Individual prioject - WiMAX - THE LAST MILE TECHNOLOGY

8/7/2019 Individual prioject - WiMAX - THE LAST MILE TECHNOLOGY

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WiMAX: THE LAST MILE TECHNOLOGY

TO BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

A.INTRODUCTIONIn the last ten or twenty years, developed countries vied to enhance

telecommunication technology, especially in internet and mobile telecommunication.

They tried to boost up high speed connections and broadband services at an affordable

fee. While the underdeveloped countries still remains in dark age of modern

telecommunication. This condition familiarly known as the digital divide [1]. During the

first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Geneva in December

2003, the Digital Divide was defined as the unequal access to Information and

Communication Technologies (ICTs), where the least developed countries are separated

from the developed countries because of a lack of technology particularly information

and communication technology [1][2][3].

WiMAX or World Interoperability for Microwave Access offers a solution to

bridge the divide. It comes with competitive advantages offered in mobility, large area

coverage, Quality of Services (QoS), and cost effectiveness over the other wireless

technology [1][4][5][6].

B.WiMAX NETWORK ARCHITECTUREThe systems are able to cover up to 50 km and delivers significant bandwidth up

to 72 Mbps [2]. There are two different versions of WiMAX. The original WiMAX

standard which is optimised for fixed and nomadic services is the first version. It is based

on IEEE 802.16 standard. The second one is mobile WiMAX, based on IEEE 802.16e

that engineered to support portability and mobility [2][7].


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The mobile WiMAX network architecture does not rely on any IP platform,

packet technology and circuit telephony. It combines Orthogonal Frequency Division

Multiple Access (OFDMA) and advance Multiple-input Multiple-output (MIMO),

creating highly efficient air interface radio access [6]. The architecture acommodates

small scale to large scale, urban, suburban and rural coverage, mesh topologies, flat,

hierarchical and their variant, and finally, co-existance of fixed, nomadic portable and

mobile usage models [1].

Figure 1. Wireless network type and range.

The core of its architecture can be logically represented by Network Reference

Model (NRM). It consists of several logical network entities: Mobile station (MS), an

Access Service Network (ASN), and a Connectivity Service Network (CSN), and their

interactions through reference points R1R8 [6].

These are some key functions that supported by WiMAX network [1]:

a.All IP Access and core service networksb.Support for fixed, nomadic and mobile accessc.Interoperability with existing networks via internetworking functionsd.Open interfaces between ASNs and between the ASN and the CSNe.Support for differential quality of service depending on the applicationf.Unbundling of the access, core and application service networks.


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C.WiMAX IS A SOLUTION TO BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDEThe Digital Divide mostly caused by infrastructural and cost demands of the

current technology used. Poor infrastructure and poverty are another problems of the

leading obstacles [3]. In order to bridging The Digital Divide, WiMAX addressed some

benefits. Those are:

1.Wireless. No complex and expensive cabling systems required.2.High Bandwidth. WiMAX has ability to transfer data for communication up to 70

Mbps in rate, and cut down the latency for all WiMAX communications.

3.Long Range. It can covers large geographical area up to 50 km [2]4.Multi Applications. Supporting multimedia services like VoIP and high quality

video streaming [8], telemedicine and monitoring of impervious areas [9]

5. Flexible Architecture. WiMAX supports several systems architectures, i.e. Point-to-Point, Point-to-Multipoint, and ubiquitous coverage.

6.High Security. WiMAX supports advanced encryption standard triple dataencryption standard, built-in VLAN support with use Privacy Key Management

(PKM). EAP-TTLS authentication also has been proposed to provide very secure

exchange of data, reqiures only the server side certificate, supported by wide range

of OS, and support session resumption [5]

7.Quality of Service (QoS). WiMax can be dinamically optimized for a mix of trafficthat is being carried.

8.Multi Level Service. QoS is delivered generally based on the service levelagreement between the end user and the service provider.

9. Interoperability. WiMAX does not belong to any vendor standard, avoidingequipment domination.


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10.Low Cost and Quick Deployment. WiMAX requires little or no external plantconstruction compared with the deployment of wired solutions. Base stations will

cost under $20,000 but will still provide customers with T1-class connections [1].

11.World Wide Standardization. WiMAX is developed and supported by theWiMAX forum (more than 470 members) that guarantees interoperability,

reliability, and very low cost equipment.

12.Spectrum Flexibility. Use a single radio covering two licensed bands 3.3-3.8 6Hzand 2.3-2.7 GHz, and one license exempt band 5.725-5.85 6Hz.

13.High Capacity. Using high modulation (64 QAM) and provide significantbandwidth to end users with currently 7 Mhz.

D.WiMAX DEPLOYMENTWiMAX is the emerging Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) techology of next

generation because of its cost-effective deployment and onother advantages. Therefore,

many diversified network application and services can be applied further in many fields.

Tanzania, located in East Africa, has been facing many problems as a developing country.

The communication sector grew at a rate of 6.2 % [3]. The tourism industry in Tanzania

now accounts for 17.2 % of the Gross Domestic Product. This sector has now been a

model of success in the current economic process [4]. To provide adequate information

access to citizens and tourists, deployed WiMAX Mesh Network (WMN). It proposed to

minimize infrastructural cost that comes from using low cost subscriber equipments,

unlicensed band, and low installation cost. WMN are also robust since they are

independent on a single source [3] to boost tourism in developing area.

Disasters may occur at anytime and in many forms. WiMAX can be used in

isolated areas by establishing network in the remote area and connecting it with the main


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WiMAX network via satellites [9]. It prevents significant damages or loss of lives in the

disaster area. Another use of WiMAX is environment monitoring like volcano, fire

monitoring, telemedicine application, and natural catastrophes alert system [5].

A new network model of WiMAX has been deployed to effectively provide high

quality video streaming of live news reporting for TV stations in Taiwan. These services

called WiTV (IPTV over WiMAX) and e-SNG (WiMAX News Gathering). e-SNG is

proposed to provide real-time news gathering for reporter, meanwhile WiPTV service is

developed to provide viewers with real-time video streaming service of high quality live

news or TV program through mobile devices. Both services are provided in cost-

effectiveness [8].

E.CHALLENGES AND DRAWBACKS OF WiMAXAn information technology such WiMAX could be useful and relevant to a

particular need and situation. In contrary, it also found significant challenges as WiMAX

is a new technology with emerging support. Intension of setting up WiMAX base station

by companies are still lack, since it has not yet reached widespread use. A lot of efforts on

product development need comprehensive research and though development. It is true

that the biggest challenge is not from the spectrum, but from business cases [1].

Based on research on SWOT analysis [7], some weaknesses arise from the

deployment of WiMAX technology. In WiMAX, those are: big instalation and

operational coast, using multiple frequencies, and signal strength dependent on climate

and weather. While in mobile WiMAX, some drawbacks are: issue in spectrum is still in

mind and yet to be realized, problem solving in security regulations has not been defined

yet, and commercialization mobile WiMAX has yet to be true.


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REFERENCES

[1] A. Yarali and S. Rahman, WiMAX Broadband Wireless Access Technology:Services, Architecture and Deployment Models, 2008 Canadian Conference onElectrical and Computer Engineering, May. 2008, pp. 000077-000082.

[2] F.A. Ibikunle and S.N. John, WiMAX - Appropriate Technology to ProvideAffordable Access to ICTs Infrastructure and Services in Developing Countries,IET Conference on Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks, vol. 2, 2008, pp.61-64.

[3] E. Sedoyeka, Z. Hunaiti, M. Al Nabhan, and W. Balachandran, WiMAX MeshNetworks for Underserved Areas, 2008 IEEE/ACS International Conference onComputer Systems and Applications, Mar. 2008, pp. 1070-1075.

[4] S. Mlozi, F. Jing, and E. Sedoyeka, Technology Adoption in Tourism Industry: ACase of Wireless Technology (WiMAX) for Tanzania, 2010 InternationalConference on E-Business and E-Government, May. 2010, pp. 376-379.

[5] E. Sithirasenan and N. Almahdouri, Using WiMAX for Effective BusinessContinuity During and After Disaster, Proceedings of the 6th InternationalWireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference on ZZZ - IWCMC

10, 2010, p. 494.

[6] K. Etemad, Overview of Mobile WiMAX Technology and Evolution, IEEECommunications Magazine, 2008, pp. 31-40.

[7] C. Ravichandiran and V. Vaithiyanathan, An Incisive SWOT Analysis of Wi-Fi,Wireless Mesh, WiMAX and Mobile WiMAX Technologies, 2009 InternationalConference on Education Technology and Computer, Apr. 2009, pp. 239-243.

[8] H.-S. Liu, C.-H. Wang, R.-I. Chang, and C.-C. Hsieh, A Cost-Effective WiMAXDeployment for High-Quality Video Streaming of Live News Reporting, 2009IEEE Mobile WiMAX Symposium, Jul. 2009, pp. 163-168.

[9] S. Mignanti, G. Tamea, M. Castellano, A. Cimmino, P.M. Neves, and P. Simoes,WEIRD Testbeds with Fixed and Mobile WiMAX Technology for UserApplications , Telemedicine and Monitoring of Impervious Areas, Proceedingsof the 4th International Conference on Testbeds and Research infrastructures For

the Development of Networks & Communities, 2008.

Individual prioject - WiMAX - THE LAST MILE TECHNOLOGY

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