Introduction to mobile communications
Skip contentIn the early 1980s the widespread use of mobile phones was just a dream, but today they are as much a part of our everyday lives as those other miracles of modern electronics - satellite television and laptop computers. It is difficult to believe that it was only in 1985 when the UK public first had access to a proper mobile telephony service, and that subsequently mobile phones have become so inexpensive as to be considered just another consumer product.
The mobile phone is nowadays found almost everywhere, and it has not only revolutionised the way we communicate, it has had a profound effect on the lifestyles of hundreds of millions of people. The great surge in demand for mobile phone services has inevitably put pressure on the cell phone carriers to increase network capacity, and also to reduce their call charges.
All too often the general public takes these technological advances for granted, but the rate of progress that has occurred in mobile communications was only achievable after the investment of a great deal of time, effort and money. The rapid spread of the mobile phone depended largely on the corresponding development in a range of hardware and software technologies, and the international co-operation necessary to agree common standards between companies and between countries.
The telecommunications industry has been very sensitive to market demands, so that in less than 20 years mobile phones have developed from basic 1G (First Generation) analogue systems, capable of only handling voice, to the sophisticated services offered by the latest 3G (Third Generation) systems, which are digital and can handle data as well as voice. During the development process we have also passed through 2G (Second Generation) systems, which are digital but with a limited ability to handle data, and 2.5G systems, which are a sort of transitional standard between 2G and 3G.
This is the first in a series of articles describing how cellular phone networks are organised, the techniques they employ to handle calls, the technologies that are used in the design of the equipment, and how mobile communication systems have developed over time and will develop in the future.
