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WiMAX Fundamentals Short Course

Below are the topics and speakers that were a part of the WiMAX training Session at NXTcomm08.   

June 18-19, 2008
10:15 am - 5:30 pm
Room S228
Cost: $1095

WiMAX is the most promising new technology for broadband wireless access to IP services. It can serve an extraordinary range of applications and environments: data, voice, and multimedia; fixed and mobile; licensed and unlicensed. However, until now, wireless professionals have had little reliable information to guide them.

This course is brought to you by the authors of Fundamentals of WiMAX, the definitive book on WiMAX with over 10,000 copies sold in the last year and the first comprehensive guide to WiMAX- its technical foundations, features, and performance. The course will provide students with a broad understanding of WiMAX and will provide wireless engineers, network architects and system designers with the essential information for succeeding with WiMAX-from planning through deployment.

Who Should Attend:

This course is designed for wireless engineers, network architects and system designers who will be working on WiMAX products and services. The course provides complete information for wireless professionals and basic, accessible knowledge for non-experts. Students will especially appreciate their detailed discussion of the performance of WiMAX based on comprehensive link- and system-level simulations.

Course Overview:

The first day of the course provides a treatment of the technical building blocks of WiMAX. It starts by teaching the technical foundations of broadband wireless systems such as channel modeling and cellular design. The first day also provides a substantial introduction to OFDM and OFDMA, Multi-antenna techniques like Space Time Coding and MIMO, multiple access techniques and scheduling. These concepts provide a solid foundation that is needed in order to understand the PHY and MAC Layers of WiMAX.

On the second day of the course we provide an overview the PHY and MAC Layers of WiMAX. We also provide a description of the network architecture of WiMAX and explain how essential service level functions such as QoS management, authentication, security, and mobility management are provided in WiMAX.


Day 1: Technical Foundations of WiMAX:

1. An Introduction to WiMAX and Wireless Broadband

• The case for wireless broadband
• Evolution of WiMAX
• The competition and business challenges
• WiMAX's key technical features

2. Broadband Wireless 101

• Wireless communication basics
• Path loss and shadowing
• Narrowband fading, and countermeasures
• Wideband fading, and countermeasures
• Cellular systems
• Sectoring

3. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and Multiple Access (OFDMA)

• The multicarrier concept
• The OFDM Engine: IFFT/FFT and cyclic prefix
• Frequency-domain channel estimation and equalization
• Challenges in implementing OFDM: carrier offset, intercarrier interference, peak-to-average ratio
• The OFDMA concept
• Subcarrier and power assignment in OFDMA

4. Multiple Antenna Techniques

• Receive diversity
• Transmit diversity
• Beam-steering
• Beam-forming
• Spatial multiplexing and MIMO
• Multiuser MIMO
• Practical issues in MIMO systems including channel estimation and feedback, intercell interference, antenna correlation and packaging

Day 2: Overview of the WiMAX standard

1. Physical Layer of WiMAX

• OFDMA Symbol Structure
• Subcarrier Permutation Schemes
• Frame Structure
• Channel Coding and HARQ

2. Measurement Reporting

• Channel Estimation
• Actual and Effective CINR Measurement
• Ranging and Power Control

3. Multi Antenna Techniques in WiMAX

• Open Transmit Diversity and MIMO
• Collaborative MIMO in Uplink
• Closed Loop MIMO and AAS

4. MAC Layer of WiMAX

• Convergence Sublayer
• MAC-PDU Handling
• Scheduling Services and Bandwidth Request
• QoS Architecture (connection ID, service flows and flow ID)
• Network Entry and Initialization

5. Mobility Management in WiMAX

• Idle Mode and Sleep Mode (power saving)
• Scanning and Handover Mechanisms
• Macro Diversity HO and Fast BS Selection

6. WiMAX Network Architecture

• Network Reference Model
• Network Discovery and Selection
• IP Address Assignment

7. Authentication and Security in WiMAX

• AAA Architecture
• Authentication Procedures
• ASN Security Architecture

8. QoS of Service Architecture in WiMAX

• QoS mechanisms in packet network
• Service Flows
• Policy Functions

9. Mobility Management and Radio Resource Management

• ASN Anchored Mobility
• Mobile IP and CSN Anchored Mobility (IPv4 and IPv6)
• RRM (radio resource management)
• Paging and Idle Model Operation Revisited

About the Authors/Instructors

Jeffrey Andrews is an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Austin, and Director of the Wireless Networking and Communications Group. He has developed CDMA systems for Qualcomm, and consulted with many organizations including the WiMAX Forum, Microsoft and NASA. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award and holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Arunabha Ghosh is a Principal Member of the Technical Staff at AT&T Labs Inc. He specializes in wireless communication theory and signal processing and has been involved in standardization efforts in the WiMAX Forum. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Rias Muhamed is a Lead Member of the Technical Staff at AT&T Labs Inc. He has led several research and technology assessment projects in fixed wireless broadband at AT&T Labs. He is a senior member of the IEEE and holds an M.S. from Virginia Tech.