ABSTRACT

4G
4G stands for the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. It is a successor to 3G and 2G
families of standards. Speed requirements for 4G service set the peak download speed at
100 Mbit/s for high mobility communication (such as from trains and cars) and 1 Gbit/s for low
mobility communication.

A 4G system is expected to provide a comprehensive and secure all-IP based mobile broadband
solution to smartphones, laptop computer wireless modems and other mobile devices. Facilities
such as ultra-broadband Internet access, IP telephony, gaming services, and streamed multimedia
may be provided to users.

In all suggestions for 4G, the CDMA spread spectrum radio technology used in 3G systems and
IS-95 is abandoned and replaced by OFDMA and other frequency-domain equalization schemes.
This is combined with MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out), e.g., multiple antennas, dynamic
channel allocation and channel-dependent scheduling.

Objective and approach

Objectives assumed in the literature

4G is being developed to accommodate the quality of service (QoS) and rate requirements set by
further development of existing 3G applications like mobile broadband access, Multimedia
Messaging Service (MMS), video chat, mobile TV, but also new services like HDTV. 4G may
allow roaming with wireless local area networks, and may interact with digital video
broadcasting systems.

In the literature, the assumed or expected 4G requirements have changed during the years before
IMT-Advanced was specified by the ITU-R. These are examples of objectives stated in various
sources:

• A nominal data rate of 100 Mbit/s while the client physically moves at high speeds
relative to the station, and 1 Gbit/s while client and station are in relatively fixed
positions as defined by the ITU-R
• A data rate of at least 100 Mbit/s between any two points in the world
• Smooth handoff across heterogeneous networks
• Seamless connectivity and global roaming across multiple networks
• High quality of service for next generation multimedia support (real time audio, high
speed data, HDTV video content, mobile TV, etc.)
• Interoperability with existing wireless standards
 • An all IP, packet switched network
• IP-based femtocells (home nodes connected to fixed Internet broadband infrastructure)

Approaches

Principal technologies

• Physical layer transmission techniques are as follows:

o MIMO: To attain ultra high spectral efficiency by means of spatial processing
including multi-antenna and multi-user MIMO
o Frequency-domain-equalization, for example Multi-carrier modulation (OFDM)
in the downlink or single-carrier frequency-domain-equalization (SC-FDE) in the
uplink: To exploit the frequency selective channel property without complex
equalization.
o Frequency-domain statistical multiplexing, for example (OFDMA) or (Single-
carrier FDMA) (SC-FDMA, a.k.a. Linearly precoded OFDMA, LP-OFDMA) in
the uplink: Variable bit rate by assigning different sub-channels to different users
based on the channel conditions
o Turbo principle error-correcting codes: To minimize the required SNR at the
reception side
• Channel-dependent scheduling: To utilize the time-varying channel.
• Link adaptation: Adaptive modulation and error-correcting codes
• Relaying, including fixed relay networks (FRNs), and the cooperative relaying concept,
known as multi-mode protocol