UMB Ultra-Mobile Broadband

- key points, overview or tutorial about the basics of UMB, Ultra-Mobile Broadband, the next generation evolution for CDMA2000 providing high data transfer speeds and using both OFDM and MIMO.

cdmaOne / cdma2000 Technology Includes:
IS95 / cdmaOne IS95 radio access interface IS95 handoff / handover IS95 data channels cdma2000 1X cdma2000 1X data channels cdma2000 1X Advanced cdma2000 1X EV-DO 1X EV-DO radio interface 1X EV-DO data channels 1X EV-DO Rev.B 1X EV-DO Advanced UMB: 4G UltraMobile Broadband

Ultra-Mobile Broadband, UMB is the name for the next evolution for the cdma2000 cellular telecommunications system which is run under the auspices of 3GPP2. The UMB cellular system promises to provide very much faster data transfer speeds, and enables the system to compete with other mobile broadband systems including WiMAX and Wi-Fi.

The aims for UMB, Ultra-Mobile Broadband include making significant increases to the user data rates when compared to the existing cdma2000 cellular technologies, there will be increases to the system capacity, a lowering the cost per bit of data transfer, enhancements to the existing services, possibility of new applications, and the ability to use new spectrum opportunities.While UMB was viewed as the major evolution for cdma2000, Qualcomm, a major supporter withdrew their support in November 2008 as few operators were planning to utilise the system. Instead Qualcomm put their efforts behind the 3GPP based LTE - Long Term Evolution format that was being proposed as the global standard by many. Although some companies did continue their development for a while, the UMB standard is not expected to be deployed, at least in any large scale manner.

UMB salient features

The UMB, Ultra-Mobile Broadband cellular telecommunications system offers has many new features and techniques that enable it to fulfil the high expectations for it, and to enable it to compete with other new and emerging technologies.

Data rates of over 275 Mbit/s in the downlink (base station to mobile) and over 75 Mbit/s in the uplink (mobile to base station).
Uses an OFDM / OFDMA air interface
Uses frequency division duplex (FDD).
Possesses an IP network architecture
Has a scalable bandwidth between 1.25 - 20 MHz (NB - OFDM / OFDMA systems are well suited for wide and scalable bandwidths)
Supports flat, mixed and distributed network architectures

It can be seen from the features and salient points, that the UMB cellular system will provide a significant leap in terms of capability when compared to the existing cdma2000 based systems. However UMB will operate alongside cdam2000 1X and cdma2000 1X-EVDO, and it will offer seamless handoff to and from these services. In this way a phased roll-out of the new UMB service can be offered.

UMB air interface

There are a number of new technologies being used within the air interface of UMB. One of the key technologies is OFDM, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex. The use of OFDM offers UMB the ability to carry high data rates as well as providing the ability to use wide and variable bandwidths according to the requirements of the link.