Sweet 3G Harmony?
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Hope springs eternal, or so it seems, for an interoperable, if not necessarily a universal 3G wireless standard.
Though entrenched second-generation CDMA, TDMA and GSM-based networks aren't ready to disappear, the wireless community is making headway toward harmonising rival CDMA-based 3G proposals and getting GSM and ANSI-41 networks to talk to one another.
These developments fall under the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) auspices, but a group of operators put the real muscle behind the CDMA harmonisation process.
The Operators Harmonisation Group (OHG), which, after all, represents most of 3G's potential customers throughout the world, reiterated in May its support for a common global specification for the competing 3G CDMA systems. The group, in its Harmonised Global 3G document, set forth a technical framework designed to accelerate growth in the mobile industry in what it called the "3G millennium," and to mold a single, integrated 3G CDMA specification out of the separate W-CDMA and cdma2000 proposals before the ITU.
The framework, presented during ITU Task Group 8/1's meeting May 31-June 11 in Beijing, is supported by the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue (TABD), made up of senior executives from US and European industry.
The US government contributed a kick in the pants, as well, by reminding the European Commission this month that Europe promised the World Trade Organisation (WT) that it would respect technology-neutral 3G licensing. Europe had initially indicated it wanted only W-CDMA as its 3G standard. US Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley and US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky issued a letter stating that the United States will oppose any of the 15 European Union member state's licensing procedures that fail to include all forms of the 3G standards.
The Devil's in the Details Yet the OHG framework goes beyond CDMA harmonisation. It also aims to protect cdmaOne operators' investments by calling for the harmonised Global 3G standard to consist of three modes: multi-carrier, direct spread and time division duplex, each with a specified chip rate.
The Third Generation Partnership Projects (3GPP and 3GPP2) are working to ensure that all three modes are compatible with either the ANSI-41 or GSM Multiple Applications Part (MAP) core networks. The OHG also wants ANSI-41 and GSM MAP to talk to one another so data records and other information can be exchanged, further facilitating roaming.
Whether 3G standardisation will occur on schedule is anyone's guess, but the march is on, and it's on a timetable.
Task Group 8/1 is set to approve IMT.RSPC radio specifications, including the radio interface portion of the 3G recommendation, at its meeting Oct. 25-Nov. 5 in Helsinki. Its parent, Study Group 8, will meet the following week in Geneva, where it will consider the specifications.
The so-called "hooks" required to implement the harmonised 3G standard are to be specified by the end of the year. And the OHG is recommending that 3GPP and 3GPP2 consider merging no later than December 2000 to focus on developing a unified core network, as well as ensuring that the air interfaces and their associated protocol layers work together.
The target dates take into account the fact that European Union members are aiming to have a scheme for 3G operator licensing by Jan. 1, 2000, to pave the way for service introductions starting in January 2002.
Japan, however, is expected to beat the Europeans to the 3G punch, largely because its capacity needs are so much more critical. Ironically, the whole issue may boil down to handsets. That's the consumer's bottom line, after all. And that's where the ITU-sponsored Software-defined Radio Forum comes in. The participating companies are aiming to create standards that enable a product -- perhaps a handset, perhaps something else -- that will let service providers offer unique services nearly instantaneously.
One example is a phone, handset or terminal that could query a wireless network, regardless of where that network is located, and configure itself to place calls. No vendor is likely to offer the same solution. As Booz Allen & Hamilton's Eric Riddleberger notes, the futuristic equipment will not be dedicated to one interface standard or a single frequency band.
And the ITU's 3G data rate specifications call for 144 kb/s at 5 kilometers an hour, akin to Japanese bullet train speeds.
So that leaves consumers to decide what they want from their wireless equipment: e-mail, business-to-business communications that integrate voice and data, or perhaps, interactive video. Only the marketplace knows for sure. |
