WiMAX Technology Description

What is WiMAX

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wimax) is a name of trade association

formed by a group of network manufacturers, operators, service integrators. This association
promotes broadband wireless technology defined by 802.16 committee.

While 802.16 standard defines BWA radio interface technology, it does not define end-to-end
network architecture. A standard based e-e network architecture is essential for successful
interoperability between networks of various operators and the forum defines such
architecture.

Why Wimax
Standard based
Lower Cost
Ensures compatibility and interoperability
Better Performance & Coverage
Multiple Access Technologies
Multiple access schemes are used to allow many users to share
simultaneously a finite amount of spectrum.
􀂉 The sharing of spectrum is required to achieve high capacity by
simultaenously allocating the available bandwidth to multiple users.
􀂉 For high quality communicatios, this must be done without severe
degradation in the performance of the system.
􀂉 There are many access techniques , some of them are
􀀹 Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
􀀹 Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
􀀹 Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
Frequency Division Multiple Access
Different users use different frequency to transmit simultaneously
Time Division Multiple Access
Different users use different time slots to transmit
Code Division Multiple Access
Different users use different codes to transmit simultaneously
OFDM Introduction
 OFDM is a special case of Frequency division multiplexing without the need for
guard bands between carriers.
 OFDM has been around 1960s and is recently been used for commercial
communication systems.
 Main reason is advances in DSP driving down the cost of OFDM based systems.
In recent years, OFDM has gained prominence in high data rate
WLAN
OFDM

FDM Orthogonality Multi Carrier OFDM

FDM

FDM divides the channel into multiple sub carriers or channels . Multiple
signals are transmitted on this channel simultaneously.
Traditional FDM uses guard band between channels to avoid interference
between the adjacent channels.
Guard bands do not carry any information and hence reduce spectral
efficiency.
Multi carrier system
In a single carrier system the data is carried over one carrier only
In a multi carrier system the same data is carried over multiple carriers or
channels.
In a multi carrier system data from a single user is transmitted on multiple
subchannels in parallel.
FDM enables the use of multi carrier system.
Orthogonality
 Orthogonality is a special type of FDM with carriers overlapping
Guard band in not required thus achieving more spectral effecienyc.
In OFDM the channels are designed such that they do not overlap with one
another. This characteristic of channel is called orthogonality.

Analogy of orthogonality is mixing of RED, BLUE,YELLOW . No matter how

you mix yellow with blue , you cannot create Red. Thus, red , blue and yellow
are orthogonal to each other.
Frequency Domain Representation
EXAMPLE
OFDM
Duplex
Duplex means two way
A simplex channel is a one way channel
A half duplex channel carries information in both directions, but not at
the same time
A full duplex channel carries information in both directions
simultaneously
Time division duplex (TDD)
Frequency division duplex (FDD)
802.16d PHY – TDD

Uplink & Downlink transmission shares the same frequency.

Uplink & Downlink transmission are separated in time.

TDD Frame has a fixed duration.

A TDD frame contains one uplink & one downlink subframe.

TDD Framing is adaptive i.e capacity allocated to downlink versus uplink may
vary.
Tx/Rx Transition Gap (TTG) between downlink burst & subsequent uplink burst
allows time for BS to switch from Tx mode to Rx mode and SS to Rx mode to Tx
mode.
BS looks for first symbols of uplink burst after TTG.

Rx/Tx Transition Gap (RTG) between uplink burst & subsequent downlink burst
allows time for BS to switch from Rx mode to Tx mode and SS to Tx mode to Rx
mode.
TDD Operation
WiMAX - Features
Non-Line Of Sight (NLOS)

In a NLOS link, a signal reaches the receiver through reflections,

scattering, and diffractions.
The signals arriving at the receiver consists of components from the
direct path, multiple reflected paths, scattered energy, and diffracted
propagation paths.
These signals have different delay spreads, attenuation, polarizations,
and stability relative to the direct path.
For large-scale contiguous cellular deployments, where frequency re-
use is critical, lowering the antenna is advantageous to reduce the co
channel interference between adjacent cell sites.
This often forces the base stations to operate in NLOS conditions.
NLOS technology also reduces installation expenses by making under-
the-eaves CPE installation a reality and easing the difficulty of locating
adequate CPE mounting locations.
Adaptive Modulation
The use of adaptive modulation allows a wireless system to choose the
highest order modulation depending on the channel conditions.

Higher the order of modulation lesser the robustness of the modulation

scheme.

QPSK modulation is less noise resistant than BPSK as it has a smaller

immunity against interference.

As the range increases you step down to lower modulations (in other
words, BPSK), but as you are closer you can utilize higher order
modulations like QAM for increased throughput.

In addition, adaptive modulation allows the system to overcome fading

and other interference.
Adaptive Modulation
RADIO NETWORK PLANNING
RF Planning
RF planning – Radio resource planning on the basis of business requirement,
testing implemented coverage against planned, optimizing network and
planning for capacity and coverage augmentation.

Drive Test &

CEB from BU RF survey RF plan Implementation Augmentation
Optimization

RF conducts Planning is Sites and Drive test

Coverage
survey to done to RF plan is carried out and Post network
expected
identify best freeze sites, given to analyzed to rollout
boundaries
possible sectors, implementation compare coverage or
on city map
sites, orientation, for Deployment. planned and capacity
where
captures heights and Implementation actual coverage augmentation
business is is carried out
Latt/longs, frequencies & performance. is done if
expected after sites
clutter snaps with the help Based on this required.
from BU are acquired
etc. of planning optimization is
tool. by FAM proposed and
Gives FAM implemented
sites to
acquire.
RF Planning – terminology
 Lat-Long: coordinates to pin point location of any point on earth’s surface
uniquely.
 Azimuth: Orientation of BS/SS antenna around 360o from 0o north.
 BS_sector_ID: 12 digit numeric ID in MAC address format to identify any
sector/signals from any sector within our coverage on field. We
define it for every sector in our network and is configured in BS.
 RSSI: Received Signal Strength Indicator. An indication of the received
signal strength at receiver.
 CINR: Carrier to Interference Noise Ratio. A ratio to give idea of
signal quality at particular frequency and how much interference a signal is
having from other sectors operating on same frequency at a point.
 Modulation: By what modulation scheme an OFDM signal is modulated.
Types in WiMAX are QAM 64, QAM 16, QPSK, BPSK.
 FEC: Forward Error Correction. What percentage of data is used for
redundancy. 3/4, 2/3, 1/2, are possible values. Changes automatically
based on signal quality.
RF Planning – Planet EV : Our planning tool
Planet Ev is a RF planning tool which gives basic platform to plan, predict and refine
our RF coverage.
 it can plot our sites, customers on city’s geographical map.
 It along with MapInfo, predicts the coverage in a geographical area. For this various
inputs are required like Lat/Long, clutter type (like urban, dense urban, open etc),
height/type/orientation of antenna used, power transmitted etc and tool calculates link
budget and gives a predicted coverage map over city.
 There is always difference in predicted coverage and what actual we have on field.
This is when drive test comes to our rescue. A simple dry run is carried through out
coverage with receiver and signal values are noted and fed to tool as a input to plot
actual coverage.

 After analysis of this actual and predicted data, optimization is proposed and carried
out to refine network behavior.

 There can be multiple iterations of DT-optimization to reach certain level of network

coverage.
RF planning – BS and customer mappings
RF Planning – Planet EV Coverage plot on Map info
Lucknow CEB superimposed over RF coverage
Spectral Efficiency in WiMax 16”d” *
TDD Split 60:40  
BW 3MHz  
Packet Size 1518Kb  

Total
  DL UL (UL+DL) Spectral Efficiency
Modulation QAM 64 3/4 5.951 3.054 9.005 3.001666667
Modulation QAM 64 2/3 5.2902 2.751 8.0412 2.6804
Modulation QAM 16 2/3 3.949 2.11 6.059 2.019666667
Modulation QAM 16 1/2 2.628 1.478 4.106 1.368666667
Modulation QPSK 3/4 1.965 1.147 3.112 1.037333333
Modulation QPSK 1/2 1.308 0.832 2.14 0.713333333
Modulation BPSK 1/2 0.655 0.509 1.164 0.388

• Number of subscribers per BS will depend on the combinations various

modulation schemes.
* Tests carried in Lab scenario with 3Mhz Bandwidth.

• E.g. One Sector can deliver upto 9Mbps (3MHz BW) if all SS are at 64 Qam ¾ modulation.
If BW demanded per sub is 1 Mbps then total 9 customers can be connected. Further
contention ratio can be consider.
Lab Test Results – courtesy Cisco Labs, Bangalore, India.
 Configurations: SS RF parameters in IDU

Telsima_ss#sh bs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BS-NAME SECTOR-ID FREQUENCY BAND STATUS DLCINR DLRSSI DLFEC PTx
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bs1 00:0A:10:37:00:74 3316000 3000 OPER 29 -49 qam64-rs-cc-3/4 2.10
bs4 00:0A:10:37:00:71 3369000 3000 INIT 27 -59 -NA- -NA-
bs2 00:0A:10:37:00:73 3366000 3000 INIT 22 -72 -NA- -NA-
bs3 00:0A:10:37:00:72 3319000 3000 DLSYNC 17 -58 -NA- -NA-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Configurations: SS IP parameters in IDU

SreeGopal_2#show con ss

Dumping SS Connectivity Table Entries (In Detail):

=========================================================================================
===============================
=====================
IF SS-MAC SS-IP GW-IP SS-VLAN CPE-VLAN FLAGS ADMIN-ST OPER-ST IP-CONFIG
=========================================================================================
===============================
=====================

200 00:02:73:90:08:EB 10.171.135.13 10.171.135.1 2314 0 MVLAN PROVISND PROVISND StaticSS |

D
HCP | PPPoE
100 00:02:73:90:0B:C6 10.171.135.28 10.171.135.1 2314 2692 TRUFLE PROVISND PROVISND StaticSS |
Static
200 00:02:73:90:0B:F8 10.171.135.10 10.171.135.1 2314 124 TRUFLE PROVISND PROVISND StaticSS |
Static
=========================================================================================
===============================
=====================
L2 Survey

Once network is
rolled out and
radiating, to add a
new customer or
migrate any existing
customer
feasibility/L2 survey
is done.
Basic idea is same as
done for MMDS or
any RF link. Goal is to
freeze location for SS
at customer premises
as per our plan.
L2 Survey
Prerequisites for going to L2 survey:
 Proposed BS site/sector details like sec_ID. If possible two options.
 Frequency of proposed site.
 Lat/Long of customer premise.
 Pre provisioned SS, Laptop, TSAT tool and other basic tools like GPS,
camera, battery backup etc.
 Latest SS version. (ver 3.0.7)

Interference/Reflected signals from other sites: Major problem in

finding out best location
During testing there can be situations where we are receiving signals from
other BS rather than from the expected one, and this result in reduced CINR
values and affect our aim to find out the best location. Reflected signals
usually give fluctuating values.
L2 Survey
To come up with best possible location:

 Unlike MMDS, our aim is not to install at max height but to install at minimum height
possible.
 With so many sites coming up, it is always possible that we will receive interference
from other BS radiating same frequency, as radiated by desired BS. We have to look
for any other physical location/orientation so as to avoid/minimize such
interference. This can be achieved by positioning SS by putting it physically at
locations where interfering signals are obstructed. For example on parapet
wall/outside window facing towards desired BS.
 Remove unnecessary frequencies from SS configurations.
 It’s very important to keep the SS stable during testing so as to achieve maximum
CINR/RSSI. For this a 3 to 5 m pole should be used to mast the SS on, rather than
holding SS in hands.
 As far as possible we should come up with location as per RF preference. If not,
capture the data for all other possible signals from same or other base stations and
revert to RF team with same.
TSAT: Telsima SS Alignment Tool
Precautions for L2 Survey
 Our priority for latching sector should be as given by RF.
 Survey should be done for minimum heights possible.
 Physically, SS should be installed at locations where we can avoid
unwanted interfering signals like parapet walls.
 Avoid installing SS looking directly into obstacles. If we are having good
signals at any such locations, it could be because of reflected signals.
 Avoid installing SS near induction sources like transformers, high tension
lines.
 Physical installations should be sturdy and SS should be stable while taking
readings.
 Proper snaps of proposed locations and clutter photographs as seen from
SS locations should be taken. These are very helpful in RF troubleshooting.