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Tomorrow's 5G Cell Phone
Roland Piquepaille writes "According to Mitre computer scientist Joseph Mitola, next-generation cell phones might be cognitive radios (CRs), or software radios learning from interaction with their users and acting in their best interest. InfoWorld talked with him about how his vision of "cognitive radio" would work, and how it could redefine cell phone technology. Mitola said his vision is still about five to 10 years from realization, but that it could mean a sea change as control is shifted from network operators to users. He also said that sending a 10 MB email in a zone where carrier charges are high might cause the CR to alert its user, and suggest waiting until getting to the office to use the LAN instead. Finally, he talked about serious issues like privacy and security. For example, he envisions that video recognition would allow CR cell phones to visually authenticate their owners. Check this column for selected Q&As or read the full InfoWorld's interview."
The guy is living with his head in the clouds...
Shifting control focus to the user from the core network is the main technological difference between 3G and 4G. The other being that 3G exists (for those in the UK, Huthcinson 3G will be the ones first to mass market - the new "three" videophones -) and 4G is still in its design stages.
There is a 4G forum (ala 3GPP), but everything else is sketchy. As far as the network capabilities, the guy really doesn't know what he's talking about. UMTS/IMT2000 theoretically goes up to 2Mb/sec, you'll be lucky if it's as fast as dual ISDN in real life. There's also plans to have wireless interfaces with Hiperlan/2, WiFi and ATM, up to 155Mb/sec, only these schemes will probably be happening at the same time when man goes to Mars; at least 15 years from now, just in time with the then newly introduced 4G.
The 5-10 year rollout estimation, considering the success GSM has enjoyed (will be here for at least the next 15-20 years) and the very slow and limited rollout of 3G, is way off base. In 5-10 years 3G will still be the service the companies will be trying to sell us to replace GSM.
Now as far as telling the user "wait till you get to the office for that 10 meg download", the restriction is not price, but the radio access network. Maybe we'll be able to reach similar speeds by then, but mobility will be close to zero. In other words, you'll have multimedia with a low factor of mobility (say public transport, British rail, walking) but at high speeds (say Eurostar, SNCF) it's highly unlikely to be able to get anything like multimedia. Obviously for a 10 meg file you shouldn't even be walking. How convenient that they'll tell you to receive it at the office, because of the price...
/. Where the truth
Hutchison Telecom, the people who originally set up the Orange mobile phone network in the UK and, I think, Holland, launched their UK-wide 3G network under the freakishly-logoed '3' brand this month. Check www.three.co.uk for details.
Anyone got a clue what they're thinking with that logo?