Evolution towards Fourth Generation Mobile Multimedia Communication

In this paper a view of the European developments in the field of wireless broadband multimedia communications is given following two lines: on one side evolution in Second and Third Generation of mobile communications; on the other side evolution of multimedia data communications. This two evolutions will merge into a new concept of communications: the Mobile Broadband Systems, or fourth generation of Mobile Multimedia Communications. Within this context, a multi-disciplinary project is being developed at Delft University of Technology. The MMC (Mobile Multimedia Communications) project. MMC holds a combination of: promising applications, novel user-interfaces, compression, protocols geared to the mobile user and transmission techniques that give abundant bandwidth to the user. 1. Cellular Evolution. The First Generation Cellular Systems were implemented in early eighties. They used direct analog voice modulation and were based on a cellular architecture. Transmission rates where around 2.4 kbps and there were different systems working at different countries. The Second Generation Cellular Systems were designed as the technical evolution of microelectronics enabled use of full digital communication over the radio channel with portable devices. From Europe the standard GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) has emerged as an European standard and it has became the main mobile system all around the world providing services to 70 million users in Europe, and over 100 million users word wide not only in Europe but in 110 countries with over 200 networks all over the word. The unprecedented growth of world-wide mobile and wireless markets, coupled with advances in communications technology and the accelerated development of services taking place in fixed networks, point now to two possibilities: GSM evolution and the introduction of a Third Generation Mobile Communication System.