Course ID

P-WIMAX1

Course Duration

3 days

Aimed At

You should have a couple of years of wireless engineering experience in a contemporary wireless technology such as GSM, cdmaOne, 1xRTT, or UMTS.

Course in a Nutshell

This course will help you build a solid understanding of the capabilities, strengths, and limitations of WiMAX and Mobile WiMAX as an alternative to 3G and 3xxG technologies for implementing wireless broadband.

After a short regulatory and historical perspective, we will zoom in on the two biggest challenges faced by the mobile communications channel and how they are resolved in representative technologies. We will discuss the pros and cons of the various solution strategies to the issues posed by WiMAX. We will also discuss the optional implementation of OFDMA in conjunction with CDMA and the benefits/challenges that it presents. This will pave the way for an intensive study of how WiMAX works and the details of its physical as well as MAC layers. We will wrap up the course with a detailed comparison of WIMAX vis-à-vis WiFi and the evolving 3G/4G technologies now in deployment around the world — as well as some of the business issues related to the WiMAX deployment. In summary, you will learn all important aspects of WiMAX in enough technical depth to allow you to make sound engineering decisions.

Course Outline

• Introduction
  • Course overview
  • Basics of broadband wireless systems
  • Market growth and projected outlook for wireless technologies
• Evolution of Broadband Wireless Systems
  • Narrowband wireless local-loop systems
  • First generation broadband systems
  • Second generation broadband systems
• Fixed and Mobile Wireless Broadband
  • Definitions
  • Fixed wireless broadband: Technology basics
  • Mobile wireless broadband: Technology basics
  • Market outlook for fixed and mobile wireless broadband
• Characteristics of Broadband Wireless Systems
  • WiMAX
  • Cellular
  • WiFi 802.11 standards
  • Evolution of the 802.11 standards family
  • WiFi overview and air interface features
  • Features common to WiFi and WiMAX
  • WiFi and WiMAX comparison: Benefits and challenges
  • Outlook for the evolution of WiMAX and WiFi
  • WiMAX compared to 3G wireless and WiFi
• Regulatory and Licensing Issues Related to the Broadband Wireless Spectrum
  • Regulatory environment and world wide spectrum allocations
  • Licensed versus unlicensed bands of operation
  • Where are the premium frequencies?
• Analysis of Broadband Business Challenges
  • Who will survive and why?
  • What are “orphan broadband wireless technologies”
• Technical Challenges for Broadband Wireless Technologies
  • Where does broadband fit in the radio spectrum?
  • Fundamental explanation of radio propagation problems
  • Quality of Service (QoS) goals for wireless broadband systems
• Overview of WiMAX and the IEEE 802.16 Standard
  • Evolution of IEEE 802.16 to 802.16e
  • WiMAX network architecture and protocol stacks
  • Multiple access techniques – equal access for users
  • TDMA and CDMA overview
  • Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)
  • OFDM as a multiple access technique
  • WiMAX and OFDMA
  • Multiple access strategies for OFDM
  • Random access vs. multiple access
  • OFDMA symbol structure and sub-channelization
  • Scalable OFDMA
  • TDD frame structure
  • Advantages and disadvantages of OFDM

• WiMAX/IEEE 802.16 Physical Layer
  • OFDMA frame structure
  • OFDMA subcarrier allocations
  • OFDMA ranging and handover
  • WiMAX channel coding and convolutional coding
  • Turbo codes and WiMAX
  • Hybrid ARQ explained
  • MIMO basics
  • Channel quality measurements
• Advanced Features of Mobile WiMAX
  • Smart antenna technologies
  • Fractional frequency reuse
  • Multicast and broadcast service
  • IP QoS Technologies
  • Multimedia session management
  • SIP and the Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP)
  • Security issues

• Mobility Management with WiMAX
  • Handoff management
  • Mobile IP and the application to WiMAX
  • Mobile WiMAX system performance evaluation

• Mobile WiMAX System Parameters
• Mobile WiMAX Link Budget
• End-to-End Network Architecture of WiMAX
• Roadmap for WiMAX
  • Mobile WiMAX spectrum considerations
  • Other considerations
  • Mobile WiMAX applications
• Mobile WiMAX-3G Comparisons
• Evolution to 3G systems
  • Overview of 1xEVDO
  • Overview of HSDPA/HSUPA
  • Outlook for future 3G releases

• Comparing Mobile WiMAX, 1xEVDO, and HSPA
  • Common features
    • Adaptive modulation and coding
    • Hybrid ARQ
    • Fast scheduling
    • Bandwidth efficient handoff
  • Advantages of Mobile WiMAX
    • Tolerance to multipath and self-interference
    • Scalable channel bandwidth
    • Orthogonal uplink multiple access
    • Spectral efficient TDD
    • Frequency selective scheduling
    • Fractional frequency reuse
    • QoS
    • Advanced antenna technology
• Course Recap and Q/A