Shahabuddin, Rahaman, Rehman, Ahmad, and Khan
4
1.2 Early Development
Wireless communication in its current practice is a very sophisticated technology,
making long distance voice, data and multimedia communication possible between
people, no matter which part of the world they reside in. The kind of evolution that
wireless cellular technologies went through, in particular over the last three decades,
and over the last two hundred years in general, makes for a fascinating journey. If we try
to trace the initial efforts that became the foundation of the wireless communications of
today, we have to go back as early as the ancient Greek, Roma and Chinese cultures,
where electrical and magnetic properties of materials were experimented on. The early
experiments on electrical and magnetic properties were not intended for wireless
communication, since that sort of vision was not present as a motivation for these
experiments.
We see that even in the 19th century, when the connection between electricity and
magnetism was first developed, the intuition and imagination of what it could achieve
was naturally missing amongst the researchers. It is good to say that it was mostly the
random experiments that eventually led to the kind of communication systems we have
now, and that is something which makes this journey more interesting. Even though, as
mentioned above, the experiments towards trying to find electrical and magnetic properties in various ancient cultures, and considered as one of the foremost steps in this
journey, it is also important to keep in mind that the last two hundred years present a
more coherent and consistent picture that is paved with ground‐breaking discoveries.
So, in our analysis the last two hundred years are of primary importance. We have to
try to coherently present the connection of all those discoveries as to how one discovery
led to another, and what became the motivation to carry out further discoveries. Until
this decade, the story is not as linear and direct as it might appear when looking back to
its destination. But as far as wireless communications are concerned, it would be unfair
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Years
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016*
Fixed telephone subscription
Active mobile broadband subscription
Individual using the internet
Fixed broadband subscription
Mobile cellular subscription
8 000
7 000
6 000
5 000
4 000
3 000
2 000
1 000
Millions
–
Figure 1.1 Growth of communication services encompassing the last decade.
4
1.2 Early Development
Wireless communication in its current practice is a very sophisticated technology,
making long distance voice, data and multimedia communication possible between
people, no matter which part of the world they reside in. The kind of evolution that
wireless cellular technologies went through, in particular over the last three decades,
and over the last two hundred years in general, makes for a fascinating journey. If we try
to trace the initial efforts that became the foundation of the wireless communications of
today, we have to go back as early as the ancient Greek, Roma and Chinese cultures,
where electrical and magnetic properties of materials were experimented on. The early
experiments on electrical and magnetic properties were not intended for wireless
communication, since that sort of vision was not present as a motivation for these
experiments.
We see that even in the 19th century, when the connection between electricity and
magnetism was first developed, the intuition and imagination of what it could achieve
was naturally missing amongst the researchers. It is good to say that it was mostly the
random experiments that eventually led to the kind of communication systems we have
now, and that is something which makes this journey more interesting. Even though, as
mentioned above, the experiments towards trying to find electrical and magnetic properties in various ancient cultures, and considered as one of the foremost steps in this
journey, it is also important to keep in mind that the last two hundred years present a
more coherent and consistent picture that is paved with ground‐breaking discoveries.
So, in our analysis the last two hundred years are of primary importance. We have to
try to coherently present the connection of all those discoveries as to how one discovery
led to another, and what became the motivation to carry out further discoveries. Until
this decade, the story is not as linear and direct as it might appear when looking back to
its destination. But as far as wireless communications are concerned, it would be unfair
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Years
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016*
Fixed telephone subscription
Active mobile broadband subscription
Individual using the internet
Fixed broadband subscription
Mobile cellular subscription
8 000
7 000
6 000
5 000
4 000
3 000
2 000
1 000
Millions
–
Figure 1.1 Growth of communication services encompassing the last decade.