Fundamental limitations on increasing data rate in wireless systems

There is a continuing quest for increasing the data transmission rate in wireless systems. Cellular mobile radio systems have advanced from second generation digital technology with limited data capability to third generation systems with data transmission rates on the order of a few megabits per second and on to fourth generation systems with goals of even higher data rates. Wireless local area networks (WLANs) based on various versions of IEEE 802.11 standards and known collectively as WiFi, have evolved from having data transmission rates of several megabits per second to hundreds of megabits per second.