Chapter 1
Introduction and Background
1.1 The Context for the Long Term Evolution of UMTS
1.1.1 Historical Context
The Long Term Evolution of UMTS is one of the latest steps in an advancing series of mobile telecommunications systems. Arguably, at least for land-based systems, the series began in 1947 with the development of the concept of cells by Bell Labs, USA. The use of cells enabled the capacity of a mobile communications network to be increased substantially, by dividing the coverage area up into small cells each with its own base station operating on a different frequency.
The early systems were confined within national boundaries. They attracted only a small number of users, as the equipment on which they relied was expensive, cumbersome and power-hungry, and therefore was only really practical in a car.
The first mobile communication systems to see large-scale commercial growth arrived in the 1980s and became known as the ‘First Generation’ systems. The First Generation used analogue technology and comprised a number of independently developed systems worldwide (e.g. AMPS (Analogue Mobile Phone System, used in America), TACS (Total Access Communication System, used in parts of Europe), NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone, used in parts of Europe) and J-TACS (Japanese Total Access Communication System, used in Japan and Hong Kong)).
Global roaming first became a possibility with the development of the ‘Second Generation’ system known as GSM (Global ...
