Future Mobile Communication: From 4G To 5G, 5G Enabling Techniques

Abstract

The generations (shorthand G) started with 1G and 2G/Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) with some obsolete extensions (as a basis). Soon afterwards, 3G/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and the accelerator High Speed Download Packet Access (HSDPA) (sometimes referred to as 3.5G) was rolled out, and is nowadays practically deployed world-wide. 4G/Long-Term Evolution (LTE) has then been introduced as current standard, with a recent upgrade to LTE Advanced. In the meantime, research activities concentrate on the coming-soon 5G introduction within a future standard International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) 2020. Cellular radio networks enable division of geographic areas into radio cells with specific frequency bands. The current 3G/4G architecture of mobile communication including WPAN, WLAN, WiMAX etc. is extended with a hierarchical cell structure down to picocells and femtocells.