Mobile operators and wireless service providers alike are consistently under pressure to provide faster wireless data services, thanks to the proliferation of smart phones. The last decade has seen a phenomenal increase in the number of wireless subscribers connected via a wide range of wireless broadband technologies. In this talk the state of existing and future wireless broadband technologies in the Malaysia such as WiMAX, HSPA, LTE, WLAN/WiFi and their evolutions will be discussed. This talk will also introduce in layman terms some of the major technological breakthroughs in the antenna systems such as Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), Space Time Coding (STC) and Beamforming (BF) that contribute to multiple folds increase in wireless data rate and range in recent years. The common questions or misunderstandings about wireless technology such as what is true 4G? Why am I not getting the speed as advertised? Why is my upload speed always lower than my download? etc, will be explained along the way. The talk will then look into the future of wireless broadband such as what is 5G? what are the expectations and how can we achieve them? Will futuristic wireless communication technologies or paradigms such as Cognitive Radio and Internet of Things be a big part of it?

1. Wireless Need for Speed
Dr. David Chieng
davidchieng@theiet.org

2. Content
• Current Challenges of Mobile Broadband
• Solutions, Technology comparison
• Key Technologies
• What is 5G?• What is 5G?
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

3. Wireless Broadband Growth (Malaysia)
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

4. Key Drives are:Key Drives are:
1. Devices
LTE (Petabytes)
3G (Petabytes)
Broadband traffic has been doubling every year since FY07/08.
Forecasts in the next 5 years estimates more than several folds increase in the data traffic
include LTE
Wireless Broadband Traffic Tsunami
>600
>400
Europe
2. New applications
3. Market driven – Flat Tariffs
40
FY07/08
>100
20
FY14/15FY13/14FY12/13
>300
FY11/12
>200
FY10/11FY09/10
>50
FY08/09
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

5. Spectrum Alert!!
Mobile operator O2 UK has revealed that it expects to
run out of spectrum on its macro cell layer around
2014.
Telefonica UK’s chief radio engineer Robert Joyce said
that, “As we see it, with the increasing demand fromthat, “As we see it, with the increasing demand from
tablets and smartphones the macro cell will not be able
to cope. We can take the macro cell grid to eight times
its current capacity and then we’ll run out of
spectrum.” – Telecoms.com June 26, 2012
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

6. Supply vs. Demand
How?
• Capacity gap is increasing
• 4% of subscribers are using about 68% of the bandwidth on a
given tower”
Technologies?
Regulatory?
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

7. Which apps are the culprit?
Video and TV Streaming are the fastest growing traffic Category
Source: ABI Research Mobile Data Traffic Analysis , April 29 2011
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

8. Increasing Data Traffic Volumes Threatening
Operator Profitability
• Voice ARPU continues to decline
• Data ARPU reaching apex
• Traffic continues to grow
Source: Heavy Reading Report: Ethernet Backhaul, Mobile Operator Strategies and Market Opportunity
2009
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

9. Implications on Subscribers
• Traffic tsunami, capacity gap, data sold and revenue
not correlated
Implications
• Operators need to install more base stations
AND/OR invest in new technologies before ROI
• Mobile broadband not getting cheaper NOR
getting faster
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

10. Solutions, Technologies
ComparisonComparison

11. Solutions
• More spectrum
– Get new spectrum e.g. TV spectrum (white space) by
2015 in Malaysia
• Higher spectrum efficiency
– New wireless technologies higher– New wireless technologies higher
modulation, advanced antenna systems, advanced
coordination techniques
• New cell architectures/Heterogeneous Networks
– Macro, Micro, Pico, Femto and Relay
• Cognitive Radio – more efficient spectrum usage
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

12. Indirect Solutions
• Self Organizing Networks (SON)
– Reduce CAPEX and OPEX so that operator can invest on
more base stations
• Traffic offloading
– Mobile Network to offload data traffic to WiFi
Faster backhaul• Faster backhaul
– Fibre, Microwave, Relay
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

13. Technology Comparison
4G
Malaysia
More
spectrum,
higher
spectrum
efficiency
Source: Nokia Siemens Networks
11n, 11ac, 11ad
Due to mobile traffic crunch, technologies naturally inclined towards capacity
LTE-A
WiMAX
2 (16m)
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

14. Common Myth 1: Why am I not
getting the speed as advertised?
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

15. Why we are not getting data rate as
advertised?
• Some advertise physical data rates and not
actual usage speed SpeedTest
– Road is build for 300km/hour doesn’t mean every
car can move at that speed….
• Advertised only peak data rate (maximum• Advertised only peak data rate (maximum
possible), depending on
– Supported data rate of user device
– Optimal location (best signal)
– No other users (or just a few) at that base station
– No interferences
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

16. Why uplink slower than downlink?
• Higher overhead for uplink
– need to contend for access,
– avoid interference from other mobiles
• Lower power from mobile device
– Battery-powered– Battery-powered
• Non symmetrical duplex configuration in some
technologies
– More transmission time allocated to downlink then uplink
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

17. Key Technologies for Speed

18. What determine the speed?
Spectrum/
Bandwidth
Efficiency of
Modulation and
Coding Scheme
Antenna
Techniques
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

19. Current Key Technologies
• More efficient Modulation and Coding
Scheme (MCS)
• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex
(OFDM/OFDMA)(OFDM/OFDMA)
• Multiple Antenna Techniques
– Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)
– Beamforming (BF)
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

20. More efficient Modulation and Coding
• Goal is to squeeze as
many bits into one
Hertz of spectrum
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

21. OFDM/OFDMA
• Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing/Multiple Access
• Multiple carriers carrying multiple “mini” data stream in
parallel
• Adopted by all current and future wireless broadband
technologies
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

22. Advanced Antenna Techniques
(MIMO)
• MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output)
• Four common techniques:
– Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC)
– Space-Time Block Coding (STBC)– Space-Time Block Coding (STBC)
– Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM)
– Transmit Beamforming (TBF)
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

23. Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC)
• Signals received by more than one antenna.• Signals received by more than one antenna.
• Signal then combined to produce a higher signal
quality (SNR)
• Doesn’t increase the peak rate but increase the
distance where you can get it.
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

24. Space Time Block Code (STBC)
• Different transmit antennas transmit copies of coded
data in different space and time
• Even in strong presence of noise and distortion, receiver
can reconstruct back data
• Also increases the distance where higher data rate can be
achieved
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

25. Spatial Multiplexing (SM)
• Transmit multiple “parallel” data streams.
• Best case
– ~ 2x transmission rate with 2x2 antennas
– ~ 3x rate with 3x3 and so on…
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

26. Transmit Beam Forming (BF)
• Signal direction to a location
• Receive stronger signal at a specific
location
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

27. What is 5G?

28. What’s 5G?
• No clear definition just yet. More questions than
answers (likely need to wait till 2020?)
• It has to be faster but can we actually go any faster?
Have we reached spectrum limit?
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

29. Requirements for 5G?
5G
>1Gbps
Better
QoS
Machine
-to-
Machine
Smaller cell
IPv6, AI
Intelligent access/coordination
5G
QoS
Green
Personal-
ization
Lower
Cost
Machine
Energy efficient
SON
Context Aware
Alternative Backhaul
Smart
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

30. Emerging and Future Technologies
• Heterogeneous Networks
• Cognitive Radio
• Internet of Things
• There are more….• There are more….
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

31. What is Heterogeneous Wireless
Networks?
© 2012 MIMOS Berhad. All Rights Reserved.
• “Not exactly a technology but a set of rules whereby different
types of Radio Access Technologies can cooperate and work
harmoniously towards some common goals” – David Chieng
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

32. Motivations
• Rather than coexist (finding best ways to exist together) why
not cooperate?
• Cooperative scenarios:
Multi Tech Access Relay/Multihop
WiFi
Multiradio router/relay stations supporting
different radio technologies
WiMAX LTE
WiFi
• Benefits include seamless services, rapid deployment, resource reuse, offload, etc.
WiMAX LTE
Multiradio terminals supporting different radio
technologies
IET Talk Series, 7 July 2012, Pearl International Hotel

33. • Enabling different radio technologies to share the same
spectrum efficiently by adaptively finding unused spectrum and
adapting the transmission scheme to the requirements of the
technologies
Cognitive Radio

34. • “Things having identities and virtual
personalities operating in smart
spaces using intelligent interfaces to
connect and communicate within
social, environmental, and user
contexts”.
• Connecting everyone, everything across
Internet of Things
• Connecting everyone, everything across
diverse wireless protocols
• Enabling:
– Tracking (retail, transportation)
– Smart Space (home, office, etc)
– Smart Healthcare
– Security