WiMAX Technology

By Ayalew Nigussie

Over the years companies have tossed around several technologies as the answer for providing broadband services to widely dispersed rural areas. In 2001 a group of companies formed a nonprofit trade organization, WiMAX Forum, to foster development and knowledge of another potential solution. This effort resulted in the naissance of WiMAX Technology or the IEEE 802.16 standard. WiMAX products use radio waves to transmit signals from one access point to the next, and its spectrum range is impressive. It can serve urban and rural customers in fixed environments with high-speed wireless service.

WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access. It enables the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to wired broadband like cable and DSL.

The WiMAX forum describes WiMAX as “a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL.” WiMAX products can accommodate fixed and mobile usage models. The IEEE 802.16 standard was developed to deliver non-line-of-sight (LoS) connectivity between a subscriber station and base station with typical cell radius of three to ten kilometers.

WiMAX provides High-speed Internet access where it is currently unavailable. It also increase substantially data speeds for applications to include online gaming, streaming video, video conferencing, VoIP and location based services.
A key differentiator for WiMAX is the interoperability of WiMAX Forum Certified equipment, resulting in mass volume economy of scale and assurance for service providers that when buying equipment from more than one company, the technologies are interoperable. The WiMAX Forum has assembled an alliance of leaders in the communications and computing industries to drive a common platform for the global deployment of IP-based broadband wireless services. Other key elements include cost, coverage, capacity and standards for both fixed and mobile wireless usage models.
Lower cost
A standards based platform for WiMAX technology drives down costs delivering volume economics to WiMAX equipment.
Wider coverage
The technology behind WiMAX has been optimized to provide excellent non-line-of-sight (NLoS) coverage. NLoS advantages are coverage of wider areas, better predictability of coverage and lower cost as it means fewer base stations and backhaul, simple RF planning, shorter towers and faster CPE install times. Thanks to techniques for improving NLoS coverage, such as diversity, space-time coding, and Automatic Retransmission Request (ARQ), coverage are increased.
Higher capacity
A key advantage of WiMAX technology is to use Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) over Edge, GPRS, HSPA to deliver higher bandwidth efficiency and therefore higher data throughput, with more than one Mbps downstream and higher data rates. Adaptive modulation also increases link reliability for carrier-class operation and the possibility to keep higher order modulation at wider distance extend full capacity over longer distances.
Standard for all usage models (fixed to mobile)
By leveraging the same technology networks, WiMAX technology will become the most cost-effective solution for carriers to deploy for any usage model from fixed to mobile.The WiMAX Forum certifies products for conformance and interoperability based upon the standards IEEE 802.16.

The WiMax standard got worldwide approval in October 2007 when the ITU, an agency of the United Nations, agreed to recognize it as a next-generation wireless technology. The International Telecommunication Union’s endorsement makes it as an International Mobile Telecommunications 2000 specification. WiMAX joined a list of recognized mobile technologies, such CDMA, FDMA, and TDMA, by being included among IMT standards.

Mobile WiMAX will begin to take off in about two years and win more than 80 million subscribers globally by 2013, according to a recent report released by Juniper Research. More than 50 trials and network contracts for mobile WiMax, also known as 802.16e, have been announced in 2007 alone, and the technology is of interest in different parts of the world, according to the report. The report also found that the top mobile WiMax markets would be the United States, Japan, and South Korea.

In Africa as a developing continent, WiMAX technology provides the opportunity to connect the African people with Internet and VOIP services faster and more affordably than wireline. This wireless broadband technology is perfectly suited for rural areas and the purchase and installation process of WiMAX technology is faster, simpler and cheaper than other offered solutions. Additionally, the non-line-of-sight (NLoS) capability means that WiMAX technology can provide coverage despite the challenges of geography and the limited footprint of wireline.

Taiwan has continued its leadership in the development and deployment of WiMAX operability with six commercial WiMAX licenses awarded in July 2007 for six separate Taiwanese wireless communication providers. In regions like Taiwan, where users are spread out and the wireless traffic is going a long distance, WiMAX technology provides a reliable, inexpensive solution for constant wireless broadband connectivity.
WiMax technology is already penetrating in many countries. Russian fixed-line operator Comstar UTS plans to develop the first mobile WiMax network in Russia with Intel Corp and aims to launch the super-fast wireless broadband at the end of 2008. France Telecom’s mobile unit Orange will launch a WiMAX network in the Central African Republic. WiMAX represents one of the “Six priority domains, potential sources of growth” for France Telecom, and Orange has other plans for WiMAX in Africa. According to its latest financial report, the company plans to launch WiMAX networks in 2008 in Botswana, Cameroon and Madagascar. 

Many companies see WiMax as a very promising technology. Cisco is finalizing its acquisition of Navini, a WiMax network operator, which it hopes to leverage in developing countries. Cisco sees an opportunity in building networks in developing countries, initially to bring broadband to stationary users.

But the technology’s success will depend on the emergence of low-cost laptops and the inclusion of broadband capability in a range of devices, such as portable media players and game consoles. ˜

ICT Focus Magazine, November - December 2007