What is wimax, how to use it, how to get started?
WiMAX is defined as Worldwide Interoperability for
Microwave Access by the WiMAX Forum, formed in April 2001 to
promote conformance and interoperability of the IEEE 802.16
standard, officially known as WirelessMAN. The Forum describes
WiMAX as "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery
of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to
cable and DSL".
The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access
Standards, which was established by IEEE Standards Board in
1999, aims to prepare formal specifications for the global
deployment of broadband Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks.
The Workgroup is a unit of the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards
Committee.
Although the 802.16 family of standards is officially
called WirelessMAN, it has been dubbed “WiMAX” by an industry
group called the The WiMAX Forum. The mission of the Forum is
to promote and certify compatibility and interoperability of
broadband wireless products. The acronym WiMAX expands to
"Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access".
The first 802.16 standard was approved in December 2001 and
was followed by two amendments – 802.16a and 802.16c to
address issues of radio spectrum and inter-operability,
respectively. In September 2003, a revision project called
802.16REVd commenced aiming to align the standard with aspects
of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
HIPERMAN standard as well as lay down conformance and test
specifications. This project concluded in 2004 with the
release of 802.16-2004 and the withdrawal of the earlier
802.16 documents including the a/b/c amendments.
Amendments to the standard
An amendment to the standard,
IEEE 802.16-2005 (formerly known as IEEE 802.16e), addressing
mobility, was concluded in 2005. This is sometimes called
“Mobile WiMAX”, after the WiMAX forum for
interoperability.
Active amendments:
802.16f – Management Information Base
Amendments in
development:
802.16g - Management Plane Procedures and Services
Amendments at pre-draft stage:
802.16h - Improved Coexistence Mechanisms for
License-Exempt Operation
802.16i - Mobile Management
Information Base
802.16j - Mobile Multihop Relay
802.16k - Bridging
Certification
Because the IEEE only sets specifications
but does not test equipment for compliance with them, the
WiMAX Forum runs a certification program wherein members pay
for certification. WiMAX certification by this group is
intended to guarantee compliance with the standard and
interoperability with equipment from other manufacturers. The
mission of the Forum is to promote and certify compatibility
and interoperability of broadband wireless products.
IEEE 802 refers to a family of IEEE standards about local
area networks and metropolitan area networks. More
specifically, the IEEE 802 standards are restricted to
networks carrying variable-size packets. (By contrast, in
cell-based networks data is transmitted in short, uniformly
sized units called cells. Isochronous networks, where data is
transmitted as a steady stream of octets, or groups of octets,
at regular time intervals, are also out of the scope of this
standard.) The number 802 was simply the next free number IEEE
could assign, though "802" is sometimes associated with the
date the first meeting was held - February 1980.
The services and protocols specified in IEEE 802 map to the
lower two layers (Data Link and Physical) of the seven-layer
OSI networking reference model. In fact, IEEE 802 splits the
OSI Data Link Layer into two sub-layers named Logical Link
Control (LLC) and Media Access Control, so that the layers can
be listed like this:
Data link layer
LLC Sublayer
MAC Sublayer
Physical layer
The IEEE 802 family of standards is maintained by the IEEE
802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee (LMSC). The most widely used
standards are for the Ethernet family, Token Ring, Wireless
LAN, Bridging and Virtual Bridged LANs. An individual Working
Group provides the focus for each area.
General
The IEEE 802.16 Air Interface Standard is truly a
state-of-the-art specification for fixed broadband wireless
access systems employing a point-to-multipoint architecture.
The initial version was developed with the goal of meeting the
requirements of a vast array of deployment scenarios for BWA
systems operating between 10 and 66 GHz. As a result, only a
subset of the functionality is needed for typical deployments
directed at specific markets. An amendment is almost finished
to do the same for systems operating between 2 and 11 GHz.
Additionally, the IEEE process stops short of providing
conformance statements and test specifications. In order to
ensure interoperability between vendors competing in the same
market, the WiMAX technical working groups were created by the
leaders in IEEE 802.16 technology.
The 802.16 standard, amended this January by the IEEE to
cover frequency bands in the range between 2 GHz and 11 GHz,
specifies a metropolitan area networking protocol that will
enable a wireless alternative for cable, DSL and T1 level
services for last mile broadband access, as well as providing
backhaul for 801.11 hotspots. The new 802.16a standard
specifies a protocol that among other things supports low
latency applications such as voice and video, provides
broadband connectivity without requiring a direct line of
sight between subscriber terminals and the base station (BTS)
and will support hundreds if not thousands of subscribers from
a single BTS. The standard will help accelerate the
introduction of wireless broadband equipment into the
marketplace, speeding up last-mile broadband deployment
worldwide by enabling service providers to increase system
performance and reliability while reducing their equipment
costs and investment risks. Overview of the IEEE 802.16a
Standard, WiMAX and the IEEE 802.16a PHY Layer, IEEE 802.16a
MAC Layer, Differentiating the IEEE 802.16a and 802.11
Standards - WiFi versus WiMAX Scalability, The WiMAX
Forum-Interoperability for 802.16 Compliant Systems,
Traderock The Definitive Source for Wireless Technology and
Business
Who is the manufacturers of these wimax systems,
hardware, chips, software, following are a few companies that
makes these units. Traderock will supply any of these
solutions as you decide
APERTO
Aperto Networks has been a leading contributor to IEEE
802.16 and ETSI HiperMAN standards, making sure that key
technical features such as QoS and link adaptation
enhancements were supported to stringent carrier requirements.
Aperto Networks was the first company to deliver IEEE
802.16-class systems in 2000.
The combination
of standards completion in March 2003, official launch of the
WiMAX Forum in late 2003, Aperto pushed forward to the
development of PacketMAX – one of the first systems submitted
for WiMAX certification. These efforts provide a solid base
contributing to the ongoing development of WiMAX products now
with outdoor fixed and indoor installed subscribers based on
IEEE 802.16-2004 and evolving to portable and mobile systems
based on IEEE 802.16e in the future.
Technical
Firsts:
First to implement a carrier-class QoS profiles
(up to 16 service flows) to support simultaneous voice and
tiered data services.
First to enable up to six different
adaptive link parameters per subscriber for high throughput,
peak performance, and interference resilience.
First to
support a medium access control (MAC) scheme using burst mode
time division multiple access (TDMA) that can scale from a few
users to hundreds per sector.
First in the industry to
over enhanced IP networking functionality such as virtual LAN
(VLAN) support, IP routing, and Dynamic Host Configuration
protocol (DHCP) server.
Pre-WiMAX broadband wireless providers have often been
constrained by low-level networking and interoperability
issues – limiting their service offerings to raw bandwidth and
basic Internet access. These providers are realizing that
while the new WiMAX standard helps ensure compatibility, it
does not by itself result in an optimized solution that
satisfies the whole range of operational and subscriber
requirements. Aperto’s industry-leading PacketMAX™
infrastructure permits service provides to focus on their key
business: offering competitive and profitable services.
PacketMAX lets providers differentiate themselves from their
competition by delivering the broadest array of services
architected around a fully optimized WiMAX
solution.
Aperto PacketMAX is specifically
designed to enable service offerings that drive revenue. These
services include:
Voice
Can voice be the
“killer app” for WiMAX? There is good reason to believe that
many users will utilize fixed wireless voice as their lifeline
to the outside world. PacketMAX systems leverage Aperto’s
unique quality of service (QoS) features to delivering
best-of-breed voice service offerings. For more information,
Contact Traderock at www.traderock.com .
TDM
Despite the current trend toward IP convergence,
demand for TDM services is still growing. The need for
providers to deliver mobile voice and data drives expenses
upward and increases operational complexity by requiring rapid
deployment of new cell sites to handle the increased traffic.
Many large and midsize enterprises have sizable investments in
TDM-based systems for private voice, and must continue to
provide high-quality service. Leased-line costs can account
for up to 30% of operational expenditures for mobile operators
backhauling cell site traffic. PacketMAX technology can
dramatically lower these costs by effectively emulating
circuit-switched services over the lower-cost WiMAX link. For
more information, Contact Traderock at www.traderock.com .
Internet Access
Internet access is an indis