1. International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET),
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ELECTRONICS AND
ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online), Special Issue (November, 2013), © IAEME
COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY (IJECET)
ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print)
ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online)
Special Issue (November, 2013), pp. 89-94
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IJECET
©IAEME
Performance Comparison of UMTS and LTE on The Basis of Data Rates
Monika Jangir1, Dr. Sanjay Bhargava2, O S Lamba3
1M.tech
Computer science, DIT Dehradun, India
& HOD (CSE & IT), DIT Dehradun,India
3Senior Principal Scientist, CEERI Pilani, India
2Professor
1monika.pilani@gmail.com, 2sanjaybhargava78@gmail.com, 3osl@ceeri.ernet.in
ABSTRACT: Communication and technology have improved by leaps and bounds. The sky is no
longer the limit. It is one of the fastest growing fields in science and technology. Mobile
communications technologies are aiming at responding to the growing demand for higher
connectivity. In telecommunication LTE (4G) is the fourth generation of mobile phone mobile
communication technology standards, it is a successor of UMTS (3G), third generation
standards. Standards specify how airwaves must be used for transmitting information (voice
and data).Transmission speed increases as technology enhancement takes place. Order of
increased speed is 2G, 3G then 4G respectively. Over the past two decades, the way people
communicate, stay informed, and are entertained has changed dramatically. There have been
two major technologies driving this change: the Internet and mobile wireless communication.
We have grown accustomed to the wealth of information available through the Internet and the
mobility provided with wireless communications. Now these two forces are merging to enable
the mobile Internet. With this convergence, mobile data services have grown significantly each
year.
KEYWORDS: Data Throughput, LTE, Networks, Standards, UMTS
I.
INTRODUCTION
In a world of fast changing technology, there is a rising requirement for people to communicate
and get connected with each other and have appropriate and timely access to information
regardless of the location of the each individuals or the information. Consumers demand more
from their technology. Whether it is a television, cellular phone, or refrigerator, the latest
technology purchase must have new features. It is no longer a quantum leap to envision a time
when access to all necessary information the power of a personal computer sits in the palm of
one’s hand. To support such a powerful system, we need pervasive, high-speed wireless
connectivity.
Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is being adopted around the world as the primary cell-phone
communications service. It will be the likely choice for operators in developed markets, as well
as many emerging markets.
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B K Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology (BKBIET), Pilani, India
October 18-20, 2013
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2. International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET),
ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online), Special Issue (November, 2013), © IAEME
Fig. 1: Flexible Upgrade Path
II.
UMTS(3G) AND LTE (4G) AT A GLANCE
The demand for an always on connection to the different services on web and personal
communication services has supported the development of broadband connection services.
This is directly reflected in huge mobile broadband capable system s namely Universal Mobile
Communication System (UMTS) in the latest High Speed Packet Access Evolved (HSPA),
considered as 3rd generation (3G) technology and the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system
considered as 4th generation (4G) technology. There is no official definition by a standards
group of what constitutes 3G. The term evolved in the wireless industry and generally includes
the International Standards Union’s (ITU) IMT- 2000 technology definition and related
features.3G provides better data rates as in comparison to 2G but it’s slower than 4G in terms
of data rates.
A. Overview of 3G
3G is currently the world’s best connection method when it comes to mobile phones, and
especially for mobile Internet. 3G telecommunications, is a generation of standards for mobile
phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile
Telecommunications- 2000 (IMT-2000) specified by the International Telecommunication
Union.] Application services include wide- area wireless voice telephone, mobile Internet
access, video calls and mobile TV, all in a mobile environment. To meet the IMT-2000
standards, a system is required to provide peak data rates of at least 200 kbit/s. The main
characteristics of 3G are to provide mobile multimedia services at transmission rate of
144Kbps at the high speed,384Kbps at speed of walking and 2Mbps indoor.3G network can
offer faster data transmission than the slowest LAN connection and GPRS.
UMTS’s network architecture Fig:2 consists of number of elements that can be grouped into
three sub networks-User Equipment(UE), UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network(UTRAN)
and Core Network(CN).
Fig. 2: Architecture of UMTS
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B K Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology (BKBIET), Pilani, India
October 18-20, 2013
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3. International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET),
ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online), Special Issue (November, 2013), © IAEME
B. 3G Standards
The UMTS(Universal Mobile Telecommunications System ) (system, first offered in 2001,
standardized by 3GPP, used primarily in Europe, Japan, China (however with a different radio
interface) and other regions predominated by GSM 2G system infrastructure. The cell phones
are typically UMTS and GSM hybrids. Several radio interfaces are offered, sharing the same
infrastructure:



original and most widespread radio interface is called W-CDMA The
The TDMA radio interface was commercialized in 2009 and is only offered in Tibet
The latest UMTS release, HSPA+, can provide peak data rates up to 56 Mbit/s in the
downlink in theory (28 Mbit/s in existing services) and 22 Mbit/s in the uplink.
C. Overview of 4G
LTE (long term evolution) or 4G usually refers to the successor of the 3G and 2G standards. In
USA, 4G is associated with International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT
Advanced), though 4G is a broader term and could include standards outside IMT- Advanced.
In fact, the 3GPP is currently standardizing LTE Advanced as future 4G standard. A 4G system
may upgrade existing communication networks and is expected to provide a comprehensive
and secure IP based solution where facilities such as voice, data and streamed multimedia will
be provided to users on an "Anytime, Anywhere" basis and at much higher data rates
compared to previous generations. One common characteristic of the new services to be
provided by 4G is their demanding requirements in terms of QoS. Applications such as
wireless broadband access, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), video chat, mobile TV, HDTV
content and Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) are being developed to use a 4G network. The 4G
working group has defined the following as objectives of the 4G wireless communication
standard: A spectrally efficient system (in bits/s/Hz and bits/s/Hz/site).








High network capacity: more simultaneous users per cell.
A nominal data rate of 100 Mbit/s while the client physically moves at high speeds
relative to the station, and 1 Gbit/s while client and station are in relatively fixed
positions as defined by the ITU-R.
A data rate of at least 100 Mbit/s between any two points in the world.
Smooth handoff across heterogeneous networks.
Seamless connectivity and global roaming across multiple networks.
High quality of service for next generation multimedia support (real time audio, high
speed data, HDTV video content, mobile TV, etc.).
Interoperability with existing wireless standards.
An all IP, packet switched network.
LTE is also a part of 3G technology. It was standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership
Project (3GPP) in its research item Release 8 .It is also known as 3.9G or “Super 3G” by some of
the researchers.
The LTE architecture fig:3 adopts a flat architecture , consists of four fundamental elements
namely Evolved Radio Access Network(RAN), Serving Gateway(SGW), Mobility Management
Entity(MME) and Packet Data Network Gateway(PDN GW).
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B K Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology (BKBIET), Pilani, India
October 18-20, 2013
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4. International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET),
ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online), Special Issue (November, 2013), © IAEME
Fig. 3: Architecture of LTE
III.
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF 3G AND 4G
As mentioned above, although there are many similarities between 3G and 4G, there are also
many differences between these two technologies.
The main difference between UMTS and LTE is the use of technology.There are number of
technologies which comes under 3G including WCDMA and HSPA.WCDMA supports both data
and voice services enhanced features include optimal performance for single and aggregated
5MHz carrier,it also enables Multiple Input Multiple Output(MIMO) scheme for data rate
improvements currently allows for a theoritical maximum of 42Mbps in downlink(DL) and
71.5Mbps in uplink(UL).
In LTE, different technologies are ininvolved ,both in air interface and core network, aiming at
bringing higher spectral efficiency and network closer to the world of Internet
Protocol(IP).LTE uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing(OFDM) for radio access
,together with more advanced MIMO schemes, providing for theoritical maximum data rates of
326Mbps in DL and 86Mbps in UL.
MIMO has a growing usage trend among many high data rate technologies in order to provide
great efficiency, such as in Wi-Fi and other wireless and cellular technologies. LTE uses MIMO
to increase the throughput OFDM changes a frequency selective fading channel in to multiple
flat fading sub channels facilitating easy equalization. MIMO deploys multiple antennas on the
receiver and transmitter to take advantage of multipath effect to transmit additional data
without causing interference. MIMO schemes employed in LTE vary slightly on both DL and UL
in order to get the law terminal cost.
Parameters
3G
Data Throughput : Up to 3.1 Mbps with an average
speed of 0.5 to 1.5 Mbps
Peak Upload Rate
Peak download
Rates
Switching
techniques
Network
Architecture
5 Mbps
100 Mbps
4G
Practically speaking,2 to 12 Mbps but
potential estimated at a range of 100
to 300 Mbps
500 Mbps
1 Gbps
Packet switching
Packet switching ,message switching
Wide area cell based
Integration of wireless LAN and wide
area
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B K Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology (BKBIET), Pilani, India
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5. International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET),
ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online), Special Issue (November, 2013), © IAEME
Services and
Applications
Forward error
correction (FEC)
Frequency Band
Call setup time
Mobility
Bandwidth
Web surfing
Download 5MB
music
Download 750MB
movie
Download HD
videos
CDMA 2000,UMTS,EDGE etc.
Wimax and LTE-advance
3g uses Turbo codes for error
correction
1.8 – 2.5 GHz
UMTS
2s
250Km/h
5MHz
8 seconds
3 minutes
Concatenated codes are used for
error connection in 4G
2 – 8 GHz
LTE
50ms
350Km/h
Scalable upto 20MHz
Immediately
1 second
6.5 hours
2.5 minutes
~2-3 days
~15 minutes
Table 1: Comparison between two technologies
Services for telecommunication system:


Teleservices-Information that transferred between end users example:speech services,
messaging, emergency calls.
Bearer services- different QoS classes for various types of traffic.
-Conversational: voice,video, telephony, video gaming
-Streaming:multimedia,video on demand,webcast
-Interactive:web browsing, network gaming, database access
-Background: email, SMS, downloads
A. Objective of UMTS



Improvement in the data performance, multimedia services and access to the internet.
New radio interface WCDMA.
Core Network: connection function
B. Objective of LTE







IV.
Higher data rates in both downlink and uplink transmission
Reduce packet latency, more responsive user experience
Flat architecture: IP-based, open interfaces, simplified network
Flexible radio planning and high spectral efficiency
Reduce delivery costs for rich communications
Long-term revenue stability and growth
Coexistence alongside circuit switched networks
CONCLUSION
4G is the generation of wireless communication that has capabilities of changing the way
through which wireless world connects people. 4G can prove itself in today’s world as it
ensures a very high data rate, global roaming etc. Each day new things are evolving and are
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B K Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology (BKBIET), Pilani, India
October 18-20, 2013
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6. International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering & Technology (IJECET),
ISSN 0976 – 6464(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6472(Online), Special Issue (November, 2013), © IAEME
creating more qualitative approach in the 4G network.4G also have some problems like
incorporating the mobile world to the IP based core network, efficient billing system, smooth
hand off mechanisms etc. are to be given special attention. 4G has been launched in many
countries and the world is looking forward for the most intelligent technology that would
connect the entire globe.
With rapidly evolving mobile technology, phone developers are constantly looking for
improved and faster voice and data connections. The current market is already beginning to
push forward with fourth-generation or 4G, phone capabilities. The 3G technology that is being
left behind has not been without its faults.
Starting with the 2G standards that made services like short messaging service (SMS)
extremely popular and the rollout of 3G services with faster downlink speeds, research has
paved the way for further innovations and improvements. 4G is not far off from becoming a
popular world standard. Technologies like LTE will only serve to augment changes in the ways
we use our mobile phones today. From mobile payments and downloading full-length movies,
to transferring huge files via Bluetooth 3.0, the mobile world is drastically evolving.
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