Performance evaluation of fixed WiMax physical layer under high fading channels

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.A radio channel characteristic modelling is essential in every network planning. This project deals with the performance of WiMax networks in an outdoor environment while using fading channel models. The radio channels characteristics are analyzed by simulations have been done using Matlab programming. Stanford University Interim(SUI) Channels set was proposed to simulate the fixed broadband wireless access channel environments where IEEE 802.16d is to be deployed. It has six channel models that are grouped into three categories according to three typical different outdoor Terrains, in order to give a comprehensive study of fading channels on the overall performance of the system, WiMax system has been tested under SUI channels that modified into account for 30o directional antennas, with 90% cell coverage and with 99.9% reliability in its geographical covered area. Furthermore, in order to combat the fading which occurs in urban areas and improve the capacity and the throughput of the system, multiples antennas at both ends of communication link are used, the transmission gain obtained when using multiple antennas instead of only a single antenna. Space-time coding and maximum ratio combining for more than one transmit and receive antenna is implemented to allow performance investigations in various MIMO scenarios. It has been concluded that uses multiple antennas at the receiver offers a significant improvement of 3 dB of gain in the channel SNR. This thesis also contain implementation of all compulsory features of the WiMax OFDM physical layer specified in IEEE 802.16-2004 using Matlab coding. In order to combat the temporal variations in quality on a multipath fading channel, an adaptive modulation technique is used. This technique employs multiple modulation schemes to instantaneously adapt to the variations in the channel SNR, thus maximizing the system throughput and improving BER performance. WiMax transceiver has been tested with and without encoding and studied the effect of encoding on multipath channel. Testing the system with flexible channel bandwidth has been part of this thesis. Finally it has been explained in this thesis the affect of increasing the size of cyclic prefix on overall performance of WiMax system

A channel estimation method for MIMO-OFDM Mobile WiMax systems

This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.In this paper, channel estimation for Space-Time Block Code (STBC) - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is investigated for Mobile WiMax systems. A new channel estimation approach is proposed using the dedicated pilot subcarriers defined at constant intervals by the WiMax standard. The estimation method has low computation as only linear operations are needed due to orthogonal pilot coding. The performances of the proposed method have been demonstrated by extensive computer simulations. For the OFDM system with two transmit antennas and one to four receive antennas and using QPSK modulation, the simulated results under different Stanford University Interim (SUI) channels show that the proposed method has only a 4dB loss compared to the ideal case where the channel is known at the receiver

Low-complexity iterative frequency domain decision feedback equalization

Single-carrier transmission with frequency domain equalization (SC-FDE) offers a viable design alternative to the classic orthogonal frequency division multiplexing technique. However, SC-FDE using a linear equalizer may suffer from serious performance deterioration for transmission over severely frequency-selective fading channels. An effective method of solving this problem is to introduce non-linear decision feedback equalization (DFE) to SC-FDE. In this contribution, a low complexity iterative decision feedback equalizer operating in the frequency domain of single-carrier systems is proposed. Based on the minimum mean square error criterion, a simplified parameter estimation method is introduced to calculate the coefficients of the feed-forward and feedback filters, which significantly reduces the implementation complexity of the equalizer. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed simplified design is similar to the traditional iterative block DFE under various multipath fading channels but it imposes a much lower complexity than the latter

Simulation of LTE-TDD in the HAPS channel

LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. This technology enhances the data rate and capacity using a new radio interface and an optimized core network. This progress was done to satisfy standards defined for the fourth generation of cellular communications in ITU. LTE has two types of transmission: Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD). Nowadays, LTE-TDD rapidly Grows and takes place of old fixed cellular communications, like WiMAX. Another upcoming technology in the communication industry is High Amplitude Platform Stations (HAPS). Studying the capability of HAPS as a base station for LTE-TDD is the main purpose of this paper. Simulations have done using HAPS channel and compared to Stanford University Interim (SUI) standard channels for different scenarios. Results were compared to achieve a conclusion on HAPS implementation for LTE-TDD based on BER and data throughput

Interoperability of GPON and WiMAX for network capacity enhancement and resilience

This paper was published in Journal of Optical Networking and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/JON/Issue.cfm. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law. Copyright Optical Society of America.The interoperability of standard WiMAX and GPON is shown to overcome the wireless spectrum congestion and provide resilience for GPON through the use of overlapping radio cells. The application of centralised control in the optical line terminal (OLT) and time division multiplexing for upstream transmission enables efficient dynamic bandwidth allocation for wireless users on a single wavelength as well as minimised optical beat interference at the optical receiver. The viability of bidirectional transmission of multiple un-coded IEEE802.16d channels by means of a single radio frequency (RF) subcarrier at transmission rates of 50 Mbits/s and 15 Mbits/s downstream and upstream respectively for distances of up to 21 km of integrated GPON and WiMAX micro-cell links is demonstrated.Peer reviewe

Efficient space-frequency block coded pilot-aided channel estimation method for multiple-input-multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing systems over mobile frequency-selective fading channels

© 2014 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.An iterative pilot-aided channel estimation technique for space-frequency block coded (SFBC) multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing systems is proposed. Traditionally, when channel estimation techniques are utilised, the SFBC information signals are decoded one block at a time. In the proposed algorithm, multiple blocks of SFBC information signals are decoded simultaneously. The proposed channel estimation method can thus significantly reduce the amount of time required to decode information signals compared to similar channel estimation methods proposed in the literature. The proposed method is based on the maximum likelihood approach that offers linearity and simplicity of implementation. An expression for the pairwise error probability (PEP) is derived based on the estimated channel. The derived PEP is then used to determine the optimal power allocation for the pilot sequence. The performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated in high frequency selective channels, for different number of pilot symbols, using different modulation schemes. The algorithm is also tested under different levels of Doppler shift and for different number of transmit and receive antennas. The results show that the proposed scheme minimises the error margin between slow and high speed receivers compared to similar channel estimation methods in the literature.Peer reviewe

A MIMO-OFDM testbed, channel measurements, and system considerations for outdoor-indoor WiMAX

The design, implementation, and test of a real-time flexible 2×2 (Multiple Input Multiple Output-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) MIMO-OFDM IEEE 802.16 prototype are presented. For the design, a channel measurement campaign on the 3.5GHz band has been carried out, focusing on outdoor-indoor scenarios. The analysis of measured channels showed that higher capacity can be achieved in case of obstructed scenarios and that (Channel Distribution Information at the Transmitter) CDIT capacity is close to (Channel State Information at the Transmitter) CSIT with much lower complexity and requirements in terms of channel estimation and feedback. The baseband prototype used an (Field Programmable Gate Array) FPGA where enhanced signal processing algorithms are implemented in order to improve system performance. We have shown that for MIMO-OFDM systems, extra signal processing such as enhanced joint channel and frequency offset estimation is needed to obtain a good performance and approach in practice the theoretical capacity improvements

Bit error rate estimation in WiMAX communications at vehicular speeds using Nakagami-m fading model

The wireless communication industry has experienced a rapid technological evolution from its basic first generation (1G) wireless systems to the latest fourth generation (4G) wireless broadband systems. Wireless broadband systems are becoming increasingly popular with consumers and the technological strength of 4G has played a major role behind the success of wireless broadband systems. The IEEE 802.16m standard of the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) has been accepted as a 4G standard by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2011. The IEEE 802.16m is fully optimised for wireless communications in fixed environments and can deliver very high throughput and excellent quality of service. In mobile communication environments however, WiMAX consumers experience a graceful degradation of service as a direct function of vehicular speeds. At high vehicular speeds, the throughput drops in WiMAX systems and unless proactive measures such as forward error control and packet size optimisation are adopted and properly adjusted, many applications cannot be facilitated at high vehicular speeds in WiMAX communications. For any proactive measure, bit error rate estimation as a function of vehicular speed, serves as a useful tool. In this thesis, we present an analytical model for bit error rate estimation in WiMAX communications using the Nakagami-m fading model. We also show, through an analysis of the data collected from a practical WiMAX system, that the Nakagami-m model can be made adaptive as a function of speed, to represent fading in fixed environments as well as mobile environments