Towards 4G With LTE

Florence Legrand
Translator: Jack Sims
Updated: July 31, 2010

Femtocells, Network Regulators?

If you've never heard of femtocells, there's nothing surprising in that. This solution, linked to the internet network, aims to free up, and therefore relieve, the increasingly solicited cellular networks of operators. Femtos absorb the heaviest data at lower wave emission levels than external antennae. Qualcomm is also working on this technology, which they consider to be a panacea as it can not only improve voice quality but also improve data throughput.

Localised 3G coverage

These small GSM cells, the femtos, could, for example, be inserted invisibly into a user's broadband box or in the form of a small external box. They would be deployed in the home or an office environment and give the mobile device access to the internet, thus reducing network link-up time. Moreover, this solution would use lower frequencies and optimise them according to user requirements.

Femtos in your next broadband box?

According to Qualcomm, between now and 2011, we're likely to see multiple femtocell offers appearing. Such solutions could come even sooner than that and of course, the sooner the competition cranks up, the sooner the end user will get a good value deal.

Qualcomm is currently testing the LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard, a 4G technology that the company would like to see rolled out in Europe in the not too distant future. On board a vehicle worthy of the event, we were able to get a taste of very high speed mobile communication, a technology capable of increasing the density of information that circulates on the data network.

New solutions are required, offering ever higher speeds to respond to the explosion of mobile device data traffic. According to the Ericsson Group, by 2015, 80% of Internet connections will be made from a mobile device. Time is pressing, then, to prepare for the future and to prevent networks from jamming.

It is said that LTE—wide bands allowing the transfer of more data/voice information with speeds of between 100 and 300 Mbits per second—will supplant the 3G/3G+ network as 3G will soon no longer be able to service the volume of mobile browsing. Qualcomm is more inclined to see LTE as a parallel solution to 3G '3G still has plenty of room for progression, but we have to keep thinking ahead and developing today the solutions that are going to reduce latency for the mobile Internet user'.

It's therefore vital for Qualcomm to keep moving forward and to be among the pioneers who, in the future, will be able to sell on their know-how. Experienced as the company is in 2G and 3G technologies, with an impressive number of patents to its name, it would have been strange if Qualcomm hadn't launched itself into the LTE race via the development of components or chipsets.

Qualcomm has already been working with equipment suppliers such as ZTE, and plays an important advisory role to operators.

Test-Zone

To trial its advances in the development of LTE solutions, Qualcomm has created a test-zone with several aerials dotted around its head office campus in San Diego (at 50 Mbps and not open to the public, something that helps make the test results particularly impressive).

On board a vehicle that has been set up with screens and buttons of all sorts, we were allowed to observe the signal in action. Currently, even though Qualcomm is working on the idea that it will be possible to encapsulate voice data to transit it on the hypothetical LTE netwok, the demonstration was made with data. We watched an HD video (720p), which was running simultaneously with a file download and a videoconference. The result? No latency, no loss of signal and great fluidity for all content. The download speeds were on average 25 Mbps and the ping, a tool for analysing network connection, remained under 30 ms, which is much lower than with 3G.

LTE vs WiMAX

Who will pay for the move over to LTE? Apparently, this technology won't require colossal investment as it will in part consist in updating 3G network equipment.

And what about WiMAX? Will the other 4G standard be able to compete with LTE? In spite of the WiMAX tests carried out here and there, it's worth noting that many actors in the market have opted for LTE. According to an IDC study, LTE is likely to become the 4G standard. This forecast is based on the number of large companies who've rallied to support LTE and the financing that has been put into place for its deployment, apparently much more than has been spent on WiMAX development. Once again, money is playing its part in the tech wars of the day.

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