Wimax standards and Security The Wimax

Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, 1999.

IEEE 802.11a-1999, Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications: High-Speed Physical Layer in the 5 GHz Band, 1999.

IEEE 802.11b-1999, Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications: Higher-Speed Physical Layer Extension in the

4. 
   GHz Band, 1999.
   

4. 
   IEEE 802.11g-2003, Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications: High-Speed Physical Layer in the 2.4 GHz Band, 2003.
   
5. 
   IMT-2000 Network Aspects, http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/imt-2000/network.html.
   
6. 
   HIPERLAN 2 Specification, http://portal.etsi.org/bran/kta/Hiperlan/ hiperlan2tech.asp.
   
7. 
   Specification of the Bluetooth System: Wireless Connections Made Easy, Version 1.2, 5 November 2003.
   
8. 
   Mobile WiMAX—Part II: A Comparative Analysis, WiMAX Forum, Copyright 2006.
   

2
IEEE 802.16 Standards and Amendments
Najah Abu Ali and Hossam S. Hassanein
CONTENTS

1. 
   Introduction 20
   
2. 
   Standardized versus Proprietary Solutions 20
   
   1. 
      Standardization Cons 20
      
   2. 
      Standardization Pros 20
      
3. 
   Overview of the Standard 21
   

2.4 IEEE 802.16-2004 22

1. 
   Physical Layer 23
   
   1. 
      Other Features 24
      
2. 
   MAC Layer 25
   
   1. 
      Convergence Sublayer 25
      
   2. 
      Common Part Sublayer 25
      
   3. 
      Privacy Sublayer 27
      

2.5 IEEE 802.16e-2005 28

1. 
   Physical Layer 28
   
2. 
   MAC Layer 29
   
   1. 
      QoS Support 29
      
   2. 
      Handover Support 29
      
   3. 
      Power Management 29
      

2.6 IEEE 802.16f 30
2.7 IEEE 802.16i 30
2.8 IEEE 802.16g 30
2.9 IEEE 802.16k 31
2.10 IEEE 802.16h 32
2.10.1 MAC Enhancement for Coexistence 32
2.11 IEEE 802.16j 33
References 33


19





2.1 Introduction
The IEEE Standards Board established the IEEE 802.16 working group in 1999 to prepare formal specifications for global deployment of broadband wireless metropolitan area networks, which is officially called WirelessMAN. The IEEE
802.16 working group, which is a unit of the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee, is responsible for framing specifications of the IEEE 802.16 family standard, but not testing them. Thus, another industrial group was estab- lished in April 2001 called the WiMAX Forum. The acronym WiMAX expands to “Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access.’’ WiMAX Forum is on a mission to advance and certify compatibility and interoperability of broad- band wireless products based on IEEE 802.16 family standards. Irrespective of the scope of the WiMAX Forum that aims to test equipments, the IEEE 802.16 family hails WiMAX from the WiMAX Forum, maybe because it is easier to use the word WiMAX rather than IEEE 802.16.

2. 
   Standardized versus Proprietary Solutions
   

Before proceeding to present the developments of the 802.16 family of stan- dards, it is worthwhile to know the pros and cons of the standardized versus proprietary solutions in WiMAX case (Alvrion, 2005).

1. 
   Standardization Cons
   
   1. 
      Setting rules normally consumes long periods of time before being available to vendors. This may encourage a change to another technology that provides the same service, for example, 3G.
      
   2. 
      Gaining agreement across the standards committee may require degrading the specifications to gain the common players’ approval. Consequently, the resulting standard may not satisfy the user or at least the counterpart proprietary solution may provide a superior technical performance.
      
   3. 
      Forcing the vendors to comply with a standard may hinder vendors from competition to produce innovative solutions.
      

2.