introduction
4G cameras are becoming more and more popular, and there are more and more manufacturers selling them, but I found that many friends in this industry don’t know much about it. It’s okay if you only do it in the domestic market, and the operators are relatively concentrated. If you do it in the overseas market , will face various problems such as different operators, different frequency bands, etc.
Today I will introduce 4G in detail, which is the knowledge that everyone can use in their daily work. Don’t sell 4G cameras for a long time. In the end, what is Band, what is the difference between cat1 and cat4, what modules are used in different overseas countries, Which manufacturers make 4G chips and so on are still unknown.
Why is 4G specifically introduced, because currently IPC products mainly use 4G networks.
I will explain it to you in as easy-to-understand language as possible, but it will involve a little bit of technical content, so if you can't digest it all at once, you can like it and bookmark it for emergencies.
Since there is a lot of content involved, it will be divided into 4 articles to introduce. The first chapter introduces the development of 4G and two core points. The second chapter introduces the main operators in some countries around the world and the corresponding frequency bands used. The third chapter introduces Manufacturer development and market structure of mainstream baseband communication chips. Chapter 4 introduces the main cellular module market.
01
The history of the mobile network
After years of development, from the earliest 1G to the current 5G, network communication technology is rapidly upgrading and iterating. It took about forty years for mobile networks to completely change human life.
So what are the major changes from 1G to 5G? Regardless of the underlying technology, one of the biggest changes lies in the substantial increase in network speed and bandwidth. Changes in speed and bandwidth bring about changes in business applications. Some large-bandwidth , High-speed link services can be applied on a newer generation of networks.
In addition, here I want to focus on the changes in network standards. The analog communication technology used in the 1G era has been digital communication technology since 2G. Among them, 2G is mainly based on GSM and CDMA. 3G is based on WCDMA/CDMA2000/ TD-SCDMA is mainly based on the three standards, while 4G is dominated by LTE (LTE-FDD and TD-LTE).
Because 1G/2G/3G has basically been eliminated by the market, 5G is not yet suitable for use in IPC products from the perspective of network coverage and cost performance, so we mainly introduce 4G LTE here.
02
4G LTE Network Introduction
LTE is the main standard of 4G network. It is the abbreviation of Long Term Evolution (Long Term Evolution). It is formulated by 3GPP, a standardization organization, and positioned as the evolution and upgrade of 3G technology.
There are two main standards under this standard, one is TD-LTE (time division duplex, used by China Mobile), and the other is LTE-FDD (frequency division duplex, used by China Unicom and China Telecom).
The main difference is that they both have two lanes. TD-LTE works in that both lanes are either all downlink or all uplink at the same time. What is reflected on the terminal equipment is that either only downloading or downloading is possible at the same time. , or it can only be uploaded; while the working method of LTE-FDD is to define two lanes, one lane is uplink, and the other lane is downlink, they work in parallel in time, and can upload and download at the same time, but the corresponding The bandwidth is reduced by half.
03
4G LTE network frequency band division
Radio spectrum resources can be said to be an important strategic resource, because the frequency bands suitable for wireless communication are limited, mainly concentrated in the range of 700-3000MHz, of course, with the development of 5G and 6G in the future, the frequency may be higher , this resource is shared by all countries in the world. In order to avoid interference caused by random use, there are strict requirements for the use of this part of precious resources.
For example, the three major operators in China have their own specific frequency bands available. Of course, mainstream operators in different overseas countries also have their own specific use frequency bands. In order to standardize this frequency band uniformly, there is the following Band standard. Carrier frequency bands are also different.
You don’t need to memorize the frequency bands corresponding to different Bands by rote. You just need to have this concept. Later, a separate chapter will be introduced to introduce the mainstream operators in different countries and the Bands used by the corresponding operators. You only need to compare them at that time. It is clear at a glance, in fact, there are only a few commonly used ones.
The reason why the Band spectrum correspondence table is introduced separately is because the range of frequency bands involved is too wide, and different countries use different ones, so it is unrealistic to use a 4G communication chip to cover all frequency bands. As a result, the 4G modules commonly used in different countries are different. It is not a 4G camera that can be used all over the world. You need to confirm whether the modules you use can be used locally.
Therefore, when you go to a factory or a solution provider to inquire about 4G IPC products, don’t go up and ask if there is a 4G IPC. Then it is up to the manufacturer to match the corresponding product.
04
The most important indicator of terminal equipment network performance UE Capability (terminal capability)
Mobile phones are our most commonly used network terminal equipment. Some mobile phones cost hundreds of dollars, and some mobile phones cost thousands of dollars. There are many dimensions to measure the performance of mobile phones. One of the most important indicators related to the network is UE Capability , UE Capability is a collection of a bunch of various parameters, including the UE Category (terminal type, abbreviated as UE Cat) indicator, which represents the highest upload and download rate that the terminal device can achieve.
The following briefly lists the uplink and downlink peak rates corresponding to Cat1 to Cat8. For network cameras, Cat1 and Cat4 are mainly used.
For the IPC terminal, the main consideration is the uplink rate, because the IPC device needs to upload the video stream to the cloud, just like the process of uploading some files to the network disk through the router.
It should be known that the price of Cat1 and Cat4 chips is quite different, and of course the price will also be quite different after being made into a 4G module.
The consumer 4G IPCs currently on the market still have a resolution of 2 million or 3 million. For this part of the camera, its uplink bandwidth generally does not exceed 5M, and the peak rate of uplink 5Mbps is basically sufficient. Considering the cost, the 4G modules used by many manufacturers in China, Southeast Asia and some European regions only support Cat1.
Cat1 is more used in medium and low-speed business scenarios such as POS machines, logistics, and wearables, and Cat4 is more used in high-speed network services such as video and autonomous driving.
Now many 4G IPCs use Cat1 more mainly because of the price difference. When the IPC resolution increases, the corresponding uplink network resource requirements will also increase. In this case, a higher uplink peak rate is required. When 4G IPC with 8MP resolution becomes the mainstream, Cat4 will also become the mainstream.
Of course, theoretically speaking, the current 2 million IPCs use Cat4 4G modules to have a better experience than Cat1, just like the 100M routers and Gigabit routers we use at home.
So, in the end, remember a core point. They are all 4G modules, and the performance may be different. Although the experience is not so obvious during the test, the main difference in performance lies in the different uplink and downlink rates.
05
summary
Here mainly introduces the development of 1G-5G, the concept of 4G and the introduction of TD-LTE and LTE-FDD which are mainly involved in 4G network. The most important thing is to introduce the spectrum division (Band) and Cat indicators. These two parts are actually important indicators of 4G IPC products. They can have a slightly deeper understanding of the products in the process of purchasing and selling products, and can also better Professional service customers.
Band determines whether the module or finished product you choose can be used in the local country, and Cat determines the speed of 4G transmission and the overall experience of the product network.
In the next chapter, we will introduce the mainstream operators in various countries around the world and the frequency bands used by the corresponding operators.
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In the near future, I will use my spare time to do some product reviews (mainly consumer products). If you think your product has a special selling point, you can private message me.
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