Ultra Mobile Broadband

Mobile communication standards

GSM / UMTS (3GPP) Family

GSM (2G) GPRS EDGE (EGPRS) EDGE Evolution CSD HSCSD
UMTS (3G) W-CDMA (UMTS) HSPA HSDPA HSUPA HSPA+ UMTS-TDD TD-CDMA TD-SCDMA FOMA
3GPP Rel. 8 (Pre-4G) E-UTRA


cdmaOne / CDMA2000 (3GPP2) Family

cdmaOne (2G)
CDMA2000 (3G) EV-DO


AMPS Family
AMPS (1G) TACS / ETACS
D-AMPS (2G)


Other Technologies
Pre Cellular PTT MTS IMTS AMTS OLT MTD Autotel / PALM ARP
1G NMT Hicap CDPD Mobitex DataTAC
2G iDEN PDC CSD PHS WiDEN
Pre-4G iBurst HiperMAN WiMAX WiBro GAN (UMA)


Channel Access Methods FDMA OFDMA TDMA SSMA CDMA W-CDMA


Frequency bands Cellular GSM UMTS PCS SMR

UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband) was the brand name for a project within 3GPP2 to improve the CDMA2000 mobile phone standard for next generation applications and requirements. In November 2008, Qualcomm, UMB's lead sponsor, announced it was ending development of the technology, favoring LTE instead^[1].

Like LTE, the UMB system was to based upon Internet (TCP/IP) networking technologies running over a next generation radio system, with peak rates of up to 280 Mbit/s. Its designers intended for the system to be more efficient and capable of providing more services than the technologies it was intended to replace. To provide compatibility with the systems it was intended to replace, UMB was to support handoffs with other technologies including existing CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO systems. However 3GPP2 added this functionality to LTE, allowing LTE to become the single upgrade path for all wireless networks. No carrier had announced plans to adopt UMB, and most CDMA carriers in Australia, USA, Canada, China, Japan and Korea have already announced plans to adopt LTE as their 4G technology.

1 Summary
2 Features
3 Fourth-Generation Cellular Technology Benefits
4 References
5 External links
6 See also

Summary

OFDMA-based air interface
Frequency Division Duplex
Scalable bandwidth between 1.25-20 MHz (OFDMA systems are especially well suited for wider bandwidths larger than 5 MHz)
Supports mixed cell sizes, e.g., macro-cellular, micro-cellular & pico-cellular.
IP network architecture
Supports flat, centralized and mixed topologies
Data speeds over 275 Mbit/s downstream and over 75 Mbit/s upstream

Features

Significantly higher data rates & reduced latencies using FL advanced antenna techniques
- MIMO, SDMA and Beamforming
Higher RL sector capacity with quasi-orthogonal reverse link
Increased cell edge user data rates using adaptive interference management
- Dynamic fractional frequency reuse
- Distributed RL power control based on other cell interference
Real time services enabled by fast seamless L1/L2 handoffs
- Independent RL & FL handoffs provide better airlink and handoff performance
Power optimization through use of quick paging and semi-connected state
Low-overhead signaling using flexible airlink resource management
Fast access and request using RL CDMA control channels
New scalable IP architecture supports inter-technology handoffs
- New handoff mechanisms support real-time services throughout the network and across different airlink technologies
Fast acquisition and efficient multi-carrier operation through use of beacons
Multi-carrier configuration supports incremental deployment & mix of low-complexity & wideband devices

Fourth-Generation Cellular Technology Benefits

Main article: 4G

UMB was intended to be a so-called fourth-generation technology. These technologies use a high bandwidth, low latency, underlying TCP/IP network with high level services such as voice built on top. While no 4G networks have been deployed yet, the much greater amount of bandwidth, and much lower latencies, should enable the use of various application types that have previously been impossible, while continuing to deliver high quality (or higher quality) voice services. The improved bandwidths of the network provided by more efficient technologies may also result in networks with better capacity.

UMB's use of OFDMA would have eliminated many of the disadvantages of the CDMA technology used by its predecessor, including the "breathing" phenomenon, the difficulty of adding capacity via microcells, and the fixed bandwidth sizes that limit the total bandwidth available to handsets.

References

^ Qualcomm halts UMB project, Reuters, November 13th, 2008

External links

3GPP2 Standards and specifications
CDMA Development Group (CDG)