WiMAX for Broadband Wireless Access

By:
Karim M. El Defrawy
ICS
UCI-2005
Outline
 What is WiMAX
 802.16 Introduction
 802.16 MAC Highlights
 802.16 Reference Model
 MAC Convergence Sub-Layer (CS)
 MAC Common Part Sub-Layer (CPS)
 MAC Privacy Sub-Layer (PS)
 Questions
What is WiMAX?
 Worldwide Interoperability for
Microwave Access (WiMAX) is the
common name associated to the IEEE
802.16a/REVd/e standards.

 These standards are issued by the IEEE

802.16 subgroup that originally covered
the Wireless Local Loop technologies
with radio spectrum from 10 to 66 GHz.
IEEE 802.16 -- Introduction
 IEEE 802.16 (2001)
 Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access System MAC and
PHY Specifications for 10 – 66 GHZ (LoS)
 One PHY: Single Carrier
 Connection-oriented, TDM/TDMA MAC, QoS, Privacy

 IEEE 802.16a (January 2003)

 Amendment to 802.16, MAC Modifications and Additional PHY
Specifications for 2 – 11 GHz (NLoS)
 Three PHYs: OFDM, OFDMA, Single Carrier
 Additional MAC functions: OFDM and OFDMA PHY support, Mesh
topology support, ARQ

 IEEE 802.16d (July 2004)

 Combines both IEEE 802.16 and 802.16a
 Some modifications to the MAC and PHY

 IEEE 802.16e (2005?)

 Amendment to 802.16-2004
 MAC Modifications for limited mobility
IEEE 802.16 -- Introduction
Coverage range up to 50km and speeds up to
70Mbps(shared among users).
 IEEE 802.16 -- Introduction

Source: WiMAX, making ubiquitous high-speed data services a reality, White Paper, Alcatel.
IEEE 802.16 MAC -- Highlights
 WirelessMAN: Point-to-Multipoint and optional mesh
topology
 Connection-oriented
 Multiple Access: DL TDM & TDMA, UL TDMA;UL OFDMA
& TDMA, DL OFDMA & TDMA (Optional)
 PHY considerations that affect the MAC
 Duplex: TDD, FDD, FDX FDD BS and SS, HDX FDD SS
 Adaptive burst profiles (Modulation and FEC) on both DL
and UL
 Protocol-independent core (ATM, IP, Ethernet)
 Flexible QoS offering (CBR, rt-VBR, nrt-VBR, BE)
 Strong security support
Reference Model
 Adaptive PHY

Source: Understanding WiMAX and 3G for Portable/Mobile Broadband Wireless, Technical White
Paper, Intel.
Adaptive Burst Profiles
 Burst profile: Modulation and FEC
 On DL, multiple SSs can associate the
same DL burst
 On UL, SS transmits in an given time slot
with a specific burst
 Dynamically assigned according to link
conditions
 Burst by burst
 Trade-off capacity vs. robustness in real time
Duplex Scheme Support
 The duplex scheme is Usually specified by
regulatory bodies, e.g., FCC
 Time-Division Duplex (TDD)
 Downlink & Uplink time share the same RF channel
 Dynamic asymmetry
 does not transmit & receive simultaneously (low
cost)
 Frequency-Division Duplex (FDD)
 Downlink & Uplink on separate RF channels
 Full Duplexing (FDX): can Tx and Rx
simultaneously;
 Half-duplexing (HDX) SSs supported (low cost)
IEEE 802.16 MAC
– OFDM PHY TDD Frame Structure
Time

Frame n-1 Frame n Frame n+1

Adaptive

DL Subframe UL subframe

DL TDM UL TDMA
DL DL DL
pre. FCH
burst 1 burst 2 ... burst n pre. UL burst 1
... pre. UL burst m

DL UL DCD UCD
MAP MAP opt. opt.

Broadcast Conrol msgs

IEEE 802.16 MAC
– OFDM PHY FDD Frame Structure
Time

Frame n-1 Frame n Frame n+1

DL Subframe
DL TDM DL TDMA
DL DL DL DL DL
pre. FCH
burst 1 burst 2
... burst k
pre.
burst k+1
... pre.
burst n
Broadcast
Control Msgs

DL UL DCD UCD
MAP MAP opt. opt.

UL subframe

UL MAP for next UL TDMA

MAC frame UL
bursts
pre. UL burst 1 ... pre. UL burst m
 FDD MAPs Time Relevance
DL UL
DL UL MAP MAP
MAP MAP

DOWNLINK

UPLINK

frame

Broadcast Half Duplex Terminal #1

Full Duplex Capable User Half Duplex Terminal #2

IEEE 802.16 MAC addressing and
Identifiers

 SS has 48-bit IEEE MAC address

 BS has 48-bit base station ID
 Not a MAC address
 24-bit operator indicator

 16-bit connection ID (CID)

 32-bit service flow ID (SFID)
 16-bit security association ID
(SAID)
IEEE 802.16 MAC
– Convergence Sub-Layer (CS)
 ATM Convergence Sub-Layer:
 Support for VP/VC switched connections
 Support for end-to-end signaling of
dynamically created connections
 ATM header suppression
 Full QoS support

 Packet Convergence Sub-Layer:

 Initial support for Ethernet, VLAN, IPv4, and
IPv6
 Payload header suppression
 Full QoS support
IEEE 802.16 MAC -- CS
– Packet Convergence Sub-Layer

 Functions:
 Classification: mapping the higher layer PDUs
(Protocol Data Units) into appropriate MAC
connections
 Payload header suppression (optional)
 MAC SDU (Service Data Unit), i.e, CS PDU,
formatting
MAC SDU = CS PDU
Packet PDU
PHSI
(e.g., IP packet, Ethernet Packet)

Payload Header Suppression Index

Optional, Depending on upper layer
protocol
IEEE 802.16 MAC -- CPS
– MAC PDU Format
msb lsb

Generic MAC
CRC
MAC PDU Header payload (optional) (optional)
(6 bytes)

Generic MAC Header Format BW Req. Header Format

(Header Type (HT) = 0) (Header Type (HT) =1)
LEN
H E
Type (6 bits)
rs C EKS rs
msb H E BW Req.
T C v I (2) v Type (6 bits)
(3)
T C msb (8)

LEN lsb (8) CID msb (8) BWS Req. lsb (8) CID msb (8)

CID lsb (8) HCS (8) CID lsb (8) HCS (8)
IEEE 802.16 MAC -- CPS
-- Three Types of MAC PDUs
 Data MAC PDUs
 HT = 0
 Payloads are MAC SDUs/segments, i.e., data
from upper layer (CS PDUs)
 Transmitted on data connections
 Management MAC PDUs
 HT =0
 Payloads are MAC management messages or
IP packets encapsulated in MAC CS PDUs
 Transmitted on management connections
 BW Req. MAC PDUs
 HT =1; and no payload, i.e., just a Header
IEEE 802.16 MAC -- CPS
– Data Packet Encapsulations

Packet PDU Ethernet Packet

(e.g., Ethernet)

CS PDU P
(i.e., MAC SDU) H
SI
Ethernet Packet

HT MAC PDU Payload CRC

MAC PDU

FEC block 1 FEC Block 2 FEC Block 3

...... FEC block m
FEC

OFDM OFDM OFDM

PHY Burst Preamble symbol symbol ...... symbol
(e.g., TDMA burst) 1 2 n
IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
-- MAC Management Connections
 Each SS has 3 management connections in each
direction:
 Basic Connection:
 short and time-urgent MAC management messages
 MAC mgmt messages as MAC PDU payloads
 Primary Management connection:
 longer and more delay tolerant MAC mgmt
messages
 MAC mgmt messages as MAC PDU payloads
 Secondary Management Connection:
 Standard based mgmt messages, e.g., DHCP,
SNMP, …etc
 IP packets based CS PDU as MAC PDU payload
 IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– MAC Management Messages
 MAC mgmt message format:
8 bits

mgmt
msg MAC mgmt msg payload
HD

• MAC mgmt msg can be sent on: Basic connections; Primary

mgmt connection; Broadcast connection; and initial ranging
connections
• 41 MAC mgmt msgs specified in 802.16
• The TLV (type/length/value) encoding scheme is used in MAC
mgmt msg, e.g., in UCD msg for UL burst profiles,
(type=1, length=1, value=1)  QPSK modulation
(type=1, length=1, value=2)  16QAM modulation
(type=1, length=1, value=3)  64QAM modulation
IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– MAC PDU Transmission

 MAC PDUs are transmitted in PHY Bursts

 The PHY burst can contain multiple FEC
blocks
 MAC PDUs may span FEC block
boundaries
 Concatenation
 Packing
 Segmentation
 Sub-headers
IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– MAC PDU Concatenation

Multiple MAC PDUs are concatenated into the same PHY burst

MAC PDU 1 MAC PDU 2 MAC PDU k

MAC PDU
HT MAC PDU Payload CRC HT MAC PDU Payload CRC ...... HT
Payload
CRC

FEC block 1 FEC Block 2 FEC Block 3

...... FEC block m
FEC

OFDM OFDM OFDM

PHY Burst Preamble symbol symbol ...... symbol
(e.g., TDMA burst) 1 2 n
IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– MAC PDU Fragmentation

A MAC SDU can be fragmented into multiple segments, each

segment is encapsulated into one MAC PDU

Fragmentation MAC SDU

Sub-Header
(8 bits)
MAC SDU MAC SDU MAC SDU
seg-1 seg-2 seg-3
F F
MAC PDU MAC PDU
F HT S CRC HT S CRC
Payload Payload
HT S MAC PDU Payload CRC H H
H

FEC FEC block ...... FEC Block FEC block ...... FEC Block
1 m1 1 m2

OFDM OFDM OFDM OFDM

Pre. symbol ...... symbol Pre. symbol ...... symbol
1 n1 1 n2

PHY Burst PHY Burst

IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– MAC PDU Packing

Packing with fixed size MAC SDUs (no packing sub-header is needed)

MAC MAC MAC Fixed size MSDUs, e.g., ATM

...... Cells, on the same connection
SDU 1 SDU 2 SDU k

HT MAC PDU Payload CRC

Packing with variable size MAC SDUs (Packing Sub-Heade is neeeded)

Variable size
MSDUs or MSDU
MAC SDU or MAC SDU or segments, e.g.,
Packing seg. 1 MAC SDU or seg 2
seg n IP packets, on
Sub-Heder
the same
(16 bits)
connection

HT PSH PSH ...... PSH CRC

IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
QoS

 Three components of 802.16 QoS

 Service flow QoS scheduling
 Dynamic service establishment
 Two-phase activation model (admit first, then activate)
 Service Flow
 A unidirectional MAC-layer transport service characterized
by a set of QoS parameters, e.g., latency, jitter, and
throughput assurances
 Identified by a 32-bit SFID (Service Flow ID)
 Three types of service flows
 Provisioned: controlled by network management system
 Admitted: the required resources reserved by BS, but not
active
 Active: the required resources committed by the BS
IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– Uplink Service Classes

 UGS: Unsolicited Grant Services

 rtPS: Real-time Polling Services

 nrtPS: Non-real-time Polling

Services
 BE: Best Effort
IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– Uplink Services: UGS

 UGS: Unsolicited Grant Services

 For CBR or CBR-like services,
e.g., T1/E1.
 The BS scheduler offers fixed size
UL BW grants on a real-time
periodic basis.
 The SS does not need to send any
explicit UL BW req.
IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– Uplink Services: rtPS

 rtPS: Real-time Polling Services

 For rt-VBR-like services, e.g., MPEG
video.
 The BS scheduler offers real-time,
periodic, UL BW request opportunities.
 The SS uses the offered UL BW req.
opportunity to specify the desired UL
BW grant.
 The SS cannot use contention-based
BW req.
IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– Uplink Services: nrtPS

 nrtPS: non-real-time polling

services
 For nrt-VBR-like services, such as,
bandwidth-intensive file transfer.
 The BS scheduler shall provide timely
(on a order of a second or less) UL BW
request opportunities.
 The SS can use contention-based BW
req. opportunities to send BW req.
IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– Uplink Services: BE

 BE: Best Effort

 Forbest-effort traffic, e.g., HTTP,
SMTP.
 The SS uses the contention-based
BW request opportunities.
 IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– Bandwidth Grant

 BW grants are per Subscriber Station:

 Allows real­time reaction to QoS need, i.e., SS may re­
distribute bandwidth among its connections, maintaining 
QoS and service­level agreements 
 Lower overhead, i.e., less UL­MAP entries compare to grant 
per connection
 Off­ loading base station’s work 
 Requires intelligent subscriber station to redistribute the 
allocated BW among connections
IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– BW Request/Grant Mechanisms

 Implicit requests (UGS): No actual requests

 BW request messages, i.e., BW req. header
 Sends in either a contention­based BW req. slot or a 
regular UL allocation for the SS;he special B
 Requests up to 32 KB with a single message Request
 Incremental or aggregate, as indicated by MAC header– 
 Piggybacked request (for non-UGS services
only)
 Presented in Grant Management (GM) sub­header in a 
data MAC PDU of the same UL connection
 is always incremental 
 Up to 32 KB per request for the CID 
 Poll-Me bit
 Presented in the GM sub­header on a UGS connection
 request a bandwidth req. opportunity for non­UGS services
 IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
-- Contention UL Access
 Two types of Contention based UL slots
 Initial Ranging
 Used for new SS to join the system

 Requires a long preamble

 BW Request
 Used for sending BW req

 Short preamble

 Collision Detection and Resolution

 Detection: SS does not get the expected response
in a given time
 Resolution: a truncated binary exponential backoff
window
 IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
UL Sub-Frame Structure

Source: http://www.cygnuscom.com/pdf/WP_PN_Article.pdf
IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– Ranging

 Ranging is a process of acquiring the

correct timing offset, and PHY
parameters, such as, Tx power level,
frequency offset, etc. so that the SS can
communicate with the BS correctly.
 BS performs measurements and
feedback.
 SS performs necessary adjustments.
 Two types of Ranging:
 Initial ranging: for a new SS to join the system
 Periodic ranging (also called maintenance
ranging): dynamically maintain a good RF link.
IEEE 802.16 MAC – CPS
– Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ)

 A Layer-2 sliding-window based flow control

mechanism.
 Per connection basis.
 Only effective to non-real-time applications.
 Uses a 11-bit sequence number field.
 Uses CRC-32 checksum of MAC PDU to check
data errors.
 Maintain the same fragmentation structure for
Retransmission.
 Optional.
IEEE 802.16 MAC
– Privacy Sub-layer (PS)

 Two Major Functions:

 Secures over-the-air transmissions
 Protects from theft of service

 Two component protocols:

 Data encryption protocol
 A client/server model based Key
management protocol (Privacy Key
Management, or PKM)
IEEE 802.16 MAC – PS
-- Security Associations

 A set of privacy information, e.g.,

encryption keys, used encryption
algorithm
 Three types of Security Associations (SAs)
 Primary SA: established during initial registration
 Static SA: provisioned within the BS
 Dynamic SA: dynamically created on the fly
 Identified by a 16-bit SAID
 Connections are mapped to SAs
IEEE 802.16 MAC – PS
-- Multi-level Keys and Their Usage
 Public Key
 Contained in X.509 digital certificate
 Issued by SS manufacturers
 Used to encrypt AK
 Authorization Key (AK)
 Provided by BS to SS at authorization
 Used to derive KEK
 Key Encryption Key (KEK)
 Derived from AK
 Used to encrypt TEK
 Traffic Encryption Key (TEK)
 Provided by BS to SS at key exchange
 Used to encrypt traffic data payload
IEEE 802.16 MAC – PS
-- Data Encryption
 Use DES (Data Encryption Standard) in
CBC (Cipher Block Chaining) mode with
IV (Initialization Vector).
 CBC IV is calculated from
 IV parameter in TEK keying info; and
 PHY synchronization field in DL-MAP.
 Only MAC PDU payload (including sub-
headers) is encrypted.
 MAC PDU headers are unencrypted.
 Management messages are
unencrypted.
IEEE 802.16 MAC
– one big item is out of scope

Scheduler
Questions ??
References
 IEEE802.16-2004
 Alcatel White Paper: WiMAX, making
ubiquitous high-speed data services a
reality
 Intel White Paper: Understanding WiMAX
and 3G for Portable/Mobile Broadband
Wireless
 WiMAX Forum: www.wimaxforum.com
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMax
IEEE 802.16 MAC – commonly used
terms
 BS – Base Station
 SS – Subscriber Station, (i.e., CPE)
 DL – Downlink, i.e. from BS to SS
 UL – Uplink, i.e. from SS to BS
 FDD – Frequency Division Duplex
 TDD – Time Division Duplex
 TDMA – Time Division Multiple Access
 TDM – Time Division Multiplexing
 OFDM – Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing
 OFDMA - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple
Access
 QoS – Quality of Service