Thoughts on the 802.16 (WiMax) White Paper?
Sascha Meinrath <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.network.wireless.cu-wireless |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Hi all, I've been reading through 802.16 (WiMax) information and was wondering what people thought about the new standard. Originally, the standard was for operators in the frequency of 10-66GHz -- but a recent ammendment added 2-11GHz to the spectrum that's covered by this new standard. This ammendment means that WiMax will be directly competing with 802.11x technologies. The White Paper is available at: http://www.wimaxforum.org/news/downloads/WiMAXWhitepaper.pdf The White Paper lays out WiMax uses including residential and business (DSL- and T1-level services); Data, Voice, Video (and other QoS uses); wireless hotspot backhauls; and cellular tower backhauls. WiMax also includes "flexible channel widths" (1.75-20MHz), support for "advanced antenna systems", dynamic frequency selection, etc. 802.16a also utilizes a "TDMA protocol" for controlling access/scheduling to the system and prioritizing latency-sensitive uses like video and voice. WiMax also "has been designed to scale from one up to 100's of users within one RF channel". The White Paper points out that 802.16 utilizes OFDM while 802.11 uses CDMA -- what worries me is that OFDM is built to be usable at higher power -- thus, 802.16 could be deployed to "drown out" 802.11 transmissions. I don't know about OFDM versus CDMA, anyone want to weigh in here? My major concern is that the combination of the ammendment allowing WiMax at lower frequencies as well as the basis of the protocol on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) that existing telecomm giants could use this protocol to flood the existing unlicensed spectrum making Community Wireless Networks much more difficult to deploy. Thoughts? --Sascha -- Sascha Meinrath Project Manager & President * Project Manager Acorn Active Media Foundation *** Eggplant Active Media www.acornactivemedia.com * www.eggplantmedia.com _______________________________________________ CU-Wireless mailing list [email protected] http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/cgi-bin/listinfo/cu-wireless Project Page: http://cuwireless.ucimc.org