WiMAX: 4G or Never ?

BeyondSpot Technology

April. 2005

page 1 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 Highlight
 What is WiMAX? (or “Mobile WiMAX” more precisely)
 WiMAX is a marketing term, a certification body, or an industry ad-hoc
forum to complete IEEE 802.16 standard (marketing, regulatory,
interoperability, test, certification, and high level protocol)
 IEEE 802.16 also known as BWA or WirelessMAN
 WiFi  IEEE 802.11 (WirelessLAN) = WiMAX  IEEE 802.16

 Why chose such topic?

CDMA? OFDM?
 mobility extension started in late 2002
 WiMAX is recognized as one of the new
competitions to CDMA based 3G
 Other competitions are proprietary
technologies, WiFi, Mesh, or IEEE 802.20
 Can WiMAX be 4G or Never?
 OFDM/OFDMA based broadband mobile is
recognized as 4G (beyond 3G)
 This presentation shares our story

page 2 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 Drivers from Two Worlds
 Broadband Access is a merging process
 Legacy Cellular, led by 3GPP and 3GPP2, extends bandwidth to support
broadband data services, especially in IP format.
 Fixed Wireless, led by IEEE, enhances techniques to support mobility.
 3GPP (UMTS/WCDMA) and 3GPP2(CDMA2000) started from ITU IMT-2000.

11 Billion
Billion
Subscriber
Subscriber
Broadband
300
300 Million
Million Mobile
Market Size

Subscriber
Subscriber Access

Cellular
Data 11 Billion
Billion
Users
Users
200
200 Million
Million
Internet
Internet Users
Users

1998 2010

page 3 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 Migration of WiMAX
SOC
Data Rate Available
Standard
Maturing

Standard
Maturing
Fixed WiMAX
IEEE 802.16d
2005
Portable WiMAX
Nomadic WiMAX
IEEE 802.16d/e
2006?

Mobile WiMAX
IEEE 802.16e
2007?
Mobility
page 4 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic
 802.16e Compatibility with 16d
 802.16e is the mobile extension from 802.16
 Modification in PHY from OFDM to Scalable OFDMA
 Modification in MAC for security, handoff, roaming, & resource management

Convergence Sub Layer

Packet Header
IP Ethernet ATM Classifier Suppression

MAC Layer

Net Entry PDU PDU Connection Bandwidth

Generation Reassembly Management Management

PHY Burst Security/Privacy Power Mgnt

ARQ Scheduling Key, AES, EAP Handoff Sleep/Idle

PHY Layer

SC SCa OFDM OFDMA OFDMA 2-11GHz (PAR <6GHz)

10-66GHz 2-11GHz 2-11GHz 256FFT 2-11GHz 2048FFT 128, 256,
512,1024, 2048
802.16d 802.16e WiMAX
page 5 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic
 Players in WiMAX Forum
 WiMAX SOC/System Pairs (examples)
 Intel  Proxim, Alvarion, ZTE, Alcatel,…
 Fujitsu  WiLAN, Aperto
 Wavesat  ATMEL
 LG Nortel… and more

 WiMAX Forum has >200 members

 Marketing, technical, interoperability and
spectrum

Alliance

Fixed/Nomadic Portable/Mobile

IEEE802.16 2004 and TGe

Air Interface standard
And a lot more…..
page 6 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic
 A Million Dollar Question
 Can WiMAX (16e) be the broadband candidate after 3G?
 WiMAX brings higher throughput and longer range, it is a growing threat to
the deployment of 3G and the promised ROI in every 3G business model
 or just an idea that sounds great but never comes true?
 WiMAX inherits issues of 3G and has even more challenges in spectrum, the
following presentation provides a balanced view

page 7 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 Advantages in Multipath
 OFDMA carries advantages in “Multipath”
 CDMA uses the whole spectrum, wasting system resource to combat
frequency selective fading.
 CDMA also creates worse interference problem
 OFDMA only select subcarriers with less channel degradation, prevent
wasting system resource (power or throughput ) => achieving higher system
capacity.

Multipath

Signal Sent

Signal Received

page 8 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 Spectral Efficiency Wins
 Spectrum efficiency is an important factor for data service
 The scarce of available (or useful) spectrum makes efficiency a key
factor to approve spectrum and the success of business model.
 Regulatory bodies shall recycle spectrum for existing systems with low
spectral efficiency.
 Future systems with high spectrum re-use advantages or higher spectral
efficiency shall have favored allocation during application.

 2.5G TDMA: Very  3G WCDMA: Reasonable

limited data rate and data rate, range, and
low spectral efficiency mobility, improved
(1.0-1.5 bps/Hz) spectral efficiency
(1.5-2.5 bps/Hz)

500kHz 5MHz
5MHz

 WiFi: OFDM 64FFT,

 WiMAX:OFDMA, Up to
Reasonable data rate, 2048FFT much
limited range and improved range and
mobility, improved mobility, potential for
spectral efficiency best spectral
(2-3 bps/Hz) efficiency (3-4 bps/Hz)
15 MHz 20
20 MHz
MHz

page 9 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 Global Harmonization
 WiMAX has global harmonization
 WiMAX forum pushes harmonization between IEEE and ETSI; there is only
one WiMAX standard (ETSI has not fully adopted Mobile WiMAX yet)
 WiMAX share one MAC for all, fixed, portable, and mobile

 3G breaks into WCDMA (3GPP), CDMA2000 (3GPP2), and more

 Among WCDMA, venders has their own proprietary modes.
 China has TDS-CDMA, US has UWC-136, and Japan has DoCoMo 3G…

WCDMA CDMA2000
page 10 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic
 Local Optimization is Better
 Future terminal can handover among multiple standards
 Thanks to high integration of silicon, dual-/tri- mode terminals are practical.
 Each standard is optimized for a specific environment, saving resource.
 Avoid sacrificing power to support indoor users.

WiFi

 802.11 covers indoor users

 802.16d covers fixed outdoor
WiMAX  802.16e covers moving vehicles
page 11 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic
 VoIP Changes Telecomm
 VoIP changes everything !
 The growing popularity of VoIP triggers the demand for IP based access
and changes the landscape of telecomm
 3G products are compatible with traditional circuit based PSTN and
PSMN, while 4G may only need to support VoIP with gateway and
gatekeeper separately purchased
Cellular Phones
POTS Phones

Circuit Based Circu

it
Voice Network Conn based
ectio
ns
(PSTN) Circuit Based
Cellular Network
(PSMN)
VoIP To
PSTN
VoIP to
Gateway
PSMN
Gateway
VoIP
IP Based
Fixed Voice Network
Phones

POTS
Phones
VoIP
Terminal
VoIP
Mobile
Phones PC to Phones

page 12 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 Regulatory Difficulty
 VoIP over WiMAX has no obligation to secure QoS
 From architecture point of View VoIP challenges Traditional Telecom
Regulatory Model. Is it an application or a telecomm service?
 When voice is no longer consider as telecommunication service, it is not
bounded for availability, emergency service (911), or voice quality of service
 It is a pure low cost application, not a telecom service

 VoIP Can Not Voice

Address: Application
Application
 99.999% availability
 The high quality of
TCP/IP TCP/IP
voice support as 3G
 The same level of
robustness as
circuit Voice Voice
 The same level of Transport
QoS as circuit Transport Transport

page 13 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 Power and RF Constraint
 Battery Life Challenge
 WiMAX standard was targeted to long range (high power), fixed (non-
battery based), or portability (recharged daily), not mobility.
 Higher data rate demands higher power transmission; battery
technology show difficulty to catch up with the such demand.
 Power consumption of WiMAX device could be a major problem.

 802.16’s Effort in
OFDM Symbol Power
Power/RF Peak Power
 Power-Saving mode
and Scalable OFDMA
are added to 802.16e
 But higher FFT has
Average Power
more severe PAPR
(peak to average
power ratio)
 Challenge the RF
Guard Interval IFFT Symbol Duration Time
design for WiMAX

page 14 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 Hi Layer Protocol Integration
 High Layer mobility is a challenge
 IEEE 802.16 by its mandate (PAR) only defines protocol stacks in the
PHY and MAC layer, 802.16e defines mobility support for MAC and PHY
only
 Lack of network layer mobility completion

 WiMAX Forum is supposed to cover network mobility, but…

 WiMAX forum has weak experience in end-to-end protocol stack
development
 WiMAX is a pure industry ad-hoc group, like WiFi, which may not be the
appropriate place to deal with Network Mobility standards
 Integration with legacy network requires support from the carriers

APPLICATION

WiMAX Based Network 3G Based Network

WiMAX MAC/PHY WiMAX/3G Dual MAC/PHY 3G MAC/PHY

page 15 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 Market & Time Competition
 Market takes time!
 Markets takes time to mature;
most new services will follow the
letter “N” curve as below
 Fixed WiMAX technology is far
from mass adoption, mobile
WiMAX would take even longer
Steady Growth
 WiMAX has risks too!
 Mobile WiMAX market is squeezed by
both 3G, Flash OFDM, and WiFi.
 802.11e, 11r, and 11n are enhancing QoS,
handover, and throughput.
 HSDPA (of 3G) shorten the gap with
WiMAX in throughput.
 Flash OFDM (by Flarion) has
demonstrated end-to-end solution.

Disappointment WiMAX Marketing Guy

Rebuild Business Model

Marketing Hype

page 16 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 Global Spectrum Availability
 Lack of Spectrum
 most licensed spectrum for broadband are either for fix services or for 3G;
 hard to use license-exempt band to provide QoS guarantee mobile services
 WiMAX Forum is working on regulatory drawbacks, but progress is slow

2.4 - 2.485 GHz (WLAN, Indoor Only) 3.5GHz (WLL) License bands 5.725 - 5.825 GHz (U-NII) or
5.725-5.850 GHz (ISM)

5.25 - 5.35 GHz (U-NII,

5.4 - 5.725 GHz (RLAN, Europe) 2.5-2.6GHz MDS, MMDS License bands ) Outdoor/Indoor)
page 17 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic
 Back to Square One
 Recent Trend in IEEE Standard Body
 More members notice the challenge of WiMAX for 4G, and recognize the
value to demonstrate success of WiMAX first in Fix services, shown below.
 Progress in maintenance group is slow
 Worst case, WiMAX is back to square one (day one) as a pure fix standard!

page 18 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 BeyondSpot White Papers
 BeyondSpot Offers White Papers for Selected Customers
 Fixed wireless based WiMAX and QoS
 Please find me to exchange business cards

page 19 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic

 Conclusions
 Most information on WiMAX
comes from press releases or the
Opportunity of
campaign of WiMAX forum, not
balanced.
WiMAX for 4G
 It is equally important to see
through the marketing smoke and
understand the real challenges.
 We provide view points from both
ends;
 Almost equal weight in YES and
NO to become 4G by (Mobile)
WiMAX.
 Service providers should not

Yes No
make investment decision without
knowing the risks;
 But can not afford not to know
about WiMAX.
 WiMAX is a worth
watching topic !
page 20 BeyondSpot Proprietary WiMAX Topic