Wireless broadband networks technologies

Abstract

Wireless access network standards are diverse as each is optimized for different category of usage, whereas their core network provides opportunity for convergence. The major wireless network standards include those in the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) family, 3GPP2 family, and the wireless networks under IEEE 802 family. The number of mobile subscriptions worldwide continues to grow and had reached 4 billion, out of which about 85% are GSM. The 3GPP family takes advantage of the dominance of GSM phone and provides evolution path for cellular phones while also providing access to other wireless networks. It evolves GSM in 2G Wireless to Beyond 3G, and to 4G. The radio access network had evolved to UTRA and WCDMA in 3G Wireless, to HSPA and HSPA+ in Beyond 3G Wireless, and then to Long Term Evolution (LTE). The core network had evolved to UMTS network and then to Evolved Packet Core (EPC) as it moves to all-IP network supporting different access networks with many different services and yet to reduce complexity with fatter network. The 3GPP2 also has an evolution path, but EPC core network is providing access to 3GPP2 access networks, EPC will become the convergent core network for both 3GPP and 3GPP2.

With the convergence of wireless networks, wired networks, and broadcast networks, the wireless networks are evolving fast towards 4G wireless and beyond. ITU has defined the requirements in IMT-Advanced to provide the standard for 4G Wireless. The 3GPP system of EPC, LTE+ and Femtocell is expected to be a strong player in 4G Wireless. The tutorial overviews the key concepts and understanding of the architecture, requirements, challenges, future trends, and the key issues affecting operator decisions.