4
Background and Standardization of WCDMA
4.1 Introduction
In the first phase of third-generation standardization, the basic process of selecting the best technology for multiple radio access was conducted in several regions. This chapter describes the selection process during 1997, as well as the decisions made by the regional standardization organizations in early 1998. Different standardization bodies that carried out WCDMA-related work are introduced, and then 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the common standardization effort to create a global standard for WCDMA, is described, including a description of how a proposal becomes the specifications in the WCDMA standardization process. Then the developments in ITU for work on the IMT-2000 are presented. Then follows a look beyond the first WCDMA release, Release 99, in terms of content of Releases 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. This chapter concludes with a look at the IMT-Advanced and resulting eco-system convergence for the evolution towards the 4th generation systems with 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) system specification work.
4.2 Background in Europe
In Europe, a long period of research preceded the selection of third-generation technology. The RACE I (Research of Advanced Communication Technologies in Europe) programme started the basic third-generation research work in 1988. This programme was followed by RACE II, with the development of the CDMA-based Code Division Testbed (CODIT) and TDMA-based Advanced ...
