Mobile and wireless networks covers cellular and wireless access infrastructure, including towers and masts, base stations, small cells, rooftop sites and public wireless access.
The Capability Development Index tracks the events that move a capability — operational use, technical breakthroughs, procurement decisions and the industrial base behind them — and places each on the record with the date it happened.
Recent developments cover the current period. Historical developments are the inflection points that produced Mobile & Wireless Networks as it stands today.
ALOHAnet was developed at the University of Hawaii in 1969 and became operational in June 1971. It established the basic feasibility of packet data transmission over radio links, the foundation of later wireless access networks.
The 802.3 Ethernet standard emerged in 1973 as part of the sequence of networking standards underpinning later wireless work. It provided the framing and access model that wireless LAN standards would subsequently adapt.
NCR's WaveLAN brought wireless local networking out of research and into commercial sale. It marked the point at which wireless data access became a purchasable product rather than an experiment.
Wide adoption of RF CMOS, power MOSFET and LDMOS devices by the 1990s enabled the development and proliferation of digital wireless networks. Mobile transceivers, base station modules, RF power amplifiers and radio transceivers were built from these MOSFET-based components.
The arrival of 2G in 1991 marked the shift of cellular telephony to digital transmission. Digital cellular networks depended on advances in MOS wireless technology and formed the basis of mass-market mobile access.
The initial 802.11 release in June 1997 created a common open standard for wireless radio-wave local area networking. Products built to the standard were subsequently marketed under the Wi-Fi brand, enabling interoperable public and private wireless access.
Voice over IP was integrated with wireless LAN operation in 1999. This extended wireless data networks into carrying voice traffic, blurring the line between cellular and wireless local access.
Further advances in MOSFET technology in the 2000s drove continued increases in wireless network bandwidth, a trend captured by Edholm's law. The same device families underpinned successive 2G, 3G and 4G network generations.
The HPA began a systematic investigation into the effects of WiFi networks in October 2007 on behalf of the UK government. The aim was to address public fears raised in the media about wireless network exposure.
By 2010 equipment designers were integrating Wi-Fi into a wide variety of consumer electronic devices, making Wi-Fi PANs ordinary. This broadened wireless access from computers to general consumer hardware.