It is hard to imagine the modern world without the use of communications, Wi-Fi and various data transmission standards. All of them assume the presence of their own architecture, structure and coverage area. There have been so many data transmission technologies in recent years that it is not so easy to understand them in order to successfully apply them in various situations. This article will look at WCDMA mode, what it is and how it differs from other standards.
A bit of history
First mention of first generation networks was seen in the 1980s. There were three well-known technologies at that time: AMPS, TACS and NMT. At this time, few people thought about data transmission. The entire network of the first generation was entirely analog, and served for voice transmission.
2G began to develop almost simultaneously in Europe and the US. In the first case it was the GSM standard, in the second it was WCDMA. However, full-fledged data transfer became possible only in the 2.5 G standard. At this time, a new GPRS service appeared, which became a new milestone in data transfer. It became possible to use Internet access only when it is really needed. That is, the traffic was charged in accordance with how the user usedInternet.
It's worth noting that the 3G standard actually includes a whole range. This includes 2.75, 3, 3.5, and 3.75 Gs. All of them have been declared capable of easy migration with second generation mode.
What is WCDMA?
The term stands for WideBand Code Division Multiple Access, which can be translated into Russian as "code division multiple access". The communication format itself is quite old, and was implemented for the operation of 3G networks. The term WCDMA is commonly applied to both the air interface and a separate type of cellular network.
Defining a standard
WCDMA is really just an add-on to GSM networks. The main difference is in device registration. For example, the GSM standard has always been tied to a specific SIM card of a mobile operator, while WCDMA is tied entirely to the device and subscriber number. The use of WCDMA in individual solutions, for example, in devices for data transmission, was unreasonable, since when changing a device or a tariff, one had to constantly turn to the provider for help.
What is WCDMA? These are 2 radio frequency bands with a range of 5 MHz each. Unlike other standards, WCDMA can only operate on this frequency. Which, of course, does not make it flexible.
For cellular applications, the WCDMA mode has been redesigned to operate in the 1.9 to 2.1 GHz band. In most cases, almost every cellular operator uses this particular standard fordata transfer via the Internet via a 3G network.
The principle of WCDMA operation can be described as follows: the data that was received from the information source is first subjected to expansion. In particular, there is an expansion of the signal spectrum. This allows the energy to be distributed slightly in the frequency band. This happens by multiplying each bit of information by a special sequence, expanding it. This is called Spreading. This procedure allows you to increase the signal speed, reduce the length of the pulses, but at the same time increases the occupied frequency band. After the recipient has received the signal, the reverse procedure for extracting useful information and decoding occurs.
Pros and cons
Among the obvious advantages of the WCDMA standard are the following positive characteristics:
- the format is well developed and debugged, which allows it to be used at high speeds without losing connection stability;
- due to the high prevalence of the standard received a large coverage area;
- due to many years of developments, it is easily integrated into 3G networks;
- great compatibility between modern Android devices and WCDMA 3G;
- reduces the load on the hardware nodes of the device, which in turn affects the autonomy of the gadget;
- due to being quite old technology, it can be used on almost every smartphone.
Despiteall the advantages, the standard has some disadvantages. For example, here are some of them:
- no matter how successful and technologically advanced the standard is, it is still outdated and does not always meet modern requirements;
- new LTE networks have much higher data rates;
- network architecture is much more complex than the new modern modes;
- when moving away from the base stations of the cellular network operator, there is a noticeable decrease in the data transfer rate;
- necessary to install WCDMA driver in some devices, for example ZTE, this is necessary for proper operation in the operating system, in particular, many driver searches are related to ZTE WCDMA Technologies.
Declared standard speeds near cell towers can be up to 2 megabits per second. At the same time, if the distance is noticeable, then the speed is reduced to 384 megabits per second.
Prospects for development
Good embeddability in various modes and standards allows WCDMA to be integrated in accordance with the requirements of today. In this regard, the constant development of technology allows us to hope for the creation of a new standard that is more optimized than LTE. Moreover, over the years a huge database of various formats and modes has already been accumulated.
Conclusions
The main answer to the question of what is WCDMA can be formulated as follows: it is a standard that surpasses the second generation in its technical characteristics, but is slightlyreaches the fourth. It is also worth adding that it does a good job of transferring data, is relatively secure and has good speed.
