Early history of wireless communication

• Many people in history used light for communication

– heliographs, flags („semaphore“), ...
– 150 BC smoke signals for communication;
(Polybius, Greece)
– 1794, optical telegraph, Claude Chappe
• Here electromagnetic waves are
of special importance:
– 1831 Faraday demonstrates electromagnetic induction
– J. Maxwell (1831-79): theory of electromagnetic Fields, wave
equations (1864)
– H. Hertz (1857-94): demonstrates
with an experiment the wave character
of electrical transmission through space
(1888, in Karlsruhe, Germany, at the
location of today’s University of Karlsruhe)
 History of wireless communication I
• 1896Guglielmo Marconi
– first demonstration of wireless
telegraphy (digital!)
– long wave transmission, high
transmission power necessary (> 200kw)
• 1907Commercial transatlantic connections
– huge base stations
(30 100m high antennas)
• 1915Wireless voice transmission New York - San Francisco
• 1920Discovery of short waves by Marconi
– reflection at the ionosphere
– smaller sender and receiver, possible due to the invention of the
vacuum tube (1906, Lee DeForest and Robert von Lieben)
• 1926Train-phone on the line Hamburg - Berlin
– wires parallel to the railroad track
 History of wireless communication II
• 1928 many TV broadcast trials (across Atlantic, color TV, TV
news)
• 1933 Frequency modulation (E. H. Armstrong)
• 1958A-Netz in Germany
– analog, 160MHz, connection setup only from the mobile station,
no handover, 80% coverage, 1971 11000 customers
• 1972B-Netz in Germany
– analog, 160MHz, connection setup from the fixed network too
(but location of the mobile station has to be known)
– available also in A, NL and LUX, 1979 13000 customer in D
• 1979NMT at 450MHz (Scandinavian countries)
• 1982Start of GSM-specification
– goal: pan-European digital mobile phone system with roaming
• 1983Start of the American AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone
System, analog)
• 1984CT-1 standard (Europe) for cordless telephones
 History of wireless communication III
• 1986C-Netz in Germany
– analog voice transmission, 450MHz, hand-over possible,
digital signaling, automatic location of mobile device
– Was in use until 2000, services: FAX, modem, X.25, e-mail,
98% coverage
• 1991Specification of DECT
– Digital European Cordless Telephone (today: Digital
Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications)
– 1880-1900MHz, ~100-500m range, 120 duplex channels,
1.2Mbit/s data transmission, voice encryption,
authentication, up to several 10000 user/km2, used in more
than 50 countries
• 1992Start of GSM
– in D as D1 and D2, fully digital, 900MHz, 124 channels
– automatic location, hand-over, cellular
– roaming in Europe - now worldwide in more than 200
countries
– services: data with 9.6kbit/s, FAX, voice, ...
 History of wireless communication IV
• 1994E-Netz in Germany
– GSM with 1800MHz, smaller cells
– As Eplus in D (1997 98% coverage of the population)
• 1996HiperLAN (High Performance Radio Local Area Network)
– ETSI, standardization of type 1: 5.15 - 5.30GHz, 23.5Mbit/s
– recommendations for type 2 and 3 (both 5GHz) and 4 (17GHz)
as wireless ATM-networks (up to 155Mbit/s)
• 1997Wireless LAN - IEEE802.11
– IEEE standard, 2.4 - 2.5GHz and infrared, 2Mbit/s
– already many (proprietary) products available in the beginning
• 1998Specification of GSM successors
– for UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) as
European proposals for IMT-2000
• Iridium
– 66 satellites (+6 spare), 1.6GHz to the mobile phone
 History of wireless communication V
• 1999 Standardization of additional wireless LANs
– IEEE standard 802.11b, 2.4-2.5GHz, 11Mbit/s
– Bluetooth for piconets, 2.4Ghz, <1Mbit/s
• Decision about IMT-2000
– Several “members” of a “family”: UMTS, cdma2000, DECT, …
• Start of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and i-mode
– First step towards a unified Internet/mobile communicaiton
system
– Access to many services via the mobile phone
• 2000 GSM with higher data rates
– HSCSD offers up to 57,6kbit/s
– First GPRS trials with up to 50 kbit/s (packet oriented!)
• UMTS auctions/beauty contests
– Hype followed by disillusionment (50 B$ payed in Germany for 6
licenses!)
• 2001 Start of 3G systems
– Cdma2000 in Korea, UMTS tests in Europe, Foma (almost
 Wireless systems: overview of the
development
cordless wireless LAN
cellular phones satellites
phones
1980:
1981: CT0
NMT 450 1982:
1983: Inmarsat-A
AMPS 1984:
CT1
1986:
NMT 900 1987:
1988: CT1+
Inmarsat-C
1989:
CT 2
1991: 1991: 1991:
1992: CDMA D-AMPS 1992: DECT 199x:
GSM Inmarsat-B proprietary
1993:
Inmarsat-M
PDC
1994: 1997:
DCS 1800 IEEE 802.11
1998:
Iridium 1999:
802.11b, Bluetooth

2000: 2000:
analogue GPRS IEEE 802.11a
2001:
IMT-2000
digital
200?:
Fourth Generation
(Internet based)
4G – fourth generation: when and how?