FRATTASI LAYOUT 1/4/06 1:19 PM Page 35

Defining 4G Technology from the

User’s Perspective
Simone Frattasi, Hanane Fathi, Frank H.P Fitzek, and Ramjee Prasad, Aalborg University
Marcos D. Katz, Samsung Electronics

Abstract
The ever-increasing growth of user demand, the limitations of the third generation
of wireless mobile communication systems, and the emergence of new mobile
broadband technologies on the market have brought researchers and industries to
a thorough reflection on the fourth generation. Many prophetic visions have
appeared in the literature presenting 4G as the ultimate boundary of wireless
mobile communication without any limit to its potential, but in practical terms not
giving any design rules and thus any definition of it. In this article we give a prag-
matic definition of 4G derived from a new user-centric methodology that considers
the user as the “cornerstone” of the design. In this way, we devise fundamental
user scenarios that implicitly reveal the key features of 4G, which are then
expressed explicitly in a new framework — the “user-centric” system — that
describes the various level of interdependency among them. This approach conse-
quently contributes to the identification of the real technical step-up of 4G with
respect to 3G. Finally, an example of a potential 4G application is also given in
order to demonstrate the validity of the overall methodology.

T he second generation (2G) of wireless mobile commu-

nication systems was a huge success story because of
its revolutionary technology and the services that it
brought to its users. Besides high-quality speech ser-
vice, global mobility was a strong and convincing reason for
users to buy 2G terminals. The third generation (3G) has
been launched in several parts of the world, but the success
story of 2G is hard to repeat. One reason for this assertion is
that the evolution from 2G towards 3G has brought only few
novel additional services (Fig. 1), which leave the business
model largely unchanged and may not be enough to encour-
age the customers to change their equipment. The lack of
innovative and appealing services was considered too late by
the 3G Partnership Project (3GPP), the 3G standardization
body, which attempted to incorporate in the latest standards
some advanced services, such as the multimedia broadcast and
multicast service (MBMS) center in combination with the IP
multimedia system (IMS). However, these smaller improve-
ments were made without the possibility to adjust the access
technology properly.
Following the paradigm of generational changes, it was
originally expected that the fourth generation (4G) would fol-
low sequentially after 3G and emerge between 2010 and 2015
as an ultra-high-speed broadband wireless network [1]. In
Asia, for example, the Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo
defines 4G by introducing the concept of mobile multimedia:
anytime, anywhere, anyone; global mobility support; integrat-
ed wireless solution; and customized personal service
(MAGIC) [2], which mainly concentrates on public systems
and envisions 4G as the extension of 3G cellular service. This
view is referred to as the linear 4G vision and, in essence,
focuses on a future 4G network that will generally have a cel-
lular structure and will provide very high data rates (exceeding
100 Mb/s). In general, the latter is also the main tendency in
China and South Korea [3]. Nevertheless, even if 4G is named
as the successor of the previous generations, the future is not
limited to cellular systems and 4G should not be seen exclu-
sively as a linear extension of 3G. In Europe, for example, the
European Commission envisions that 4G will ensure seamless
service provisioning across a multitude of wireless systems and
provide an optimum delivery via the most appropriate (i.e.,
efficient) network available [4]. This view is referred to as the
concurrent 4G vision. However, it does not give us the under-
lying methodology that could justify such a broad definition.
There is clearly a need for a methodological change in the
design of 4G. Indeed, in order to boost innovation and define
and solve relevant technical problems, the system-level per-
spective has to be envisioned and understood with a broader
view, taking the user as its departing point. This user-centric
approach can result in a beneficial method for identifying
innovation topics at ‘all’ the different protocol layers (Fig. 1)
and avoiding a potential mismatch in terms of service provi-
sioning and user expectations. In this article we propose a new
user-centric methodology that considers users as the corner-
stone in the design of 4G and identifies their functional needs
and expectations, reflecting and illustrating them in everyday
life situations.1 In this way, we devise fundamental user scenar-
ios that implicitly reveal the key features of 4G, which are then
1We recognize that lifestyles are influenced by social and geopolitical con-
ditions. Therefore, while the premises of the proposed framework remains
unchanged, its specific instantiations will have to be adjusted to reflect the
abovementioned conditions in different parts of the globe.

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FRATTASI LAYOUT 1/4/06 1:19 PM Page 36
User decision
7 Speech Speech
global mobility global mobility
6 security security
ISO\OSI layer
5 IMS
4 technology
3 off from technological innovations is that they support
2 GSM
network UTRAN
1
2G 3G
Generation
n Figure 1. Protocol layer innovations vs. wireless generations.
expressed explicitly in a new framework — the “user-centric”
system — that describes the various level of interdependency
among them. This approach consequently contributes to the
identification of the real technical step-up of 4G with respect
to 3G and thus to a less prophetic and more pragmatic defini-
tion of the forthcoming technology. Finally, an example of a
potential 4G application is also given in order to demonstrate
the validity of the overall methodology.
The rest of the article is organized as follows. First, we
introduce the new methodological approach; then we outline
the user scenarios; the article goes on to extrapolate, describe,
and interrelate the key features of 4G; the real technical step-
up of 4G with respect to 3G is identified; and then we show
an example of a potential application resulting from the pro-
posed approach. Finally, our concluding remarks are given.
From the User to the Technology
Today, communication technologies have become something
that people live with — an integral part of everyone’s life. In
fact, their usage cannot be separated from the rest of people’s
lives and examined under a microscope as an isolated object.
Indeed, in a broader context, developing technology for tech-
nology’s sake is limiting because it is not primarily targeting
the final users. This is especially true for the telecom indus-
tries, since they will most likely not recover their initial invest-
ments. Therefore, it appears more logical and less risky to set
a goal to develop technology in order to fulfill users’ expecta-
tions by providing (and selling) new appealing services. From
this point of view, users are the main actors on the stage of the
wireless world and are unaware of and indifferent about the
technology to use in order to obtain a desired service. Hence,
if we consider their requirements secondary with respect to the
technological issues, the risk is to face an unanticipated failure
(e.g., the wireless application protocol, WAP). Indeed, without
a broad horizon obtained through an extended overview of the
general problem and with just the limited and narrow point of
view of the technology, no one is able to predict the level of
acceptance and penetration in the market of a given technolo-
gy or product. Needless to say, huge investments and enor-
mous efforts by industry and academia may eventually be
wasted. Thus, it becomes crucial to understand the users and
their expectations and needs, and to consider them as the cor-
nerstone in the design of 4G in order to (potentially) turn the
new technology into a big success. Besides, it has also to be
taken in consideration that novel technologies may have a sig-
nificant (and unpredictable) impact on the users’ behavior and,
36
consequently, their usage may change the emerging prod-
ucts. So, understanding users in general means under-
standing how they change as the society around them
changes and, specifically, how they change through the
User sensitivity
interaction with the products that are introduced. In par-
ticular, if technological developers start from understand-
4G
ing human needs, they are more likely to accelerate the
evolutionary development of useful technology. The pay-
some human needs while minimizing the downside risks.
Therefore, responsible analysis of technology opportuni-
ties will consider positive and negative outcomes, thus
amplifying the potential benefits for society [5]. Clearly,
there is a need for a new approach, there is a need for
4G
contextual understanding, and there is a major method-
ological challenge in the design of the next generation of
wireless mobile communication technologies.
The methodology we propose in this article is a top-
down approach that focuses on a user-centric vision of the
wireless world and consists of the following four steps:
1 Consideration of the user as a socio-cultural person with
subjective preferences and motivations, cultural back-
ground, customs, and habits. This leads to the identification
of the user’s functional needs and expectations in terms of
services and products. However, to interrelate socio-cultural
values and habits with functional needs is a sociological
problem that is not described in this article [6].
2 Reflection about the functional needs and expectations
derived from step 1 in everyday life situations, where new
services are significant assets for the user. In this way, fun-
damental but exemplary user scenarios are derived from
sketches of people’s everyday life.
3 Extrapolation and interrelation of the key features of 4G
from the user scenarios assessed in step 2. They represent
the basic pillars for a very relevant and pragmatic definition
of the forthcoming technology.
4 Identification of the real technical step-up of 4G with
respect to 3G by mapping the key features described in step
3 into advances in terms of system design, services, and
devices. These technological developments are necessary to
support the requirements of the different user scenarios
defined in step 2.
User Scenarios
The question that naturally arises when we start thinking about
user scenarios is the following: What do people really need that
they do not already have? Based on this premise, user scenarios
have been elaborated and listed in the following four sketches.
Business on the Move
Even before leaving home to reach the place of a work
appointment, users would like to receive information about
train/subway schedules, door-to-door delays, and so forth, as
well as more personalized information, such as knowing how
long it takes to walking to be on schedule in order to eventu-
ally wait for the next train. According to the users’ decisions,
their time-plan must consequently be scheduled in the most
efficient way. During their stay on the train, users would like
to download e-mails, listen to radio, watch TV, and so on.
Finally, before they get off the last planned train, the most
time-saving exit and way to reach their final destination must
be known and available in multimedia format.
Smart Shopping
Users would like to receive pop-up advertisements informing
them of an offer not only when passing by or through a shop-
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FRATTASI LAYOUT 1/4/06 1:19 PM Page 37
User sensitivity
User
friendliness
User
User
personalization
Terminal
heterogeneity personalization
Personalization
transfer
Network
heterogeneity
n Figure 2. The user-centric system.
ping mall, but also anywhere else (e.g., while relaxing in the
home environment, or while on the bus/subway), where they
can start thinking about their spare time. With such a service,
based on users’ preferences and hobbies, the targeted adver-
tisements become precious information: they are not as
annoying as massive ones, because they result from a user
request and thus they answer a real need. Users can hence
utilize those inputs to get more detailed information regarding
the route and the overall cost of their planned activity.
Mobile Tourist Guide
Tourists walking in Paris would like to use their personal
devices to receive not only directions to a sightseeing place
but also last-minute alerts when alternative (e.g., less congest-
ed) routes become available, or detours to other sites of inter-
est appear en route to the sightseeing place. Furthermore,
they can avoid the problem of long queues at the famous
museums by buying tickets via their terminals or by signing up
online on the waiting list, which sends back the approximate
waiting time to them. Inside the museum, instead of buying
the brochure or renting an electronic guide, all they need is to
download a package in their language and enjoy their tour lis-
tening to the audio guidance. For each artifact in the exhibi-
tion, they can automatically listen to the comments and
explanations, without any effort of browsing through the
guide. Finally, their personal devices can also provide infor-
mation about the culinary specialties of the city/region; for
example, advising them about the location of a typical restau-
rant situated nearby.
Personalization Transfer
In a music festival or during a concert, users would like to
take pictures, recording special moments with their friends or
the entire event using the recording capabilities of their
recently purchased handheld devices. On the way back, the
pleasure of watching the pictures or videos is not limited by
their devices, since they can transfer the content to a publicly
available larger display — on the bus, at the train station, at
the airport, etc. — and fully enjoy it with their friends and the
other people who were at the concert.
The User-Centric System
In this section, we list and describe all the key features
derived from the previous user scenarios. To do so, we pre-
sent a new framework (illustrated in Fig. 2), referred to as the
“user-centric” system. Inspired by the Helioscentric Coperni-
can theory, the user is located in the center of the system and
the different key features defining 4G rotate around him on
orbits with a distance dependent on a user-sensitive scale.
IEEE Network • January/February 2006
Therefore, the further the planet is from the
center of the system, the less sensitive to it the
user is. The decrease of user-sensitivity leads to
a translation towards the “techno-centric” sys-
Evolutionary tem, where network heterogeneity has a much
design stronger impact than user friendliness. Further-
more, this kind of representation also shows the
interdependency between key features, for exam-
Service ple, service personalization is a satellite of termi-
nal heterogeneity, as shown in Fig. 2. The
“user-centric” system demonstrates that it is
mandatory in the design of 4G to focus on the
upper layers (maximum user-sensitivity) before
improving or developing the lower ones. If a
device is not user friendy, for example, the user
cannot exploit it and have access to other fea-
tures, such as user personalization.
Key Features of 4G
User Friendliness and User Personalization — In order to
encourage people to move towards a new technology, which is
a process that usually takes a long time and a great deal of
effort from the operators’ side, a combination of user friendli-
ness and user personalization appears to be the winning con-
cept. User friendliness exemplifies and minimizes the
interaction between applications and users thanks to a well-
designed transparency that allows the users and the terminals
to naturally interact (e.g., the integration of new speech inter-
faces is a great step for achieving this goal). For instance, in
scenario A, users can get traveling information in the most
user-friendly way: text, audio, or video format. User personal-
ization refers to the way users can configure the operational
mode of their device and preselect the content of the services
chosen according to their preferences. Since every new tech-
nology is designed keeping in mind the principal aim to pene-
trate the mass market and to have a strongly impact on
people’s lifestyles, the new concepts introduced by 4G are
based on the assumption that each user wants to be consid-
ered as a distinct, valued customer who demands special treat-
ment for his or her exclusive needs. Therefore, in order to
embrace a large spectrum of customers, user personalization
must be provided with high granularity, so that the huge
amount of information is filtered according to the users’
choices. This is illustrated in scenario B, where users can
receive targeted pop-up advertisements. The combination
between user personalization and user friendliness provides
users with easy management of the overall features of their
devices and maximum exploitation of all the possible applica-
tions, thus conferring the right value to their expense.
Terminal Heterogeneity and Network Heterogeneity — In order
to be a step ahead of 3G, 4G must not only provide higher
data rates but also a clear and tangible advantage in people’s
everyday life. Therefore, we believe that the success of 4G will
consist of a combination of terminal heterogeneity and network
heterogeneity. Terminal heterogeneity refers to the different
types of terminals in terms of display size, energy consump-
tion, portability/weight, complexity, and so forth (Fig. 3). Net-
work heterogeneity is related to the increasing heterogeneity
of wireless networks due to the proliferation in the number of
access technologies available (e.g., UMTS, WiMAX, Wi-Fi,
Bluetooth). These heterogeneous wireless access networks
(Fig. 4) typically differ in terms of coverage, data rate, latency,
and loss rate. Therefore, each of them is practically designed
to support a different set of specific services and devices. As
explained below, 4G will encompass various types of termi-
nals, which may have to provide common services indepen-
37
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dently of their capabilities. There-
fore, tailoring content for end-user
devices will be necessary in order to
optimize the service presentation.
Furthermore, the capabilities of the
terminal in use will determine Performance (processing power, memory, storage space, battery life)
whether or not new services are to
be provisioned, so as to offer the
best enjoyment to the user and pre-
vent declining interest and elimina-
tion of a service offering. This
concept is referred to as service per- n Figure 3. Heterogeneous terminals.
sonalization (Fig. 2) and is clearly
highlighted in scenario D. It implic-
itly constrains the number of access technologies supportable
by the user’s personal device. However, this limitation may be
solved in the following ways:
By the development of devices with “evolutionary design.” A
naive example can clarify this concept: in the case where a user
has a watch-phone on which he would like to see a football
match, simply by pressing a button on the watch’s side, a self-
extracting monitor with a larger display can emerge. There-
fore, having the most adaptable device in terms of design can
provide customers with the most complete application pack-
age, thus maximizing the number of services supported.
By mean of a “personalization transfer.” An example
extracted from scenario D can clarify this concept: in the case
where the user has a watch-phone on which he would like to
see a video, he does not need to possess larger display termi-
nals, as all the publicly available terminals can be borrowed
for the displaying time. Therefore, the advantage for the cus-
tomers is to buy a device on which they have the potential to
get the right presentation for each service, freeing it from its
intrinsic restrictions. Furthermore, in a private environment,
users can optimize the service presentation as they wish, thus
exploiting the multiple terminals they have at disposal.
The several levels of dependency highlighted by the “user-
centric” system definitely stress the fact that it is not feasible
to design 4G starting from the access technology in order to
satisfy the user’s requirements. A contextual understanding
DAB/DVB
Wi-Fi
UMTS
Multihop
Bluetooth
n Figure 4. Heterogeneous networks.
38
Screen size
Size/weight/portability
Bandwidth requirements
Networks supported
and a strong preliminary consideration of the user are a more
relevant and appropriate approach to the design.
The Real Technical Step-Up of 4G:
“Integration” of Heterogeneous Systems
The real technical step-up of 4G with respect to 3G can be
summarized with the word integration — seamless integration
of already existing and new networks, services, and terminals,
in order to satisfy ever-increasing user demands.
System Design Rules
Regardless of the actual technology, the forthcoming genera-
tion will be able to allow complete interoperability among het-
erogeneous networks and associated technologies, thus
providing clear advantages in terms of:
Coverage. In Fig. 5, we show the shift in paradigm: while 2G
was focused on full coverage for cellular systems offering only
one technology and 3G provides its services only in dedicated
areas and introduces the concept of vertical handover through
the coupling with wireless local area network (WLAN) sys-
tems, 4G will be a convergence platform extended to all the
network layers. Hence, the user will be connected almost any-
where thanks to widespread coverage due to the exploitation
of the various networks available. In particular, service provi-
GPS
Internet
WiMAX
GSM
Multihop
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Full coverage
Global access
Distribution Full mobility
(e.g., DAB, DVB) Not necessary
Individual links
Distribution layer
Full coverage
Hot spots
Cellular Global roaming 2G
(e.g., GSM) Full mobility
Individual links Cellular layer (macro cells)

WAN Metropolitan coverage

Metropolitan network Global roaming Cellular layer (micro cells) 4G
(e.g., 802.16, HiperMAN) Semi-mobility
Individual links 3G Vertical
MAN
Local coverage handover
Hot spots Metropolitan network layer
Hot spot Global roaming
(e.g., 802.11, HiperLAN/2) Local mobility
LAN Individual links
Short range Hot spot layer
Personal network Communication
PAN (e.g., Bluetooth, HiperPAN) Global roaming
Individual links
Networks shell Fixed (wired) Global access
(e.g., xDSL, CATV) No mobility Personal network layer
Individual links xxxx xxxxx xxxx
Min mobility Max mobility Fixed (wired) layer
min cell size max cell size
Network layers coverage
Network layers stack

n Figure 5. Generational evolution from 2G to 4G.

sion will be granted with at least the same level of quality of
service (QoS) when passing from one network’s support to
that of another one.
Bandwidth. Resource sharing among the various networks
available will smooth the problem related to the spectrum lim-
itations relative to 3G [7].
Power consumption. Battery drain is a chronic problem of
wireless devices and battery technology is not progressing at
an appropriate pace. For example, 2G mobile phones were
shipped out with one battery, whereas 3G ones are shipped
out with two batteries. Therefore, if we follow this 3G rule,
power consumption will increase proportionally to more
advanced services. Hence 4G will need to break this directly
proportional rule as follows:
P3G ~ S3G, (1)
P4G ~ 1/S4G, (2)
where P is the device power and S is the QoS.
For example, a cellular system that also supports short-range
communications among the terminals can achieve the goals out-
lined above. The rationale for introducing short-range commu-
nications is mainly due to the need to support peer-to-peer
(P2P) high-speed wireless links between mobile stations (MSs)
and to enhance the communication between an MS and the
base station (BS) by fostering cooperative communication proto-
cols among spatially proximate devices. This communication
enhancement primarily refers to higher link reliability, larger
coverage, higher spectral efficiency, and lower power consump-
tion due to the use of exclusive cooperative stations (e.g., relay
stations (RSs) deployed by operators) or short-range communi-
cations among different MSs. Indeed, the concept of cooperation
introduces a new form of diversity where terminals are less sus-
ceptible to channel variations and shadowing effects. This results
in an improvement of the reliability of the communication and
the extension of the coverage. Furthermore, whereas in voice
networks the resources are dedicated separately for each user, in
cellular-controlled short-range data networks it is possible to
group users in clusters and gain the following advantages:
• Only the cluster head (CH) needs to have a dedicated chan-
nel to the BS, while the other MSs can communicate using
unlicensed bands; thus, more bandwidth is not required. The
CH selection is an important issue that should take into
account, among other factors, the channel conditions of the
short-range links (RS-MS and MS-MS) and the long-range
ones (BS-MS), the available rate, the speed, the location, the
computational power, and the residual energy of the MSs.
• Due to the short range of the transmissions performed by
the MSs to the CH, it is possible to reduce their power con-
sumption and hence prolong their battery life.
Provisioning of Heterogeneous Services
Services are heterogeneous in nature (e.g., different types of
services such as audio, video, pop-up advertisements, etc.),
quality, and accessibility. In fact, at a certain time and place,
the quality of and the accessibility to a service may not be the
same due to the intrinsic heterogeneity of the network. For
instance, in scenario B, users in proximity to the shopping mall
but outside the coverage of a WLAN can still receive pop-up
advertisements by exploiting a possible multihop ad hoc net-
work in their surroundings. Therefore, thanks to the dynamics
of the network environment (in which the number of users,
terminals, topology, etc. can change), 4G maximizes the proba-
bility to provide users with the requested connectivity. There-
fore, contrary to the previous generations, the services provided
in 4G will depend on the time, place, terminal, and user:
S2G ~ const, (3)
S3G ~ f (place), (4)
S4G ~ f(time, place, terminal, user), (5)
where the service provisioning depends on terminal and user
because of terminal heterogeneity and service personalization,
and user personalization, respectively.
Apart from some soft additional emerging services (e.g., fast
Internet connection, pop-up advertisements, etc.), there is still
a lack of really new and distinct services that will enable new
applications with tangible benefits for their users. Therefore,
we envision that the real advantage in terms of services that
4G will bring will be based on the integration of technologies
designed to match the needs of different market segments:

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FRATTASI LAYOUT 1/4/06 1:19 PM Page 40
•Short-range wireless technologies, such as Wi-Fi and
Bluetooth, will enable machine-to-machine (M2M) communi-
cations, such as in scenario C, where users sign up online on
the waiting list, which sends them back the approximate wait-
ing time, or in scenario D, where they can transfer content to
a publicly available larger display. In particular, from the soci-
ological point of view, in the latter case the private and public
spheres are definitely mixed. This recombination can result in
the enhancement of public access such that the access to dis-
plays will be as common as the access to public telephone
booths is nowadays. Short-range wireless technologies also
open the possibility to cooperative communication strategies,
which can provide better services at lower costs, thus maximiz-
ing the users’ profit. In this way, they increase the social coop-
erative behavior and empower the consumer to make clever
use of it. Hence, the user’s personal device is no longer a
mere medium for transferring information, but a social medi-
um that helps to build groups and friendships.
•Since 3G networks are not able to deliver multicast ser-
vices efficiently or at a decent level of quality, the synergy of
Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) and
digital audio/video broadcasting (DAB/DVB) will open the
possibility to provide to mobile users interactive or on-
demand services — so called TP data casting — and audio
and video streaming in a much more efficient way than using
the point-to-point switch network [8].
•The embedding in the user terminal of a Global Position-
ing System (GPS) receiver will offer the essential feature of
location-awareness that is necessary to provide users with the
most comprehensive and extensive level of information, thus
bringing about real revolution in terms of personalized ser-
vices. The user terminal can hence provide not only location-
based information, such as maps and directions to follow to
reach a specific place, but also useful information relevant in
time and space, such as pop-up advertisements concerning
offers in shops nearby. However, GPS technology can only
support outdoor localization. Indoor localization, which is
important in order to provide, for instance, the guided tour in
a museum (see scenario C), requires the cooperation of short-
range wireless technologies.
Finally, it is worth highlighting that although users are
attracted by high data rates, they would certainly be even
more attracted by useful services exploiting high data rates.
The support of imaging and video as well as high-quality
audio gives service providers (SPs) a myriad of possibilities for
developing appealing applications. These features, blended
with the support of high data rates, result in a particularly
attractive combination. Indeed, in addition to an explosive
increase in data traffic, we can expect changes on the typically
assumed downlink-uplink traffic imbalance. Data transfer in
the uplink direction is expected to increase considerably and,
as a result of these trends, the mobile user will ultimately
become a content provider (CP). In future wireless networks,
the CP concept will broaden to encompass not only the con-
ventional small- or middle-size business-oriented service com-
panies, but also any single or group of users (e.g.,
shops/cinemas/theaters in scenario B, museums in scenario C,
users themselves in scenario D). Mobile CPs will open up a
new chapter in service provision.
Multimode/Reconfigurable and Interworking Devices
As illustrated in Fig. 3, 4G is characterized by the support of
heterogeneous terminals, ranging from pen-phones to cars.
However, due to its wide acceptance and usage in the past ten
years, the mobile phone is still expected to be on the next
“edge of the wave” of the mass market. Indeed, while the
penetration of other devices will occupy a restricted niche role
40
in the market (e.g., personal digital assistants (PDAs), watch-
phones, and pen-phones will continue to be restricted to an
elite group of tech-savvy people), the mobile phone will still
have no competitor in the near future, due to its size and
weight, which guarantee high portability. Moreover, due to
the casual and informal feeling it gives, people will pay more
attention to the pop-up advertisements/news/events they
receive on it than on any other device.
Looking at the latest releases of mobile phones, the actual
tendency is to use a General Packet Radio System (GPRS)
platform and provide users with the most complete range of
applications possible, trying to continually include new addi-
tional features (e.g., digital camera recorder, etc.). On the
other hand, the emerging UIMTS phones essentially provide
the possibility to support the mobile video communication.
However, the real enhancement that 3G brings to our every-
day life is not really clear. This new application cannot neces-
sarily be considered as the “killer application,” as the quality
of the video is low and it is practically limited to a semi-static
situation that implies a complete concentration of users dur-
ing the conversation (e.g., it is obviously not practical to watch
a mobile phone while walking in the street), restricting the
field of action and raising secondary problems, such as safety
issues (e.g., for the driver and pedestrians while driving, etc.).
Since 4G is based on the integration of heterogeneous sys-
tems, the future trend of wireless devices will move toward:
Multimode/reconfigurable devices. The user terminal is
able to access the core network by choosing one of the several
access networks available and to initiate the handoff between
them without the need for network modification or interwork-
ing devices. This leads to the integration of different access
technologies in the same device (multimodality) or to the use
of the software-defined radio (SDR) (reconfigurability) [9].
For example, whereas the integration of Bluetooth in the user
terminal will enable a personalization-transfer service, a built-
in GPS receiver will allow users to utilize their personal
devices as navigators just by plugging them in their cars and
thus even lighten the number of needed devices. However, the
reconfigurability of the user terminal could be a key aspect
that would make the future 4G technology as highly adaptable
as possible to the various worldwide markets.
Exploitation of interworking devices. In order to reduce the
hardware embedded in the user terminal and the software
complexity, the use of interworking devices is exploited. For
example, this is the case of an integrated access point (AP)
performing the interworking between a wireless metropolitan
area network (WMAN) technology and a WLAN technology,
such as WiMAX and Wi-Fi, respectively [10]: the WMAN is
considered as the backbone and the WLAN as the distribu-
tion network; therefore, instead of integrating both technolo-
gies, the user terminal will only incorporate the Wi-Fi card.
The price to be paid for this relief is hence an increased sys-
tem (infrastructure) complexity.
Potential 4G Application
This section demonstrates the validity and importance of the
selected approach by describing an example of a new 4G
application inherent to the user in scenario C: the mobile
tourist guide.
Before going on vacation, usually people buy a guide or
check on the Internet for information regarding their destina-
tion. Most of the time, this operation costs time and money
with the result of possibly outdated and/or imprecise informa-
tion. Therefore, in order to overcome these limitations and
obtain the detailed information really needed for their travel,
users can simply access the mobile tourist-guide application,
IEEE Network • January/February 2006
FRATTASI LAYOUT 1/4/06 1:19 PM Page 41
which enables their personal devices to download a specific
tourist package related to their destination in their language
from their 4G SPs. Through the help of multimedia content,
such as streaming video clips and audio explanations, they get
all the information they need in the most simple and conve-
nient way. Moreover, the mobile tourist guide is configured to
interact with the route-planner application also present on the
user terminal. The location information can therefore be used
to help users reach wherever they are going and also to send
them pop-up advertisements relevant in time and space. In this
way, for example, a 4G SP can advertise the actual exhibits in a
museum close by and can also offer booking service through
interaction with the museum operator’s network. Once in the
museum, the mobile tourist-guide application will enable the
user terminal to connect to the museum operator’s network,
which provides users with the download or streaming of guided
tours. The indoor localization will be performed by exploiting
the museum operator’s short-range wireless network, so that
users can listen via audio streaming to explanations about the
artifact in front of them. The benefit for the 4G SP is to charge:
• The museum for facilitating the attraction of more cus-
tomers
• The users for providing them opportunistic information sup-
port
The mobile tourist guide will then offer an everlasting memo-
ry of the users’ personalized trips.
Conclusion
In this article, we have proposed a new framework that allows
designers to identify conceptual and technical pillars of 4G, so
that they can elaborate their own architecture (see [11] for an
example of architecture derived from the proposed frame-
work). Specifically, we have presented a new top-down method-
ology composed of four different steps, ranging from the
sociological perspective to the technical one. Starting from
user scenarios, we have extrapolated a new framework — the
“user-centric” System — that illustrates the key features of 4G:
user friendliness, user personalization, terminal heterogeneity, and
network heterogeneity. In particular, its structure shows the
complex interdependencies among them and outlines the real
technical step-up to be undertaken in 4G. As a consequence,
our definition is as follows: 4G will be a convergence platform
providing clear advantages in terms of coverage, bandwidth, and
power consumption. Moreover, it will offer a variety of new het-
erogeneous services, from pop-up advertisements to location-
based and IP data-casting ones. All these characteristics will be
supported by multimode/reconfigurable devices and the imple-
mentation of interworking ones. Finally, we have also shown an
example of a potential 4G application resulting from our
methodology: the mobile tourist guide, which provides guided
tours of museums and pop-up advertisements, audio, and
video streaming with regard to sightseeing and historical sites.
Acknowledgments
This work has been supported by Samsung Electronics, Co.,
LTD, Korea.
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Biographies
SIMONE FRATTASI [S] (sf@kom.aau.dk) is an assistant professor at the Center for
TeleInfrastruktur, Aalborg University, Denmark. He received his M.Sc. and B.Sc.
degrees in telecommunications engineering from the University of Tor Vergata,
Rome, Italy, in 2002 and 2001, respectively. His research interests include radio
resource management, error control and location estimation for cooperative 4G
wireless networks, interworking mechanisms and technologies, ARQ schemes,
TCP/IP over wireless, and terrestrial-satellite integration scenarios and techniques.
HANANE FATHI [S] (hf@kom.aau.dk) received her M.Sc. in electrical engineering
from Aalborg University and her telecommunication engineering Diploma at Ecole
Centrale d’Electronique, Paris, France, both in 2002. She is now a Ph.D. candidate
at the Center for TeleInfrastruktur, Aalborg University. Her research interests include
VoIP in wireless heterogeneous systems, mobility management, signaling, Markov
modeling of ARQ schemes, and authentication schemes in wireless systems.
FRANK H. P. FITZEK [M] (ff@kom.aau.dk) is an associate professor in the Depart-
ment of Communication Technology, Aalborg University, where he heads the
Future Vision group. He received his Dipl.-Ing. Degree in electrical engineering
from the University of Technology, Rheinish-Westfälische Technische Hochschule
(RWTH), Aachen, Germany, in 1997 and his Ph.D. (Dr.-Ing.) in electrical engi-
neering from Technical University Berlin, Germany, in 2002 for QoS support in
wireless CDMA networks. As a visiting student at Arizona State University, he
conducted research in the field of video services over wireless networks. He co-
founded the startup company acticom GmbH in Berlin in 1999. In 2002 he was
an adjunct professor at the University of Ferrara, Italy, giving lectures on wireless
communications and conducting research on multihop networks. In 2005 he won
the YRP award for work on MIMO MDC. His current research interests are in the
areas of 4G wireless communication networks and cooperative networking.
MARCO KATZ (marcos.katz@samsung.com) received a B.S. degree in electrical
engineering from Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina, in 1987, and
M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Oulu,
Finland, in 1995 and 2002, respectively. He worked as a research engineer at
Nokia Telecommunications from 1987 to 1995, designing analog circuits for
high-speed PDH/SDH line interfaces. From 1995 to 2001 he was a senior
research engineer at Nokia Networks, Finland, where he developed multiple
antenna techniques for several TDMA and CDMA research projects. In
2001–2002 he was a research scientist at the Centre for Wireless Communica-
tions, University of Oulu, where he concentrated on synchronization problems of
CDMA networks. Since 2003 he has been a principal engineer at Samsung Elec-
tronics, Advanced Research Laboratory, Telecommunications R&D Center,
Suwon, Korea. His current research interests include synchronization, multi-
antenna, and cooperative techniques, as well as optical wireless communications
for future 4G wireless communication systems.
RAMJEE PRASAD [F] (Prasad@kom.aau.dk) received a B.Sc. degree in engineering
from Bihar Institute of Technology, Sindri, India, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees
from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, India, in 1968, 1970, and 1979,
respectively. Since June 1999 he has been with Aalborg University, where cur-
rently he is director of the Center for TeleInfrastruktur, and holds the chair of
wireless information and multimedia communications. He is coordinator of the
European Commission Sixth Framework Integrated Project MAGNET. He was
involved in the European ACTS project FRAMES as a DUT project leader. He is a
project leader of several international industry-funded projects. He has published
more than 500 technical papers; contributed to several books; and authored, co-
authored, and edited 11 books. He has served as a member of advisory and
program committees for several IEEE international conferences. In addition, he is
the Coordinating Editor and Editor-In-Chief of the Kluwer International Journal
on Wireless Personal Communications and a member of the editorial boards of
other international journals, including IEEE Communications Magazine and IEE
Electronics Communication Engineering Journal. He is also the founding chair-
man of the European Center of Excellence in Telecommunications, known as
HERMES. He is a fellow of IETE, and a member of The Netherlands Electronics
and Radio Society and IDA, the Engineering Society of Denmark. He is an advi-
sor to several multinational companies.
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