Generation Mobile Phone Research Articles

Life cycle assessment of second generation (2G) and third generation (3G) mobile phone networks

The environmental performance of presently operated GSM and UMTS networks was analysed concentrating on the environmental effects of the End-of-Life (EOL) phase using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. The study was performed based on comprehensive life cycle inventory and life cycle modelling. The environmental effects were quantified using the IMPACT2002+ method. Based on technological forecasts, the environmental effects of forthcoming mobile telephone networks were approximated. The results indicate that a parallel operation of GSM and UMTS networks is environmentally detrimental and the transition phase should be kept as short as possible. The use phase (i.e. the operation) of the radio network components account for a large fraction of the total environmental impact. In particular, there is a need to lower the energy consumption of those network components. Seen in relation to each other, UMTS networks provide an environmentally more efficient mobile communication technology than GSM networks. In assessing the EOL phase, recycling the electronic scrap of mobile phone networks was shown to have clear environmental benefits. Under the present conditions, material recycling could help lower the environmental impact of the production phase by up to 50%.

The Rise of Third Generation Phones: The Implications for Child Protection

This article discusses the legal implications of the development of Third Generation (3G) mobile phones with respect to the protection of children from illegal and harmful content. 3G phones will herald the arrival of the truly mobile Internet. People will be able to e-mail, play games, communicate, download and transfer data, and purchase entertainment packages on the move. Everything that is possible via the Internet will be possible via a mobile phone. This phenomenal expansion in the capabilities of the mobile phone offers tremendous opportunities for business, commerce, education, entertainment, government services and law enforcement. However, vulnerable sectors of society—in particular, children—may face a range of dangers from this new technology: bullying, pressurising advertisements, illegal images, harmful or inappropriate images, and predatory paedophiles. The risk to children must not be underestimated, but it must also not be exaggerated. Technical and legal responses to such risks must be appropriate, proportionate, effective and inclusive. There is no ‘magic bullet’ solution; rather an holistic approach must be voluntarily adopted and applied by the mobile phone industry, the Internet industry, law enforcement, government at all levels and the individuals affected such as the children themselves, their parents and their teachers.

The end of life treatment of second generation mobile phone networks: Strategies to reduce the environmental impact

A life cycle assessment was carried out based on a detailed life cycle inventory for a typical GSM 900 mobile phone network and related End of Life (EOL) treatment infrastructure. The environmental relevance of the three life cycle phases: production, use and EOL treatment was analysed using IMPACT2002+. The environmentally preferable EOL treatment alternative was identified on the basis of six previously developed EOL treatment scenarios. The results indicate that the environmental impacts attributable to the use phase dominate the environmental impacts incurred over the entire life cycle of the network. The impacts of the production phase are primarily attributable to the energy intensive manufacturing of printed wiring boards (PWB). The EOL phase dominates the impacts on ecosystem quality. In particular the long-term emissions of heavy metals have critical effects. Detailed analysis of the EOL phase shows that recycling of network materials in general leads to a two fold reduction of environmental impacts: in the EOL phase itself as well as by means of the avoided primary production of materials recovered in the EOL phase. An increase in the material quality of the secondary precious and rare materials leads to a significant reduction in the impacts on human health.

Design of a multiband internal antenna for third generation mobile phone handsets

A multiband internal antenna is introduced. The antenna consists of a driven meander-line element and two parasitic elements. The design is particularly unique since it supports the third generation mobile phone handsets where multiband operation is greatly desired. The proposed antenna operates effectively in the AMPS 800 (824-894 MHz), GSM 900 (880-960 MHz), and GSM 1900 (1850-1990 MHz) bands within 2.5:1 voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR). Detail design criteria with respect to geometrical parameter variation are given. Experimental data (VSWR and pattern) obtained from a laboratory prototype are also presented.

Analysis of a dynamic speaker in mobile phones by considering mechanical, electrical, and magnetic coupling effects

With the advent of 3G mobile phones, a combined laptop personal computer and mobile phone can be realized that enables multimedia data communication such as TV streaming, web searching, music play, etc. A dynamic speaker is an essential part to generate high quality sound in the next generation mobile phones. Noting that characteristics of a dynamic speaker are a coupled phenomenon of mechanical, electrical, and magnetic system, a systematic analysis must be implemented to fully consider the coupling effects for an improved design. This paper presents a complete analysis of a dynamic speaker by considering mechanical, electrical and magnetic coupling effects. Results of the analysis are confirmed by the experiments. An improved design of a dynamic speaker is also proposed with enhanced performance.

XMIDDLE: A Data-Sharing Middleware for Mobile Computing

An increasing number of distributed applications will be written for mobile hosts, such as laptop computers, third generation mobile phones, personal digital assistants, watches and the like. Application engineers have to deal with a new set of problems caused by mobility, such as low bandwidth, context changes or loss of connectivity. During disconnection, users will typically update local replicas of shared data independently from each other. The resulting inconsistent replicas need to be reconciled upon re-connection. To support building mobile applications that use both replication and reconciliation over ad-hoc networks, we have designed xmiddle, a mobile computing middleware. In this paper we describe xmiddle and show how it uses reflection capabilities to allow application engineers to influence replication and reconciliation techniques. xmiddle enables the transparent sharing of XML documents across heterogeneous mobile hosts, allowing on-line and off-line access to data. We describe xmiddle using a collaborative e-shopping case study on mobile clients.

Niobate-based microwave dielectrics suitable for third generation mobile phone base stations

High unloaded quality factor (Qu), zero temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (τf) and high relative permittivity (εr) microwave dielectric ceramics have been fabricated based on BaZn1/3Nb2/3O3. Properties have been optimized for the composition, 0.9Ba([Zn0.60Co0.40]1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.1Ba(Ga0.5Ta0.5)O3 for which Qu=32 000 @ 3.05 GHz, εr=35, and τf=0. The new compounds are disordered according to x-ray diffraction (XRD) and may be indexed using a simple perovskite unit cell, a=4.09 Å. Small peaks (e.g., d≈3.01 Å, relative intensity, 4.5) attributed to a barium niobate second phase are also present in XRD patterns. These ceramics are suitable in terms of cost and performance for base stations supporting third generation architecture.

The New Media and the Old: The Press, Broadcasting and the Internet

THE first year of the new century witnessed some important changes in the media environment. These included an intensification of competition among the ‘old’ media of newspapers and broadcasters, a consolidation of ownership, and continuing technological diversification. All have important implications for the dissemination of news, the shaping of public opinion and agenda-setting, political literacy, and the future of public service/broadcasting. One of the most significant changes was the growth of the internet. In the early part of the year Britain was gripped by dot-com fever as investors rushed to buy shares in the new internet firms. The founders of firms like Lastminute.com became overnight millionaires. The publicity that accompanied these share flotations led to an explosion of public interest in the internet. For the first time, new words such as dot-com and the prefix ‘e’ in front of words like commerce became commonplace in news reports. The number of households with an internet connection doubled. The year also saw continued competition between the established media outlets and more consolidation between media corporations. The tabloid press took further measures aimed at halting the long-term decline in circulation. The main broadcasters engaged in increasingly aggressive attempts to maximise viewers, with ITV outbidding the BBC for the rights to screen highlights of Premiership football, and both rescheduling their evening news bulletins to 10 pm. Both the press and the broadcasters diversified into the internet and e-commerce. The year saw new technologies provide the government with a financial windfall. In April, it gained £22 billion from telecommunications companies through an auction of radio spectrums for the next generation mobile phones. It was also keen to be seen to embrace the internet, pledging to improve access amongst the poorer sections of society and to provide government services over the internet. However, these promises sat uncomfortably with actual levels of investment so far and with legislation giving the green light to eavesdropping on e-mails. The government looked to update existing broadcasting regulation publishing a White Paper on future regulation. In the world of political journalism, the year saw new faces in top broadcasting posts and the death of one of its pioneers. Both the BBC and ITN appointed new political editors. ITN’s Michael Brunson retired to be replaced by BBC Chief Political Correspondent, John Sergeant. At

Evaluation of UMTS RLC Parameters for MPEG-4 Video Streaming

Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems (UMTS) known as Third Generation (3G) mobile phone systems using Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) standard aim to provide a high bit rate of services to enable a high quality of multimedia communications. The 3G specification entity, 3GPP, has defined a reliable link layer protocol, Radio Link Control (RLC), for hiding transmission errors from upper layers. Due to the complexity of the protocol and the a number of parameter configurations available, there are many ways that can degrade a system performance, such as incorrect parameters configuration, buffer missmanagement, protocol stalling, etc. MPEG-4 is widely used for video stream services due to its good video quality at low bit rate. In this paper, we have studied on the impacts of RLC parameters, especially RLC timer and polling mechanism, for MPEG-4 video stream transmission by using a computer simulation. Our simulation results provide some suggestions value to optimize such parameters, e.g. RLC time and polling.