What were before First generation wireless communication: ?

 Mobile radio telephone systems preceded modern cellular mobile telephony technology.
Since they were the predecessors of the first generation of cellular telephones, these systems
are sometimes retroactively referred to as pre cellular (or sometimes zero generation)
systems.
 It is ah half duplex system.

 Technologies used in pre cellular systems included the Push to Talk (PTT or manual),
Mobile Telephone System (MTS), Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS), and
Advanced Mobil Telephone System (AMTS) systems. Push-to-talk (PTT), also known as
Press-to- Transmit , is a method of conversing on half duplex communication lines,
including two-way radio, using a momentary button to switch from voice reception mode to
transmit mode.
1G: (First Generation ) or Analog Cellular Networks:
 The main technological development that distinguished the First Generation mobile phones
from the previous generation was the use of multiple cell sites, and the ability to transfer
calls from one site to the next as the user traveled between cells during a conversation.
The first commercially automated cellular network (the 1G generations) was launched in
Japan in 1979.

In 1984, Bell Labs developed modern commercial cellular technology, which employed
multiple, centrally controlled base stations (cell sites), each providing service to a small area
(a cell). The cell sites would be set up such that cells partially overlapped. In a cellular
system, a signal between a base station (cell site) and a terminal (phone) only need be strong
enough to reach between the two, so the same channel can be used simultaneously for
separate conversations in different cells.

As the system expanded and neared capacity, the ability to reduce transmission power
allowed new cells to be added, resulting in more, smaller cells and thus more capacity.

 The First generation of wireless telecommunication technology is known as 1G was

introduced in 1980. The main difference between then existing systems and 1G was invent
of cellular technology and hence it is also known as First generation of analog cellular
telephone.
 In 1G or First generation of wireless telecommunication technology the network contains 
many cells (Land area was divided into small sectors, each sector is known as cell, a cell is
covered by a radio network with one transceiver) and so same frequency can be reused
many times which results in great spectrum usage and thus increased the system capacity i.e.
large number of users could be accommodated easily.
 Use of cellular system in 1G or First generation of wireless telecommunication technology
resulted in great spectrum usage.  The First generation of wireless telecommunication
technology used analog transmission techniques which were basically used for transmitting
voice signals. 1G or  first generation of wireless telecommunication technology also consist
of various standards among which most popular were Advance Mobile Phone Service
(AMPS), Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT), Total Access Communication System (TACS).
All of the standards in 1G use frequency modulation techniques for voice signals and all the
 handover decisions were taken at the Base Stations (BS). The spectrum within cell was
divided into number of channels and every call is allotted a dedicated pair of channels. Data
transmission between the wire part of connection and PSTN (Packet Switched Telephone
Network) was done using packet-switched network.
 The system was allocated a 40-MHz bandwidth within the 800 to 900 MHz frequency range
by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for AMPS. In 1988, an additional 10
MHz bandwidth, called Expanded Spectrum (ES) was allocated to AMPS
 AMPS (Advance Mobile Phone Service) use Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
to divide each 25-MHz band into 30-KHz channels. The data rate was limited to between
9.6 Kbps and 14.4 Kbps. The technology also limited the number of users, as each channel
could only carry one conversation.
FDMA:
 Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) is the most common analog system. It is a
technique whereby spectrum is divided up into frequencies and then assigned to users. With
FDMA, only one subscriber at any given time is assigned to a channel. The channel
therefore is closed to other conversations until the initial call is finished, or until it is
handed-off to a different channel. A “full duplex” FDMA transmission requires two
channels, one for transmitting and the other for receiving

Use of Analog signals for data (in this case voice) transmission led to many problems those
are:
1. Analog Signals does not allow advance encryption methods hence there is no security of
data i.e. anybody could listen to the conversion easily by simple techniques. The user
identification number could be stolen easily and which could be used to make any call and
the user whose identification number was stolen had to pay the call charges.
2. Analog signals can easily be affected by interference and the call quality decreases.

Generally First generation wireless communication is:-

1. voice signal only
2. analogue cellular phones
3. uses FDMA technique
4. it is full duplex
5. Speed :- 24 kbps.

Disadvantages
 Poor quality of voice
 SMS not possible
 call waiting not possible
 call forwarding not possible
 Poor life of Battery
 Size of phone was very large
  No security
 Capacity was limited
 Poor hand off reliability
 It uses small bandwidth
 No roaming support between various operator
 Coverage area was small.

2G: Second Generation or ( Digital Networks )

 In the 1990s, the 'second generation' (2G) mobile phone systems emerged, primarily using
the GSM standard. These 2G phone systems differed from the previous generation in their
use of digital transmission instead of analog transmission, and also by the introduction of
advanced and fast phone-to-network signaling. The rise in mobile phone usage as a result of
2G was explosive and this era also saw the advent of prepaid mobile phones.

The second generation introduced a new variant to communication, as SMS text messaging
became possible, initially on GSM networks and eventually on all digital networks. Soon
SMS became the communication method of preference for the youth. Today in many
advanced markets the general public prefers sending text messages to placing voice calls.

Some benefits of 2G were :-

 Digital signals require consume less battery power, so it helps mobile batteries to last long.
 Digital coding improves the voice clarity and reduces noise in the line.
 Digital signals are considered environment friendly.
 Digital encryption has provided secrecy and safety to the data and voice calls.

Generally 2G is
1. voice and data
2. digital fidelity cellular phones
3. GSM,CDMA,TDMA
4. 2G WLAN provided high data rate & large area coverage.
5. Speed :- 64 kbps
Disadvantages
 Unable to handle complex data such as Video
 Requires strong digital signals
 The use of 2G technology requires strong digital signals to help mobile phones work
properly.
 Difference Between 1G And 2G In Tabular Form

BASIS OF
1G 2G
COMPARISON
1 G uses analog signals for 2G uses the digital signal for
Type Of Signal
communication.   communication.  
For accessing, TDMA (Time Division
For accessing, FDMA (Frequency
Channelization Multiple Access) and CDMA (Code
Division Multiple Access) is the
Protocol Division Multiple Access) are the main
main channelization protocol in 1G.
channelization protocol in 2G.  
1G was built upon the standards of 2G was built upon the standards of
Standards
MTS, AMTS and IMTS.   GSM.  
Type Of switching Switching type used in 1G is circuit Switching type used in 2G is both circuit
Used switching.   and packet switching.  
1G is unable to provide internet 2G provide narrow band internet
Internet Service
service.   service.  
2G provide voice and data
Voice And Data 1G provides voice communication communication service, but it does not
Communication service but no data communication. allow complex data communication like
video.  
The disadvantages of 1G are limited
The disadvantage of 2G is the slow rate
channel capacity, the large size of
Drawbacks of data transmission and low network
the phones, low quality of voice and
ranges.  
low battery life.