UNDERSTANDING WiMAX:

AN IEEE-802.16 STANDARD-BASED
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY

GLOBE COURTESY OF STOCK.XCHNG/GABRIELLA FABBRI. SCISSORS COURTESY OF STOCK.XCHNG/STEPHAN HEMPELMANN.

WORLDWIDE INTEROPERABILITY WiMAX enables low-cost broad-

for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is an band mobile access to the Internet
IEEE 802.16 standard-based broad- BEHNAM KAMALI, and provides integrated wireless
band cellular wireless solution in ROBERT ALEXANDER BENNETT, fixed and mobile services using
which orthogonal frequency divi- AND DYANI CAMIKA COX single “air interface” and network
sion multiple access (OFDMA) is the architecture. As such, it is a candi-
method of sharing communication date technology for the next genera-
resources among large numbers of tion of cellular networks. Mobile
users. This is in contrast with multiple access technologies WiMAX standard possesses many salient features that make
such as frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time this technology attractive for many applications. First and
division multiple access (TDMA), and code division multi- foremost of these features is the utilization of OFDMA as a
ple access (CDMA) that were dominant in 1G (first genera- radio access method for WiMAX. WiMAX also inherits the
tion cellular systems), 2G, 2.5G, and 3G cellular networks. main promise of IEEE 802.16 standards, i.e., high quality of
As the demand for wireless communications grows almost service (QoS). The mobile WiMAX provides scalability
exponentially, the ability to access these networks becomes through the use of scalable OFDMA (SOFDMA), which
an important commodity. This is particularly the case in enables operation over several bandwidths ranging from
cellular networks where the demand for broadband access 1.5 MHz to 20 MHz. The mobile WiMAX incorporates the
is pushing the industry to advance into the next generation most advanced security protocols that are currently in use in
of wireless mobile networks. wireless networks. Through the use of modern antenna
techniques [such as multiple input multiple output (MIMO)
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2012.2195220 systems], flexible subchannelization, and adaptive modula-
Date of publication: 6 September 2012 tion and coding (AMC), or in more general adaptive resource

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 0278-6648/12/$31.00©2012IEEE 23

allocation; WiMAX is capable of support-
ing data exchange at the very high rates.
WiMAX is a complex and extensive
technology, and it is impossible to
explain the detail of all aspects of it in a
single article with a limited number of
pages. This article describes major com-
ponents of WiMAX networks related to
physical (PHY) layer and media access
control (MAC) sublayer, some of which
are mentioned later.
The IEEE-802.16 standards
IEEE 802.16 is set of wireless broad-
band standards composed and authored
by the IEEE standard groups. The IEEE
802.16 standards were originally devel-
oped to define specifications for a fixed
broadband wireless alternative to wired
access networks such as fiber optic sys-
tems, coaxial cable networks using cable
modems, and digital subscriber line
(DSL). The original standard was pub-
lished in 2002 for the frequency band that
stretches from 10 to 66 GHz. The IEEE
802.16 standards exclusively standardize
two aspects of air interface; the PHY layer
and the MAC sublayer. However, commu-
nication between two entities requires
several more layers of networking, there-
fore in order to define an end-to-end
communication link PHY and MAC pro-
tocols (precisely defined rules) must be
complemented by higher layer protocols.
The air interface associated with IEEE
802.16 was designed based on a common
MAC protocol but with the flexibility that
allows PHY layer protocols to evolve as
the standard is adopted for different
parts of radio spectrum. In 2004 the IEEE
802.16-2004 standard was published,
which extended the standard for fixed
wireless access for both licensed and
unlicensed bands over 2-11 GHz. The
design of the PHY layer of IEEE 802.16-
2004 was motivated by the need to oper-
ate under the condition in which there is
no line-of-sight [none-line-of-sight
(N-LOS)] between the end nodes. Three
air interface specifications are provided
in this standard that allow for single car-
rier modulation as well as multiple car-
rier transmission with TDMA and
OFDMA access technologies.
In December 2005, a new amendment
to the standard, referred to as IEEE
802.16e, was ratified by the IEEE, which
supports mobility. IEEE 802.16e adopts
OFDMA for improved multipath perfor-
mance for an N-LOS environment. In
addition, the IEEE 802.16e amendment
supports a scalable physical layer that
enables optimum performance in channel
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bandwidths of integer multiple of 1.25,
1.5, and 1.75 MHz, ranging from 1.25 to
20 MHz. Furthermore, this standard incor-
porates many state-of-the-art communica-
tion and signal processing techniques.
The current version of the IEEE 802.16
standards is IEEE 802.16-2009, which was
recently amended by IEEE 802.16j-2009.
The IEEE 802.16j represents a variation of
the IEEE 802.16e standards in which
relay-based multihop network capability
has been incorporated.
Orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing (OFDM)
Since WiMAX applies OFDMA, few
words are in order for the description of
the multicarrier modulation (MCM) tech-
nique known as OFDM. The basic idea
of OFDM is to divide a broadband (high
data rate) signal into a series of narrow-
band (low data rate) subsignals, each of
which modulates a subcarrier that is
orthogonal to all other subcarriers. The
set of subsignals can then send several
symbols in parallel, resulting in a greater
spectral efficiency and simple recovery
methods. In traditional frequency divi-
sion multiplexing (FDM) multiple data
streams are multiplexed to a number of
independent subcarriers and transmitted
simultaneously with a guard interval
inserted between subsignals to prevent
spectral overlap. The orthogonal nature
of adjacent subcarriers in OFDM elimi-
nates the need for guard intervals and in
fact allows for spectral overlap between
adjacent subsignals, which results in a
higher spectral efficiency. The key distin-
guishing features of OFDM relative to
standard FDM, therefore, are spectral
overlap between neighboring subsignals
and orthogonality of adjacent subcarri-
ers. Orthogonality in this context means
that there is no correlation between the
subcarrier signals in the frequency
domain, i.e., Nyquist criterion is held for
these signals in the frequency domain.
The key advantage of OFDM in wire-
less communications is its ability to handle
the multipath effect. The multipath propa-
gation is a common phenomenon in
mobile channels in which the transmitted
signal intercepts the receiver along multi-
ple paths. This occurs as a result of a signal
being reflected, diffracted, and scattered
by many stationary and moving objects in
the channel, while in flight between the
transmit and receive antennas. Depending
on phase relationship between different
echoes of the signal, multipath phenom-
ena could exhibit destructive or construc-
tive effect. When this happens it is said
that the signal undergoes “short term
fading” or “small scale fading” or most
commonly just “fading.”
The multipath fading channel is often
characterized by two related parameters:
“delay spread” and “coherence band-
width.” Depending on relationship
between coherence bandwidth of the
multipath channel and the bandwidth
(data rate) of the signal being transmitted,
the channel may be classified as flat fading
or frequency selective fading. When the
coherence bandwidth of the multipath
channel is smaller than the bandwidth
(data rate) of the signal, frequency selec-
tive fading results, which causes severe
distortion in the signal through a form of
intersymbol interference (ISI). In other
words, different frequency components of
the signal undergo different filtering
effects, therefore the name frequency
selective fading. When the channel coher-
ence bandwidth is greater than the signal
bandwidth (data rate), the channel is said
to be flat fading, in which all frequency
components of the transmitted signal are
affected by the same filtering process. In
wireless systems, every effort is made to
avoid frequency selective fading. Dividing
the broadband (high data rate) signal into
narrowband (low data rate) sub-signals
and interleaving the data within the sub-
carriers through OFDM signaling results
in a partial immunity to frequency selec-
tive fading. The potential frequency selec-
tive fading channel is converted to a
series of almost flat fading channels. This
is the main virtue of OFDM signaling and
the OFDMA technique when broadband
signals, such as HDTV-quality video sig-
nals, are to be transmitted through cellu-
lar networks.
A practical breakthrough transpired
in OFDM technology in the early 1970s
when discrete Fourier transform (DFT)
was shown to be applicable to OFDM
for the implementation of a part of the
system modulation and demodulation
process. It was demonstrated that the
discrete version of the OFDM signal
may be generated by computing the
IDFT of the complex input symbols at
the transmitter, and conversely the com-
plex symbols are obtained (or esti-
mated) through DFT calculation of the
down converted signal at the receiver.
In practice these computations are
implemented using fast Fourier trans-
form (FFT) algorithms.
WiMAX technology
WiMAX is an IEEE802.16 standards-based
cellular wireless networking technology
IEEE POTENTIALS
enabling the “last mile” delivery of broad-
band access as an alternative to wired
communication networks such as DSL
and cable networks. IEEE 802.16 consti-
tutes a large collection of standards, there-
fore for any particular driven technology
the scope of the standard needs to be re-
duced to smaller sets of design choices;
consequently WiMAX uses a subset of
IEEE 802.16 standards mandatory and op-
tional specifications consisting of selected
PHY and MAC layer protocols. Like any
other cellular network, WiMAX requires
duplex channels. The channel transmit-
ting signal from the base station (BS) to
the mobile station (MS) is called forward
channel or “down link.” The channel that
transports signal from MS to BS is termed
“reverse channel” or “up link.” WiMAX
predominantly supports time division
duplex (TDD) architecture; however fre-
quency division duplex (FDD) and sim-
plex FDD are also included in WiMAX
protocols. It should be noted that TDD
architecture supports the exchange of
asymmetric traffic.
OFDMA for WiMAX
In OFDM the entire allocated band-
width is divided into a set of closely
spaced orthogonal subcarrier channels.
Subsets of these subcarriers are clustered
together to form a subchannel, a process
that is known as subchannelization. A
single user uses one subchannel in an
OFDM mode. To accommodate multiple
users, OFDM must be combined with
either TDMA or FDMA generating multi-
ple access techniques that are referred to
as OFDM-TDMA and OFDMA, respec-
tively. The mobile WiMAX air interface
adopts OFDMA. The OFDMA provides
multiple access by assigning various sub-
channels to different users who log on to
the network. Figure 1 illustrates the con-
cept of subchannelization, as well as, the
multiple access format provided by the
OFDMA technique.
The OFDMA symbol consists of three
types of subcarriers: data subcarriers, pilot
subcarriers, and null subcarriers. Data
subcarriers support data transmission and
carry the “dc subcarriers,” which are posi-
tioned at the center of the frequency spec-
trum. Pilot carriers are evenly dispersed in
the spectrum and provide channel feed-
back and estimation for adaptive resource
allocation and facilitate synchronization.
The null subcarriers or “guard subcarrier”
are the nonusable part of the frequency
band at the edge of the spectrum and are
used to prevent spectral leakage outside
of the allocated bandwidth. The spectrum
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012
Fig. 1 Subchannelization and OFDMA.
division and the position of various sub-
carriers are shown in Figure 2.
WiMAX supports bandwidth scalabil-
ity, which enables OFDMA application
over several bands of frequencies.
OFDMA protocols may be scaled over
larger spectral allocations for both UL
and DL. This attribute is termed as
SOFDMA. SOFDMA is a key technology
behind mobile WiMAX and is widely
regarded as an enabling technology for
future broadband wireless networks.
Mobile WiMAX frame
The mobile WiMAX frame consists of
48 OFDM symbols. Each symbol time
contains actual user data and guard time.
The guard time [also known as cyclic
prefix (CP)] duration is selected based
on the conditions of the wireless chan-
nel. As long as the length of CP is longer
than the multipath channel delay spread,
ISI associated with the fading channel
may be eliminated.
The basic TDD frame structure as out-
lined in IEEE 802.16e is partitioned into
Pilot Subcarriers
dc Subcarriers
Channel
Fig. 2 OFDMA spectrum division and subcarriers position.
User 4
User 3
User 2
User 1
All Users
two subframes: the DL subframe and the
UL subframe. The subframes are sepa-
rated by transmit/receive gaps (TTG) and
receive/transmit gaps (RTG), which are
inserted to ensure that the device has an
adequate amount of time to switch
between transmit and receive modes.
Each subframe begins with control infor-
mation that indicates how all constituents
synchronize and if and when reception
and transmission should occur in the
given frame. After the control information
is transmitted, the BS transmits to the MS
in the DL subframe, or the MS transmits to
the BS in the UL subframe. The first
OFDM symbol in the DL subframe begins
with a preamble. Mobile stations use the
preamble to perform synchronization and
channel estimation. The frame control
header (FCH) follows the preamble, and
it specifies to the MS the DL-medium
access protocaol (MAP) message length,
the DL-MAP message coding scheme, and
available subchannels. The DL-MAP and
the UL-MAP relay information pertaining
to channel allocation and other pertinent
Data Subcarriers
Guard Subcarriers
25

1
Subchannel Logical Number
s–1
s Map
s+1
N
Fig. 3 WiMAX TDD frame structure.
control information relevant to their
respective subframes. In the UL sub-
frames, the MS uses the UL ranging, the
UL channel-quality indictor channel
(CQICH), and the UL acknowledgement
(ACK) to transmit control information.
Figure 3 illustrates the IEEE 802.16e
frame structure.
AMC in WiMAX
Adaptive resource allocation is an
advanced technique that is applied in
WiMAX to improve network throughput
and performance. Adaptive resource
allocation alters the modulation method,
signal power, and allocation of subchan-
nels based on an individual user’s chan-
nel characteristics. We exclusively discuss
one feature of adaptive resource alloca-
tion, namely, AMC as an effective method
of maximizing the system throughput in
a time varying channel. WiMAX supports
a number of modulations and error con-
trol coding schemes. Table 1 provides
the list of these modulation and coding
formats for both UL and DL. The basic
idea of AMC is quite simple; when the
channel conditions are most favorable,
maximize the data rate by selecting the
highest level modulation scheme and
highest rate coding format. For the worst
Table 1. Mandatory and optional modulation and coding schemes for WiMAX.
Link/Scheme
DL
UL
26
OFDM Symbol Number
0 1 3 5 7 9 N–1 0 M–1
FCH Coded Symbol Write Order Burst 1
UL
Map DL Burst 2
(Cont)
Burst 2
DL
Burst 3
Preamble
DL Burst 4
DL Burst 1
DL Burst 3 Burst 4
ACK-CH
DL Burst 5
UL DL Burst 6
Burst 5
Map
Ranging
DL Burst 7 Fast Feedback (CQICH)
Downlink Subframe Uplink Subframe
Guard
channel scenario, select the most conser- proximity to the base station is allocated a
vative modulation scheme and the most large number of subchannels with a high
protective coding format. When the throughput modulation scheme such as
channel condition is in between, adopt a 64-QAM. As the distance between the BS
proper modulation-coding combination and MS increases (or the fading effect is
to provide the highest possible data rate intensified in the channel) the number of
at an acceptable level of signal quality. allocated subchannels decreases and a
As Table 1 demonstrates, three man- more robust modulation scheme such as
datory modulation schemes, namely QPSK is assigned to the link. In order to
quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), maintain the link strength, more power is
16-quadrature amplitude modulation allocated to each subchannel.
(QAM), and 64-QAM are included in the In summary, the throughput and the
PHY layer protocols of WiMAX, where number of subchannels are inversely
64-QAM provides the highest spectral related to BS-to-MS distance (or severity of
efficiency among the three schemes. fading in the channel) whereas the power
Several mandatory and optional coding per subchannel is directly related to this
schemes are also available, which distance. As such, subchannelization and
includes convolutional and turbo codes, AMC address, at least partially, a key issue
repetition codes, LDPC, and Reed-Solo- in modern broadband wireless networks,
mon (RS) codes. i.e., the frequency reuse efficiency.
In order to implement AMC, the chan-
nel condition needs to be determined Fractional frequency reuse
through some form of measured informa- WiMAX multiple access format,
tion. Channel information is normally OFDMA, groups thousands of orthogonal
related to signal-to-interference and subcarriers to form users’ subchannels.
noise-ratio (SINR). This information is When neighboring WiMAX cells use the
then used to decide the optimal number same subchannels for signal transmission
of subchannels, modulation scheme, and “cochannel interference” occurs. Several
coding format in order to achieve a higher methods are available to mitigate the
throughput while maintaining link effect of this form of interference. WiMAX
strength. For example, a user in close applies a widely accepted method known
Modulation Format Mandatory Coding Schemes Optional Coding Schemes
QPSK, 16-QAM, Convolutional code at rates Turbo codes at rates 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, repetition codes
64-QAM 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6 at rates 1/2, 1/3, 1/6, LDPC, and RS codes (rates not specified)
QPSK, 16-QAM, Convolutional code at rates Turbo codes at rates 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 5/6, repetition codes
64-QAM 1/2, 2/3, 5/6 at rates 1/2, 1/3, 1/6, LDPC
IEEE POTENTIALS

{F
F1} & {F
F2} & {F
F3}
{F1}
Fig. 4 The concept of fractional frequency reuse in WiMAX networks.
as fractional frequency reuse. In this tech-
nique frequency reuse factor (FRF) is not
a constant but rather adaptive. In the sim-
plest form of fractional frequency reuse
format, shown in Fig. 4, the WiMAX cells
are divided into “inner” and “outer”
regions. Inner regions are closer to the
base stations and less susceptible to
cochannel or cosubchannel interference.
For these regions FRF is one—all subchan-
nels are accessible to all users in this
region. However, for the outer cell regions
the subchannels are divided in the same
way as they are in traditional cellular net-
works (i.e., disjoint sets of subchannels
are allocated to adjacent cell edges). Frac-
tional frequency reuse is yet another novel
technique integrated into WiMAX systems
to enhance network spectral efficiency.
MIMO antenna system for
WiMAX networks
The use of multiple antennas at both
ends of a communication link is referred
to as the MIMO technique. MIMO sys-
tems may be classified into three catego-
ries. In beamforming, the same signal is
transmitted from multiple transmit anten-
nas with appropriate phase relationship
and is received by a single antenna at the
receiver such that the received signal
power is maximized. The main benefit of
beamforming is the reduction in mul-
tipath fading effect. Spatial multiplexing
refers to a MIMO technique in which a
high data rate signal is divided into mul-
tiple lower rate data streams and each
data stream is transmitted through a dif-
ferent transmit antenna using the same
channel. In spatial diversity a single
stream is coded into what is known as a
“space-time coded” signal and transmit-
ted via multiple transmit antennas and
received, in general, by multiple anten-
nas. MIMO techniques in wireless net-
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012
{{F2}
{{F3}
works can improve network spectral
efficiency, enhance system reliability,
increase system throughput, extend the
network radio outreach, and even
decrease the required transmit power.
However, all of these desirable improve-
ments cannot be realized in a system at
the same time, as they usually stand in
conflict against each other.
WiMAX systems are designed to pro-
vide high spectral efficiency resulting in
the transmission of users’ data at very high
rates. Among many new technologies
integrated into WiMAX standards to sup-
port high spectral efficiency, greater
capacity, and extended radio outreach, is
MIMO technology. MIMO can play a major
role in delivering high-speed and reliable
wireless broadband services over an
extended coverage area. In particular, the
creation of independent channels in space
without requiring additional bandwidth
through spatial diversity, as well as spatial
multiplexing techniques, is widely sup-
ported by IEEE 802.16 standards and their
industrial offspring WiMAX technology.
Conclusion
WiMAX, an IEEE 802.16 standard-
based broadband wireless solution, is
the first cellular technology that applies
OFDMA. This is in contrast to FDMA,
TDMA, and CDMA that were prevalent in
earlier generations of cellular networks.
WiMAX enables low cost mobile access
to the Internet and provides integrated
wireless fixed and mobile services using
single air interface and network architec-
ture. The scalable OFDMA technology
enhances performance against frequency
selective fading effect of the multipath
channel and enables bandwidth scalabil-
ity over several spectral ranges.
In this article we described major com-
ponents and some important protocols of
WiMAX technology at a tutorial level.
OFDMA and SOFDMA, as well as their
technical parent OFDM, are introduced
at the outset. WiMAX frame structure for
TDD architecture is described. Enabling
signal processing techniques and protocols
that form the engine of WiMAX networks,
such as adaptive modulation coding,
fractional frequency reuse, and a MIMO
antenna system, are briefly discussed.
Read more about It
• J. G. Andrews, Arunabha Gosh,
and Rias Muhamed, Fundamentals of
WiMAX, Understanding Broadband
Wireless Networking. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice Hall, 2007.
• K. Etemad and M.-Y. Lai, Eds.,
WiMAX Technology and Network Evolution.
Piscataway, NJ: Wiley-IEEE Press, 2010.
• S. Ahmadi, “An overview of next-
generation mobile WiMAX technology,”
IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 47, no. 6, pp.
84–98, June 2009.
• WiMAX Forum, “Mobile WiMAX—
Part I: A technical overview and perfor-
mance evaluation,” 2006.
• WiMAX Forum, “Mobile system
profile,” Release 1.5 common part, ver-
sion 1, 2009.
About the authors
Behnam Kamali (Kamali_B@mercer.
edu) is a professor of electrical and com-
puter engineering at Mercer University in
Macon, Georgia. He earned his Ph.D.
degree in electrical and computer engi-
neering from Arizona State University in
1985 and has worked and taught at nine
different universities around the world.
He is a Senior Member of IEEE. His cur-
rent teaching and research interests are
in error control coding, wireless commu-
nications, and WiMAX networks.
Robert Alexander Bennett (Robert.
Alexander.Bennett@live.mercer.edu) is a
native of Savannah, Georgia. He first
attended Mercer University for a degree in
biochemistry with the intention of enter-
ing medical school. He later fell in love
with engineering and completed a B.S.
degree in biomedical engineering. He is
currently pursuing an M.S. degree in elec-
trical engineering at Mercer University.
Dyani Camika Cox (Dyani.Kamica.
Cox@live.mercer.edu) received her B.S.
and M.S. degrees, simultaneously, in elec-
trical engineering from Mercer University
in 2011. She is currently undergoing
intense technical training in GE Transpor-
tation’s Edison Engineering Development
Program.
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