Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2020 April 10

= April 10 =

Long Term Evolution
Can we get to an explanation of the words behind the name of LTE (telecommunication)..? ~ R.T.G 23:38, 10 April 2020 (UTC)


 * This archived page shows the idea. Technologies and architectures evolve or else become obsolete. To ensure the long-term survival of 3GPP/UTRA (now evolved to E-UTRA), a project was started to develop a viable evolutionary path. --Lambiam 04:53, 11 April 2020 (UTC)


 * I understand what LTE is, Lambiam, but what I am looking for is something which discusses the name of it, that I can source it and add it to the article. I imagine it refers to a long term development of the 3G protocol, but I think I need a reliable source to make Wikipedia say so. ~ R.T.G 15:48, 11 April 2020 (UTC) No I definitely need a reliable source to say that. It could mean something completely different. ~ R.T.G 15:48, 11 April 2020 (UTC)


 * I thought my explanation was quite satisfactory. The original terms used, before this was a defined project, were "UTRA long term evolution" and "UTRAN long term evolution", that is, the long-term evolution of UTRA(N) – not as a trademarked proper noun, but as plain English, using common words found in each dictionary. The 3GPP people involved in this work held "Long Term Evolution" workshops to coordinate the work, not only to avoid duplication of effort but also to avoid the development of competing incompatible architectures or technologies (see e.g. here (pdf)). In the given context, there was no need to be explicit about the subject of the evolving; everyone understood it was about the planned co-evolving of technologies and architectures. --Lambiam 20:16, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
 * The source doesn't say it even nearly as clearly as you have. The IEEE sources are not available to me and the PDF document says "long term evolution" on every page at a length of 50 a4 pages. It does not start with a description of the naming process. ~ R.T.G 21:00, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
 * You asked for an explanation of the words behind the name. But if I understand your objection, you are seeking an explanation why this name was chosen for the acronym, and not for example TNBT (The Next Big Thing). I don't know, but an aspect may have been that the standard was meant to keep evolving, so that there would be subsequent releases, like now LTE Advanced (Release 13) and LTE Advanced Pro (Release 14). --Lambiam 10:25, 12 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I am asking for a source which discusses the original origins of the name directly, for addition to the article. ~ R.T.G 00:50, 13 April 2020 (UTC)