Comparing wi max_vs_3g_white_paper

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Comparing Mobile
WiMAX, 3G and Beyond
A technical comparison of mobile
WiMAX and third generation
mobile technologies

White Paper

Comparing mobile WiMAX, 3G and Beyond
A technical comparison of mobile WiMAX
and third generation mobile technologies

Introduction
Service operators face some tough decisions as they witness a rising demand for “anywhere, anytime”
broadband access. Service-operators sense that there is a real business opportunity to provide a substantial
increase to the all-important average revenue per user (ARPU). However, when considering the implementation
aspect, service providers find the technological landscape dotted with options, trends, and hype. Many
technologies, backed by strong vendors and consortiums are vying for the service providers’ attention.
In addition, many vendors, having invested considerable amount of resources and money in the different
technologies, are loudly promoting their respective technologies.

This paper examines the different technological options facing a service provider considering deploying
a personal, mobile, broadband access network. The paper provides a high level comparison of commonalities
and differences of these various technologies. It focuses on high capacity technologies comparing WiMAX
4G technology and the different 3G options, 1xEVDO, HSDPA / HSUPA, WCDMA, CDMA2000 3G FDD-
based networks, and where possible, the “over the horizon” 3GPP-LTE.

Overview of Mobile WiMAX
The WiMAX Forum is a worldwide organization created to promote and certify compatibility and
interoperability of broadband wireless products based on the IEEE 802.16 standard. The final standard
for mobile WiMAX - IEEE802.16e-2005 - was approved in late 2005. The WiMAX Forum undertakes
testing and certification against the IEEE standards to ensure vendor interoperability.

Mobile WiMAX is a 4G technology and will initially operate in the 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.3 GHz, 3.4-3.8
GHz frequency bands. Support for additional bands will be added on the basis of market demand and
new spectrum allocations.

Mobile WiMAX Key Advantages
Mobile WiMAX, as a forth generation technology, meets all the requirements for Personal Broadband
access. It supports high data rates, high sector throughput, multiple handoff mechanisms, power-saving
mechanisms for mobile devices, advanced QoS and low latency for improved support of real-time
applications, advanced authorization, authentication and accounting (AAA) functionality.

Unlike the CDMA-based 3G systems, which have evolved from voice-centric systems, WiMAX is designed
to meet the requirements necessary for the delivery of broadband data services as well as voice. UMTS,
CDMA2000 and TD-SCDMA are all optimized for voice applications (with the obvious exception of EV-DO).
These technologies have evolved over 7-10 years and data / broadband has been added to the standard
incrementally.

1


Net Throughput per Channel / Sector
Mbps
16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

Uplink/Downlink 1:1 3:1 1:1 3:1
traffic ratio
1xEVDO 3xEVDO HSDPA HSPA SIMO MIMO
Technology
Rev A Rev B
Mobile WiMAX
2x1.25
Channel width 2x5 MHz 1x10 MHz
MHz

Downlink Uplink
Figure 1: Comparison of WiMAX
Vs. leading 3G technologies: net
throughput per channel / sector

Spectral Efficiency

bps/Hz
2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

traffic ratio
Technology
Rev A Rev B
Mobile WiMAX

Downlink Uplink
Figure 2: Performance comparison
between WiMAX and 3G
technologies: spectral efficiency
Source: WiMAX Forum [10]

1xEV-DO uses one 1.25 MHz channel for the uplink and one for the downlink, 3xEV-DO uses three 1.25
MHz channels for the uplink and three for the downlink.

Single input, multiple output (SIMO) refers to the use of multiple (in this case two) receiver chains at the
mobile unit. No results for beamforming are shown as they are dependent on the base station implementation
and the results can vary with the deployment scenarios.

2


The new technologies employed in mobile WiMAX result in lower equipment complexity and simpler
mobility management due to the all-IP core network that provides with many other additional advantages
over CDMA based 3G systems including:

Tolerance to Multipath and Self-interference
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) technology provides operators with an efficient
modulation technique to overcome non-line-of-site (NLOS) propagation. The WiMAX OFDM waveform
offers the advantage of being able to operate with the large delay spread of the NLOS environment.
By virtue of the OFDM symbol time and use of a cyclic prefix, the OFDM waveform eliminates the
inter-symbol interference (ISI) problems and the complexities of adaptive equalization.

Because the OFDM waveform is composed of multiple narrowband orthogonal carriers, selective fading
is localized to a subset of carriers that are relatively easy to equalize. OFDM is the basis for Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) with the advantages of OFDM carrying over to OFDMA.

OFDMA Based Subscriber Access
Orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) gives 802.16e more flexibility when managing
different user devices with a variety of antenna types and form factors. It reduces interference for user
devices with omni-directional antennas and improves NLOS capabilities that are essential when supporting
mobile subscribers.

OFDM
OFDM carrier

Frequency (carriers)

OFDMA
Group 1 Group 2 Group N0
Pilot
Subchannel 1 OFDMA carriers
Subchannel 2
Subchannel 3
N0 Carriers Frequency (carriers)

Figure 3: Single-carrier and
OFDMA received signals

3


Scalable Channel Bandwidth
Mobile WiMAX employs scalable OFDMA (SOFDMA) to enable channel bandwidth scalable from 1.25
to 20 MHz.

Modulation QPSK QPSK 16 QAM 16 QAM 64 QAM 64 QAM

Code rate 1/2 3/4 1/2 3/4 2/3 3/4

1.75 MHz 1.04 2.18 2.91 4.36 5.94 6.55

3.5 MHz 2.08 4.37 5.82 8.73 11.88 13.09

5MHz 4.16 6.28 8.32 12.48 16.63 18.70

7 MHz 4.15 8.73 11.64 17.45 23.75 26.18

10 MHz 8.31 12.47 16.63 24.94 33.25 37.40

20 MHz 16.62 24.94 33.25 49.87 66.49 74.81

Table 1: Data rate per cell for
various coding techniques
(in Mbps)
Source: Intel [2]

System Bandwidth (MHz) 1.25 2.5 5 10 20

Sampling Frequency (MHz) 1.429 2.85 5.714 11.429 22.857

Sample Time (nano-secs) 700 350 175 88 44

FFT Size (sub-channels) 128 256 512 1024 2048

Sub-carrier Frequency Spacing 11.1607 KHz

Table 2: SOFDMA scalability
parameter
Source: dBrn Associates, Inc. [3]

Asymmetric Traffic Support
Time division duplex (TDD) enables efficient support of asymmetric traffic for easy support of IP-based
traffic and channel reciprocity for easy support of advanced antenna systems.

Hybrid-automatic repeat request (H-ARQ) provides added robustness with rapidly changing radio path
conditions in high mobility situations.

WiMAX can also support frequency division duplex (FDD), which dominates in 3G networks. FDD keeps the
uplink and the downlink channels separate in frequency, whereas, TDD is a less complex, more efficient
mechanism that uses a single frequency channel, with uplink and downlink traffic separated by a guard time.

4


Sub-channelization
Sub-channelization with multiple sub-carrier permutation options concentrates the transmit power into
fewer OFDM carriers. This increases the system gain, which can either be used to extend the reach,
overcome the building penetration losses, or reduce the power consumption of the CPE. Sub channeling
enables a more flexible use of resources that support nomadic and mobile operation.

Power Management
Power Conservation Management ensures power-efficient operation of battery operated mobile handheld
and portable devices in Sleep and Idle modes.

Optimized Handoff
Network-optimized hard handoff (HHO) is supported to minimize overhead and achieve a handoff delay
of less than 50 milliseconds.

Multicast and Broadcast Service
Multicast and broadcast service (MBS) provides high data rate and coverage using a flexible radio resource
allocation, low mobile device power consumption, and low channel switching time.

Advanced Antenna System
Advanced (or smart) antenna system (AAS) enables a wide range of advanced technologies such as
multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO), beam-forming, space-time coding and spatial multiplexing.

For IP-based services, the use of a TDD channel duplexing for the uplink and downlink, combined with
OFDMA modulation facilities, makes it substantially less complex and more cost-effective to implement
MIMO and beamforming in mobile WiMAX networks than in CDMA-based networks. MIMO and
beamforming significantly improve throughput in TDD-based WiMAX networks.

Sectorization Simple Fully Adaptive
Beamforming Antenna Systems

user1 user1
Distribution user1
of radio
energy and
number of
users per radio
resource in user2
sector

user3

Figure 4: Beam Forming

5


Adaptive Modulation and Coding
In essence, adaptive modulation selects the highest data rate consistent with the required error rate,
therefore trading off capacity for quality of service. The key feature of adaptive modulation is that it
increases the range that a higher modulation scheme can be used over, since the system can flex to the
actual fading conditions, as opposed to having a fixed scheme that is budgeted for the worst case
conditions.

Built-in Advanced Error Correction Techniques
Error correction techniques have been incorporated into WiMAX to reduce the system signal to noise
ratio requirements. Strong Reed Solomon forward error correction (FEC), convolutional encoding, and
interleaving algorithms are used to detect and correct errors to improve throughput. These robust error
correction techniques help recover frames that may have been lost due to frequency selective fading or
burst errors. This significantly improves the bit error rate (BER) performance for a given threshold level.

Fractional Frequency Reuse
Fractional frequency reuse controls co-channel interference to support universal frequency reuse with
minimal degradation in spectral efficiency.

Short Frame Duration
A five millisecond frame size provides optimal tradeoff between overhead and latency.

Privacy and Security
Maintaining communications security has been an on-going concern with both fixed and mobile wireless
networks. WiMAX supports both 56-bit digital encryption standard (DES) and 128-bit advanced encryption
standard (AES). WiMAX also requires user terminal and base station authentication as well as data
authentication with secure key exchange. The baseline authentication architecture for WiMAX employs
X.509-based public key infrastructure (PKI) certificate authentication.

6


Introduction to 3G Technologies
Competing Technologies
The 3G partnership project (3GPP) and 3G partnership project 2 (3GPP2) have been defining standards for
enhancements to today’s 3G systems. The objective is to add network capacity and features enabling operators
to offer new data-oriented services over their existing networks. The extensions are discussed below:

Cellular Network Evolution

1992-2000 2000-2004 2004-2008

TDMA EGPRS TD-SCDMA

GSM GPRS WCDMA

PDC WCDMA (R99) HSDPA (R5) HSUPA (R6)

VoIP

cdma One CDMA2000 1X CDMA2000 CDMA2000
1xEVDO 1xEVDV

CDMA Based GSM Based

Figure 5: Cellular Network
Evolution
Source: Intel [2]

CDMA Family
CDMA 2000 represents a family of technologies that includes CDMA2000 1X and CDMA2000 1xEV.
CDMA2000 1X can double the voice capacity of cdmaOne networks and delivers peak packet data speeds
of 307 Kbps in mobile environments. CDMA2000 1xEV includes:
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO is a high-speed data only system for 1.25 MHz FDD channels and delivers peak
data speeds of 2.4Mbps supporting applications such as MP3 transfers and video conferencing.
CDMA2000 1xEV-DV provides integrated voice and simultaneous high-speed packet data multimedia
services at speeds of up to 3.09 Mbps.
Wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) uses direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)
to spread the signal over a 5 MHz spectrum. It is based on 3GPP Release 99 and provides data rates
of 384 Kbps for wide area coverage and up to 2 Mbps for hot-spot areas. In addition to the use of
orthogonal spreading codes, it uses quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) for its modulation.

7


Family Technology Theoretical Throughput

Forward link (Kbps) Return link (Kbps)

1 x 1.25MHz 614 614

CDMA 1 x EV-DO Rev 0 (1.25MHz) 2458 153

1 x EV-DO Rev A (1.25MHz) 3072 1800

1 x EV-DO Rev B (1.25MHz) 14745 5400

GPRS (200KHz) 163 163

EDGE (200KHz) 474 474

WCDMA WCDMA Rel 99 (5MHz) 2688 2304

HSDPA Rel 5 (5MHz) 14400 2300

HSUPA Rel 5 (5MHz) 14400 5000

Table 3: Theoretical throughputs
of CDMA systems
Source: Intel [4]

HSDPA
3GPP Release 5 extends the WCDMA specification with high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA).
HSDPA includes advanced features such as adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), hybrid automatic
repeat request (HARQ), and de-centralized scheduling architecture.

The 3GPP has also defined WCDMA enhancements for the uplink path. This enhancement is known as
high speed uplink packet access (HSUPA); the combination of HSDPA and HSUPA is simply known as HSPA
(high speed packet Access).

Roadmap for 3G Enhancements
1xEVDO Rev 0 had initial success in Korea and Japan beginning in 2003 with additional major deployments
following in 2004 and 2005. The initial launch for EV-DO Rev A with CDMA2000 UL enhancements took
place in Korea and Japan in 2005.

A further enhancement to the CDMA2000 standard is 1xEVDO-Rev B (also known as DO Multi-Carrier).
This enhancement will increase the DL peak over the air data rate for a 1.25 MHz carrier to 4.9 Mbps
and, by aggregating 3 carriers (known as 3xEVDO) in a nominal 5 MHz channel bandwidth, will provide
a peak DL rate of 14.7 Mbps and a peak UL data rate of 5.4 Mbps. Commercial deployments for
1xEVDO-Rev B are not anticipated until 2008.

HSUPA/HSPA availability is not expected until 2007-2008. The 3GPP envisions additional long term WCDMA
enhancements leading to UMTS terrestrial radio access node long term evolution (known as 3GPP-LTE
or UTRAN LTE) also referred to as 3.99G or evolved UMTS. 3GPP2 is on a similar path with LTE for
CDMA2000. Since approved standards for LTE are not expected until 2007, it is unlikely that products
will be available until 2009 or later.

8


2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 ++++

3GPP / 3GPP2: WCDMA / CDMA2000

MINO / HSDPA
WCDMA HSDPA HSUPA
R7
R.99 R5 R6
SAE/LTE
R8

1xEVDO 1xEVDO EVDO
Rev 0 Rev A Rev B

WiMAX: 802.16 / HiperMAN

802.16-2004
802.16e-2005 802.16e-2005
ESTI
SISO / OFDMA SIMO / MIMO / OFDMA
HiperMAN

Figure 6: Mobile WiMAX will
be available before 3G - LTE
Source: Alvarion [5]

9


Technological Comparison
3G enhancements have evolved from the 3G experiences and as a result, inherit both the advantages
and limitations of legacy 3G systems. WiMAX on the other hand was initially developed for fixed broadband
wireless access and is optimized for broadband data services.

The following sections review the similarities and differences of these technologies:

Common Features
Several features, designed to enhance data throughput, are common to EVDO, HSPDA / HSPA and mobile
WiMAX including:
Adaptive modulation and coding (AMC)
Hybrid ARQ (HARQ)
Fast scheduling
Bandwidth efficient handoff

Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC)
1xEVDO-Rev B introduces 64QAM to further increase the peak downlink data rate. 1xEVDO-Rev A and
HSUPA introduce adaptive coding and modulation in the uplink to enhance uplink data rate with a finite
number of specific packet sizes.

Mobile WiMAX supports AMC in both downlink and uplink with variable packet size. The uplink supports
16QAM modulation or 64QAM due to OFDMA orthogonal uplink sub-channels.

Technology DL Modulation DL Code Rate UL Modulation UL Code Rate

QAM64 QAM16 Turbo, CC, Repetition:
Turbo, CC, Repetition: 1/12, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2,
Mobile WiMAX QAM16 1/12, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, QPSK 2/3, 3/4, 5/6*
2/3, 3/4, 5/6
QPSK QAM64*

HSDPA QAM16 Turbo, CC: BPSK BPSK
1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 4/4
BPSK QPSK BPSK Turbo, CC:
HSPA (DPA+UPA) QPSK 2/3, 3/4, 4/4

Table 4: AMC Capability

Notes: *Optional

10


Hybrid ARQ
All systems support HARQ as an important means to improve the robustness of data transmission over
the wireless channel.

Chase combining (CC) or incremental redundancy (IR) can be implemented at the receiver to jointly
process the packets in error and new retransmission to improve the packet reception. HARQ CC is
supported by mobile WiMAX and HSPA; HARQ IR is supported by 1xEVDO. Multi-channel HARQ operation
is supported by all systems.

Fast Scheduling
Mobile WiMAX, HSPA and 1xEVDO all apply fast scheduling in the downlink. HSPA uplink supports (1)
Autonomous scheduling - all uplink transmissions can randomly occur in parallel with controlled rates;
(2) Dedicated scheduling. However, due to nonorthogonal uplink, the quality of an individual link cannot
be easily controlled even with dedicated scheduling.

Mobile WiMAX applies fast scheduling in both downlink and uplink. Furthermore, WiMAX performs
scheduling on a per-frame basis and broadcasts the downlink/uplink scheduling in the MAP messages
at the beginning of each frame. This is especially well suited for bursty data traffic and rapidly changing
channel conditions.

Bandwidth Efficient Handoff
1xEVDO depends on the DSC signal for feedback on link conditions to accomplish “Virtual” Soft Handoff.
HSPA does not support soft handoff but rather uses a more bandwidth efficient “Network Initiated Hard
Handoff”, which can be optimized for reduced delay. Mobile WiMAX supports “Network Optimized Hard
Handoff” for bandwidth-efficient handoff with reduced delay, achieving a handoff delay of less than 50
ms. Mobile WiMAX also supports fast base station switch (FBSS) and marco diversity handover (MDHO)
as options to further reduce the handoff delay.

11


The following table provides a summary of the attributes that have been discussed in more detail in the
previous sections:

Attribute 1xEVDO Rev A HSPA Mobile WiMAX

Base Standard CDMA2000/IS-95 WCDMA IEEE 802.16e

Duplex Method FDD FDD TDD (FDD optional)

Downlink TDM CDM-TDM OFDMA

Uplink Multiple Access CDMA CDMA OFDMA

Channel BW 1.25 MHz 5.0 MHz Scalable: 4.375, 5,7, 8.75, 10 MHz

Frame Size DL 1.67 milliseconds 2 milliseconds 5 milliseconds TDD
UL 6.67 milliseconds 2, 10 milliseconds 5 milliseconds TDD

Modulation DL QPSK/8PSK/ 16QAM QPSK/16QAM QPSK/16QAM/ 64QAM

Modulation UL BPSK,QPSK/8PSK BPSK/QPSK QPSK/16QAM

Coding CC, Turbo CC, Turbo CC, Turbo

DL Peak Over the Rev A: 3.1 Mbps
Air Data Rate Rev B: 4.9 Mbps 14 Mbps 46(1:1)~54 (3:1) Mbps

UL Peak Over the Rev 0: 0.15 Mbps (DL/UL combined (32,14), (46, 8))
Air Data Rate Rev A,B: 1.8 Mbps 5.8 Mbps

H-ARQ Fast 4-Channel Fast 6-Channel Multi-Channel
Synchronous IR Asynchronous CC Asynchronous CC

Scheduling Fast Scheduling in the DL Fast Scheduling in the DL Fast Scheduling in DL and UL

Handoff Virtual Soft Handoff Network Initiated Network Optimized
Hard Handoff Hard Handoff

Tx Diversity and MIMO Simple Open Loop Diversity Simple Open & Closed STBC, SM
Loop Diversity

Beamforming No Yes (Dedicated Pilots) Yes

Table 5: WiMAX, EVDO and HSPA
Features - summary of comparative
features
Source: Intel [6]

12


Latency
Latency is defined as the round-trip-time (RTT) between the network gateway and the terminal and
includes retransmission and queuing delays (does not include ISP+Internet+application/Codec and
channel allocation delays).

Delay (ms)

GPRS
600

EDGE
450
Mobile WiMAX IP
centric infrastructure
and frame size
300 WCDMA
EVDO reduce latency

150 HSPDA
Mobile WiMAX

35 115 270 400 825 Speed (Kbps)

Mobile Station BS IP Network Server

15ms 15ms 20ms

RTT = 50ms
Figure 7: Comparing Latency
WiMAX vs. The Competition (ms)
Source: Intel [4]

RTT = Round-trip-time between base station and terminal
Best-case RTT = ~50 ms (no retransmissions or queuing delay)
Worst-case RTT = ~150 ms (100ms of ARQ + queuing delay)

Assumptions:
Processing time at 802.16e terminal = 15 ms (same as HSDPA estimates)
Processing time at 802.16e BS = 20 ms (same as HSDPA RNC+NodeB estimates)
Transmission time for 802.16e = 13 ms (5 ms downlink frame, 5ms uplink frame and 3ms offset)
Best case = No retransmissions or queuing delay
Worst case = Assumes 100 ms of ARQ and queuing delay (50 ms queuing and 1 retransmission)

WiMAX delivers superior network performance and is more suited to handle real time applications.

13


Quality of Service
Mobile WiMAX has been structured at inception itself to meet the tough requirements for the delivery
of broadband services (end user experience similar to cable/DSL). With its ability to provide symmetric
downlink / uplink capacity, fine resource granularity and flexible resource allocation, mobile WiMAX
supports a wide range of data services and applications with varied QoS requirements as summarized
in the table below:

QoS Category Applications QoS Specifications

Maximum Sustained Rate
UGS VoIP Maximum Latency
Unsolicited Grant Service Tolerance
Jitter Tolerance

Minimum Reserved Rate
rtPS Streaming Audio or Video Maximum Sustained Rate
Real-Time Polling Service Maximum Latency
Tolerance
Traffic Priority

Minimum Reserved Rate
Maximum Sustained Rate
ErtPS Voice with Activity Maximum Latency
Extended Real-Time Polling Service Detection (VoIP) Tolerance
Jitter Tolerance
Traffic Priority

nrtPS Minimum Reserved Rate
Non-Real-Time Polling Service File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Maximum Sustained Rate
Traffic Priority

BE Data Transfer, Maximum Sustained Rate
Best-Effort Service Web Browsing, etc. Traffic Priority

Table 6: Mobile WiMAX
applications and QoS

Spectral Efficiency
As already seen in previous diagrams, mobile WiMAX has a higher spectral efficiency over competing
technologies. The comparison is done between 5 MHz FDD and 10 MHz TDD (WiMAX and EVDO-B,
HSDPA, HSUPA)

14


The Bottom Line – Bits per Second

Peak Data Rate
Mbps 2x1 25 MHz 2x5 MHz 1x10 MHz

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1xEVDO-A EVDO-B HSDPA HSPA Mobile WiMAX
(3-carrier) (2X2)

Downlink Uplink

Net Throughput per Channel/Sector
Mbps
2x1 25 MHz 2x5 MHz 1x10 MHz
16.0

14.0

12.0

10.0

8.0

6.0

4.0

2.0

0.0
1xEVDO-A EVDO-B HSDPA HSPA Mobile WiMAX
(3-carrier) (2X2)

Downlink Uplink
Figure 8: Comparing bitrates and
throughputs (Mbps)

As can be seen, mobile WiMAX will outperform EVDO and HSPA substantially.

15


Mobile WiMAX –
Achieving Service Providers’ Business Goals
While this is not a business oriented document, the business perspective does merit a brief discussion.

The business models for different service providers are varied, however, many of their goals are similar:
Minimize traffic costs to deliver mobile data services.
Improve efficiency of spectrum utilization.
Offer new high-bandwidth, low-latency multimedia services to mobile users, over an IP-based network,
that support real-time applications like VoIP, content streaming and gaming.
Choose a technology that delivers a positive return on investment (ROI).

The business case for mobile WiMAX works by enabling affordable mobile broadband services that lead
to mass adoption. The cost elements of mobile WiMAX that enable service providers to keep their service
offering affordable include: an advanced over-the-air protocol that minimizes the number of base stations
required, thereby reducing deployment costs; the ability to add applications in response to service demand;
and the option to begin with a limited network deployment and increase capacity according to demand.
Another key factor is the availability of low cost, advanced terminals, which affect not only the total cost
of the equipment, but also the user experience and acceptance.

Advanced terminals can be, for example, smart handsets with video capabilities or PC based PDAs with
wide screens. When low cost advanced terminals are available and tested for interoperability among the
different vendors, the business case for mobile WiMAX is ensured.

In addition, a mobile WiMAX all-IP network is based on low cost IP routers that form the network core.
Compared to other types of core networks, an all-IP network is much simpler to operate and maintain. The
scalability of an IP based core network is a natural part of any IP network, allowing operators to develop
their network capabilities in response to subscriber demand. Therefore, the mobile WiMAX business case
based on all-IP network architecture has a clear advantage over other 3G core network designs.

16


WiMAX Vs. 3G - Spectral Efficiency
Mobile WiMAX, as a 4G technology, deployments have higher spectral efficiency and will outperform
EVDO and HSPA.

Spectral Efficiency
bps/Hz
2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

traffic ratio
Technology
Rev A Rev B
Mobile WiMAX

Downlink Uplink
Figure 9: Mobile WiMAX Vs. 3G
spectral efficiency comparison

WiMAX Vs. 3G - Throughput Comparison
Mobile WiMAX provides much better throughput than EVDO and HSxPA. Mobile WiMAX (with MIMO)
provides ~3 times more throughput than HSPA or EVDO Rev B in the same occupied spectrum. Mobile
WiMAX (with SIMO) has ~100% DL throughput advantage over EV-DO Rev B and a ~130% advantage
over HSPA.

3G-LTE is the only 3G technology which may put a real match to WiMAX. However, it will not be
commercially available until at least 2010/2011. Furthermore, 3G-LTE does not provide an EVOLUTIONARY
path from existing 3G networks, but does require an effort closer to “fork-lift” revolution in the sense
that it is a completely new network and requires entirely new devices.

17


Net Throughput per Channel / Sector

Mbps
16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

traffic ratio
Technology
Rev A Rev B
Mobile WiMAX
2x1.25
Channel width 2x5 MHz 1x10 MHz
MHz

Downlink Uplink
Net Throughput Comparison

WiMAX Vs. 3G: Base-Station Deployment
The throughput and spectral efficiency advantages of mobile WiMAX result in fewer base stations to
achieve the same performance. Since deploying Radio Access Networks (base-stations) is a significant
percentage of the capital investment and operational expenses of the deployment, this has a substantial
impact on the business case of deploying a mobile Personal Broadband network, and far-reaching
ramifications on the service provider’s business and pricing model.

Mbps
WiMAX Frequency = 2500 MHz
60
HSPA, EVDO Frequency = 2000 MHz
50
Base Occupied Spectrum = 10 MHz
40
Stations Frequency Reuse = c,1,3)
30

20
Coverage Area = 129 sq-km

10 DL/UL Traffic Ratio = 2:1

0 DL Data Density = 215 kbytes/sec/sq-km
SIMO MIMO Monthly Capacity ~ 23 Gigabyte/sq-km
HSPA EVDO - Mobile WiMAX
Rev B

Downlink Uplink
Number of required sites

18


Alvarion and Mobile WiMAX
Alvarion has been instrumental in driving WiMAX to its current market prominence. Recognizing the
value of a Personal Broadband, Alvarion has made significant contributions to the development of the
IEEE 802.16 and ETSI HiperMAN standards. One of the many contributions was in the drafting of the
mobile PHY/MAC features of the wireless protocol and creating the definition profiles for 802.16d-2004
and 802.16e-2005.

Alvarion has played a key role in the WiMAX Forum since its inception. As a founding member, Alvarion
holds several key positions in the Forum, and its representatives serve on the Board of the Wireless
Communication Association (WCA) in several key capacities.

Alvarion has established itself as the clear market leader for BWA solutions with ownership of 30% of
the market, and has over ten years of experience with over 2 million units deployed in a wide variety of
point-to-multipoint networking environments worldwide.

Alvarion provides complete mobile WiMAX solutions with a broad product range targeted for 2007
including Alvarion’s leading radio access network elements, IP access and core network elements and
end user products.

Conclusion
Demand for bandwidth intensive services is on the rise. Service providers must make difficult decisions
as to which technology to choose in order to enable them to offer advanced services and demand for
high bandwidth throughput as subscribers want their broadband connection “anytime, anywhere”.

Several technologies are considered by the service providers based on availability, technical merit, and
features. This document has attempted to compare among the different alternatives based on the criteria
that is important to service providers, in a methodical fashion.

The paper discussed the various key inherent advantages mobile WiMAX posses as a technology designed
for high bandwidth applications that is not chained to supporting legacy systems, while exercising lessons
learned from deployments of these legacy systems.

The bottom line indicates that mobile WiMAX is a superior 4G technology designed to provide for 4G
services, beyond current 3G technologies’ horizon. It is also the only technology available today. While
3GPP-LTE may provide competition to mobile WiMAX it will only be available in 4-5 years time. Therefore
a shrewd operators seeking an advanced, standards-based, technological platform that intelligently
supports future enhancements will choose to deploy mobile WiMAX.

19


List of Acronyms
3G 3rd Generation (cellular technologies)

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Program

3GPP2 Third Generation Partnership Project Two

AAS Advanced Antenna System

ARPU Average Revenue Per User

E-UTRA Enhanced UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

EV-DO Evolution Data Optimized

FDD Frequency Division Duplex

HSDPA High Speed Download Packet Access

HSPA High Speed Packet Access

HSUPA High Speed Upload Packet Access

LTE Long Term Evolution

MBS Multicast and Broadcast Services

NLOS Non-Line-of-Sight

OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

SOFDMA Scalable OFDMA

SP Service Provider

TDD Time Division Duplex

TDD Time Division Duplex

UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

UTRAN UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Node

WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access

WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

Sources
[1] WiMAX Forum, Mobile WiMAX – Part II: A Comparative Analysis, Doug Gray, August 2006
[2] Intel Technical White Paper, Understanding WiMAX and 3G for Portable/Mobile Broadband Wireless, November 2004
[3] dBrn Associates, WiMAX and the Metro Wireless Market - WiMax vs WiFi and 3G , Michael F. Finneran, March 2006
[4] Intel, Wireless Broadband Spectrum recommendation, A N Murugappan, June 2006
[6] [8] WiMAX Forum, WiMAX: An Overview and Relationship to 3G Cellular Systems, Doug Gray, July 2006
[9] WiMAX Forum, Mobile WiMAX: A Performance and Comparative Summary, Doug Gray, September 2006
[10] WiMAX Forum, Mobile WiMAX: The Best Personal Broadband Experience!, June 2006

20

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