Unwire is a pioneer in WiMAX technology. The Unwire team actively participates in all global industry forums and is recognized as a leading force in establishing the WiMAX standards worldwide.

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology enables the delivery of wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and ADSL in Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs).

It makes personal broadband available to both businesses and consumers at affordable prices . WiMAX provides fixed, nomadic, portable, and eventually mobile wireless broadband connectivity without the need for direct line-of-sight to a base station.

The WiMAX systems have enough bandwidth to simultaneously support hundreds of businesses with high speed connectivity and thousands of residences with ADSL speed connectivity.

Touted as the next generation of Point-to-Multipoint systems for fixed wireless broadband, WiMAX is an exciting new development in this industry. With the support of IT industry stalwarts like Intel™, WiMAX has become the industry standard for Wireless Service Providers.

Founded on Point -to-Multipoint (PTM) network principles , WiMAX allows for data communications between 1 POP and   multiple   end-user terminals.

Pre-WiMAX and proprietary PTM equipment has been available in the market for quite a few years. WiMAX itself is not as much a technology advancement as it is a technology standard . The biggest drawback to PTM networking for years was a lack of interoperability between systems and equipment from different manufacturers. This created a large barrier to entry and risk that most service providers were unwilling to accept. With the creation of the WiMAX standard, IEEE 802.16, service providers finally have a non-proprietary technology from multiple manufacturers for reliable, secure, and scalable network edge solution.

WiMAX allows wireless service providers a cost effective means to provide multiple links capable of up to 40Mb/s of throughput off of a single WiMAX base station sector with carrier-grade quality . Similar to a Central Office in traditional telecommunications, WiMAX base stations serve as an aggregation point of network edge links for switching, routing, and authentication.

Teamed with PTP equipment to backhaul traffic between WiMAX Base Stations, Wireless Metro Area Networks create a viable alternative to traditional telecommunications networks.

WiMAX is the next generation of wireless Triple Play Technology . It is important to know that WiMAX is not a cellular service or a WiFi Hot Spot. WiMAX is, in essence, wireless fiber.

Technical Information

The IEEE 802.16 Air Interface Standard is truly a state-of-the-art specification for fixed broadband wireless access systems employing a point-to-multipoint (PMP) architecture. The initial version was developed with the goal of meeting the requirements of a vast array of deployment scenarios for BWA systems operating between 10 and 66 GHz. As a result, only a subset of the functionality is needed for typical deployments directed at specific markets. A revision to the base IEEE 802.16 standard targeting sub 11 GHz is near completion with a publishing target date of July 2004. This revision will include the amendments from Task Group c, Task Group a, and Task Group d.

The IEEE process stops short of providing conformance standards and test specifications. In order to ensure interoperability between vendors equipment, the WiMAX technical working groups have completed the work for 10 to 66 GHz and has started work for the sub 11 GHz part of the standard.

Overview of IEEE 802.16  

The IEEE 802.16 Working Group has developed point-to-multipoint broadband wireless access standard for systems in the frequency ranges 10-66 GHz and sub 11 GHz. The standard covers both the Media Access Control ( MAC ) and the physical (PHY) layers.

A number of PHY considerations were taken into account for the target environment. At higher frequencies, line of sight is a must. This requirement eases the effect of multipath, allowing for wide channels, typically greater than 10 MHz in bandwidth. This gives IEEE 802.16 the ability to provide very high capacity links on both the uplink and the downlink.

For sub 11 GHz non line of sight capability is a requirement . The original IEEE 802.16 MAC was enhanced to accommodate different PHYs and services, which address the needs of different environments. The standard is designed to accommodate either Time Division Duplexing (TDD) or Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) deployments, allowing for both full and half-duplex terminals in the FDD case.

The MAC was designed specifically for the PMP wireless access environment. It supports higher layer or transport protocols such as ATM, Ethernet or Internet Protocol (IP), and is designed to easily accommodate future protocols that have not yet been developed. The MAC is designed for very high bit rates (up to 268 mbps each way) of the truly broadband physical layer, while delivering ATM compatible Quality of Service (QoS); UGS , rtPS, nrtPS, and Best Effort.

The frame structure allows terminals to be dynamically assigned uplink and downlink burst profiles according to their link conditions. This allows a trade-off between capacity and robustness in real-time, and provides roughly a two times increase in capacity on average when compared to non-adaptive systems, while maintaining appropriate link availability.

The MAC uses a self-correcting bandwidth request/grant scheme that eliminates the overhead and delay of acknowledgements, while simultaneously allowing better QoS handling than traditional acknowledged schemes. Terminals have a variety of options available to them for requesting bandwidth depending upon the QoS and traffic parameters of their services. They can be polled individually or in groups. They can steal bandwidth already allocated to make requests for more. They can signal the need to be polled, and they can piggyback requests for bandwidth.

A list of Frequently asked Questions to the WiMAX-Technology can be viewed at:
Related links: