3G Update>
3G technology moves apace... as row goes on
Electronics Times
Rows and legal wranglings over UMTS
standards continue, but the UK is leading the
way in equipment and applications testing,
reports John Walko
The deadlines for setting standards may come and go in the murky world
that is third generation (3G) mobile communications, but it is reassuring to
find out that important practical and technical work is proceeding while the
bickering goes on.
Last week, at the inauguration of Telecom Modus - a joint venture in
Leatherhead between Japanese conglomerate [ NEC ] and the UK research
group ERA Technology - the company unveiled a fully operational testbed
for the emerging Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).
The test gear works at the intermediate 384Kbit/s bandwidth, and has
already successfully demonstrated over-the-air transmission for voice, data
and video.
It is based on the wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) air
interface specification that Japanese and European suppliers and operators
favour. They want the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to
sanction it as the global air interface standard for 3G.
A version of the testbed has also been installed at BT's Martlesham Heath
research facility, as part of a long-term deal between BT and NEC to
co-operate on testing and field trials on infrastructure gear for the UMTS.
The companies have already completed the first phase of the trial, which
started last October at Martlesham.
The work is running in tandem with further testing of W-CDMA based
UMTS in Japan. There, NEC is a key partner of NTT DoCoMo, the main
operator of mobile communications services. DoCoMo is planning an
aggressive roll-out of 3G systems in Japan, possibly as early as late 2001,
almost irrespective of the outcome of the standardisation battles.
BT has also revealed that it is working with Nortel Networks on UMTS
trials that focus on subscriber services and multimedia terminals. Again, the
trials will be done at Martlesham.
They will test how the technology works but, importantly, will also help the
companies involved assess the market for futuristic mobile multimedia,
Internet Protocol (IP), data and voice services using prototype UMTS
networks and equipment.
The results will be fed into worldwide standards activities to ensure that
users' handsets work wherever they are.
The radio equipment, core data network and terminals for this aspect of the
trials will be provided by Nortel and Panasonic, which recently formed an
alliance to develop 3G wireless voice and data solutions. A fast IP data
network will interconnect the trial equipment to BT's intranet, allowing data
rates of up to 384Kbit/s.
Among several terminals to be tested, which are meant to be representative
of the first wave of commercially available 3G devices, is a mobile phone
with camera and video screen capable of sending data and images at
64Kbit/s. There will also be wireless data modems for laptops and mobile
terminals, and tests on a variety of applications that can be accessed through
these devices on a 3G prototype network.
Applications include downloading sports highlights into a handheld mobile
videophone; giving salesforces the ability to view catalogue information in
graphic formats over mobile terminals; mobile access to e-mail and the
Internet; and the ability to see the latest film trailers and buy cinema tickets
on-line.
An international conference organised by Telecom Modus at the
inauguration of its facility. Many of the delegates and speakers stressed the
importance of devising and testing such applications. The consensus was that
this was as important as sorting out the mess that has bedevilled the air
interface standardisation process (Electronics Times, 14 December 1998).
While stressing that, if all goes according to plan, UMTS is just three years
away, Josef Huber, a senior Siemens executive and vice-chairman of the
UMTS Forum, said that, to make the whole thing a success, the applications
must be there for people to use.
"But it is also necessary to be consistent and follow guidelines," he argued.
"So it is pertinent to quote from a menu at a famous restaurant in New
Orleans, which says that 'good cooking takes time. If you are made to wait,
it is to serve you better and to please you'.
"Today, you have shown the importance of following the right recipe of an
experimental development kitchen," Huber joked, referring to the testbed
facility demonstrated by Telecom Modus.
Huber and others agree it is vital that the development schedule for UMTS
takes an evolutionary approach from current digital mobile platforms -
especially the European-conceived GSM, via enhanced second-generation
GSM systems.
"It makes no sense to go for a quantum leap. 3G networks must evolve from
existing GSM ones in an orderly fashion," said Huber.
And he added that the 160-member UMTS Forum - which is the only one
where suppliers, researchers, regulators and operators can sit together on an
open and equal basis to discuss spectrum allocation and analysis, market
evaluation and licensing, among other things - must and will act as the
catalyst to ensure this happens.
Fred Harrison, UMTS standards manager at BT and acting chairman of one
of the four technical specification groups at the latest standards-setting
organisation to get involved, the Third Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP), agreed that time was of the essence.
"We have established an ambitious and challenging time scale to come up
with draft specifications by April and full specifications for 3G systems by
the end of 1999," he said. "These will then need to be transposed by the
organisation partners into appropriate standards for the region."
The five founding organisations are the Association of Radio Industries and
Businesses and the Telecommunications Technology Committee from Japan;
the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI); the US T1
Standards Committee; and the South Korean Telecommunications
Technology Association. Other bodies are expected to join.
The Partnership Project held its first official meeting last December in
France, which was attended by more than 350 delegates. The organisation's
remit is to harmonise all the W-CDMA proposals currently before the ITU,
with the crucial exception of CDMA 2000, and ensure that W-CDMA is
selected as the dominant standard for 3G.
But because these harmonisation aims are so blatantly linked to the evolution
of the GSM network architecture, it is bound to come up against a huge
brick wall.
ETSI's full involvement with 3GPP immediately alerted the US CDMA
Development Group, and in particular Qualcomm, which set up an
alternative Partnership Project to push the merits of CDMA 2000.
Qualcomm was at loggerheads with ETSI for most of last year and with
telecoms equipment supplier [ Ericsson ] , one of the main proponents of
W-CDMA.
Qualcomm is still insisting it will not budge from three 'fairness principles' in
its dispute with ETSI. It continues to advocate a single air interface for 3G
that will accommodate both the GSM and the US developed IS-41
protocols, and is adamant that technology choices have to be made on the
best technical options, while ensuring backward compatibility.
The standoff and legal stalemate between the two warring companies has
already led the ITU to warn that neither CDMA2000 nor W-CDMA will be
considered for 3G standards setting.
The groups were supposed to settle their differences and make proposals to
the ITU by 31 December - but the deadline has come and gone, and the
posturing and positioning continues.
Just before the deadline, Ericsson offered an olive branch of sorts,
suggesting that it would consider a reduction in the chip rate for W-CDMA
from 4.096 to 3.84Mchip/s.
Ericsson insisted the change was not a response to the ITU's threat, and that
the proposal would meet the requirements for harmonised 3G standards for
users of GSM, IS-136, TDMA and CDMA2000. It added that the
adoption of a lower rate would harmonise the two CDMA proposals by
making it possible for manufacturers to produce low-cost, dual-mode
terminals and phones to serve users across the two system standards.
This was not enough for Qualcomm, which reiterated its insistence on the
fairness principles. It also said: "Qualcomm is unaware of any analysis that
suggests the 3.84Mchip/s rate has demonstrable performance or cost
advantages relative to 3.6864 {the rate for CDMA2000}, while the latter is
evolutionary with an existing technology, CDMAone."
So we have an impasse, but the mood among interested parties is suggesting
that we will ultimately end up with three 3G standards - W-CDMA,
CDMA2000, and one based on time division multiple access. Multiple
nodes in a single handset will then provide the global service offered to
users.
One speaker at the Telecom Modus conference, Dr Joao da Silva, head of
the mobile unit at the European Commission and a former senior executive at
the ITU, admitted as much: "Whether we like it or not, we will end up with
multiple air interfaces and multiple frequency bands."
He says the ITU can recommend what it likes, but it has no power to force
through these recommendations in this case.
In the meantime, the whole thing is threatening to spill over into an
international trade issue.
During the past few weeks, four high ranking US government officials,
including the secretaries of state and commerce, have written to Martin
Bangemann, European commissioner in charge of trade affairs, warning of
US concerns about the impasse. They say that a single, mandatory standard
may threaten US telecoms equipment industry access to European markets.
Last week, Bangemann strongly refuted charges that it was attempting to
shut out US producers from lucrative mobile communications deals, and
stressed that the European Union has not and will not intervene in the
industry led standardisation process.
The strength of the exchanges has shown that the issue has the potential to
shift from a standards debate into something much broader with serious
transatlantic, and possibly transpacific, political ramifications.
(Copyright 1999)
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