CELLULAR NETWORK EVOLUTION OVER TIME, 1G TO 5G

The development of cellular network technology begins with a simpler generation, namely 1G. The journey is quite long. It took about 40 years to perfect cellular network technology from 1G to 5G Generation. So how is the evolution of 1G to 5G cellular networks going? In detail, the following is his presentation.

1G

This early generation network was first commercialized by a Japanese Company, Nippon Telegram and Telephone (NTT) in 1979. Initially, this cellular network was only intended for the people of The City of Tokyo. Five years later, NTT finally managed to distribute 1G evenly in all cities in Japan. Not only in Japan, 1G was also introduced in America in early March 1983 by The Ameritech Company. 1G Networks were then distributed in Canada in The Mid-1980S and in The UK in 1985.

In The 1980S, 1G Networks were accessible with Motorola Dynatac Phones. The phone, dubbed the brick, weighs about 1 Kg, and it takes almost 10 hours to fully charge the phone. Although classified as a revolutionary technology at the time, 1G is still far from perfect. As The First Generation of Cellular Networks, 1G does not escape many shortcomings. One of them is the low quality. The 1G Network can only be used to perform one simple task, namely to make voice calls.

2G

Despite The Many Drawbacks of 1G, The pioneer network has survived for a long time. Until 1991, where The 2G Network was finally commercialized for the first time in Finland. The network that has relied on The Global System For Mobile Communications (GSM) Technology is also equipped with various improvements. One of them includes a security system that allows encrypted phone calls. Thus, users can be calmer when making phone calls, because they can no longer be tapped. Another improvement comes from the aspect of sound quality. Users no longer find noisy static sounds when making calls.

In terms of speed, 2G Networks offer a bandwidth of 30 Khz to 200 Khz. In addition, this network also allows users to send SMS and MMS Messages, even at low speeds, up to 64 Kbps. The continuous improvement of GSM technology introduces The 2.5G Cellular Network, which combines packet switching capabilities in the form of GPRS, as well as EDGE Technology. The 2.5G Network is capable of delivering data rates of up to 144Kbps, enabling users to send and receive e-mail messages and surf the web. This causes the use of mobile phones to increase, so the demand for data is increasing.

3G

Entering The Era of The 2000S, 3G Network Technology was introduced by NTT Docomo to be precise in 2001. Compared to its predecessor, the 3G Network has a data transfer capability of 4 times greater with an average speed of 2 Mbps and a maximum speed of up to 14 Mbps. Thanks to this improvement, the 3G Network allows all activities from video streaming to video conferencing to video calls to be carried out more smoothly. Users can also listen to music, make calls, send text messages, and search the internet using their mobile devices. The popularity of 3G Networks has been fading since the emergence of a row of smart phones (Smartphones) in 2007.

4G

The transition from candybar phones to smartphones is accompanied by the development of cellular networks in the world. initially, the 4G Network was first commercialized in Norway at the end of 2009. The 4G Network it self is the first generation to use Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology. Technically, this technology is capable of producing download speeds between 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps.

In Addition, this fourth-gen cellular network also offers better latency. This is characterized by less buffering, improved sound quality, and faster streaming and download speeds. 4G is also known as the world’s first ip-based cellular network, which is able to accommodate Quality of Service (QOS) as well as wireless broadband access on Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Video Conversations, Mobile TV, HDTV Content, to Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB). But in the relatively short time since its introduction, 4G Networks have started to struggle to cope with the demands that come and go. The demands in question include the emergence of Augmented Reality (AR) Technology, Autonomous Vehicles, and the growth of the Internet of Things (IOT).

This seems to require the 4G Network to grow faster, with the demand for cellular bandwidth growing even faster. In addition to being bandwidth-hungry, emerging applications also require higher speeds and lower latency. This factor then fueled the demand for the number of connections that grew to more than 29 billion connections by 2022, according to Ericsson. Knowing that 4G/LTE Networks are almost at their maximum capacity, The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), then began to specify the requirements for 5G Networks in 2015.

5G

The 5G Network was launched for the first time in South Korea in March 2019. This fifth generation cellular network was then brought in by local providers, such as KT, LG Uplus, and SK Telecom. Currently, Canada is one of the states that have adopted the use of 5G Cellular Networks in their cities. In terms of connectivity, 5G is claimed to be able to provide data speeds up to 20 times faster than 4G. In Canada, internet speed test results show 169.46 Mbps, or 205 percent faster than 4G. Apart from speed, latency and bandwidth size, 5G is also better. Latency on this network tends to be lower, at 10 milliseconds.

This figure shows a significant difference from 4G Networks which have an average latency of around 50 milliseconds. Some sources also mention that 5G Network latency can drop even further, up to 1 millisecond. The size of 5G bandwidth also tends to be larger, namely 30 Ghz and 300 Ghz. This is fairly common, considering that 5G is one of the important requirements of the development of IOT in smart cities and other industries.