Ah! another of mah fav domain..... d one I started off with.... dunno but I joined CS dreaming about bit and bytes :D
The search giant is already involved in the mobile phone and applications business, municipal WiFi, made a lot of noise about the 700 Mhz auctions, and is working on an undersea cable project. Oh, and let's not forget that little thing it dominates called the Internet search market.
Nonetheless, the firm is now rumored to be looking at yet another off-beat wireless technology: low-orbit balloons that can be used to beam wireless connectivity to rural communities where it would otherwise be difficult or unprofitable to set up cell-towers.
Ah! meanwhile, there's a running joke when discussing the impact of next-generation LTE technology on the wireless market that the clue is the name Long-Term Evolution (LTE).
No doubt, there's an element of truth in that quip. Today's state-of-the-art commercial 3G networks already deliver great service and will provide a platform for innovation and growth in mobile applications and services for at least the next five years. It's far from hyperbole to say that the widespread availability of 3G High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) marks the dawn of mobile broadband.
3G technology could become a victim of its own success. With more users and massive traffic growth, the medium- to longer-term requirement for wireless technology that enables lower cost per bit is clearer than ever, according to a not-so-recent research I was reading about.
If I quote literature, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) LTE standards are being developed to provide 3G operators with an upgrade path to all-IP mobile broadband networks.
The target baseline performance in a 2x20 MHz channel, using a terminal with two receive antennas and one transmit antenna, is a peak modem rate of 100 Mbit/s (equivalent to 5 bit/s per Hz) on the downlink and 50 Mbit/s (equivalent to 2.5 bit/s per Hz) on the uplink. Longer-term targets using 64-QAM modulation and 4x4 MIMO are for more than 300 Mbit/s peak on the downlink and 80 Mbit/s on the uplink.
LTE has greater support from the world's leading operators and system vendors, it has emerged as the leading candidate technology for next-generation wireless systems, although it shares many of the same core technologies and principles found in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) 's mobile WiMax and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) 's Ultra Mobile Broadband standards.Can't locate the links for the articles I read last year :( Gawd! y dint i save them on yummy?
hmmm....
Toshio Miki, associate senior vice president at NTT DoCoMo, talking about operator's view of LTE or rather as it is called - "Super 3G" and how it fits with the ultimate migration to 4G, their plan is to start Super 3G services around 2010, followed soon-after by 4G.
And just to put the joke to rest, even though the "LTE" tag has stuck, the official name is now "Evolved Packet System."
Aw! yeah! Now does that make it sound less far away? Well, Well! lets c!