Whitepaper : WIMAX 2.0 for operators

With over 70 mobile WiMAX deployments worldwide in 2.3 , 2.5 and 3.5 GHz and continuously growing , the role of WiMAX 2.0 is pivotal for operators to support humongous projected growing data demands and stay competitive in mobile data networks. The time to market and early competitiveness of WiMAX release 1.0 was successful in getting initial attraction from operators but there triumph will largely depend in continuous innovation and new suite of standards which will enable affordable and reasonable data services for their consumers.

16m will play important role to provide evolutionary path to Mobile WiMAX Release 1.0 operators to remain competitive in ever challenging mobile data networks and provide a platform for delivery of new services. It will also play an important role in shaping 4G mobile networks by supporting IMT-A requirement by updating its IEEE Std 802.16 standards to meet the requirements of next generation mobile networks targeted by the cellular layer of IMT-Advanced.

WiMAX 2.0 or 16m standards work will be completed by the end of this year and the first 16m release will be available for industry by July, 2010[1]. Based on the inputs from supplier and past standardization experience it appears that operators will have WiMAX 2.0 systems for deployment as early as 2012. Work on the standard has been progressing very quickly, the experiences with 802.16e and even some of the learning’s from LTE  has enabled quick completion of standards.

Following are the key vital features of WiMAX 2.0 which is incorporated in standards and presented in this whitepaper.

• New spectrum in FDD and TDD band
• Support of IMT-A frequency bands
• At least two fold increase in average data throughput from the current Release
• Advanced interference management methods to support true reuse 1 deployments as compared to current reuse 3 deployments
• Round trip access latency is reduced to less than 10-20 ms levels which will allow more demanding services like online gaming etc.
• Support for self organizing networks
• Support for femtocells
• Support of Relays stations
• Support for Location services
• Support for enhanced multicast and broadcast services
• Multicarrier aggregation upto 100 MHz
• Co-existence of 16e and 16m base stations and backward compatibility
• 2-3 fold improvement in VoIP calls per MHz ( Optimized for voice)
• Coexistence of multi-technologies like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WiMAX
• Inter Radio Access technology handovers( 3GPP)
• Improved scheduling and new QoS class

It is more apt for operators who have already deployed their networks with release 1.0 to migrate to WiMAX2.0  as the release 1.0 devices are backward compatible with 16m systems and the performance of 16m systems is adequate to support the requirements of IMT-A and other competing technologies like LTE and LTE-A.

While this paper will cover all the aspects of 16m performance and features for operators , aspects of coexistence of release 1.0 and release 2.0 systems  is presented for WiMAX operators.

Download white paper here:  WiMAX 2.0 for operator v1.0