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Wired and wireless IPTV access networks: A comparison study

Conference Paper · October 2012

DOI: 10.1109/ICUMT.2012.6459685

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 IV International Congress on Ultra Modern Telecommunications and Control Systems 2012

Wired and Wireless IPTV Access Networks:

A Comparison Study
Alireza Abdollahpouri1,2, Bernd E. Wolfinger1
1
Department of Computer Science - TKRN
University of Hamburg - Germany
2
University of Kurdistan - Sanandaj - Iran
{Abdollahpouri, Wolfinger}@informatik.uni-hamburg.de

Abstract: contents and Broadband-TV (BTV) for live TV

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) describes a
mechanism for transporting streams of video content
encapsulated in IP packets over a managed network
infrastructure using networking protocols. It provides a so
called “walled garden” architecture to guarantee
necessary QoE for subscribers. We analyze the different
components of an IPTV system with a focus on access
networks. Among many variants of access networks, DSL
and WiMAX are compared from different aspects (e.g.,
cost, uplink and downlink bandwidth allocation, QoS,
mobility, data rate) and advantages and disadvantages of
each are given.
Key words- IPTV, xDSL, WiMAX, access network,
comparison study
1-Introduction
The paradigm shift from push-based media
broadcasting to pull-based media streaming has been
started for some years and will be accelerated in the
next few years. Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is a
good example to illustrate this claim. IPTV describes a
mechanism for transporting streams of video content
encapsulated in IP packets over the network using
Internet protocols. It provides a so called “walled
garden” architecture to guarantee necessary Quality of
Experience (QoE) for subscribers. The number of
households that receive IPTV service is planned to
grow 52.2% annually until year 2012 [1]. Currently (i.e.,
June 2012) in France already more than 17% of the
total population is using IPTV. This is partially due to
the enormous improvement of networking technologies
and partially because of the advances in media
encoding and compression techniques. Commercial
deployments of IPTV services by Telcos around the
world continue to increase.
In general, IPTV service can be divided into two
classes, namely Video on Demand (VoD) for stored
channels. Unlike the native broadcast in traditional TV
systems, in IPTV, video streams are distributed toward
subscribers using IP unicast and multicast. Typically,
unicast is employed in case of video on demand and
multicast is employed by BTV service for the delivery
of live TV channel streams. Each individual TV
channel is mapped into a dynamic multicast stream with
a unique multicast address. When a user switches into a
specific channel, the set top box (STB) sends a request
to join the corresponding multicast stream using IGMP
protocol, and then if successful, the user can receive
and start to watch the required content after a short
buffering and decoding delay. In [2], a new measure
(called multicast gain) was introduced and applied
which allows one to compare the efficiency of multicast
versus unicast.
Compared with other Internet services, e.g., online
surfing, gaming and VoIP, IPTV service not only
consumes higher bandwidth, but also requires a higher
degree of end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS)
guarantees throughout the delivery path. Thus, user
QoE is sensitive to packet delay, jitter and loss.
Challenges of IPTV system have been widely studied
in the literature [3][4]. In [5], authors discussed
admission control problems in heterogeneous access
networks, namely, xDSL, WiMAX and UMTS. Garcia
et al. proposed a system consisting of different wireless
access networks in order to obtain higher values of
subscriber’s QoE parameters for IPTV [6]. They
compared delay, jitter and loss of packets between
WiMAX and IEEE 802.11a/g networks in a real
environment and argued about which type of access
network should be used in different network conditions.
Design and implementation of MHAQ, (Merged Hybrid
Adaptive FEC and ARQ) for reliable wireless IPTV
multicast is done in [7]. This system uses strong
application layer FEC and hybrid ARQ with a simple
adaptation algorithm to deliver IPTV streams over
WLAN. In [8], Uilecan et al. identified the challenges

978-1-4673-2015-3/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE 308

related to delivery of IPTV services over WiMAX
networks and proposed a framework that could be used
in implementing a system capable of delivering IPTV
services over an IP based WiMAX network. They also
offered some solutions especially related to the Physical
and MAC layers.
Another interesting subject is modeling user
activities and channel popularity in IPTV systems
[9][10][11]. Channel switching or zapping delay is a
key QoE metric in IPTV systems and has attracted
attentions in recent years [12][13][14].
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In
Section 2, we will describe different components of
typical IPTV systems. Section 3 takes a closer look at
access networks in an IPTV system. In Section 4, a
comparison of two access networks is given. Section 5
is an assessment of the comparison and finally, Section
6 concludes the paper.
2- IPTV system structure
Fig. 1 depicts a typical IPTV service network
architecture which provides triple play (i.e., voice,
video and data) using an xDSL access network and
quad play (i.e., triple play and mobility) using a
WiMAX access network. IPTV system mainly consists
of five different parts as depicted in the figure.
In the following we discuss these components in detail.
1. IPTV Head-end:
This part of IPTV system is responsible for acquiring,
processing, encoding, and managing video content. It
receives video from a variety of sources such as
satellites. Video content is typically compressed using
either MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 codec and then it is sent in
MPEG transport stream (MPEG-TS) packets delivered
via IP Multicast in case of live TV or via IP Unicast in
case of video on demand. A typical IP packet for
transporting MPEG video contains seven 188-byte
MPEG-TS packets. The head-end also manages access
to on-demand videos and remote operations as well.
2. Core Network:
The core network is the central portion of an IPTV
system. It primarily provides interconnection between
several metro networks. In order to reduce latency
between the clients and the streaming servers and
guarantee the required level of experienced QoS, core
networks use fiber optic links. Meanwhile, multicast
enabled routers are employed to deliver TV channels to
the distribution network. Traffic engineering techniques
using MPLS can also help the subscribers to experience
a better video quality.
309
3. Distribution Network (Metro backbone):
The distribution network typically serves a region or a
metropolitan area. It inserts local content such as local
TV channels or commercial advertisements into the
IPTV streams and provides on-demand video services
to the clients located in its region. Typical equipment in
this part consists of the encoders for local TV channels,
local advertisement inserters and video servers to
stream on-demand video services.
4. Access Network:
The access network is an essential part of the IPTV
structure and acts as a border between service provider
and subscriber. It provides last mile access for IPTV
subscribers and can be based on wired technologies
(e.g., xDSL, FTTx) or wireless technologies. In Fig. 1
two access networks based on xDSL (lower one) and
WiMAX (upper one) technologies are shown.
5. Customer Network:
The customer network provides TV, IP phone and
Internet services to subscribers. It connects the home
computer(s), the IPTV STB and IP phone device to a
broadband service which is provided by the access
network via a home gateway. This network may also
support Voice over IP (VoIP) services.
In this paper, our focus is on the access networks
which play an important role in an IPTV system
structure. One wired and one wireless type of access
networks will be discussed and compared.
Fig. 1- A typical IPTV system architecture
3- IPTV access network technologies
Access network is a critical part of the IPTV system
and provides last mile access for IPTV subscribers to
get the TV service through STBs or mobile terminals.
Nowadays, the most widely used access network
technologies are mainly wired, like xDSL and fiber-to-
the-node (FTTN), or wireless such as WiMAX, High
Speed WiFi and 3G.
Due to the bandwidth limitation of the access
networks, multicasting has been widely adopted to
provide for the customers a simultaneous access to the
TV channels. Multicast allows the sender to transmit a
message (destined for multiple receivers) only once,
instead of sending it to each end-user separately and
clogging up the bandwidth with multiple transmissions
of the same data. Therefore, it can reduce the steady
state bandwidth requirement in TV streaming systems
from one stream per viewer to one stream per TV
channel. A single stream of each TV channel is shared
among a group of subscribers who demand the same
content. Data is replicated only at appropriate branching
locations when this is necessary.
In 3G networks, multicasting is supported by using
the Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS).
In xDSL access networks replication of TV streams is
done in DSLAMs. In WiMAX access networks
multicasting is supported by Multicast Broadcast
Service (MBS) [15] which will be discussed later in
detail.
In the following, we will discuss two access
networks which are based on ADSL and WiMAX
technologies.
3.1 DSL
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) refers to a group of
technologies that employ the unused bandwidth in the
existing copper local loops to deliver high-rate data
services to the end users. The main reason for success
and popularity of DSL technology is that it requires
almost no upgrading because it uses the existing
telephone infrastructure which has already been widely
installed in homes and office buildings.
There are many variations of DSL (e.g., ADSL,
SDSL, VDSL), each aimed at a particular purpose but
designed to accomplish the same basic goals.
As depicted in Fig. 1, the xDSL access network is
composed of two main network elements. The
Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS) and Digital
Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM).
DSLAM aggregates traffic from hundreds of
subscriber premises and connects to BRAS which again
aggregates outputs from its downstream DSLAMs to
the high speed metropolitan backbone.
In the following, these devices are discussed in more
detail.

Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS)
The BRAS sits between access and distribution
networks and provides access to the Internet and related
services to the customers. The specific tasks of a BRAS
include:
Aggregation point: The BRAS aggregates the output
from multiple DSLAMs in the access network.
310
IGMP Router: The BRAS routes traffic into an ISP’s
backbone network. Meanwhile, it receives and
processes IGMP messages to forward multicast packets.
Session termination: The BRAS provides the logical
termination of Point-to-point Protocol (PPP) sessions.
Subscriber management functions: The BRAS acts as
an access server and provides the services for
subscriber authentication, authorization and accounting
(AAA).
IP address assignment: The BRAS is also responsible
for assigning session parameters such as IP addresses to
the clients. In most cases, the BRAS is the first IP hop
from the perspective of the client.
Policy management and QoS: The service provider
can insert management and Quality of Service (QoS)
policies at the BRAS.
In xDSL networks, the connections are typically PPP
over Ethernet (PPPoE), PPP over ATM (PPPoA) or IP
over Ethernet (IPoE) where the connection endpoints
are customer premises equipment (e.g., STB) and the
BRAS.
This connection is required for user authentication
and authorization during service attachment. In addition,
IGMP messages are sent through this connection.
BRAS can monitor individual members by correlating
IGMP messages with the PPPoE connection from
which they were received (see Fig. 2).

Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer
(DSLAM)
The DSLAM aggregates the requests coming from
numerous home-gateways onto a single high-capacity
uplink (ATM or Gigabit Ethernet) towards the BRAS
and replicates TV streams toward subscribers. Each
DSLAM typically can provide services for few hundred
subscribers and uses multiplexing techniques.
Based on the type of the uplink port, DSLAMs can
be divided into ATM DSLAMs or Ethernet DSLAMs.
In general, DSLAMs function as layer 2 devices but
some new DSLAMs have limited layer 3 capabilities.
The DSLAM must be able to make the decision to
transmit a given multicast stream on a DSL line. Most
new DSLAMs have the ability to listen to IGMP
messages sent by the STB (IGMP snooping) and build
multicast forwarding tables accordingly.
IGMP snooping implies that IGMP packets are read
and then forwarded to the upstream router transparently
without any manipulation. In addition, most new
DSLAMs can perform IGMP proxy function. IGMP
proxy transmits only one message per multicast group
to the BRAS, using aggregation and suppression of
upstream IGMP messages. IGMP snooping at the
DSLAM enables the BRAS to identify individual
members based on the packets’ IP or MAC addresses.
IGMP proxy, however, prevents BRAS from
identifying individual group members since the
DSLAM, which in this case generates the IGMP
messages, would act as an IGMP router for users and as
an IGMP client for the BRAS).
The typical DSL protocol stack is depicted in Fig. 2.
Here, DSLAM is connected to BRAS through an ATM
backbone.
Fig. 2- DSL protocol stack
3.2 WiMAX
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
(WiMAX) technology which is based on IEEE 802.16-
2004 and IEEE 802.16e-2005 air-interface standards,
provides a wireless last-mile broadband access for fixed
and mobile subscribers in a Metropolitan Area Network
(MAN) [16]. It is capable to deliver data rates up to
70Mbps and to cover ranges of about 50km and can
provide secure delivery of content and support mobile
users at vehicular speeds. WiMAX operates in MAC
and Physical layers of OSI reference model.
In order to reduce inter-symbol interference (ISI) and
provide resiliency to multi-path fading, orthogonal
frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and
orthogonal frequency division multiple access
(OFDMA) techniques are used in fixed and mobile
WiMAX, respectively. Adaptive Modulation and
Coding (AMC) is used based on MS’s SNR to provide
a tradeoff between throughput and robustness. Thus,
inside the Base Station (BS) coverage area, each
Mobile Station (MS) can use the most suitable
modulation and coding scheme irrespective of the
others. Advanced antenna systems like MIMO,
sectorized antennas and beam-forming techniques can
also be used in physical layer to provide a better SNR
for MSs.
WiMAX MAC layer is divided into three distinct
sublayers: convergence sublayer, common part sublayer
and security sublayer. In WiMAX, MAC layer is
connection oriented and each connection is identified
by a unique 16-bit Connection Identifier (CID). There
exist several connections between SS/MS and BS for
uplink and downlink data transmission and
management message transmissions.
311
WiMAX MAC layer supports five QoS service types.
The real-time Polling Service (rtPS), which is designed
to support real-time service flows that generate variable
size data packets on a periodic basis (e.g., MPEG
video), is ideal for IPTV applications.
ASN-GW (Access Service Network Gateway) acts
the role of IGMP router. It is the first-hop router from
the perspective of MS and is also in charge of providing
AAA services for WiMAX clients. As depicted in Fig.
1, downstream connections can be used to transmit the
same content to a group of MSs, using multicast CIDs
(MCIDs). Multicast CIDs are in the range 0XFE9F to
0XFEFE and suited for IP multicast data transmission
[17]. Still there are some unresolved issues with the use
of MCID, such as the low transmission efficiency of
MCIDs for small multicast groups.
Fig. 3 depicts the protocol stack of a connection
between a WiMAX MS and ASN-GW. Here, IP-CS is a
term used in WiMAX to describe a process which
allows IP packets to be directly carried in the 802.16
PDU (Protocol Data Unit).
Fig. 3- WiMAX protocol stack
The interface between wireless device and BS is
represented by R1 reference point and R6 reference
point. It defines the interface between BS and ASN-
GW as depicted in the Fig. 3 [18]. IP packets between
the BS and the ASN-GW are transmitted over a Generic
Routing Encapsulation (GRE) tunnel.
A great advantage of WiMAX is to support
multicasting using MBS. Similar to unicast services in
IEEE 802.16, the MBS service flows are managed
through a DSx (Dynamic Service Addition/ Deletion/
Change) messaging procedure used to create, remove,
and change a service flow for each MS. Some important
service flow information such as QoS, service flow
identifier (SFID), and multicast connection identifier
(MCID) are exchanged between MS and BS via the
DSx handshaking procedure.
In the three-way DSA procedure, the uplink
transmission takes most time, because the uplink
bandwidth is shared among multiple MSs via
bandwidth request and grant mechanisms.
When a user wants to watch a specific TV channel
the following steps should be carried out (see Fig. 4):
1. The MS tries to join the multicast group of the
desired TV channel by sending the IGMP Join message
to the ASN-GW. In addition, a three-way dynamic
service addition (DSA) mechanism at MAC layer
between MS and BS is used to establish a multicast
connection with a specific multicast CID at MAC layer.
Therefore, there is a one-to-one mapping between the
MAC layer multicast connection and the IP layer
multicast stream [19]. DSx messages are transmitted on
primary management connection and IGMP messages
are transmitted on secondary management connection
of the MS.
2. Depending on the situation of the TV channel, the
ASN-GW may forward the IGMP join request to the
upstream router or itself reply to the request. ASN-GW
also stores the multicast IP address of the channel and
MAC address of the BS which covers the MS.
3. A multicast stream corresponding to desired TV
channel will be transmitted to the MS via the
connection with the assigned MCID. After a short delay
for buffering, receiving a suitable play point (e.g., I-
frame) and decoding, the user will be able to watch the
channel.
Since there is a one-to-one mapping between
multicast connections in MAC and IP layers, and in
order to not disrupt the sleep mode of Mobile
subscribers, ASN-GW can reply to IGMP query
messages on behalf of the mobile nodes. If no active
client watching a specific TV channel exists in the
downstream, ASN-GW does not reply to a query
message belonging to that specific channel and
therefore, the edge router removes that channel from
the list of multicast groups [19].
Leaving a channel is done in a similar manner. Each
channel change consists of a channel leave and a
channel join.
Fig. 4- IPTV signaling mechanism in WiMAX
312
To summarize, some features that make WiMAX to
be a good candidate as an IPTV access network are
including but not limited to: QoS support, Multicast
Broadcast Service (MBS), wide coverage range, high
bandwidth, power saving mode (necessary for handheld
devices) and mobility support.
4- Comparison of DSL and WiMAX access networks
In this section DSL and WiMAX access networks are
compared from different perspectives and advantages
and disadvantages of each are discussed.
4.1 Mobility
Mobility support is an essential feature of the next
generation networks. WiMAX can provide ubiquitous
services for both fixed users and mobile users at
vehicular speed (up to 120 km/h). The IEEE 802.16e
standard which is also known as mobile WiMAX,
defines a framework for supporting mobility
management.
Power management and handover are two important
issues for mobile applications. Energy saving features
help the MS to reduce the power consumption and
allow the MS to enter a pre-negotiated sleep mode or
periodic idle mode when there is no data destined for it.
Meanwhile, handover procedures like “hard handover”,
“Macro Diversity Handover” and “Fast BS Switching
handover”, provide uninterrupted and seamless services
for clients during movement from one location to
another. In addition, beam-forming and smart antennas
can be used to provide higher SNR for mobile
subscribers.
Obviously, those who use DSL as an access network
and use STB, have TV sets with SD or HD resolution
and mobility is not a consideration. For the subscribers
who use DSL modems with wireless capability, some
limited mobility can be supported.
4.2 Cost
WiMAX can be widely used to provide broadband
Internet connectivity to sparsely populated rural areas
where using technologies like DSL or cable modems is
not economically beneficial. Meanwhile, for the
developing countries in which there is not an extensive
wired networking infrastructure, establishing network
coverage through WiMAX base stations can be more
cost-effective.
On the other hand, for the urban environments in
which there exists a telephone infrastructure, DSL is
often seen as a fairly cost effective way to offer more
services to customers. In addition, DSL allows
competitive operators to offer a variety of broadband
services, without having to deploy their own
infrastructure.
 From another perspective, DSL is difficult for
upgrade for sake of the complex infrastructure and high
expense.
To summarize, WiMAX is an appropriate technology
to install at urban area or remote villages where DSL
has difficulty to reach by high expense and long term
deployment. It only needs just a few wireless base
stations and some small Customer-premises equipment
(CPE) mounted on the building or home to provide
coverage in the surrounding area.
4.3 Display resolution
Since we assume WiMAX subscribers use PDA or
mobile phones which have low display resolution and
small sizes, encoding standards like QCIF (176×144) or
CIF (352×288) can be used. Display resolution directly
affects bandwidth requirement for TV streams. For
example, for a TV program in CIF format, bandwidth
requirement is about 400 Kbps.
For users who use DSL to subscribe IPTV services,
SD (720×480) with MPEG-2 encoding which requires
about 3 Mbps of bandwidth can be used.
Since bandwidth is shared between different TV
channels in a WiMAX system, the number of different
TV channels is limited by both the required bandwidth
for each TV channel and the range of multicast CIDs
(0XFE9F to 0XFEFE).
An example of number of concurrent users (or
different TV channels in MBS) is given in [20]. Up to
45 users per transmitter can be served in a 10 MHz
bandwidth channel, with a video resolution of 320×240
pixels (QVGA format), and frame rate of 15-30 fps at a
300 Kbps bit rate.
4.4 Uplink and downlink techniques
As depicted in Fig. 6, in DSL technologies there is a
dedicated bandwidth for uplink and downlink
transmission. Although the bandwidth for uplink and
downlink may not be equal (e.g., in ADSL), it is
dedicated and no contention is necessary between
subscribers to send data. In addition, both uplink and
downlink connections are point-to-point (between
DSLAM and STB) in DSL access networks.
On the other hand, in WiMAX networks, the
downlink allocation of bandwidth is a process
accomplished by the BS according to different
parameters. WiMAX takes advantage of MBS for
multicasting. Therefore, for TV channels, downlink is a
point-to-multipoint connection.
The MS obtains the uplink unicast bandwidth by the
random backoff-based contention mechanism. In
addition, random access may work in combination with
polling, which is referred to as a grouping mode [21].
Therefore, each WiMAX subscriber should content for
the bandwidth during a contention period in uplink sub-
frame (see Fig. 5).
313
4.5 Channel switching delay
TV viewers usually like to surf the channels especially
during some periods of time. For example during a
commercial advertisement or between half-times of a
football match, most users change the channel to find a
more favorite program. Channel changing in a cable
television system is very fast because all channels are
present on the wire. In an IPTV system, due to the
limited capacity of the last-mile, only one TV channel
can be transmitted to the STB. Therefore, one could
experience a switching delay of about a few seconds,
because of the following factors:
-Multicast latency for “leaving” the old channel and
“joining” the new channel (IGMP leave and join
latency)
-Program Clock Reference (PCR) and sequence
header information
-Random access point (such as I-frame) acquisition
delay
-Network buffer delays, including delays caused by
error-mitigation techniques
-MPEG decoder buffer delay
Switching delay of about two seconds has been
reported in DSL access networks [5]. Since still there is
no widely operational IPTV system over WiMAX, no
actual data regarding channel switching delay exists in
the literature. But regarding to what we mentioned
about contention-based uplink transmission, multicast
join and leave requests (in MAC and IP level) which
are transmitted via uplink, may experience more latency
than in DSL networks. On the other hand, taking
advantage of MBS capability may provide a good
opportunity in WiMAX networks to shorten the
switching delay [14]. Therefore, all of the factors must
be considered in determining the switching delay.
4.6 QoS
Quality of service (QoS) is the ability to provide
different priority to different flows or applications to
guarantee a certain level of performance.
QoS guarantees can be characterized by: delay, jitter,
bandwidth, and error rate.
The WiMAX architecture provides five different
classes of service to assure that the required QoS is
obtained. Four classes of service (UGS, rtPS, nrtPS and
BE) are defined in IEEE 802.16d, and IEEE 802.16e
introduces another QoS class called Extended Real-
Time Polling Service (ertPS). As mentioned previously
QoS class rtPS is suitable for encoded videos.
In DSL networks, configuring some QoS service
policies such as class-based weighted fair queuing or
low latency queuing, in a PPPoE session is possible.
Meanwhile, most DSLAMs support IEEE 802.1p Layer
two QoS protocol for traffic prioritization and dynamic
multicast filtering at MAC layer. In ATM-based xDSL,
QoS mechanisms provided by ATM can be used as well.
 It is up to the service provider to determine how many
4.7 Bandwidth allocation strategy channels should be allocated for upstream and
Bandwidth allocation in WiMAX frames consists of downstream. Although equal share is possible, because
time slots in one dimension and frequency subchannels ordinary users download more data than they upload,
in the other. WiMAX supports both Time Division most providers allocate more channels for downstream.
Duplex (TDD) and Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) For example in ADSL, 26 channels are used for uplink
operation. In the case of FDD, the uplink and downlink and 224 channels for downlink as shown in Fig. 6.
sub-frames are transmitted simultaneously on different
carrier frequencies. TDD uses only one channel for UL
and DL transmission, and can dynamically adjust the
downlink/uplink ratio to efficiently manage the
asymmetric demand for bandwidth. As depicted in Fig.
5, the TDD frame structure is divided into DL and UL
sub-frames separated by transition gaps to prevent DL
and UL transmission collisions. Typical frame duration
is about 5ms. In the DL sub-frame, the preamble is used
for synchronization; the Frame Control Header (FCH)
provides the frame configuration information such as
MAP message length and coding scheme and usable
sub-channels.
The DL-MAP and UL-MAP provide sub-channel
allocation, the type of modulation and coding used by Fig. 5- WiMAX frame structure in TDD scheme
the bursts containing the data information, in DL and
UL respectively, as well as other control information. In
the UL sub-frame the UL Ranging sub-channel is
allocated for MS to perform closed-loop time,
frequency, and power adjustment as well as bandwidth
requests. The bandwidth requests can be granted by the
BS per connection or per subscriber. In the latter case,
the Subscriber Station (SS) decides to allocate the
bandwidth among multiple streams.
In Fig. 5, a combined multicast–unicast in downlink
sub-frame is shown which can be used for live TV and
Fig. 6- Division of ADSL bandwidth
VoD services.
As mentioned previously, DSL makes use of the
4.8 Data rate
existing telephone lines employing previously unused
In general, WiMAX data rate depends on many factors
frequency bandwidth above the voice band. It separates
such as distance, type of modulation, numbers of active
the available bandwidth for voice communications
subscribers and whether they are in line-of-sight (LOS)
(PSTN) and data (Upstream/Downstream).
or non-line-of-sight (NLOS) situation. A commonly
Although PSTN and ADSL occupy distinct channels,
held misconception is that WiMAX can provide data
they might influence one another. Telephone devices
rate up to 70Mbps, over 50km to a mobile subscriber.
can possibly experience audible disruption whilst
Each of these is true individually, given ideal
ADSL signals can experience interference resulting in
circumstances, but they are not simultaneously true. For
throughput deterioration. To avoid this mutual
example, if one could receive data at rate of 4 Mbps in
interference, a splitter is required.
line-of-sight environments at 10km, in an urban
The most likely approach is called the DMT
environment and non-line-of-sight condition, the same
(Discrete MultiTone) which is an OFDM-based
rate can be delivered only at the distance of 1 km.
technique. It divides the available 1.1 MHz spectrum on
For WiMAX systems operating on the sub-10 GHz
the local loop into 256 independent channels of 4.3125
frequency bands, the average data rate in a coverage
kHz each. Therefore, DMT based modems can be
area of a BS would be around 10 Mbps. But the
thought of as 256 “mini modems” running
subscribers in the cell edge utilizing BPSK modulation
simultaneously. Each channel is modulated using QAM.
are capable of transmitting/receiving at data rates of
The first channel is used for traditional PSTN voice
less than 3 Mbps. This means that higher rates can only
transmission and the next five channels are not used to
be offered for subscribers located sufficiently close to
avoid interference of voice and the data signals. The
the base station, utilizing e.g., 16-QAM or 64-QAM
remaining 250 channels are available for the user data.
modulation.

314
 In this respect, WiMAX has some similarities to WiMAX is a new technology and needs time in order
xDSL technology, where one can either have high to overcome some performance barriers. Eventually,
bandwidth or long reach, but not both simultaneously WiMAX deployments are expected to deliver IPTV to
(distance sensitivity). In ADSL for example, rural and underserved regions with high degree of video
subscribers having too long local loops from their and audio quality at affordable prices.
premises to the telephone exchanges are not able to In a WiMAX network QoS is provided in MAC layer
utilize data rates in excess of 1 or 2 Mbps. using different service classes (UGS, rtPS, nrtPS and
All the users within one sector share the same data BE), while DSL uses IEEE 802.1q.
transfer rate in WiMAX, whereas, every user could get Fig. 7 depicts a comparison between WiMAX and
their bandwidth exclusively in xDSL. As a result, when ADSL access technologies in terms of downlink data
there are huge number of users, xDSL could supply a rate they offer in best case and worst case. Using a 2X2
better performance than WiMAX. MIMO, a high data rate of about 27 Mbps for the users
near the BS (using 64QAM 3/4) can be achieved in
Table 1- Comparison of WiMAX and ADSL access networks
WiMAX. The lowest data rate is for the users near the
WiMAX ADSL border of the cell using a BPSK 1/2 modulation and
Mobility Fixed - nomadic -
Fixed coding scheme. This data rate is shared among the users
mobile and therefore, with the increment of the number of
High in urban Low in urban
Cost environments, environments,
users, the bandwidth portion of each user decreases. In
Low in rural High in rural ADSL connections, however, since the access link is
environments environments dedicated to the user, the number of subscribers does
Display QCIF (176x144) , not affect the available bandwidth.
SD (720x480) ,
resolution CIF (352x288) ,
HD (1920x1080)
QVGA (320x240)
Point to point- Point to point -
Uplink
contention based dedicated
Point to multi point
Point to point -
Downlink [22] – shared
dedicated
(for multicast)
Channel Not reported
About 2 seconds
switching delay
MAC
QoS (UGS, rtPS, nrtPS ATM, 802.1q
and BE)
Duplexing
Time and frequency Frequency
method
Sensitive to distance
Distance sensitive
Data rate from BS and number
1.5 (5.4 km) to 12
of subscribers-
Mbps (300 m)
2.8 to 14 Mbps
LOS 30 to 50 km
Max range 5.4 km
NLOS – 2 to 5 km
Mobile WiMAX:
Technology OFDMA OFDM Fig. 7- Available data rate for WiMAX and ADSL
Fixed WiMAX:
OFDM Assume 70% of the available bandwidth is used for
IPTV services. In WiMAX networks, overhead for
5- Assessment and Discussion transmitting the control information (FCH, DL-MAP
and UL-MAP and MBS overhead) has a significant
From our discussion in Section 4, we can summarize impact on the overall capacity of the frame (at least
the comparison results in Table 1. 10% reduction) [23]. After taking into account the
Mobile WiMAX can provide services for subscribers above-mentioned factors, we want to know how many
moving at vehicular speed. This is a great benefit which TV channels (in SD format assumed to require 3Mbps)
can pave the way for quad-play in the next generation can be offered by each access technology.
networks. Fig. 8 shows the number of TV channels that can be
The IPTV subscribers who use xDSL technology to supported in parallel (different channels which are
access the services, can enjoy wide screens with higher transmitted by means of unicast). The curves are
resolution thanks to higher and dedicated bandwidth. obtained by dividing the available bandwidth by the
Dedicated point to point uplink and downlink in xDSL bandwidth requirement for a TV channel in SD format.
is an important factor to decrease channel switching The gray area represents the infeasible region in which
delay. less than one channel can be supported.

315

Fig. 8- No of supported TV channels
6- Conclusion
Access networks play an important role in an IPTV
system. Several fixed-line and wireless access networks
are available, each of which having their own
advantages and disadvantages. xDSL and WiMAX as
two candidates among wired and wireless access
networks have been compared by us from different
perspectives.
WiMAX could provide wireless access service to
subscribers with high speed and large coverage range
just the same as what customer can get from wired
access model. On the other hand, xDSL technology is
based on the existing copper telephone line.
WiMAX provides a flexible bandwidth allocation
while in DSL technologies the ratio of DL and UL
bandwidths is fixed after tuning by the service provider.
The other feature to consider with WiMAX is that
available bandwidth is shared between subscribers in a
given sector, so if there are many active subscribers in a
single sector, each will get reduced bandwidth. Both
technologies are distance sensitive.
WiMAX has the opportunity to struggle with xDSL
technologies especially in rural environments and
developing countries. It can be expected that WiMAX
(or similar technologies such as LTE [24]) will become
a big threat for xDSL in near future as it gets more
matured with fast cost descending.
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