re: 4G Vision Document Due
ITU WG8F Vision Document due this fall:
1. System embracing near-term technologies that will come along as enhancements to the IMT-2000 technologies.
- Use high-speed, packet-data enhancements to IMT-2000 that already are in progress, and many of these will incorporate all-IP networks to offer data speeds much faster than those originally established for 3G.
- Optimal data rates for these enhancements, which are considered evolutions of the now-emerging 3G standard, will be in the neighborhood of 30 megabits per second.
- These could be available around 2005
2. Systems Beyond IMT-2000 (emerging later), represent a wholly new paradigm for wireless communications.
- Use emerging technologies to provide entirely new types of services
- The ITU envisions peak data rates of up to 100 Mbps for high-mobility applications and peak data rates of 1 gigabit per second for low-mobility or stationary applications.
- These technologies won't be available until around 2010.
>> The Cautious Road Beyond 3G
Peggy Albright
August 19, 2002
Wireless Week
The wireless industry spends a lot of time and energy debating technology, software and services, but when you get right down to it, all of this work begins on paper.
And that's where the next round of cellular technology standards sits right now as members of the International Telecommunication Union formulate the characteristics they believe will best serve customers when the global industry moves beyond the now-emerging 3G technology, officially called IMT-2000, to the standards that will follow.
Some might wonder why 4G is considered relevant when 3G is barely here, but the process is a long one. Work began on 3G sometime around 1989, even before second-generation cellular got started.
Even after these complex technologies are defined by scientific and engineering documentation, it takes more than a decade to develop and deploy the equipment.
For those interested in technologies beyond 3G, the initial round of planning is nearly complete. The results are found in a vision document that should be finalized in the fall. If that goes through, the vision will describe two types of systems. One embraces near-term technologies that will come along as enhancements to the IMT-2000 technologies. The other system will emerge later, representing a wholly new paradigm for wireless communications. This latter category is referred to as Systems Beyond IMT-2000.
Christine De Lapi, a senior engineer in the spectrum and standards group at Motorola Global Government Relations, is the U.S. chair of the working party 8F, the team in the ITU's radio communication sector that advances air-interface standards. The work is conducted under the auspices of a committee called study group 8, which has authority over mobile service matters slated for worldwide standardization.
"The vision document is a good balancing act to try to take into account the differing views," De Lapi says of the near-final draft. "Some regions want a more aggressive approach to Systems Beyond IMT2000, and some companies want a more restrained approach. The vision document is a fair compromise."
According to that vision, the nearer-term technologies will use high-speed, packet-data enhancements to IMT-2000 that already are in progress, and many of these will incorporate all-IP networks to offer data speeds much faster than those originally established for 3G. Optimal data rates for these enhancements, which are considered evolutions of the now-emerging 3G standard, will be in the neighborhood of 30 megabits per second. These could be available around 2005, De Lapi says.
For systems beyond IMT-2000–those that will use emerging technologies to provide entirely new types of services–the ITU envisions peak data rates of up to 100 Mbps for high-mobility applications and peak data rates of 1 gigabit per second for low-mobility or stationary applications. These technologies won't be available until around 2010.
Following is a summary of the next development milestones:
The working party will convene from Sept. 25 through Oct. 5 in Geneva, Switzerland, to finalize the vision document for submission to study group 8.
Study group 8 will meet in Geneva Feb. 4-5, 2003, to review the document. If the vision clears SG8, committee members will submit the document to the Radio Communication Assembly for approval.
The RCA will meet in early June, in the days preceding the 2003 World Radio Conference, which takes place June 9 to July 4 in Geneva. If the RCA approves the document at that time, it will become an official ITU standards recommendation that will be printed, bound and distributed.
In the meantime, the working party will begin identifying the types of services the new standard will be expected to provide. Those envisioned services are still an open book, De Lapi says.
The working party also must formalize a program management plan that the global organization will use to define deliverables and schedule submission timelines to complete the Systems Beyond IMT-2000 specification. This process could run into 2008 or thereabouts.
So how's the process going? De Lapi says that in light of the over-hyped 3G technology and the financially debilitating spectrum auctions that have hamstrung European operators, participants are circumspect and cautious, in her opinion. "It's fair to say, in terms of the hype, they're going to question and set goals and objectives that are realistic and achievable."
It's a lot to look forward to, but a long road of paperwork still twists ahead. <<
- Eric - |
