5G;
the 2G did not allow the high data transfer rate for The comparison of all generations are shown in below
streaming multimedia whereas 5G provides a HD video table in which the 5G technology is up grading one
streaming. 5G technology has changed the means to use when compared to other technologies. And the
cell phones within very high bandwidth. User never

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evolution of all generation 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G multimedia streaming with speed up to 40Mbps. Further
technologies are shown in following figure 6. we conclude that the upcoming 5G technology will be
the most important and the fastest technology of the
wireless communication world for an example a movie
can be downloaded within a seconds. It is a real wireless
world with no more limitation with access and zone
issues.
Table 1: Comparison of Mobile Generations

V. REFERENCES

[1] Amos Edward Joel (Bell Labs), “Cellular Mobile

Communication System.”
[2] Douglas Fougnies et al. (Freedom Wireless) 1998, “Security
cellular telecommunications system.”
[3] Goldsmith, Andrea (2005), “Wireless Communications.
Figure 7: Evolution Cambridge University.”
[4] Mobile Technology: Evolution from 1G to 4G, Electronics for
IV. CONCLUSION You, June 2003.
[5] Pereira, Vasco & Sousa, Tiago. “Evolution of Mobile
Mobiles have become very essential part of our Communications: from 1G to 4G”, Department of
Informatics Engineering of the University of Coimbra, Portugal
everyday life. Their current development is the outcome 2004.
of various generations. In this paper we have focused on [6] Tse, David; Viswanath, Pramod (2005). “Fundamentals of
1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations of mobile Wireless Communication” Cambridge University Press.
communication technology and predicted about [7] Verne MacDonald, Philip Porter, Rae Young, (Bell Labs),
“Cellular Mobile Radiotelephone System.
upcoming 5th generation. 1G was based on analog
[8] Vasco Pereira and Tiago Sousa. Evolution of Mobile
signal and usually used for voice call only with speed up Communications: from 1G to 4G. Department of Informatics
to 10kbps. The 2nd generation is based on digital signal. Engineering of the University of Coimbra, Portugal, 2004.
In 2G one additional feature of text messaging is present
in context to 1G with speed up to 64kbps. Further 3G is
introduced and in comparison to 2G it is much better
because of faster speed than 2G. 3G is based on high
broad band data and provides digital navigation as well
as video access. After 3G, 4G is introduced with HD

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