Experimental and simulation analysis of a WiMAX system in an emergency marine scenario

The paper presents several experimental and simulation activities aimed at providing a proof-of-concept for a marine emergency network in which the main components are a WiMAX system and a satellite link. WiMAX represents quite a novelty for the marine environment and its integration with the satellite link turns out to be remarkably efficient and greatly contributes in improving the utility and usability of the emergency network. These concepts are proved through a series of tests and analysis. Firstly, we report an experimental analysis of the coverage range of the WiMAX system in the marine environment in terms of both RSSI and throughput. Then, we discuss the feasibility and performance of a joint WiMAX-satellite path (in terms of throughput and perceived quality of VoIP calls), and report an experimental study that verifies the robustness of the WiMAX links under the interference of typical marine equipments such as radars. Finally, we present a simulation study targeted at evaluating the maximal capacity of the system in terms of VoIP calls under different WiMAX system configurations. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved