What is wimax

What is wimax

WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a telecommunications protocol that provides fixed and mobile Internet access. The current WiMAX revision provides up to 40 Mbit/s with the IEEE 802.16m update expected to offer up to 1 Gbit/s fixed speeds. The name "WiMAX" was created by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformity and interoperability of the standard. 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".

WiMAX Technology is also one of the emerging wireless technologies that provide us high speed mobile data and telecommunication services. WiMAX stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access and it is based on IEEE 802.16 standards.In this technological world, we have so many technologies that help us in every aspect of our daily life such as transportation, communication etc. Wimax Technology works same as Wi-Fi does but it is more improved and efficient then WiFi and it can route data to Wi-Fi that is Wi-Fi devices can take advantage of WiMAX connection. WiMAX technology providess higher speed connection up to 70 Mbps over the area of 30 miles. There is no need for line of sight connection between subscriber terminals and the base station in WiMAX technology and it can support hundreds if not thousands of subscribers from a single base station. It is also specified in 802.16 standards that it will supports low latency applications such as voice, video, and Internet access at the same time.

HOW WIMAX WORKS

Around 2004, WiMAX technology become progressively more discussed. Although initially designed as a fixed wimax technology, it was being conformed in the standards to develop into a mobile technology also known as IEEE 802.16e. Many experts made claims about the WiMAX technology, some claimed it would have significantly greater range than 3G, higher data rates, would be built into all computing devices and as a effect it would take over the market for 3G like services. See also what is 4G.

 In 2006, the view was that WiMax mobile networks might not be launched until the end of 2007 or 2008. It would then take some time to install the networks and require terminal devices, so it might not be until 2010 that it would be likely to see whether WiMax was having any impact on 3G, on the other hand, some straightforward observations propose that its impact will be bounded to some limits.

 WiMAX Research Background 

WiMAX is the standards based technology that was developed in the early 2000, though we can say that its not mature enough as compare to other technologies for example; Wi-Fi, 3g GPRS. At the moment most of the organizations are considering to deploy the WiMAX technology because it can help them to generate handsome amount of revenue and the value added services to their customers. As far as the threats to WiMAX technology are concerned the major threats are authentication, encryption and availability problems discussed in detail with other people's context in other sections of this website. Please select the topic from the navigation menu for more details on each of them.

Competing technologies

Within the marketplace, WiMAX's main competition comes from existing, widely deployed wireless systems such as UMTS, CDMA2000, existing Wi-Fi and mesh networking.

In the future, competition will be from the evolution of the major cellular standards to so-called 4G, high-bandwidth, low-latency, all-IP networks with voice services built on top. The worldwide move to 4G for GSM/UMTS and AMPS/TIA (including CDMA2000) is the 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) effort.

LTE is expected to be ratified at the end of 2010, with commercial implementations becoming viable within the next two years. End of 2009 TeliaSonera started commercial deployment in Oslo and Stockholm. In Denmark the 3 big telecoms are upgrading their network, and will make LTE available during 2010.

In some areas of the world, the wide availability of UMTS and a general desire for standardization has meant spectrum has not been allocated for WiMAX: in July 2005, the EU-wide frequency allocation for WiMAX was blocked.

Future development

The IEEE 802.16m standard is the core technology for the proposed WiMAX Release 2, which enables more efficient, faster, and more converged data communications. The IEEE 802.16m standard has been submitted to the ITU for IMT-Advanced standardization.IEEE 802.16m is one of the major candidates for IMT-Advanced technologies by ITU. Among many enhancements, IEEE 802.16m systems can provide four times faster^{[clarification needed]} data speed than the current WiMAX Release 1 based on IEEE 802.16e technology.

WiMAX Release 2 will provide strong backward compatibility with Release 1 solutions. It will allow current WiMAX operators to migrate their Release 1 solutions to Release 2 by upgrading channel cards or software of their systems. Also, the subscribers who use currently available WiMAX devices can communicate with new WiMAX Release 2 systems without difficulty.

It is anticipated that in a practical deployment, using 4X2 MIMO in the urban microcell scenario with only a single 20 MHz TDD channel available system wide, the 802.16m system can support both 120 Mbit/s downlink and 60 Mbit/s uplink per site simultaneously. It is expected that the WiMAX Release 2 will be available commercially in the 2011-2012 timeframe.

Interference

A field test conducted by SUIRG (Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group) with support from the U.S. Navy, the Global VSAT Forum, and several member organizations yielded results showing interference at 12 km when using the same channels for both the WiMAX systems and satellites in C-band. The WiMAX Forum has yet to respond.

Integration with an IP-based network

The WiMAX Forum WiMAX Architecture

The WiMAX Forum has proposed an architecture that defines how a WiMAX network can be connected with an IP based core network, which is typically chosen by operators that serve as Internet Service Providers (ISP); Nevertheless the WiMAX BS provide seamless integration capabilities with other types of architectures as with packet switched Mobile Networks.

The WiMAX forum proposal defines a number of components, plus some of the interconnections (or reference points) between these, labeled R1 to R5 and R8:

• SS/MS: the Subscriber Station/Mobile Station
• ASN: the Access Service Network^[20]
• BS: Base station, part of the ASN
• ASN-GW: the ASN Gateway, part of the ASN
• CSN: the Connectivity Service Network
• HA: Home Agent, part of the CSN
• AAA: Authentication, Authorization and Accounting Server, part of the CSN
• NAP: a Network Access Provider
• NSP: a Network Service Provider

It is important to note that the functional architecture can be designed into various hardware configurations rather than fixed configurations. For example, the architecture is flexible enough to allow remote/mobile stations of varying scale and functionality and Base Stations of varying size - e.g. femto, pico, and mini BS as well as macros.

Deployments

(South) Korea launched a Wimax network in the 2nd quarter of 2006 and a HSPA network in the 3rd quarter. By the end of 2008 there were 8.4 million HSPA subscribers and 350,000 Wimax subscribers in Korea. Almost all of HSPA subscribers come from 2G and 3G users who have been tempted to upgrade to new devices by high subsidies, whereas Wimax subscribers almost all are newcomers. Deployment of Wimax is still limited (spotted), whereas there are well over 100 countries where HSPA networks are deployed, and even where there is no HSPA coverage there is backward compatibility (using HSPA devices) to pre-existing networks (GSM and WCDMA) with a roaming infrastructure already in place.

As of October 2010, the WiMAX Forum claims there are over 592 WiMAX (fixed and mobile) networks deployed in over 148 countries.

Yota is the largest WiMAX network operator in the world but has announced that it will move new network deployments to LTE and, subsequently, change its existing networks as well.

A study carried out and published September 2010 by Blycroft Publishing found that only 364 WiMAX operations were actually offering active services (launched or still trading as opposed to just licensed and still to launch). Many operators known to be active in WiMAX were found by the research to have been bought out, merged or even switched to LTE.

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Raheel Ahmed Khan
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