Naval personnel aboard three U.S. Navy vessels get the chance to hook up with a 4G LTE network while on duty. These are officers and sailors from the U.S.S. San Antonio, Whidbey Island and Kearsarge. However, this will not replace current technologies but enhance personal communications. It is expected to be launched before the end of the year.
Looking Forward to 4G Technology
The 4G wireless Long Term Evolution model was developed by the 3GPP or Generation Partnership Project. It has 10 times the speed of 3G networks for mobile gadgets. These include wireless hotspots, smart phones, notebooks, net books and tablets. The technology was made to provide Internet Protocol-based voice and multimedia streaming. This has a minimum speed of 100 mega bits up to 1 Gigabit every second.
4G LTE, Wimax and Ultra Mobile Broadband are among the leading 4G standards. Top providers of cellular services such as Verizon, Sprint and AT&T have already set up these technologies. For mobile phones, the new Android smart phones, iPad and iPhone 5 will be fitted with 4G LTE towards the end of 2012.
Long term evolution emerges as the ideal 4G wireless broadband alternative having advanced completely from the 3G system.
This means operators can improve the prevailing infrastructure instead of starting all over again. Mobile users will realize the importance of LTE as the volume of data traffic on networks increases. Users can maintain voice calls in previous 2G and 3G infrastructures while transferring services to the LTE network. This will be the case until voice standards are completed.
Mobile operators are working on technical and marketing concerns associated with the proliferation of LTE. This can very well be a trial and error period says industry watchers. The Long Term Evolution has become a new standard and is envisioned to outgrow even the most dominant cellular technology globally.
Navy Goes Very High-Tech
Navy personnel used to depend on much slower dial-up network connection speeds on equipment like laptops and desktops. Communication with loved ones was adversely affected. Using the LTE-capable smart phones, sailors on mission overseas can enjoy broadband speed from AT&T and Verizon’s 4G satellite networks. The Navy plans to employ these networks for official tasks. One example is sending real-time data and video to the mother vessel while boarding a hijacked ship. It can also be utilized for personal services like Skype or Google Talk video chat.
The network can provide approximately 300 megabits per second of data speed. This is already sufficient for people to share video and text files and go on voice communications. Several people accessing the network simultaneously will reduce data speed significantly. However, it is more efficient than the normal dial-up speeds. The Navy also announced it intends to acquire Android smart phones and tablets for the use of its personnel. It will collaborate with the National Security Agency in locking down devices for transmitting confidential information securely. You can expect the Navy to fast-track all these actions in technological advancement within the year.
