Wireless infrastructure undergoes equipment changes as carriers upgrade their networks from one generation to the other. Portions of their infrastructure may be changed or upgraded to accommodate infrastructure depending on the wireless technology adopted. 3G networks differ from 4G networks due to the different infrastructure equipments they utilize. Thus carriers and telecommunication companies will incur huge cost in terms of obtaining new equipments that will work with 4G.
4G has abandoned the old circuit switching technology used in telephone systems and adopted packet switching. Packet switching technology is rampant in computer networks but has been used in mobile gadgets as well . It is more efficient in that it utilize the resources only when there is data signals to be sent across. This feature allows the compression of many conversations into the same bandwidth. The network infrastructure in 4G has been completely overhauled with the core network and the RAN system upgraded. The 4G RAN or LTW consist of a simplified architecture in a single hierarchy with eNodeB elements. The features implemented by the 3G RAN have been moved into the eNodeB and the Service Gateway in the LTE Evolved UTRAN.
4G provides significant Quality of Service. QoS is a kind of technology extensively used in the land-based data networks. It works by allowing data streaming to be carried out at different levels of priority. For instance, implementing Quality of Service will prioritize voice over IP (VoIP) data over ordinary data to enhance the quality of voice. Other data services not significantly affected by latency as much as voice is given lower priority in order to create adequate bandwidth for VoIP services .
In the same way, QoS improves the quality of video services, implying that 4G user will be able to watch movies directly from YouTube and utilize VoIP services such as Skype on their mobile phones. Additional benefits of the 4G network include enhanced roaming capabilities between many mobile providers and local area networks . This is brought about by convergence of data and voice through a packet switched network.
4G technologies present a number of security vulnerabilities. First wireless networks are more prone to more vulnerabilities than wired networks. Secondly, many different aspects come into play when developing wireless networks. This includes performance on systems with limited capabilities, battery consumption issues and the diverse user states and environments. The heterogeneous nature of the 4G network adds additional vulnerability requirements for the system. The devices will; allow for multiple available connections attackers will have more attack priorities. Finding a system exploit in one side may open up another protocol to attackers. Therefore, security management becomes a complex issue that requires complex solutions.
Likewise, devices will be connected to different interfaces through multiple providers; it exposes the devices to attackers originating from each corner of connection. The device will be vulnerable to attacks with respect to drivers, communication protocol, transportation and signaling codes. Also, file sharing, features updates and installed applications provide a security concern.
On the physical front, physical security of the device should be considered as it is utilized on so many platforms. Currently it is difficult to estimate the security risks of 4G when it is under deployment but developers should strike a balance between security levels and improved service applications such as data speeds.
Component standardization is necessary to ensure that a strong base is developed for the 4G mobile security. The underlying problem is that 4G integrates different technologies working together and if full standardization is implemented, and then the overall objectives would not be accomplished. Therefore in order to implement 4G security standards, virtualization is essential to determine what gets into 4G and how it is going to be carried out.
4G security architecture has introduced QoS and Mobility as security management apparatus. Another concept used is called “always best connected” meaning that the terminal will always be connect to the most excellent possible access. In addition 4G uses the IPV6 address scheme (Erik Dahlman, 2011). This makes it possible for each and every mobile device to have its own IP address. The manifold security issues witnessed in 3G are reduced through the encryption of the protocol stack. Though not convenient in the utilization of power and transmission delay, the concept of interlayer security, where only one layer is configured to do encryption of data, takes care of the concern.
The 4G communication network is residing in the delivery of real time communication systems with high speed network capacity and, seamless handover across several networks, wireless access technologies and multimedia support. The high end communication architecture has the flexibility to support all communication platforms in the private and public networks. Boosting of a simplified hardware, architecture, software, data storage and effective quality of service, it is ultimately superior and advanced than 3G. A switch to the 4G network is significant in that it ends the voice dominance in the mobile market. The mobile carriers have switched their attention to prioritize and accommodate data customers via mobile devices.
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