Wireless Networks

WiMAX:
IEEE 802.16 - Wireless MANs
 WiMAX stands for Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access.
 Goal: Provide high-speed Internet access to
home and business subscribers, without
wires.

 Base stations (BS) and subscriber stations

(SS)

 Centralized access control to prevents

collisions

 Supports applications with different QoS

requirements

 WiMAX is a subset of IEEE 802.16 standard

How we access the Internet today.

There are basically three different options:

Broadband access - In your home, you have either a DSL
or cable modem. At the office, your company may be
using a E1 or a E3 line.

Wi-Fi access - In your home, you may have set up a Wi-Fi

router that lets you surf the Web while you lounge with
your laptop. On the road, you can find Wi-Fi hot spots in
restaurants, hotels, coffee shops and libraries.

Dial-up access - If you are still using dial-up, chances are

that either broadband access is not available, or you
think that broadband access is too expensive.

The main problems with broadband access are that it

is pretty expensive and it doesn't reach all areas.
The main problem with Wi-Fi access is that hot spots
are very small, so coverage is sparse.
What if there were a new technology
that solved all of these problems?
This new technology would provide:

The high speed of broadband service

Wireless rather than wired access, so it
would be a lot less expensive than cable or
DSL and much easier to extend to suburban
and rural areas
Broad coverage like the cell phone network
instead of small Wi-Fi hotspots

This system is actually coming into being

right now, and it is called WiMAX. WiMAX is
short for Worldwide Interoperability for
Microwave Access, and it also goes by the
IEEE name 802.16.
In practical terms, WiMAX would operate similar
to Wi-Fi but at:
Higher speeds
Over greater distances and
For a greater number of users.

A WiMAX system consists of two parts:

A WiMAX tower, similar in concept to a cell-phone
tower - A single WiMAX tower can provide coverage
to a very large area -- as big as 3,000 square miles for a
single tower versus 10 sqr miles for cell  [Rhode Island
is 2000 sqr miles; Bermuda 22 sqr miles; and Delaware
2489 sqr miles]

A WiMAX receiver - The receiver and antenna could

be a small box or PCMCIA card, or they could be built
into a laptop the way Wi-Fi access is today.
•A WiMAX tower station can connect
directly to the Internet using a high-
bandwidth, wired connection (for
example, a E3 line).

•It can also connect to another WiMAX

tower using a line-of-sight, microwave
link.

•This connection to a second tower (often

referred to as a backhaul), along with the
ability of a single tower to cover up to
3,000 square miles, it is what allows
WiMAX to provide coverage to remote
areas.
WiMAX actually can provide two forms of
wireless service:

Non-line-of-sight, Wi-Fi sort of service,

where a small antenna on your computer
connects to the tower. In this mode,
WiMAX uses a lower frequency range -- 2
GHz to 11 GHz (similar to Wi-Fi). Lower-
wavelength transmissions are not as
easily disrupted by physical obstructions
-- they are better able to diffract, or bend,
around obstacles.

Line-of-sight service, where a fixed dish

antenna points straight at the WiMAX
tower from a rooftop or pole. The line-of-
sight connection is stronger and more
stable, so it's able to send a lot of data
with fewer errors. Line-of-sight
transmissions use higher frequencies,
with ranges reaching a possible 66 GHz.
At higher frequencies, there is less
interference and lots more bandwidth.
 WiMAX -SERVICEMODELS
Wi-Fi-style access will be
limited to a 4-to-6 mile radius
(perhaps 25 square miles or 65
square km of coverage, which is
similar in range to a cell-phone
zone).
Through the stronger line-of-
sight antennas, the WiMAX
transmitting station would send
data to WiMAX-enabled
computers or routers set up
within the transmitter's 30-mile
radius (2,800 square miles or
9,300 square km of coverage).
This is what allows WiMAX to
achieve its maximum range.
A computer (either a desktop or a
laptop) equipped with WiMAX would
receive data from the WiMAX
transmitting station, probably using
encrypted data keys to prevent
unauthorized users from stealing access.
The fastest WiFi connection can
transmit up to 54 megabits per second
under optimal conditions.
WiMAX should be able to handle up to
70 megabits per second.
Even once that 70 megabits is split up between
several dozen businesses or a few hundred home
users, it will provide at least the equivalent of
cable-modem transfer rates to each user.
WiMAX outdistances Wi-Fi by miles.
Wi-Fi's range is about 100 feet (30
m).
WiMAX will blanket a radius of 30
miles (50 km) with wireless access.
The increased range is due to the
frequencies used and the power of
the transmitter.
Range - 30-mile (50-km) radius
from base station
Speed - 70 megabits per second
Line-of-sight not needed
between user and base station
Frequency bands - 2 to 11 GHz
and 10 to 66 GHz (licensed and
unlicensed bands)
Defines both the MAC and PHY
layers
The smallest-scale network is a personal
area network (PAN).
A PAN allows devices to communicate with each other
over short distances. Bluetooth is the best example of a
PAN.
The next step up is a local area network
(LAN).
A LAN allows devices to share information, but is
limited to a fairly small central area, such as a
company's headquarters, a coffee shop or your house.
Many LANs use Wi-Fi to connect the network
wirelessly.
WiMAX is the wireless solution for the next
step up in scale, the metropolitan area
network (MAN).
A MAN allows areas the size of cities to be connected.
A “Net-Centric” Industry Perspective
IEEE Standards View of Wireless Network Technologies

WWAN
<15 km
802.20 (prop osed)

WiMAX MAN
New standard for <5 km
Fixed broadband 70 Mbit/s
Wireless.
802.16a/e

Wi-Fi® WLAN
Includes 802.11a/b/g. <100 m
Products must be 11-54 Mbit/s
Approved for
Interoperability by the 802.11a/b, e, g, h
Wi-Fi Alliance.

PAN
<10 m
~1 Mbit/s
802.15.1
(Bluetooth) * UWB: 100 Mbit/s
802.15.3 (UWB) * ** ZigBee: 250 kbps

802.15.4 (ZigBee)**
Compared with other wired solution
such as ADSL, or any other wireless or
satellite system, WiMAX based access
networks will enable operators and
service providers to cost-effectively
reach million of new potential
customers providing them with
broadband access.
This is even truer for developing
countries and rural areas for which the
cost/profitability and the demand
factors are essential.
This obviously includes adequate
coverage, reliability, performances
(throughput), capacity and
applications.
Ease of installation is one of the key issues to lower
deployment costs in developing countries or rural
areas.
In rural areas, the consequences of the long
distances from the core network access point and
the scattered location of villages, farms... in the
countryside makes any deployment very costly.
In developing countries, the lack of main
infrastructure (electricity, roads.), and
environmental condition (temperature, humidity.)
adds on the difficulty.
Thanks to the NLOS/LOS coverage advantage, the
operator/service provider can easily plans a 95%
predictability coverage ensuring high installation
success rates and controls deployment costs. A
quicker and simpler installation with a much greater
rate of success means operators spend less money
rolling out their networks.

WiMAX NLOS capability also allows indoors self

install CPEs within several Km radius.
Even more important is the coverage, i.e. the
capability to reach any potential customer
within the base station covering area, is
essential for the operator/service provider.

While many currently available wireless

broadband solutions can only provide Line-Of-
Site (LOS) coverage, WiMAX, thanks to its
OFDM technology, has been optimized to
provide excellent Non-Line-Of-Site (NLOS)
coverage (up to 15 Km around the base station)
and long range transmission up to 50Km in
LOS conditions.

Combining both LOS and NLOS coverage,

WiMAX is the ideal solution for getting the
exact requested coverage in the most
economical way.
Wireless is more flexible and
thus easier to deploy according
to the market demand
Although most of the existing
wireless technologies suffer from
limited range and coverage
(usually a few hundred meters
around the base station)
resulting in very costly
combination of technologies
(wired and/or wireless)
WiMAX technology benefits of a
wide coverage and can be
deployed as a Point to Multipoint
”last mile” connection but also as
part of the backhaul to the PSTN
and Internet access points.
Following the normal trend of
digitalization and packet transmission
and switching, WiMAX uses the
Internet protocol and thus supports all
multimedia services from Voice over IP
(VoIP) to high speed internet and
video transmission.

WiMAX allows service providers to

offer all the latest generation of
services and beyond, thanks to a
throughput up to tens of Mbps.

With regard to the potential users, this

means that WiMAX have the capacity
to deliver services from households to
SMEs, SOHOs, Cybercafés, Multimedia
Telecentres, Schools and Hospitals
WiMAX: Worldwide Standardization
Developed and supported by the WiMAX
forum (more than 300 members), WiMAX
will become the worldwide technology
based standard for broadband and will
guaranty interoperability (i.e.multivendor
CPEs), reliability and evolving technology
High volumes and integration, will ensure
equipments with very low cost. With CPEs
under 100$ as one of the first objective,
business model can easily be profitable
even in developing countries.
To become the worldwide
standard based technology for
broadband, WiMAX will use a
single radio covering all
licensed and unlicensed
frequency bands allocated by
the ITU for such services i.e.:
The one licensed band 3.3-3.8
GHz
Two license exempt bands and
2.3-2.7 GHz and 5.725-5.85
GHz.
WiMAX can be dynamically optimized for the mix of traffic that is
being carried. Four types of service are supported: