Wimax: IEEE 802.16 Standard, Which Ensures Compatibility and Interoperability Between Broadband Wireless Access Equipment
Wimax: IEEE 802.16 Standard, Which Ensures Compatibility and Interoperability Between Broadband Wireless Access Equipment
IEEE 802.16 standard, which ensures compatibility and interoperability between broadband wireless access equipment
Broadband access is too expensive and WiFi coverage is very sparse. The need for constantly high speed Internet has lead to development of Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX or IEEE 802.16)
WIMAX system
A WiMAX tower, similar in concept to a cellphone tower - A single WiMAX tower can provide coverage to a very large area as big as 3,000 square miles (~8,000 square km)
A WiMAX receiver - The receiver and antenna could be a small box or Personal Computer card, or they could be built into a laptop the way WiFi access is today
WIMAX system
WIMAX TOWER WIMAX RECEIVER
WIMAX system
WIMAX frequencies
Non-Line-Of-Sight
A 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 WiFi) A Service where a fixed dish antenna points straight at the WiMAX tower from a rooftop or pole. Line-ofsight transmissions use higher frequencies, with ranges 66 GHz
Line-Of-Sight
Reference Model
MAC layer
Efficient usage of the spectrum MAC layer is further subdivided into three layers
Service Specific Convergence Sub-layer (MAC CS) Common part sublayer (CPS) Privacy sub-layer
CS Layer
Receives data from higher layers Classifies data as ATM cell or packet Forwards frames to CPS layer
Connection management Bandwidth allocation mechanism Uplink scheduling Bandwidth request Grant Connection control
MAC Addressing
Uses uplink and downlink maps to ensure collision free access SS has 48-bit 802.3 MAC address
Connection ID (CID)
Not a MAC address Uses Time Division Multiplexing 16 bit that is assigned by the BS Used in MAC PDU Connection Oriented Service
MAC PDU
BS MAC and SS MAC are exchanging messages, and these messages are known as Protocol Data Units Each MAC frame consists of the three components
A MAC header, which contains frame control information A variable length frame body, which contains information specific to the frame type A frame check sequence (FCS), which contains an IEEE 32-bit cyclic redundancy code (CRC)
Used to transfer almost all the standard MAC Management messages MAC PDUs may hold either
Scalability
802.11
Channel bandwidth for 20MHz is fixed MAC designed to support 10s of users
802.16
Channel b/w is flexible from 1.5 MHz to 20 MHz. Frequency re-use Channel bandwidths can be chosen by operator (e.g. for sectorization) MAC designed to support thousands of users
802.11
No QoS support today (802.11e working to standardize ) Contention-based MAC (CSMA/CA) => no guaranteed QoS
802.16
QoS designed in for voice/video Supports differentiated service levels e.g. T1 for business customers; best effort for residential. Centrally-enforced QoS
Range
802.11
Optimized for users within a 100 meter radius Add access points or high gain antenna for greater coverage Designed to handle indoor multi-path delay spread of 0.8 seconds
802.16
Optimized for typical cell size of 7-10km Up to 50 Km range No hidden node problem Designed to tolerate greater multi-path delay spread (signal reflections) up to 10.0 seconds
Coverage
802.11
Optimized for indoor performance No mesh topology support within ratified standards
802.16
Optimized for outdoor NLOS performance (trees, buildings, users spead out over distance) Standard supports mesh network topology Standard supports advanced antenna techniques
Scanning
Ranging
Scan for BS downlink channel Synchronize with BS Specifies channel parameters Set PHY parameters correctly Establish the primary management channel (for negotiation, authentication, and key management) Result in establishment of secondary management connection (for transfer of standard based management messages such as DHCP, TFTP )
Registration
BS
The DL_MAP and UL_MAP messages contain the burst allocation decided by the BS . The DCD and UCD messages contain burst profiles. They are periodically generated by the BS. The standard defines the maximum interval between two messages to 10 seconds.
Uplink synchronization
UL_MAP (Uplink map)
Initial ranging
Registration request
Registration
Link UP
Registration response
Normal operation
Types of Connections
When a SS is joining the network three CIDs are assigned to it and each one has different QoS requirements used by different management levels
Types of Connections
Basic connection is used to transfer brief, time-critical MAC and radio link control (RLC) messages. Primary Management connection is used to transfer longer, more delay tolerant messages such as registration requests and PKM messages- messages as those that are used for authentication and connection setup Secondary Management connection is used to transfer standards-based management messages such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP), and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)