Technical specifications of 802.16a 802.16 operates at up to 124Mbps in the 28MHz channel (in 10-66GHz), 802.

16a at 70Mbps in lower frequency, 2-11GHz spectrum.Fundamental technologies in 802.16a OFDM Support for OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing), which can continue to be implemented in various ways by different operators (the precise variant of OFDM can often be their key differentiator).WiMAX: The Critical Wireless Standard BluePrint WiFi (ARCchart) 9 OFDM is well established and is incorporated in some new generation carrier services as well as being fundamental to digital TV. It transmits multiple signals simultaneously across one cable or wireless transmission path, within separate frequencies, with the orthogonal element spacing these frequencies to avoid interference. It is also supported in the 802.11a WLAN standard.802.16a has three PHY options: an OFDM with 256 sub-carriers the only option supported in Europe by the ETSI, whose rival HiperMAN standard is likely to be subsumed into WiMAX; OFDMA, with 2048 subcarriers; and a single carrier option for vendors that think they can beat multipath problems in this mode. OFDM will almost certainly become dominant in all wireless technologies including cellular and its industry body, the OFDM Forum, is a founder member of WiMAX Forum. Support for Smart Antenna Smart antenna mechanisms are one of the most important methods of improving spectral

efficiency in non-cellular wireless networks. 802.16 standards allow vendors to support a variety of these mechanisms, which can be a key performance differentiator. Dynamic frequency selection in unlicensed spectrum Mesh Mesh Mode is an optional topology for subscriber-to-subscriber communication in non-line of sight 802.16a. It is included in the standard to allow overlapping, ad hoc networks in the unlicensed spectrum and extend the edges of the WMANs range at low cost. Mesh support has recently been extended into the licensed bands too. Figure 1 :Mesh networking

Although it has highly complex topology and messaging, mesh is a good alternative to the usual NLOS, as it scales well and addresses license exempt interference. It allows a community to be densely seeded with WiMAX connections at low cost, with robust communications as there are multiple paths for traffic to take (see diagram).

Spectral efficiency This is critical to support difficult user environments with hundreds of users per channel at high bandwidth and a mixture of continuous and burst traffic. Protocol independent core WiMAX can transport IPv4, IPv6, Ethernet or ATM and others, supporting multiple services simultaneously and with quality of service.Bandwidth on demand (frame by frame) Quality of Service The b extension to 802.16 is concerned with quality of service (QoS), which enables NLOS operation without severe distortion of the signal from buildings, weather and vehicles. It also supports intelligent prioritisation of different forms of traffic according to its urgency.Mechanisms in the Wireless MAN MAC provide for differentiated QoS to support the different needs of different applications. For instance, voice and video require low latency but tolerate some error rate, while most data applications must be error-free, but can cope with latency. The standard accommodates these different transmissions by using appropriate features in the MAC layer, which is more efficient than doing so in layers of control overlaid on the MAC. Adaptive Modulation Many systems in the past decade have involved fixed modulation, offering a trade-off between higher order modulation for high data rates, but requiring optimal links, or more robust lower orders that will only operate at low data rates. 802.16a supports adaptive modulation, balancing different data rates and link quality and adjusting the modulation

method almost instantaneously for optimum data transfer and to make most efficient use of bandwidth. FDD and TDD The standard also supports both frequency and time division duplexing (FDD and TDD) to enable interoperability with cellular and other wireless systems. FDD, the legacy duplexing method, has been widely deployed in cellular telephony. It requires two channel pairs, one for transmission and one for reception, with some frequency separation between them to mitigate self-interference. In regulatory environments where structured channel pairs do not exist, TDD uses a single channel for both upstream and downstream transmissions,dynamically allocating bandwidth depending on traffic requirements. Security 802.16 also includes measures for privacy and encryption: authentication with x.509 certificates and data encryption using DES in CBC (cipher block chaining) mode with hooks defined for stronger algorithms like AES.