WiMAX 2: A fully 4G technology
04-02-2010
Operators can easily upgrade from today's mobile WiMax to this 120Mbps (downlink) version
While mobile WiMAX - based on the IEEE 802.16e standard - provides broadband performance capabilities, it still falls short of the International Telecom Union's (ITU) key requirements for consideration as an IMT advanced (4G) technology - specifically, providing downlink speeds of 100 Mbps in a wide area with high-mobility.
Last October at the ITU Telecom World 2009 conference in Geneva, Switzerland, the WiMAX Forum and member companies announced their support of the IEEE's submission to the ITU of the 802.16m standard as a candidate for consideration as an IMT advanced technology.
The WiMAX Forum also announced that WiMAX Release 2, which is based on the standard, would be finalized in parallel with 802.16m, to ensure that the next generation of WiMAX networks and devices will remain backward compatible with WiMAX networks based on 802.16e. According to Jose Puthenkulam, Intel's director of WiMAX standards, "the profile development time for 802.16m has been much shorter than with the prior, 802.16e profile....We have taken the experiences with 802.16e and even some of the learnings from LTE and built that into the 802.16m standard"
According to a survey by wimax.com, "companies expressing support include Beceem and Intel on the chip side, and Samsung, Huawei, ZTE, Alvarion and Cisco on the infrastructure side.... The 802.16m profile is currently under evaluation and is expected to be ratified along with WiMAX Release 2 later this year. We should then expect to start seeing the first 802.16m dongles in late 2011 and more wide-spread commercial deployments starting in 2012"
The same survey noted that "Last October at the ITU World conference, Yota and Samsung demonstrated a test of an 802.16m network and Yota plans to be one of the first operators in the world to install the technology once it becomes available. As one of the fastest growing WiMAX operators in the world, Yota can certainly use the extra capacity. In one month alone last year, the service provider carried over 2,290 terabytes of data on its network"
"The driving force behind the development of 802.16m is capacity....capacity for operators to grow their networks," says Intel's Jose Puthenkulam. The new 802.16m standard will also provide increased performance advantages. From a technological perspective, 802.16m is capable of providing up to 120 Mbps down and 60 Mbps up in an urban setting, using 4x2 MIMO antennas on a single 20MHz-wide channel. Even higher data rates can be achieved with additional spectrum resources or more complex antenna schemes. While impressive, actual commercial performance will be considerably less based on spectrum used and other factors.
802.16m will also be backward compatible with existing WiMAX networks, providing ease-of-mind for operators deploying networks today. Most mobile WiMAX operators can easily convert from 802.16e to 802.16m by updating some circuit plate units and software in their bases stations. All of the 802.16e units in the field will continue to work and customers will see no disruption in service.
Both LTE and WiMAX Release 2 achieve their extraordinary performance and capacity by providing the ability to support wider 20MHz channels (in addition to 10MHZ channels). But performance is only as good as the spectrum available. And both LTE and WiMAX 2 will be challenged by availability of contiguous 20MHz channels
Most 3G networks operate using up to 5MHz channels, WiMAX 802.16e networks operate using up to 10MHz, and 802.16m and LTE networks will operate using up to 20MHz channels.
To achieve their significantly higher performance LTE operators need to use the wider 20MHz channels, but that spectrum is not always readily available. In the US, Verizon which is planning to deploy its LTE network in 700 MHZ only has two, 11MHz channels nation-wide. ATT, which also plans to deploy an LTE network, only has two, 12 MHZ channels.
"Lots of the spectrum allocation are in 10MHz chunks," says Intel's Jose Puthenkulam. "The places you will find contiguous 20MHz channels do exist, but they are few and far between."
Extracts from an article in wimax.com
While mobile WiMAX - based on the IEEE 802.16e standard - provides broadband performance capabilities, it still falls short of the International Telecom Union's (ITU) key requirements for consideration as an IMT advanced (4G) technology - specifically, providing downlink speeds of 100 Mbps in a wide area with high-mobility.
Last October at the ITU Telecom World 2009 conference in Geneva, Switzerland, the WiMAX Forum and member companies announced their support of the IEEE's submission to the ITU of the 802.16m standard as a candidate for consideration as an IMT advanced technology.
The WiMAX Forum also announced that WiMAX Release 2, which is based on the standard, would be finalized in parallel with 802.16m, to ensure that the next generation of WiMAX networks and devices will remain backward compatible with WiMAX networks based on 802.16e. According to Jose Puthenkulam, Intel's director of WiMAX standards, "the profile development time for 802.16m has been much shorter than with the prior, 802.16e profile....We have taken the experiences with 802.16e and even some of the learnings from LTE and built that into the 802.16m standard"
According to a survey by wimax.com, "companies expressing support include Beceem and Intel on the chip side, and Samsung, Huawei, ZTE, Alvarion and Cisco on the infrastructure side.... The 802.16m profile is currently under evaluation and is expected to be ratified along with WiMAX Release 2 later this year. We should then expect to start seeing the first 802.16m dongles in late 2011 and more wide-spread commercial deployments starting in 2012"
The same survey noted that "Last October at the ITU World conference, Yota and Samsung demonstrated a test of an 802.16m network and Yota plans to be one of the first operators in the world to install the technology once it becomes available. As one of the fastest growing WiMAX operators in the world, Yota can certainly use the extra capacity. In one month alone last year, the service provider carried over 2,290 terabytes of data on its network"
"The driving force behind the development of 802.16m is capacity....capacity for operators to grow their networks," says Intel's Jose Puthenkulam. The new 802.16m standard will also provide increased performance advantages. From a technological perspective, 802.16m is capable of providing up to 120 Mbps down and 60 Mbps up in an urban setting, using 4x2 MIMO antennas on a single 20MHz-wide channel. Even higher data rates can be achieved with additional spectrum resources or more complex antenna schemes. While impressive, actual commercial performance will be considerably less based on spectrum used and other factors.
802.16m will also be backward compatible with existing WiMAX networks, providing ease-of-mind for operators deploying networks today. Most mobile WiMAX operators can easily convert from 802.16e to 802.16m by updating some circuit plate units and software in their bases stations. All of the 802.16e units in the field will continue to work and customers will see no disruption in service.
Both LTE and WiMAX Release 2 achieve their extraordinary performance and capacity by providing the ability to support wider 20MHz channels (in addition to 10MHZ channels). But performance is only as good as the spectrum available. And both LTE and WiMAX 2 will be challenged by availability of contiguous 20MHz channels
Most 3G networks operate using up to 5MHz channels, WiMAX 802.16e networks operate using up to 10MHz, and 802.16m and LTE networks will operate using up to 20MHz channels.
To achieve their significantly higher performance LTE operators need to use the wider 20MHz channels, but that spectrum is not always readily available. In the US, Verizon which is planning to deploy its LTE network in 700 MHZ only has two, 11MHz channels nation-wide. ATT, which also plans to deploy an LTE network, only has two, 12 MHZ channels.
"Lots of the spectrum allocation are in 10MHz chunks," says Intel's Jose Puthenkulam. "The places you will find contiguous 20MHz channels do exist, but they are few and far between."
Extracts from an article in wimax.com
