Samsung achieves 4G wireless target

Samsung has successfully demonstrated an experimental version of so-called 4th generation (4G) wireless technology at the 4G Forum, which is being held at this week at Cheju Island in Korea. 4G isn't so much a specific technology, as a target range of speeds as defined by the Forum. In order to be considered fourth-generation, a system should provide 100Mbps data transfer while moving, and 1Gbps data transfer to a stationary (yet portable) device.

Samsung's demonstration system, which involved terminals installed on a moving bus, was able to achieve the requisite 1Gbps transmission rate while the bus was at rest, and maintained a rate of 100Mbps with the bus moving at 60kph (about 37 miles per hour). The transmission rate was able to be held even during handover between cells.

Samsung also reported that the company's engineers have conducted lab experiments in which a 3.5Gbps transmission was maintained on a vehicle moving at 5kph (or just over three miles per hour). That may not sound like much, but 2.5Gbps had been considered something of a maximum transfer speed for wireless devices.

For comparison purposes, the current bleeding edge of wireless technology appears to be WiMAX. WiMAX has been available in certain proprietary forms for a while, but should begin hitting the streets "for real" around the end of the year. WiMAX promises maximum transmission speeds of around 70Mbps over a wide coverage area, which is excellent, but it pales in comparison to the potential demonstrated by Samsung's bus, which was able to receive 32 HDTV broadcasts, video telephony, and Internet simultaneously.