Qualcomm and Teleepoch
Enter Into a 3G CDMA Subscriber Unit License Agreement, October
6, 2007
MTN chooses Cambridge Broadband
Networks for multi-service wireless network in Rwanda, October 6,
2007
Brazilian government to
publish 3G bidding rules soon, October 6, 2007
KTF 3G service suffers
from technical problems, October 6, 2007
Argentina’s Personal
lunches 3G service in Rosario, October 6, 2007
Russia has it's first 3G
network, October 6, 2007
AT&T could drop Alcatel-Lucent
as 3G mobile network supplier, October 6, 2007
Enea Extends License Agreement
with ZTE for 3G Handsets, October 2, 2007
LG to unveil premium handsets
in Brazil, October 2, 2007
KTF 3G subscribers doubled
in less than 3 months, October 2, 2007
3G policy in India will
be non-uniform, October 2, 2007
- previous news
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3G doesn't need nuclear reactor
April 12, 2003
A discussion arose several weeks ago about how much energy the Swedish
3G network will require. Professor Erik Dahlquist from Mälardalen University,
who had previously done some preliminary calculations on the energy requirements,
recently met Ericsson experts to learn more about the technical foundation
for mobile systems.
It was generally agreed that the 3G network, when it is completely deployed
with full coverage, will use about 0.6 TWh/year. That is less than one-tenth
of the 6.4 TWh an average Swedish nuclear reactor delivers each year and
currently less than one-half percent of the country's total annual electricity
consumption. With six million subscribers, that is equivalent to a per-subscriber
amount of less than what a 60-Watt light bulb burns for six hours a day.
Dahlquist believes that development will be similar to that experienced
by the PC industry, where performance increased by up to 10,000 times
in 15 years in frequency as well as hard disk capacity. That may mean
changes raising signal capacity by 1,000 times within 10-15 years. New
technology will hopefully enable large, moving pictures to be sent between
subscribers, where large, thin and soft screens are connected to mobile
phones via Bluetooth, for example.
Communicating effectively via media could reduce business travel. A small
picture that is 5 cm x 5 cm wouldn't be enough, but if a picture is at
least as large as a 20 cm screen, facial expressions and gestures can
be seen. Then communication in this manner can replace many physical meetings.
Good sound quality is naturally important as well. Companies can save
a great deal of money with this type of good communication. Today, a trip
to Australia for one or two meetings can take one week, and it can cost
about 5,000 US$. Avoiding travel time can help saving huge amount of money,
The company expert can attend ten telephone meetings instead during the
same week, along with local company representatives, who can take care
of the social contact with customers.
This will also make it possible to arrange faster service all over the
world. Finding problems in computer programs, for example, is a need that
is increasing exponentially. Today it is both ineffective and expensive
to take long service trips, and it is difficult to gain confidence when
one tries to sell products from Europe to the United States etc. Customers
don't believe that they can get service quick enough when it is needed.
With new communications within mobile telephony and more, sales can be
trustworthy in terms of service all over the world.
Dahlquist's calculation showed a result of 5-7 TWh/year for a system
with 1000 times higher signal capacity, with the assumption that one can
develop technology in base stations and radio transmitters while simultaneously
increasing the capacity of networks. Improvements like more effective
electronics, better radio transmitters, fewer dropped signals etc, show
why it should be possible to keep the total electricity usage at the same
levels as in the introduction phase, about 0.5 - 1 TWh/year for GSM as
well as 3G, despite the substantially increased signal capacity. Dahlquist
agrees that this is not impossible by any means.
Ericsson believes that it is possible in the long-term to keep the total
electricity consumption on the same level as in the introduction phase
despite a significantly higher amount of information transferred. Reliable
knowledge about this technology's potential supports that belief. In addition,
there are life-cycle assessments on a number of system generations including
GSM and the coming 3G systems. The assessments show that energy use per
subscriber has shrunk by more than five times during the past 15 years.
Increased transfer capacity has historically been accompanied by reduced
energy usage. To take the PC-case for example again: Energy consumption
has stopped increasing or even decreased despite the fantastic functional
improvement that Dahlquist describes. A more relevant example is mobile
telephones, which in ten years have shrunk to one-fourth their weight
and increased standby-time by 15 times, while the number of functions
and quality of services have improved significantly. This is partially
thanks to better batteries. But improving energy efficiency as part of
development within digital technology is just as important, and by all
accounts it will continue.
Other factors must be considered as well. Energy requirements are not
directly related to the amount of transferred information. For example,
capacity doubles when a new unit is placed in an existing 3G base station.
At the same time, the base station's normal energy requirement increases
from about 1.9 kW to about 2.5 kW, an increase by only one-third. Existing
power, cooling and cabinets are widely used when capacity is increased.
Similar economies of scale can be found elsewhere. When networks are
deployed, certain areas' main requirement is for surface area coverage.
In other, highly populated areas, the need to transfer large amounts of
information is a deciding factor. Where base stations are located close
to each other, full effect is not needed. Complementary installments will
occur mostly in areas with high base station density.
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3G Motorola A920
