Comparison of wireless data standards

Comparison of wireless data standards

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Comparison of wireless data standards

The following is a comparison of various wireless data access standards and their performance by several different measures.

Introduction

A wide variety of different wireless data technologies now exist, some in direct competition with one another, others designed to be optimal for specific applications. Wireless technologies can be evaluated by a variety of different metrics described below.

Of the standards evaluated, these can be grouped as follows:

UWB, Bluetooth, ZigBee, and Wireless USB are intended for use as so called Wireless PAN systems. They are intended for short range communication between devices typically controlled by a single person. A keyboard might communicate with a computer, or a mobile phone with a handsfree kit, using any of these technologies.

WiFi is the most successful system intended for use as a WLAN system. A WLAN is an implementation of a LAN over a microcellular wireless system. Such systems are used to provide wireless Internet access (and access to other systems on the local network such as other computers, shared printers, and other such devices) throughout a private property. Typically a WLAN offers much better bandwidth and latency than the user's Internet connection, being designed as much for local communication as for access to the Internet, and while WiFi may be offered in many places as an Internet access system, access speeds are usually more limited by the shared Internet connection and number of users than the technology itself. Other systems that provide WLAN functionality include DECT and HIPERLAN.

GPRS, EDGE and 1xRTT are bolt-ons to existing 2G cellular systems, providing Internet access to users of existing 2G networks (it should be noted that technically both EDGE and 1xRTT are 3G standards, as defined by the ITU, but are generally deployed on existing networks.) 3G systems such as EV-DO, W-CDMA (including HSDPA and HSUPA) provide combined circuit switched and packet switched data and voice services as standard, usually at better data rates than the 2G extensions. All of these services can be used to provide combined mobile phone access and Internet access at remote locations. Typically GPRS and 1xRTT are used to provide stripped down, mobile phone oriented, Internet access, such as WAP, multimedia messaging, and the downloading of ring-tones, whereas EV-DO and HSDPA's higher speeds make them suitable for use as a broadband replacement.

Pure packet-switched only systems can be created using 3G network technologies, and UMTS-TDD is one example of this. Alternatively, next generation systems such as WiMAX also provide pure packet switched services with no need to support the circuit switching services required for voice systems. WiMAX is available in multiple configurations, including both NLOS and LOS variants. UMTS-TDD, WiMAX, and proprietary systems such as Canopy are used by Wireless ISPs to provide broadband access without the need for direct cable access to the end user.

Some systems are designed for point-to-point line-of-sight communications, such as RONJA and IrDA; once 2 such nodes get too far apart to directly communicate, they can no longer communicate. Other systems are designed to form a wireless mesh network using one of a variety of routing protocols. In a mesh network, when 2 nodes get too far apart to directly communicate, they can still indirectly communicate through intermediate nodes.

Standards

The following standards are included in this comparison.

Wide Area

iBurst:
Flash-OFDM: FLASH(Fast Low-latency Access with Seamless Handoff)-OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)
WiMAX: 802.16e standard (also known as Mobile WiMAX)
UMTS over W-CDMA
UMTS-TDD
EV-DO x1 Rev 0, Rev A, Rev B and x3 standards.
HSPA D and U standards.
RTT
GPRS
EDGE

Local Area

WiFi: 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n standards.

Personal Area

Overview

Throughput

The throughput is the data rate of the standard. The theoretical maximum throughput is the throughput rate available to a single connection under ideal circumstances. These speeds may not be achieved regularly in typical usage.

For PAN and LAN standards like WiFi these levels of performance are attainable under ideal radio conditions (that is, a complete lack of interference and at close range without obstacles). For WAN standards, though, these figures are often impractical to achieve (for instance they assume you are the only user in the cell) or are not implemented or provisioned by any providers in such a way.

The typical throughput is what users have experienced most of the time when well-within the usable range to the base station. This value is not known for the newest experimental standards. Note that these figures cannot be used to predict the performance of any given standard in any given environment, but rather as benchmarks against which actual experience might be compared.

Throughput (Mbit/s)
Standard	Max Downlink	Max Uplink	Range	Typical Downlink
CDMA RTT 1x	0.3072	0.1536	~18 mi	0.125
CDMA EV-DO Rev. 0	2.4580	0.1536	~18 mi	0.75
CDMA EV-DO Rev. A	3.1000	1.8000	~18 mi
CDMA EV-DO Rev. B	4.9000	1.8000	~18 mi
GSM GPRS Class 10	0.0856	0.0428	~16 mi	0.014
GSM EDGE type 2	0.4736	0.4736	~16 mi	0.034
GSM EDGE Evolution	1.8944	0.9472	~16 mi
UMTS W-CDMA R99	0.3840	0.3840	~18 mi	0.195
UMTS W-CDMA HSDPA	14.400	0.3840	up to 124mi^[1]	4.1 (Tre 2007)
UMTS W-CDMA HSUPA	14.400	5.7600	up to 124mi^[1]
UMTS W-CDMA HSPA+	42.000	22.000	up to 124mi^[1]
UMTS-TDD	16.000^[2]	16.000
LTE	326.4	86.4
iBurst: iBurst	24	8	~7.5 mi	>2
Flash-OFDM: Flash-OFDM	5.3	1.8	~18 mi	avg 2.5
WiMAX: 802.16e	70.000	70.000	~4 mi	>10
WiFi: 802.11a	54.000	54.000
WiFi: 802.11b	11.000	11.000	~30 meters	2
WiFi: 802.11g	54.000	54.000	~30 meters	10
WiFi: 802.11n	200.00	200.00	~50 meters	40

Downlink is the throughput from the base station to the user handset or computer.
Uplink is the throughput from the user handset or computer to the base station.
Range is the maximum range possible to receive data at 25% of the typical rate.

Latency

The latency is the time taken for the smallest packet to travel between the user terminal and base station.

Spectral use and efficiency

Frequency

Allocated Frequencies
Standard	Frequencies	Spectrum Type
UMTS over W-CDMA	850 MHz, 1.9, 1.9/2.1, and 1.7/2.1 GHz	Licensed (Cellular/PCS/3G/AWS)
UMTS-TDD	450, 850 MHz, 1.9, 2, 2.5, and 3.5 GHz^[3] 2 GHz	Licensed (Cellular, 3G TDD, BRS/IMT-ext, FWA) Unlicensed (see note)
CDMA2000 (inc. EV-DO, 1xRTT)	450, 850, 900 MHz 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, and 2.1 GHz	Licensed (Cellular/PCS/3G/AWS)
EDGE/GPRS	850 MHz 900 MHz 1.8 GHz 1.9 GHz	Licensed (Cellular/PCS/PCN)
iBurst	1.8, 1.9 and 2.1 GHz	Licensed
Flash-OFDM	450 and 870 MHz	Licensed
802.16e	2.3, 2.5, 3.5, 3.7 and 5.8 GHz	Licensed
802.11a	5.25, 5.6 and 5.8 GHz	Unlicensed 802.11a and ISM
802.11b/g/n	2.4 GHz	Unlicensed ISM
Bluetooth	2.4 GHz	Unlicensed ISM
Wibree	2.4 GHz	Unlicensed ISM
ZigBee	868 MHz, 915 MHz, 2.4 GHz	Unlicensed ISM
Wireless USB, UWB	3.1 to 10.6 GHz	Unlicensed Ultrawideband
EnOcean	868.3 MHz	Unlicensed ISM

Notes:

Where X/YxHz is used (eg 1.7/2.1 GHz), the first frequency is used for the uplink channels and the second for the downlink channels.
Unlicensed frequencies vary in how they can be used. 802.11a can make use of both 802.11a-only spectrum and ISM spectrum around 5-6 GHz. A portion of the 2010 MHz spectrum is allocated to unlicensed UMTS-TDD in Europe, but cannot be used for other standards, whereas ISM bands can generally be used for any technology. This improved flexibility does have the downside that ISM bands are often over-used with incompatible, interfering, technologies.
Unlicensed bands vary from country to country. Most have a 2.4 GHz ISM band, but other bands are only available in certain countries and non ISM bands have restrictions as noted above.
In Europe, part of the 2 GHz 3G TDD band is designated as unlicensed, but where available is restricted to UMTS TDD operation.^[4]. To date, this has been left unused and some jurisdictions are re-allocating it to licensed use only.
AMPS/CDMA users tend to refer to 850 MHz band as 800 MHz, whereas 850 MHz is closer and is used by the GSM/UMTS community. For consistency, it is referred to here as 850 MHz.

Deployment size

Allocated Spectrum per Channel (MHz)
Standard	Spectrum
Standard	Total	Uplink	Downlink
iBurst	5
802.16e	10	Variable	Variable
802.11a	20
802.11b	20
802.11g	20
802.11n	20 or 40
EVDO 1x A	2.4	1.25	1.25
EVDO 3x B	10	5	5
UMTS (W-CDMA)	10	5	5
UMTS-TDD	5	5/TDD	5/TDD

Spectral efficiency
(Bits per second per Hz)
Standard	Downlink	Uplink
iBurst	4.88	1.59
802.16e	1.91	0.84
EVDO 1x A	0.85	0.36
EVDO 3x B	0.93	0.28
HSDPA	0.78	0.14
HSUPA	0.78	0.30

Technology

Air interface

Modulation

Modulation refers to the process of changing a parameter (such as frequency, phase and amplitude) of the carrier wave in accordance with the changes in the baseband signal.

Encoding

Antennas

Early wireless standards have used a single antenna for sending and receiving data. Modern standards support the use of multiple antennas to improve performance and reliability. These schemes are classified as the uncorrelated antenna arrays and the correlated antenna arrays. For instance, a standard might support Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) where single or multiple and as input or output and can be combined.

Security

Wireless protocols broadcast data and are generally insecure by their nature (but UWB is a notable exception). Many standards add security features to counteract this.