Microsystem technologies briefs: centralization vs. distribution of intelligence

Centralization vs. distribution of intelligence: Despite it may seem off topic when discussing Micro/Nanotechnologies, it is now worth looking briefly at the evolution of mobile communications standards from a rather distant and general perspective. The 1st generation (1G), launched for the first time in Japan in 1979, was providing exclusively voice calls on the move, in a fully analogue way, by means of FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access).Footnote1 The 2nd generation (2G), in the early 1990s, stepped into the digital world with TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access). The 3rd generation (3G), kicked off around the end of the 2000s, made data transmission over the network much more efficient, capitalizing on CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access). The 4th generation (4G-LTE—Long Term Evolution), since the late 2000s, went even further, introducing, e.g., OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) and other innovative concepts that are now being further advanced by the 5th generation (5G).