The journey of communication: From 1G to 4G

Communication systems have evolved since the time the first voice communication device that is the telephone was invented by Graham Bell. Experts have classified the communication technique technologies on basis of time frame as first generation, second generation or 2G, Third generation or 3G and the fourth generation or 4G.

Each of these technologies while being grouped into first , second, third or fourth generation technology is to meet the standardisation norms as floated by International Telecom Union (ITU) – a United Nations body for policy formulation on telecommunication sector.

First generation: Almost all of the systems from this generation were analog systems where voice was considered to be the main traffic. There was no or very little security as the data was transferred and the voice could be heard by third person. AMPS is an example of 1G system.

Second generation: Here commercialization of communication system started and the analog systems evolved to become digital systems. The data was transferred in discrete form and hence could be coded or technically aliased, thereby enhancing the security. GSM, GPRS, IS95 are some of the example of 2G systems.

Third generation: To meet the growing demands in network capacity, rates required for high speed data transfer, multimedia applications and increased security over data transfer 3G standards started evolving. They are based on two parallel backbone infrastructures, one consisting of circuit switched nodes, and one of packet oriented nodes. EDGE, UMTS, CDMA falls under 3G technologies.

Fourth generation: Though no formal standards for 4G have been established by ITU as yet but experts in telecommunication field have begun to design the technologies as 4G technology. The infrastructure for 4G will be only packet-based (all-IP). These are some of the technologies which are being considered as pre-4G: WiMax, WiBro, iBurst and 3GPP Long Term Evolution.