3G and 4G Networks

The world today proliferates with a huge range of mobile devices ranging from smartphones to tablets to laptops. This proliferation seems very likely to increase [Page 772]further to include wearable devices, sensors, and even smaller devices. These devices use radio communications to connect to the Internet, to communicate with each other, and to upload and download access to all kinds of data. Most of these radio interfaces are short range, for example, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, operating in shared (i.e., unlicensed) spectrum; however, longer range communications (200 meters to 30 kilometers) always use licensed, dedicated spectrum, and as this is a scarce commodity, it is very much in demand by the various telecommunication cellular operators. The operators also need to provide backhaul connections— usually landline—from the ...