Research Proposal on "Wimax Efficiency"

Research Proposal 12 pages (3811 words) Sources: 100 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

WiMAX Efficiency

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) Efficiency

This research proposal provides an overview of the study envisioned herein, as well as relevant background information on Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, or WiMAX.

One of the harsh realities of the Age of Information is the limited amount of bandwidth available to service the growing demand for wireless services and the fundamental constraints involved in delivering wireless services in geographically challenging areas. In this regard, Vucetic and Yuan (2003) report that, "Demands for capacity in wireless communications, driven by cellular mobile, Internet and multimedia services have been rapidly increasing worldwide. On the other hand, the available radio spectrum is limited and the communication capacity needs cannot be met without a significant increase in communication spectral efficiency" (p. 30). Indeed, the past decade or so has witnessed an explosion in the demand for such services, and wireless access is no longer regarded as a luxury by consumers but rather as an expected part of their day-to-day lives. For instance, in their white paper, "Smart WiMAX -- Delivering personal broadband," Subramanian, Rangarajan and Sergeant (2004) enthuse, "Wireless communications is becoming an inherent part of our everyday life. We now take for granted the ability to make a phone call no matter where we are via a cellular phone. At the same time the Internet explosion has created a need for access to data and multimedia that is much more than simple voice communication" (p. 2).

In this environment, identifying cost-effective and efficient alternatives represents a timely and valuable enterprise, but complex problems require complex solutions and this environment is no exception. According to Mukherjee (2007), "As bandwidth intensive, rich media applications are introduced, larger volumes of subscribers consume ever-growing quantities of data packets while continuing to utilize more minutes of voice. Simply acquiring more spectrum channels and deploying more sites to resolve capacity issues can be decidedly inefficient and costly" (p. 2). Clearly, a superior approach would use the best of what was available to its maximum advantage within existing service parameters and there have been a number of initiatives to this end in recent years that have met with mixed results. Consumer and business expectations of reliable and efficient wireless services are becoming increasingly severe, and companies that are able to deliver the goods will be at a distinct competitive advantage over those who plod along with their existing approaches. As Subramanian and his colleagues emphasize, "We expect to be able to access these applications anywhere any time on any device. The end result is personal broadband - a wireless broadband connection that belongs to an individual, like a cell phone. Achieving the economics of a personal broadband network deployment is the real challenge for next generation wireless networks. Some believe that existing cellular networks and their evolution to 3G and LTE can address this need" (Subramanian et al., p. 2). This evolution to ubiquitous computing is not without its rocky spots, though. Cellular networks that were originally designed for outdoor remain profoundly constrained in their ability to provide simple reliable voice services indoors as well as a fundamental inability to provide media-rich broadband content indoors and out (Subramanian et al.). Therefore, technologies that can overcome these constraints today can provide consumers and businesses alike with the level of service that they have come to expect. In this regard, Subramanian and his colleagues note that, "As personal broadband devices such as laptops, ultra-mobile computing platforms, PDAs, game devices etc. proliferate, the user expectation is to be able to access broadband content indoors as well as outdoors in a stationary or mobile context. Given such a requirement it is increasingly becoming clear that we need a different approach to the delivery ubiquitous anytime anywhere broadband" (emphasis added) (p. 2). In fact, as researchers at Intel emphasize, "Recent research indicates that laptop computers are becoming the access devices of choice for broadband wireless data. Personal productivity applications such as email, address books, calendars, and internet browsers, are among the top applications used" (Understanding WiMAX, 2004, p. 4).

A wide range of geographical constraints affect the ability of telecommunications providers in servicing this increasing array of applications. For instance, one industry analysts emphasizes that, "The wireless environment provides significant challenges including attenuation, multipath interference and cell planning. It is also important to consider the client complexity (and costs associated) and cell deployment scenarios" (Understanding WiMAX, p. 5). Multipath is the term used to describe the interference that develops when a transmission is originally transmitted and what happens to it in geographically challenging areas. For instance, Brooks and Hoelzer (2001) report that, "A common problem found in high-speed communication is inter-symbol interference (ISI). ISI occurs when a transmission interferes with itself and the receiver cannot decode the transmission correctly. For example, in a wireless communication system, the same transmission is sent in all directions. Because the signal reflects from large objects such as mountains or buildings, the receiver sees more than one copy of the signal. In communication terminology, this is called multipath" (p. 2). According to Mukherjee (2007), "One of the greatest challenges to traditional wireless systems has been managing multi-path fading environments. Multi-path fading is the resulting signal degradation due to obstructions between a wireless transmitter and its intended destination" (p. 2).

Because the indirect paths require more time to reach the receiver, the delayed copies of the signal tend to interfere with the direct signal, thereby causing ISI (Brooks & Hoelzer). In fact, this problem was identified early on. For instance, Cimini (1985) noted that "Severe multipath propagation, arising from multiple scattering by buildings and other structures in the vicinity of a mobile unit, makes the design of a mobile communication channel very challenging. This scattering produces rapid random amplitude and phase variations in the received signal as the vehicle moves in the multipath field. In addition, the vehicle motion introduces a Doppler shift, which causes a broadening of the signal spectrum" (p. 665). Taken together, these constraints suggest that these problems might in fact be far too complex for a simple approach, but researchers have developed a cost-effective alternative that may be able to overcome these obstacles and provide the level of services needed today and in the short-term in the world's inexorable march to ubiquitous computing, and these issues are discussed further below.

WiMAX Background.

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access or WiMAX represents a profound step forward in overcoming the numerous constraints to the delivery of efficient wireless services in geographically challenging areas and provides a number of other valuable benefits as well in the process. According to Salvekar, Sandhu, Li, Vuong and Qian (2004), "WiMAX is a wireless technology that provides broadband data at rates over 3 bits/second/Hz. In order to increase the range and reliability of WiMAX systems, the IEEE 802.16-2004 standard supports optional multiple-antenna techniques such as Alamouti Space-Time Coding (STC), Adaptive Antenna Systems (AAS) and Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems" (p. 229). As Strandell, Wennstrm, Rydberg and berg (n.d.) point out, "The use of adaptive antennas in mobile communication systems offers a possibility to increase the system capacity" (p. 1).

Multiple-input multiple-output, or MIMO, is a technique developed for use in multi-antenna communication systems; the MIMO technique depends on the presence of multiple, independent radio frequency (RF) chains and antennas at the cell site as well as on the subscriber device (Hedayat, Guo, Rangarajan, Jin, Sergeant & Subramanian, 2007). The MIMO technique has been shown to be able to provide improved throughput and range, particularly when the technique is implemented together with beamforming (Hedayat et al.). According to Stine (1997), "Beamforming is another name for spatial filtering where an array of sensors together with appropriate signal processing can either direct or block the radiation or the reception of signals in specified directions" (p. 2). This innovation takes advantage of multipath propagation rather than trying to eliminate its adverse effects. In this regard, Hedayat and his colleagues point out that, "Wireless MIMO communication exploits environmental phenomena such as multipath propagation to increase data throughput and range, or reduce bit error rates, rather than attempting to eliminate effects of multipath propagation as SISO (Single-Input Single-Output) communication systems seek to do" (p. 7).

In this regard, in their white paper, "A Practical Guide to WiMAX Antennas," researchers at Motorola report that, "Mobile WiMAX has offered the industry a very capable platform by which to deliver the demanding service requirements for wireless access today and tomorrow. With the added support for a variety of advanced multi-antenna implementations, Mobile WiMAX offers the wireless operator considerable relief in meeting their growing network demands with higher performance, fewer sites, less spectrum, and reduced cost" (p. 2).

Trends.

According to Salvekar and his colleagues, "Multiple-antenna techniques can greatly enhance the performance of wireless transmission systems. Systems are currently trending towards using multiple antennas at the BS and future systems may evolve to multiple antenna systems at the SS. We have demonstrated that Alamouti reception, circular delay diversity, and selection diversity are simple schemes that can… READ MORE

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