Generations of mobile technologies

           According to the emerged technologies, there were some generations of evolution of mobile technologies and it is still evolving. Here, I have mentioned the four generations that we have gone through for the past decades.

First generation (1G)

                1G is the first generation of cell phone technology. 1G is an analog technology and the phones generally had poor battery life and voice quality was large without much security.

The very first generation of commercial cellular network was introduced in the late 70’s with fully implemented standards being established throughout the 80’s. It was introduced in 1987 by Telecom. The analog telecommunications standards that were introduced in the 1980s continued until being replaced by 2G digital tele communication.

The maximum speed of 1G is 2.4kbps.

Second generation (2G)

                Cell phones received their first major upgrade when they went from 1G to 2G. The main difference between 1G and 2G is that the radio signals used by 1G networks are analog while 2G networks are digital. 2G networks implemented the concept of CDMA and GSM. 2G cellular telecom networks were commercially launched on the GSM standard in 1991.

                2G provided small data service like SMS and MMS. The advance in technology from 1G to 2G introduced many of the fundamental services that we still use today, such as SMS, internal roaming, conference calls, call hold and billing based services.

                The maximum speed of 2G with GPRS is 50kbps and 1Mbps with EDGE.

Third generation (3G)

                3G set the standards for most of the wireless technology we have come to know and love. Web browsing, email, video downloading, picture sharing and other smart phone technology were introduced in the third generation.

                3G was introduced commercially in 2001. Goals of the third generation mobile communication were to facilitate greater voice and data capacity, support a wider range of applications, and increase data transmission at a lower cost.

                In 3G, universal access and portability across different device types are made possible. The speed of 3G is in between 144kbps and 2Mbps.

Fourth generation (4G)

                4G is a very different technology as compared to 3G. Its purpose is to provide high speed, high quality and high capacity to users while improving security and lower the cost of voice and data services, multimedia and internet over IP.

                The two important 4G standards are WiMAX and LTE. LTE is a series of upgrades to existing UMTS technology. When 4G first became available, it was simply a little faster than 3G. 4G is not the same as 4G LTE which is very close to meeting the criteria of the standards. To download a new game or stream a TV show in HD, you can do it without buffering.

                The real world speed of a 4G network is about 60Mbps.

Things learnt from ppd

    It is the end of another great year in the university. It was the second year we spent at the university. There were lot of  things that we have learnt during the year. The most important things are the new experience.

    When I look back through the year I learnt many things from the ppd sessions. There were lot of new games and experience. We had some interesting games such as making paper rockets, story writing, expert game and pen and thread game.
    As well as we got a real experience of an interview. There was a session of explaining about the interviews. It was really helpful for our carrier life. And there was a session about CV making as well. It also was very helpful. We designed our CV in a formal format and we learnt the things we want to mention in a CV. Those sessions are really helpful for our lives.

    We have another ppd session on the topic of Emerging Technology Trends. We had a guest speaker from WSO2. It was really interesting session. And there was a workshop for us at WSO2. It was about the technical writing. We learnt many new things from those sessions.
    From all these sessions during the year, we got lot of things to our lives. We were able to develop our soft skills from ppd sessions.

Self reflection

    As usual, last ppd session was very important for all of us. It was very interesting session because, there was a very interesting topic for the day. It was "Self Reflection".

    At first, Sarasi madam asked about the extra curricular activities that we are doing in the university, other than our academic things. But, most of us were very weak in extra curricular activities. Then she explained about the importance of doing extra curricular activities. 

    The topic was the day was self reflection and she delivered the session on the topic of self reflection. And I got a lot of things to my life during the session. 

    "Reflection" means thinking about something and "Self Reflection" means thinking of yourself and it is a very important term. Sarasi madam explained it very well. She told some examples as well that she got in her life. We can judge ourselves and be good character. WE can judge our own qualities. Self reflection is like looking into a mirror. The most important thing is our character in the society. If we have good qualities, the society will identify us as good persons.

    When we think about self reflection, there are some factors that we have to think about. The most important things are strengths and weaknesses. We must identify our strengths and weaknesses and we shouldn't afraid to the challenges that we meet. Every time we should be very strong and should take right decisions. Other than that we have to identify our skills and improve our own skills. Some times there can be hidden skills that we couldn't identify ever. We have to improve such skills.
    There can be lot of problems in our lives that we face. We should face those problems strongly and think about the solutions wisely. And we have to face lot of challenges as well. We should have a strong mind to face those problems and challenges. Always be yourself and be kindhearted. If you are a person that can get the pain of other peoples', you are a great character for the society. Be a man that lives forever in others' heart even after your death. People will hold your good qualities forever. Somehow I got a new lesson to my life through the session. At last, what I want to say is that "be yourself" and be a great character in the society.       

      

Expert game and thread & pen game

    Life is a very interesting thing with the valuable memories we are getting in the university everyday. Each day is a special day in the university and it is more special with our ppd session. Every week we are getting lot of new things to our lives. As usual, there were two fun games on last week as well.
    Firstly, we were divided to four groups and the first game was the expert game. Before the game, we were asked the expert area of ours one by one. We all had the expert areas that are vary from one to another. The game was to select three expert areas and make a one product by relating those three areas. Each group had to think about a product that covers the three areas they selected and madam said that it should be a simple product. After 30 minutes of discussion, all the teams had to present their products one by one.

     Since madam said that the product should be a simple one, our team decided to present a eyeglass cover, because the areas we chose were reading, bike riding and hand crafting. It is a handmade leather pouch and we made the product for readers to protect their eyeglasses and for bike riders to keep their sunglasses. But their was a one difficulty. As sarasi madam said, only hand crafting was used to manufacture the product. As the solution for that, She herself suggested that we can make the product by hand crafting and deliver it by bike to the readers. Readers are the customers of ours.

    The expert game was very interesting and we learnt to conceive new ideas as a team and present them in a good manner.
    The second game was thread & pen game and we were in the same groups as the expert game. It was very interesting game as well. In this game, we were given a blank paper, a pen, a thread and a selo tape. The task was to write a word on the given paper using only thread and the pen without touching the pen or the paper. We had to think about a strategy to write the word in this manner. So, we tied the thread around the pen and wrote the given word by holding the thread around the pen with the contribution of all the team members.

    It was also a very funny game and we learnt how to manage the resources we have and use them in a proper way. With those experiences, last week session was a very interesting session as well.

Technical writing

    I got a very special experience on last week and it was a workshop in WSO2. It was like a dream of mine became a reality, because it was the first time that I went to WSO2.

    The workshop did on the topic of technical writing. I didn't know about a job position called technical writer before the workshop. It was a good opportunity to learn more new things. Technical writing is related with English language and it is about using the language correctly. as well as it is about writing user manuals or comments of a code or many other things. Things we learnt from the workshop was valuable. It was not like a usual lecture and there were so many things.
    They explained about technical writing and technical writers. As well as, we were taught some English grammar parts. And after that we had some exercises to correct the sentences that had some grammatical errors.

    After the exercises we had a small competition and it was a group activity. We were to write a user manual for a user who wants to withdrawal 1500 rupees from an ATM. They selected a winning team gave some gifts.
    After the competition we got refreshments and after that there was a fun activity. It was a group activity as well. In the fun activity we had to think about an object and write four sentences about the object that describe it. Actually it was very fun. The winning team of this game also was given a gift.
    By the time, we reached the end of the session and lastly we had some photographs with the team. It was very interesting session and we learnt so many new things.

    Apart from the workshop, I could see the working environment of WSO2 and it was very interesting place. That was my first time that I even entered to a software company and it was a great day and a great feeling.

Emerging Technology Trends

    In every ppd session we are getting a new and great experience. On last week, we had a very important industry session. It was based on Emerging Technology Trends. The session was conducted by Research Vice President at WSO2, Dr. Srinath Perera.

     It was full of the knowledge and it was an interesting session. At first he explained about history of technology trends. Then he explained about understanding trends.

    After that, he explained about key trends by two categories. They were current trends and emerging trends. He explained us well all the current trends and emerging trends one by one. During and after the session, we could ask questions from Dr. Srinath. There were lot of good questions and clear answers.
    We got a clear idea about technology trends by this session.

creativity skills

    In every ppd session, we are getting a new and unforgettable experience.Last week also we had two group activities.

    We had an interesting activity with a piece of cake. Actually it was a delicious experience. Firstly we were divided to two groups and then we were given a piece of cake and a thread for each group.

    We had to cut that piece of cake into eight small pieces by using the thread and there should be three moves of the thread.

 

     One team could do the task in a creative way. It was like this.

    In this activity, we learnt how to get quick decisions and work as a team together.