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 CHAPTER 1: 5G HISTORY AND OVERVIEW

A History of Generation Technology

Mobile wireless technology has been in development for decades, with the first generation (1G) introduced in the late 1970s and fielded in the early 1980s. Since then, new generations of technology and wireless standards have been introduced every decade or so, culminating in our present state of transition between 4G and 5G capabilities. The value of each generation has increased exponentially, as each has enabled a host of other technology advancements across the commercial sector and military. All existing generations work within the low- to mid-band spectrum (less than 6GHz, or sub-6), but 5G has opened the door for millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum use as well.



1G (Voice Calls): 1G mobile networks were fielded in the early 1980s with voice communications and limited emphasis on data transfer capability (early capability ~2.4 Kbps). 1G networks utilized analog signals to “hand off” cell users between a network of distributed base stations (hosted on cell towers) using standards like AMPS and TACS.

2G (Messaging): In the 1990s, 2G mobile networks spawned the first digitally-encrypted telecommunications that improved voice quality, data security, and data capacity, while hosting limited data capability by way of circuit-switching using the GSM standard. In the late 1990s, 2.5G and 2.75G technology brought about improved data rates (upwards of 200 Kbps) using GPRS and EDGE standards, respectively. These later 2G iterations introduced data transmission via packet-switching, which served as a stepping-stone to 3G technology.

3G (Limited data: multimedia, text, internet): The late 1990s and early 2000s introduced 3G networks with faster data transfer speeds by fully transitioning to data packet-switching, with some voice circuit-switching that had been standard for 2G. This enabled data streaming, and in 2003 the first commercial 3G service was launched with mobile internet access, fixed wireless access, and video calls. 3G networks have now increased data speeds to 1Gbps when stationary and upwards of 350Kbps when mobile, using standards such as UMTS and WCDMA.

4G and LTE (True data: dynamic information access, variable devices): 4G network services were introduced in 2008 and featured data transfer at 10 times the speed of 3G by leveraging DIB 5G Study