Global , Interoperable Broadband Wireless Networks : Extending WiMAX Technology to Mobility

IEEE 802.16 is an emerging global broadband wireless access standard capable of delivering multiple megabits of shared data throughput supporting fixed, portable, and mobile operation. The standard offers a great deal of design flexibility including support for licensed and license-exempt frequency bands, channel widths ranging from 1.25 to 20 MHz, Quality of Service (QoS) establishment on a per-connection basis, strong security primitives, multicast support, and low latency/low packet loss handovers. Mass deployments of Subscriber Stations (SS) and Access Points (AP) for portable and mobile services are expected to be based on scalable Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing with Multiple Access (OFDMA). A broad range of network operators are anticipated to deploy such systems in licensed frequencies below 11 GHz. However, universal acceptance of 802.16 for portable and mobile use is contingent on the Industry’s development, acceptance, Other brands and names are the property of their respective owners 1 Optimization of PHY and MAC handover primitives is ongoing in the 802.16e Task Group and is expected to be completed by the end of 2004. 2 In this paper the term Access Point is synonymous with Base Station, and an AP can be logically broken into a combination of one APC and one or more APTs. and conformance to two complementary aspects of the IEEE 802.16 air interface standards work: (1) development and adoption of an open and extensible endto-end architecture framework and specification that is agnostic to incumbent operator backend networks; and (2) a means for ensuring spec-compliant and vendor interoperable equipment to support cost-effective deployments and give users the capability to roam across networks established by different network operators. A common architecture framework and standardized compliance testing mechanisms based on a suite of PHY and MAC profiles will enable multivendor interoperability supporting different deployment and usecase scenarios. In this paper, we describe Intel’s 802.16 architecture vision and the Worldwide Interoperability Microwave Access (WiMAX) certification process to address these two important market needs.