Terms related to Mobile technology:

 

I would like to introduce few following technical terms in connection with the fast growing Mobile Technology.

 

1. SIM:

Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) A removable SIM card securely stores the service-subscriber key (IMSI) used to identify a subscriber on mobile telephony devices. The SIM card allows users to change phones by simply removing the SIM card from one mobile phone and inserting it into another mobile phone or broadband telephony devices.

 

2. GSM:

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications – originally from Groupe Special Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones all over the world. GSM association estimates more than 80% of the mobile market using this standard.

 

3. CDMA:

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is a mobile digital radio technology where channels are defined with codes. CDMA permits many simultaneous transmitters on the same frequency channel.

 

4. WiMAX:

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a telecommunication technology that offers wireless transmission of data using a variety of transmission modes, from point-to-multipoint links to portable and fully mobile internet access.

 

5. GPRS:

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data service available to users of the 2G cellular communication systems Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), as well as in the 3G systems.

 

6. NTT DOCOMO:

NTT DoCoMo Inc is the major mobile phone operator in Japan. The name is officially an abbreviation of the phrase, “DO COmmunications over the MObile network”, and is also from a compound word dokomo, meaning “everywhere” in Japanese. docomo provides phone, video phone, i-mode (internet), and mail (imode mail, Short Mail, and SMS) services.

 

7. 3GPP:

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaboration between groups of telecommunication associations, to make a globally applicable 3rd Generation mobile phone systems specifications within range of the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 project by International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

 

8. 3GPP2:

3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) specifies standards for another 3G technology based on IS-95 (CDMA) commonly known as CDMA2000.

 

9. IMT-2000:

The term IMT-2000(International Mobile Telecommunications-2000) or 3G(3rd Generation) is a defined set of standards for Mobile communication technology by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

 

10. EDGE:

Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) is a backward compatible digital mobile technology that permits improved data transmission rates. EDGE was firstly deployed on GSM networks in 2003, by AT&T formerly Cingular in US.

 

11. UMTS :

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the 3G mobile telecommunication technologies, which is also being developed into 4G technology.

 

12. DECT:

Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT), referred as Digital European Cordless Telephone till 1995, is an ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) standard for digital portable phones commonly used for domestic or corporate purposes.

 

13. HSDPA:

High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is an improved version of 3G (3rd Generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity.

 

14. MBMS:

Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) is a broadcasting service that can be offered via existing GSM and UMTS cellular networks. MBMS uses multicast distribution in the core network instead of point-to-point links for each end device.

 

15. TDMA:

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) is a channel access method for shared medium networks. It permits several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time slots.

 

16. FOMA:

Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access (FOMA) is the brand name of the W-CDMA-based 3G telecommunication services offers by the Japanese telecommunications service provider NTT DoCoMo. It is an implementation of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and is the world’s first 3G service to commence operation.

 

17. FDMA:

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) is a channel access method used in multiple-access protocols as a channelised protocol. FDMA gives users an individual allocation of one or several frequency bands, or Channels. Multiple Access systems coordinate access between multiple users.

 

18. WiBro:

Wireless Broadband (WiBro) is a wireless broadband Internet technology developed by the South Korean Telecoms Industry. WiBro is the South Korean service name for IEEE 802.16e (Mobile WiMAX) international standard.

 

19. IEEE:

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE – read eye-triple-e) is an international non-profit, professional organization for the development of technology associated to electricity. It has the most members of any technical professional organization in the world, with more than 365,000 members in around 150 countries.

 

20. iBurst:

iBurst or HC-SDMA(High Capacity-Spatial Division Multiple Access) is a wireless broadband technology developed by Array Comm. It optimizes the use of its bandwidth with the help of smart antennas. Kyocera is the leading manufacturer of iBurst devices.

 

Author: Shabu Thachat (Kozhikode, Kerala)