WiMAX Overview

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WIMAX – World wide interoperability for microwave access
WiMAX was developed with the intention of catering to the huge demand for
higher data rates.
Wimax aims to provide wireless broadband access to users.

It is designed to accommodate both fixed and mobile broadband

applications.
Features of WiMAX
OFDM based Physical layer

Benifits:
Gives good resistance to multipath
Offers higher data rates
Features of WiMAX
Very high peak data rates

Scalable bandwidth and data rate support :

• Data rate can be scaled easily with the available channel Bandwidth.
• This is supported in the OFDMA mode, where the FFT size may be
•scaled based on the available channel bandwidth.

FFT size Channel Bandwidth

– 128 1.25 MHz
– 512 5 MHz
– 1024 10 MHz
Features of WiMAX
Adaptive modulation and coding (AMC)
Modulation and coding is done based on the channel channel conditions
Hence different users may have different Modulation and coding
techniques implemented based on the maximum modulation that their
channel can support
Features of WiMAX
Link-layer retransmissions

WiMAX supports automatic retransmission requests (ARQ) and

HARQ(Hybrid) at the link layer.

Support for TDD and FDD

TDD is the favoured implementation.

Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA

Flexible and dynamic per user resource allocation
Support for advanced antenna techniques:
Quality-of-service support
Support for mobility
IP-based architecture
Robust security
WiMAX physical layer
The WiMAX physical layer uses OFDM.

WHY ODFM?
OFDM enables high data rate.
Improves spectral efficiency.
Can be easily implemented using IFFT.
Can be used as a multi access scheme.

WHAT IS OFDM?
It is a modulation technique that is based on the orthogonal property
of carrier frequencies.
WiMAX physical layer
OFDM Parameters used in WiMAX
WiMAX physical layer
SubChannelization

The available subcarriers are divided in groups called subchannels.

Subchannels are the minimum frequency resource unit that is allocated

by the base station.
Different subchannels can be given to different users as a method of
multiple access. This kind of multiple access is called OFDM.

Subchannels may be constituted using either contiguous subcarriers or

subcarriers distributed across the frequency spectrum.
WiMAX physical layer
Slot and Frame structure
WiMAX physical layer
Adaptive Modulation and Coding in WiMAX
WiMAX allows the modulation and coding scheme to change on a
burst-by-burst basis per link, depending on channel conditions.

Using the channel quality feedback indicator, the mobile can provide the
base station with feedback on the downlink channel quality.

The base station scheduler can take into account the channel quality
of each user’s uplink and downlink and assign a modulation and coding
scheme that maximizes the throughput for the available signal-to-noise ratio

PHY- Layer Data Rates

Physical-layer data rates depend mostly on the channel bandwidth
and the modulation and coding scheme used.
Number of subchannels, OFDM guard time, and oversampling rate,
also have an impact.
WiMAX MAC layer
The MAC layer takes packets from the upper layer – these packets
are called MAC Service Data Units (MSDUs) - and organizes them into
MAC Protocol Data Units (MPDUs) for transmission over the air.
For received transmissions, the MAC layer does the reverse.
WiMAX MAC layer
Channel-Access Mechanisms

The MAC layer at the base station is fully responsible for allocating
bandwidth to all users, in both the uplink and the downlink.

The BS allocates dedicated or shared resources periodically to each

MS, which it can use to request bandwidth. This process is called Polling.

Quality of Service
All connections are controlled by the serving BS.
Every connection has a CID and SFID.
The base station is responsible for issuing the SFID and mapping it
to unique CIDs.

– Unsolicited grant services (UGS)

– Real-time polling services (rtPS)
– Non-real-time polling service (nrtPS)
– Best-effort (BE) service
– Extended real-time variable rate (ERT-VR) service
WiMAX MAC layer
Power-Saving Features

Sleep Mode:
The MS effectively turns itself off and becomes unavailable for
predetermined periods. This period is negotiated with the BS.

Idle Mode:
This mode allows the MS to completely turn off and to not be
registered with any BS and yet receive downlink broadcast traffic. When
downlink traffic arrives for the idle-mode MS, the MS is paged by a
collection of base stations that form a paging group.

Mobility Support
– Nomadic
– Portable
– Simple Mobility
– Full Mobility
WiMAX MAC layer
Mobility Support
– Nomadic
– Portable
– Simple Mobility
– Full Mobility

Three handoff methods are supported. One is mandatory and other two are
optional.

1. Hard Handover (Mandatory)

2. Fast Base Station Switching
3. Macro Diversity Handover
WiMAX MAC layer
Support for privacy:
AES (Advanced Encryption Standard)
3DES (Triple Data Encryption Standard)

Device/user authentication:
username/password, digital certificates, and smart cards.

Flexible key-management protocol

Protection of control messages

Support for fast handover:

THANK YOU
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