BY AXXO

MURIBWANJI READERS (Malawi). (h)inyanja, also known as Chichewa, is a language of the Bantu language family widely spoken in south-central Africa. The prefix chi- means "the language of" so that "Chichewa" means "language of the Chewa tribe", and hence the language is also known simply as Chewa.

Last time I had covered 0G. Now let’s move on a step ahead to 1G. 1G, which stands for ‘first generation’, refers to the first generation of wireless telecommunication technology, more popularly known as cell phones. A set of wireless standards developed in the 1980s, 1G technology replaced 0G technology, which featured mobile radio telephones and such technologies as Mobile Telephone System (MTS), Advanced Mobile Telephone System (AMTS), Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS), and Push to Talk (PTT).

Unlike its successor, 2G, which made use of digital signals, 1G wireless networks used analogue radio signals. Through 1G, a voice call gets modulated to a higher frequency of about 150MHz and up as it is transmitted between radio towers. This is done using a technique called Frequency-Division Multiple Access (FDMA).

In terms of overall connection quality, 1G compares unfavourably to its successors. It has low capacity, unreliable handoff, poor voice links, and no security at all since voice calls were played back in radio towers, making these calls susceptible to unwanted eavesdropping by third parties.

However, 1G did maintain a few advantages over 2G. In comparison to 1G’s analogue signals, 2G’s digital signals are very reliant on location and proximity. If a 2G handset made a call far away from a cell tower, the digital signal may not be strong enough to reach it. While a call made from a 1G handset had generally poorer quality than that of a 2G handset, it survived longer distances. This is due to the analogue signal having a smooth curve compared to the digital signal, which had a jagged, angular curve. As conditions worsen, the quality of a call made from a 1G handset would gradually worsen, but a call made from a 2G handset would fail completely.

Different 1G standards were used in various countries. Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) was a 1G standard used in the United States. Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) was a 1G standard used in Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), as well as in its neighbouring countries Switzerland and Netherlands, Eastern Europe, and Russia.

Italy used a telecommunications system called RTMI.

In the United Kingdom, Total Access Communication System (TACS) was used.

France used Radiocom 2000.

In West Germany, Portugal, and South Africa, a telecommunications system known as C-450 was used.
Two competing systems in Japan, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) and DDI (Direct Dial Inwards), developed various standards: NTT developed TZ-801, TZ-802 and TZ-803, while DDI developed a standard called Japan Total Access Communications System (JTACS).

1G mobile phones were based on the analogue system. The introduction of cellular systems in the late 1970s was a quantum leap in mobile communication, especially in terms of capacity and mobility. Semiconductor technology and microprocessors made smaller, lighter, and more sophisticated mobile systems a reality. However, these 1G cellular systems still transmitted only analogue voice information.

The prominent ones among 1G systems were Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT), and Total Access Communication System (TACS). With the introduction of 1G phones, the mobile market showed annual growth rate of 30 to 50 per cent, rising to nearly 20 million subscribers by 1990.

Next week, let’s understand 2G.

Till then Pitani bwino readers.