A Look at the Future: WiMAX Technology

WiMAX is a technology being developed in wireless broadband access. Integrating with old technologies such as Wi-Fi, and using upgraded technology, a faster, more secure, and wider wireless network is becoming very affordable for many people.

WiMAX stands for the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, and it promotes the conformance and interoperability of the IEEE 802.16 standard. The IEEE is a non-profit organization and professional association for the advancement of technology. It stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Incorporated, and they are the leading authority on aerospace systems, computers, telecommunications, biomedical engineering, electric power, consumer electronics, as well as many other fields. These standards, which were approved in December 2001, set regulations for broadband wireless metropolitan area networks, and tried to solve the problem of broadband wireless access at the last mile. There was a need to improve upon Ethernet with both increased speed and functionality (Gartner Research).

The 802.16 standard utilizes a large part of the radio frequency spectrum, but permission has to be granted to use a specific frequency. The biggest segment is somewhere around 2.5 GHz and has already been given largely to Sprint Nextel and Clearwire technologies. WiMAX is currently being used in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Croatia, Columbia, Ireland, Finland, France, Georgia, Slovakia, the UK, and the United States. WiMAX promises to bring 40 Mbps transfers up to a radius of three to ten kilometers. Mobile WiMAX plans to achieve 15 Mbps of up to three kilometers (Gartner Research).

The WiMAX Forum is an industry-led, non-profit corporation formed to promote and certify compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products. The forum created the Regulatory Working Group to address the regulatory issues surrounding the global deployment of WiMAX equipment. Their meetings intended goal is to set the following regulations on the use of bands: 5GHz will be an unlicensed spectrum for intended use in rural and remote areas; 3.5 GHz would be a licensed spectrum that allows the forum to reduce regulatory and technical requirements, and 2.5 GHz, which is already being used in many countries around the world (IEEE).

Besides the IEEE 802.16 standard, there is other two other recognized standards, which all aim to be interoperable with each other. WiBro is the South Korean standard, whose efforts have been spearheaded by Samsung Electronics. Hiperman is the European standard, which is very similar to both the WiBro and IEEE (IEEE).

Vendors like Intel and Fujitsu are producing WiMAX chips. These companies have made deals with companies like Siemens, Alcatel, and Alvarion to ensure that their chips become widely used for WiMAX technology. The challenge is to integrate the technology into PC's, and also to prove WiMAX's worth. Intel already has a Wi-Fi chip in every notebook, and has revealed plans to make a Wi-Fi/WiMAX duel chip that will be the new standard. The problem is that both radios cannot be working at the same time. This has brought up the argument as to what is more effective in the home, Wi-Fi or WiMAX? Some say Wi-Fi, which is still cost-effective and gets the job done. Others point to WiMAX, which has a range of up to 50 miles in a good situation. There has been some discord about the broad range. Although WiMAX does have a potential range of 50 miles, you would need a huge antenna to make that happen. And it will have the same range as cellular (1 kilometer to 2 kilometers), because it needs to use the same cell towers to be cost-effective (Intel WiMAX)
This means making WiMAX the leading solution for home and business broadband mobility. While there is interest by silicon vendors to produce WiMAX chips, a lot of research says that WiMAX market will not exceed 5 million connections by 2008, so the market is a long-term investment. This is believed to be worthwhile because eventually there will be a mass volume of WiMAX silicon chips that need to be produced (Intel WiMAX).

WiMAX will eventually work in three types of wireless networks for computers. The first is fixed, in which the client works from a stationary platform, with an external power supply and antenna. This is available now. The second is the semi-mobile wireless. These are clients with terminal support to roam between networks at a pedestrian speed. The terms nomadic and portable have been also used to describe this sort of technology. The last category is mobile wireless, which is set to be released in 2007. This technology is capable of seamlessly transitioning between networks without dropping a session at vehicular speeds. While there is a drop-off in range and throughput speeds when varying between mobile and stationary, both are better than the market of Wi-Fi products (Gartner Research).

WiMAX is becoming an alternative for computers from cable and DSL services. Often, high speed choices are expensive or unavailable in areas leaving no other alternative other than a dial-up connection. WiMAX has the ability to create a broader wireless network, and give them a much faster alternative than dial-up at a low cost. This alternative to the last-mile connection is appealing to many who also want to integrate their immediate areas. Coming out in 2007, wireless base stations and chips will provide service to homes and small businesses. A WiMAX World Conference was held in fall 2006 at the Boston World Trade Center, and the newest wave of WiMAX broadband products was unveiled. 2006 was a big year for the wireless market, and new trends have been seen. Vendors are releasing base stations that can support more users, and more efficiently manage bandwidth, as well as stay current with additional WiMAX frequency bands. Vendors are also trying to tie together several wireless technologies into products (WiMAX Vendors).

A Wi-Fi mesh system has been developed by many vendors to handle backhaul. In this system, each network user is also a provider, forwarding data to the next node. Doing this decentralizes and simplifies the networks infrastructure, and can allow people in remote areas and small businesses in rural areas to connect networks. This often proves to be an affordable option (wireless mesh network). For example, WiMAX is fast becoming the wireless future in India, where it's ability to connect rural areas is especially appealing, and the last-mile connectivity issue is prevalent in rural areas. This has achievable mostly using a Wi-Fi mesh system. Since the industry there is booming and the middle class is expanding, experts project that WiMAX will provide for around 12 million by 2012 (Rural India).

A similar venture is being made in Nigeria. Swiftnetworks is the first service provider to supply WiMAX services. A unique feature of this technology is that it focuses on economies of scale thereby leading to a reduction in the cost per unit resulting from increased production realized through operational efficiencies This in turn causes the cost of acquiring internet services to drop. It provides bandwidth and range improvements that enable the adoption of advanced radio features in a uniform fashion that reduces the cost of the radios (Nigeria).

WiMAX broadband access is largely an improvement on the Wi-Fi standard. Wi-Fi is the underlying technology in WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), and is used in the connectivity of laptops, VoIP phone access, gaming, TV's and DVD players. The products work when within range of Wi-Fi node, or hotspot. Hotspots can be small, or large if combined with other overlapping networks. This is what is referred to as a Wi-Fi mesh. As well as connecting a computer to the internet, it can connect computers to other computers, in peer-to-peer networking. This is common in gaming and consumer electronics. The Nintendo DS uses a wireless Wi-Fi connection for multiplayer gaming between players. Wi-Fi has a throughput of on average 1 Mbps for a stationary client for a radius of up to only 300 feet, WiMAX boasts a connection of up to 3 Mbps, and can operate in a radius of up to ten kilometers (wi-fi.org).

While WiMAX is an upgrade on the capabilities of Wi-Fi, the technologies are thought of as complementary as opposed to competing. WiMAX can be used to connect several Wi-Fi hotspots, as is the practice that enables the connection of rural areas. The interoperability of these technologies enables people to access the WiMAX network without having to upgrade their equipment. They can access the network via their Wi-Fi hotspot, and that is connected to the greater WiMAX network.

A part of the WiMAX standard is the use of MIMO, or the multiple-input multiple-output technique. It is used to boost wireless bandwidth and range. A signal is sent to multiple antennas (usually two or more) where it is reflected off of objects, creating multiple paths. In conventional radios, this causes interference, but in broadband wireless communications, this allows for more information to be carried and recombined on the receiving side. Using WiMAX and MIMO will allow outdoor urban areas to become zones of consistent WiMAX connectivity (MIMO).

The issue of affordability has been a problem that WiMAX providers have tried to contend with. The CPE, or customer-premises equipment, is often expensive, and if the subscribers have to buy it themselves, the money becomes too much to be deemed a worthy investment. A solution to this has been to roll the money into the monthly service bill, or to have the gear leased. Lowering the cost makes consumer resistance wither, and eliminates one more barrier to market entry. With wireless' release set for the second quarter of 2007, operators look at entry strategies like equipment and PC bundling to make the technology affordable for the mass market right in the beginning (WiMAX Adoption).

Another solution to this problem of affordability has been the development of the PCMCIA card. This card is WiMAX enabled, and drives the cost for CPE way down. It is also a first look at laptops which can be WiMAX capable. This would create a new VoIP that can be used to make a laptop a phone as well. This is where mobile data transmission speeds maintainable at speeds of up to 100 mph come in handy. A positive effect of standardization and interoperability promoted by the WiMAX forum, as well as the interoperability between the world-wide standards, is that the cost of components is reduced, which leads to a reduced CPE cost (PCMCIA Card).

A serious problem faced by WiMAX broadband wireless has been radio interference. This interference between cell-sites is known as cell-to-cell suppression, and has been known since the early developments of this technology. Cell-sites need to be "tuned", which is time consuming and can cost from one to three thousand dollars per tuning. An average city requires roughly one thousand cell-sites. Costs for this can quickly mount up, and developments have been sought to make this process more efficient (Unstrung).

Stella Doradus Group, an Irish company that deals with WiMAX antenna design and manufacturing, has produced a method of tuning cell-sites that nearly eliminates the tilting operation costs. The Stella Netamorphic Antenna conducts the operations from a centrally controlled center of operations. "By eliminating the need for tower climbs, the Stella Netamorphic Antenna can save operators approximately $5 million for every 500 base stations they add to their network, which quickly adds up to hundreds of millions in savings if the operator is planning a nationwide presence." James Brown, CEO of the Doradus Group said (Stella Doradus).
WiMAX is currently being developed as the network of choice for many 4G cell phones. Mobile data transmission rates are to be as high as 20 Mbps, and stationary signals as strong as 100 Mbps. The range of WiMAX is also greatly improved, with a range as large as 30 miles (Fourth Generation).

4G is the logical successor to 3G. The third generation of cell phones sought to fix the problems of 2G, such as the easy ability to clone an analog headset, leading to fraudulence. Weaker signals in less populated areas as well as patchy networks in urban areas left much to be desired. 3G can deliver data at 384 kbps with a mobile device and 2 Mbps with stationary ones. Additionally, there was extensively better coverage in many urban areas. It was the first generation to utilize radio frequencies for data transmission, and did it all with a lower marginal cost than 2G (Fourth Generation).

Sprint has taken on the challenge of being the only network to provide nationwide mobile wireless coverage, and is hoping that there is a market for WiMAX technology that will make their investment worthwhile. It has extensive amounts of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz range that it inherited from Nextel, and hopes to supply 100 million Americans with WiMAX service by 2008. Sprint owns 268 protected service areas; the next most is 59 owned by Clearwire, then 36 by Bellsouth (Behind Push).

Intel, Motorola and Samsung Telecommunications America have all joined in a collaborative effort to develop an infrastructure and end-user electronics that will support the Sprint Nextel WiMAX service. Such an extensive investment in infrastructure will allow for a deep and expansive network that can provide services at a low cost. "The combination of lots of spectrum in the 2.5GHz band, a broadband technology like mobile WiMAX and access to expensive infrastructure means that we can deliver these services at a much lower cost with a much richer experience" said Barry West, chief technology officer and president of the Sprint broadband group. Sprint, who has the most spectrum available for service than any other provider in the United States, sends packets of data enabling visual services, devices like MP3 players, and downloads of DVD's (Sprint's Challenge).

Sprint is spending three billion dollars on a mobile WiMAX network after it already spent billions developing its 3G network. Many wonder, "Why pour money into two markets, especially if one grows the other shrinks?" The answer is to gamble that both become lucrative, Sprint could become a real force in the telecommunications market. A developed network for both 4 and 3 G creates a wide array of choices for businesses and consumers. It is also an early investment that can pay dividends if the markets do explode in popularity. This puts them a step ahead of the competition, and often if one is the first in the market, one can secure an association with it, and dominate the market for years to come. The only problem is what happens if people don't embrace WiMAX as a cell phone network? Then Sprint will have spent billions of dollars on a dead end venture. The jump from 3G to 4G has been substantial, and it could mean several things. Maybe 4G is a plateau that will take years to move past, that the technology has hit a temporary wall, leaving 4G several years to root itself in the consumer's conscience, and marketplace. Another alternative is that something comes along that takes an even bigger step and becomes the new future of cell phone service. In that case, a lot of people still left in 3G might decide to skip 4G all together and hop on the 5G wave. Luckily for Sprint, the barrier still seems to be there, and the low cost of WiMAX makes the alternative that much more appealing (Sprint's Challenge).

Is there any other reason why Sprint would make such a big push for this new technology? "WiMAX is a licensed spectrum," says Juan Santiago, senior director of product and strategy at Motorola. "It is a service provider who will provide it. You can't provide it yourself". This means they could choose new and innovative ways in making customers pay for service. They could choose to make people pay per minute, hour, or megabyte. People have said that the competition from WiMAX wireless will cause prices to go down, but if it is a licensed spectrum, is there really any competition (Behind Push)?

Besides Sprint, Nokia has revealed its intentions to sell WiMAX capable phones by 2008. Nokia, Samsung and Motorola all support the open-standard WiMAX as an alternative wireless broadband Internet connection alongside third generation mobile telephony networks, on which Internet access can get squeezed if networks fill up with voice callers. Nokia said its WiMAX base stations will be commercially available for broadband operators in the 2.5 gigahertz band at the end of 2007 and for 3.5 gigahertz in the first quarter of 2008.

Recently, Telsima Corporation introduced TRUFLE, a lightweight architectural and software solution for the 4G market. TRUFLE does not require any software additional to the WiMAX mobile station or handheld. TRUFLE allows for any WiMAX subscriber to become mobile enabled. TRUFLE manages the handover of services among base stations while mobile stations are in motion. During handover, TRUFLE maintains IP address and TCP sessions, allowing IP application continuity of service, and performs this function with no perceivable impact on voice, data or video services (Disruptive Impact).

People will be willing to buy into 4G technology. There is a distinctly improved transmission rate that will allow for cell phones to become much more detailed. The line between a PDA and a cell phone will further be blurred, as applications on cell phones will get even more complicated. Voice quality will be much more improved, and less erratic with signal strength. I think this great increase in quality will urge people to make the investment. Phones are a risky investment because they can become outdated so quickly. There is also the problem that the newer the phone is, the more intricate it is to work. The improvements that 4G will be capable of have a lot to do with performance, so people will not be afraid of a completely new concept. The increase of speed and data capacity does not take more knowledge to handle, but streamlines the process.

Another use of WiMAX has been the allocation of spectrum to public safety networks (Vendors). This has become an especially sensitive and important topic in the atmosphere of post-9/11 America. That painful day exposed the weaknesses of our emergency services communications network. Firefighters were unable to communicate through the chaos that resulted, and this was not limited to the immediate vicinity of the attack. All over New York City communications had been erratic. WiMAX can provide continuous connectivity, high-speed data, voice & multimedia services, and mobility. As long as there is a power supply, the network will remain active. An improved range and transmission speed can make these communications more dependable, and a network in an urban area would strengthen it even further. Cyber crime can surely find a way to compromise this system, but it does create a more integrated network that all the emergency services can share. WiMAX does not have any particular means of protecting against invasion that strike it out as amazing.

WiMAX is competing with many other wireless technologies for the tightest grip on the next generation of wireless networks. All of the technologies deal with the same inverse relationship between mobility and speed. The greater the mobility, the less the speed, and vice versa. On this scale, WiMAX is at what would be considered equilibrium.

UMTS is a technology that provides a down-link with data transmission of 14.4 Mbps, and has a circuit optimized for voice and video traffic. It can be considered in direct competition with WiMAX, and has taken a strong hold on communication technologies in Europe. France and Finland especially have made strong investments in this technology, and have blocked frequency allocation requests made by WiMAX. UMTS is more mobile than WiMAX, but sacrifices speed to do so (UMTSworld.com).

LTE is a form of broadband optimized for wide area mobile voice communications. Like WiMAX, LTE uses different technology than previous cell phone systems, and therefore cannot share current cellular spectrums. They are also going to use the MIMO process to increase speed and data capacity (lte.com).

EV-DO is a major competitor of WiMAX, already claiming business in 18 countries. EV-DO, or Evolution-Data Optimized, is a widely used 3G service. It is compatible for laptops, and is an alternative to DSL. A laptop with an EVDO card becomes a hotspot, and maintains a constant connection. It has been widely accepted by many CDMA mobile phone services providers (evdo.com).

While UMTS and LTE are comparable competition, EV-DO is upstaged by what is just a more advanced technology in WiMAX. The future of competition for WiMAX lies in the IEEE 802.20 regulations, also known as Mobile Broadband Wireless Access. It boasts roaming and handoff of IP at one Mbps, and connectivity maintained at speeds of up to 250 kmh. The desired result is a low-cost, always on, and truly mobile broadband wireless network, known as Mobile-Fi. This is the similar goals of the IEEE standard said for mobile WiMAX technology.

A fully covered WiMAX network would allow for the integration of many products to be incorporated into the network. If a cell phone and laptop are both WiMAX subscribers, then they should be able to flow seamlessly between each other. The practical applications for WiMAX in consumer electronics cannot be ignored either. Just as Wi-Fi has been utilized for these means, WiMAX can transmit larger amounts of data, which can only lead to a better connection between systems. Imagine a TV playing content streaming from your computer. Or itunes playing through the stereo, with it's visualizer displayed on the TV.

The longer WiMAX is a mainstream broadband provider, the more intricate the network will become, as well as becoming more efficient. If the use of MIMO really does improve speed and capacity, then creating more developed networks would result in a more stable MIMO network. Overlapping of WiMAX networks could prove to be very beneficial, and at the same time could reduce costs. New towers wouldn't have to built, as the existing ones could be used, and would give the proper amount of overlapping to ensure a good environment for MIMO usage.