WiMax 802.

16 – PHY layer

Jacek Kibiłda
Michał Pilc
WiMax principles
† Idea – to build MAN network with
high bit rate and a global range –
wideband access to the Internet

† Worldwide Interoperability for

Microwave Access

† Founded in 2004 – managed by

WiMax Forum

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802.16a - main features
† Describes radio interface, 2-11 GHz

† Fixed connections, nLOS transmission

† Multiaccess technique – OFDMA

† Supports ARQ

† Dynamic Frequency Selection to avoid

interference with WLAN

† Data rates 4-70 Mbps

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802.16a - main features
‰ Radio access:

¾ Single carrier - backhaul links

¾ OFDM (256 - FFT) - fixed access; channel up to 10 MHz

¾ OFDMA – for high-speed services

† Flexible channel size (1.75 MHz –20 MHz)

† Supports smart antenna systems (AAS)

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OFDM modulation
† Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing

† Principle – use such a set of

frequencies that:

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OFDM modulation

Spectrum of the OFDM signal [2]

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OFDM modulation
† Implementation - N-IFFT:
N
x (t ) = ∑ X ( j ) ⋅ e
j 2Πf jt

j =1

Supported sizes: 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048

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Multiacces techniques
† OFDMA - technique based on flexible
divison of time and frequency domain
resources.

† Important issue:
† Subchannel – subset of subcarriers

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 OFDMA parameters
Frame size
Parameters Values
Frame size[ms] [number of OFDM
symbols]
System
1,25 2,5 5 10 20
bandwidth[Mhz]
2 19
Sampling frequency 1,429 2,857 5,714 11,429 22,857
2,5 24

Sample time[ns] 700 350 175 88 44

4 39

FFT size 128 256 512 1024 2048

5 49

Subcarrier spacing 11,16071492 kHz

8 79

Symbol time[1/f] 89,6 us 10 99

Guard time[Tb/8] 11,2 us 12,5 124

OFDMA symbol time 100,8 us 20 198

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OFDMA subcarrier types
† Data subcarriers – data transmission.

† Pilot subcarriers – synchronization

and estimation purposes.

† Null subcarriers – guard bands and

DC carriers.

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Grouping of subcarriers
† Distributed subcarrier permutations:
† Used in FUSC and PUSC;

† Adjacent subcarrier permutations:

† Optionally used with AMC(Advanced
Modulation and Coding);

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Subcarrier allocation modes
† DL FUSC:
„ Pilot tones + (remaining subcarriers ->
divide into subchannels)
† DL PUSC and UL:
„ Used subcarriers -> divide into
subchannels + pilot subcarriers (for each
subchannel)

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DL FUSC parameters
Parameters Values

Bandwidth[MHz] 1,25 2,5 5 10 20

FFT size 128 - 512 1024 2048

Guard subcarriers 22 - 86 173 345

Active subcarriers 106 - 426 851 1703

Data transmitting
96 - 384 768 1536
subcarriers

Pilot carriers 9 - 42 83 166

Number of
2 - 8 16 32
subchannels

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DL/UL PUSC parameters
Parameters Values

Bandwidth[MHz] 1,25 2,5 5 10 20

FFT size 128 - 512 1024 2048

Guard
43/31 - 91/103 183 367
subcarriers

Active
85/97 - 421/409 841 1681
subcarriers

Data
transmitting 72 - 360 720 1440
subcarriers

Pilot carriers 12 - 60 120 240

Number of
3/4 - 15/17 30/35 60/92
subchannels

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OFDMA frame (TDD, PUSC)

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Other supported features
† AMC – Advanced Modulation
and Coding of subcarriers: Uplink Downlink

† Uses QPSK, 16-QAM QPSK, QPSK,

together with Modulation type
16-QAM 16-QAM
Convolutional Coding
(CC) and Convolutional
Turbo-Codes (CTC) for CC
1/2, 2/3, 1/2, 2/3,
Forward Error Correction 3/4, 5/6 5/6

Code 1/2, 2/3, 1/2, 2/3,

CTC
rate 3/4, 5/6 5/6

Repetitions 2, 4, 6 2, 4, 6

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Other supported features
† HARQ – Hybrid ARQ:

† Uses stop-and-wait scheme for all channels in parallel. In case of

error we use method called chase combinig and build-up
redundancy

† MIMO – Multiple-Input Multiple-Output:

† Space-Time Coding – Alamouti codes

† AAS – Adaptive Antennes Systems
„ Effect:
† Maximizes coverage and capacity, minimizes probability of outage

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Summary
† WiMax – WMAN, high bit rate, flexible channel size,

† Could replace CDMA-based systems for mobile telephony and

ADSL in broadband internet acces,

† Multiaccess technique – OFDMA:

„ Division in time and frequency domain,

† Supported features in physical layer (MIMO, AMC, HARQ),

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Bibliography
† „Scalable OFDMA Physical Layer in IEEE 802.16 WirelessMAN”,
Hassan Yaghoobi, Intel Communications Group, Intel
Corporation
† „System mobilnego szerokopasmowego dostępu radiowego
WiMAX IEEE 802.16e”, Krzysztof Wesołowski, Michał Wódczak,
KRRiT 2006
† IEEE Std 802.16™ - 2004
† „IEEE 802.16a Standard and WiMAX Igniting Broadband
Wireless Access” - White Paper
† „Understanding WiMAX and 3G for Portable/Mobile Broadband
Wireless” – Technical White Paper, Intel Corporation
† http://www.wimaxforum.org/

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