802.16a
802.16a, also known as WiMAX, is a wireless networking standard that offers greater range and bandwidth than the Wi-Fi family of standards, which includes 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. While Wi-Fi is intended to provide coverage over relatively small areas, such as in offices or hot spots, WiMAX can transfer around 70M bit/sec over a distance of 30 miles (48 kilometers) to thousands of users from a single base station.
Approved in January, 2003, 802.16a provides wireless, last-mile broadband access over the frequency bands below 11 GHz to connect homes, businesses and wireless LAN hot spots.
802.16a greatly improves non-line-of-sight performance, and it is the most appropriate technology available when obstacles such as trees and buildings are present. Stations can be mounted on homes or buildings rather than towers on mountains.
With throughput up to 75M bit/sec, the wireless standard gives companies another way to get business-quality broadband service. While it could take several months for a carrier to provision a T-1 line, service providers could provision wireless service in a matter of days.
802.16a provides flexibility not possible with wired services, such as high-speed backhaul for events such as trade shows, with hundreds or even thousands of 802.11 hot-spot users. On-demand connectivity also could benefit businesses such as construction companies that have sporadic or nomadic connectivity needs. The 802.16e extension to 802.16a introduces nomadic capabilities that let users connect while roaming outside their home service areas.
The technology also offers privacy and Triple-DES encryption features to support secure transmissions and authentication.
In a typical enterprise deployment, laptop and desktop computers are connected via wired Ethernet or 802.11 Wi-Fi access points located throughout the campus. An 802.16a directional antenna provides the connection from the business to a service provider's cell tower. Even if there is no line of sight between the antenna and the tower, signal still can be received after it reflects off buildings or other obstructions and reaches the tower indirectly. At the base station, 802.16a technology correctly interprets the information even though reflections distort the radio frequency signal. Backhaul to the Internet is then provided via wireless 802.16 point-to-point links or by traditional wired backhaul such as DS3 and OCX.
Technical aspects of 802.16a that are instrumental in powering robust performance include:
• Support for licensed and license-exempt band operation below 11 GHz.
• High spectral efficiency, which reduces carriers' costs and improves users' experience.
• Forward error correction, for more reliable transmission.
• Support for advanced antenna techniques to improve range and capacity.
• Space/time coding to enhance performance in fading environments.
• Adaptive modulation support, which allows for trade-off of bandwidth for range to reach customers up to 30 miles away.
802.16a technology also provides low latency for delay-sensitive services such as circuit-switched voice traffic or voice over IP, optimized transport for video, and prioritization of data traffic. This is especially important for businesses that want voice in addition to data services from their broadband service provider.
From 802.16a wireless links the last mile, Network World Tech Update, 11/03/03.
Additional resources
WiMAX Forum
Industry group; site has technical specs and news.
WiMAX promises breakthrough in broadband access
IDG News Service, 10/15/03.
Comments:
Wimax
by Barry
Excellent info.
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