WIMAX WIRELESS TO THE MAX

Prepared for Dr. Radwan E. Abdel-Aal

COE 341 Data and Computer Communication Section: 3 Term Report

by Imran S. Ansari Saif Ahmad Ahmad Qutbudden 246808 237903 232563

Abstract
In this report we will talk about the WiMAX Technology, its constituents and how does it work. Basically, the report will include the Historical Background of the WiMAX Technology. In addition, the report will also talk about the Technical Aspects of WiMAX. IEEE 802.16, its connection setup, its Extensions and Amendments and its Layers will also be discussed in the report. Above all, the Security Requirement is also one of the most important aspects of Communication and will also be dealt with in this report. The report will be concluded by discussing about Vulnerabilities and Security Infrastructure of the Security Requirements.

6 April 2007

WiMAX Wireless to the MAX

TABLE OF CONTERNTS

GLOSSARY iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .. iv TABLES .. iv INTRODUCTION 1 I. II. III. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ... 1 TECHNICAL ASPECTS ... 1 IEEE 802.16 ... 2
A. B. C. D. Connection Setup Extensions of IEEE 802.16 Various Amendments Layers

IV.

SECURITY REQUIREMENT ... 7

A. Vulnerabilities B. Security Infrastructure

CONCLUSION 8 WORKS CITED ... 9

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

BWA: Broadband Wireless Access. QoS: Quality of Service. MAC: Media Access Control. CID: Consecutive Identical Digit(s). OSI: Open System Interconnection. SS: Subscriber Station. TDM: Time Division Multiplexing. TDMA: Time Division Multiple Access. BS: Base Station. ATM: Asynchronous Transfer Mode. GFR: Guaranteed Frame Rate. VoIP: Voice over IP. OEM: Original Equipment Manager. SDP: Session Description Protocol. NAT: Network Address Translation. PBX: Private Branch Exchange. DSL: Digital Subscriber Line. ADSL: Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line. PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network FDM: Frequency Division Multiplexing. OFDM: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing FFT: Fast Fourier Transform. OFDMA: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access. SOFDMA: Scalable OFDMA.

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATION
Figure 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Page Initial Plans to Use WiMAX 1 IEEE 802.16, Broad band Wireless MAN Standard 2 How WiMAX Works ... 3 IEEE 802.16 Standards 4 IEEE 802.16, Broadband Wireless MAN Standard . 5 FDM . 5 OFDM .. 6 OFDM, User Device Transmission . 6 OFDMA, User Device Transmission .. 7 WiMAX Protocol Stack .. 8 A Typical Security Infrastructure .. 10 WiMAX Trend ... 11

TABLES
Table 1. Page WiMAX vs. Wi-Fi . 11

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INTRODUCTION
The term WiMAX refers to a wireless access technology that promises to deliver up to 7OMbit/s for each user. WiMAX has a long transmission range is up to 31 miles, because regulations allow WiMAX systems to transmit at high power rates [10]. Wi-Fi, on the other hand, has a range of only several hundred feet, and third division generation cellular technology has a range of several thousand feet [12]. The 802.16 standard defines the Wireless MAN (metropolitan area network) air interface specification. This wireless broadband access standard could supply the missing link for the last mile connection in wireless metropolitan area networks. [5]

Figure 1: Initial Plans to Use WiMAX [12] So, what are the big challenges for WiMAX and its supporters? A major challenge is spectrum alignment. The frequency range targeted by the WiMAX Forum includes a mixture of licensed and unlicensed bands, and their permitted uses differ between countries. [10]

I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In the mid-1990s, various groups began to promote last-mile fixed wireless access solutions. They provided the capacity and reliability of wireline but with the flexibility and ease of deployment of wireless. They also provided a versatile system for corporate or institutional backhaul/distribution networks. [7] In 1999, IEEE 802.16 was formed to address several issues by developing open standards. In 2001, the IEEE 802.16 standard for BWA systems operating in the 10-66 GHz range was released. Since then, however, interest has shifted to a new version of the IEEE 802.16 standard for BWA systems operating in the range 2-11 GHz. By the late 1990s, many manufacturers began to pursue development of different products. [7]

II. TECHNICAL ASPECTS

As currently defined through IEEE Standard 802.16, a wireless MAN provides network access to buildings through exterior antennas communicating with central radio base stations (BSs). The wireless MAN offers an alternative to cabled access networks, such as fiber optic links, coaxial systems using cable modems, and digital subscriber line (DSL) links. [1] In this scenario, with WirelessMAN technology bringing the network to a building, users inside the building will connect to it with conventional in-building networks such as, for data, Ethernet (IEEE Standard 802.3) or wireless LANs (IEEE Standard 802.11). However, the fundamental design of the

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standard may eventually allow for the efficient extension of the WirelessMAN networking protocols directly to the individual user. [1] 802.16 is a group of broadband wireless communications standards for metropolitan area networks (MANs) developed by a working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). [5]

Figure2: IEEE 802.16: Broadband Wireless MAN Standard (WiMAX) [4]

III. IEEE 802.16

A. Connection Setup
IEEE 802.16 uses the concept of service flows to define unidirectional transport of packets on either downlink or uplink. Service flows are characterized by a set of QoS parameters such as latency and jitter. To most efficiently utilize network resources such as bandwidth and memory, 802.16 adopts a two-phase activation model in which resources assigned to a particular admitted service flow may not be actually committed until the service flow is activated. Each admitted or active service flow is mapped to a MAC connection with a unique CID. [1]

Figure 3: How it works? In general, service flows in IEEE 802.16 are preprovisioned. The establishment of service flows is performed via a three-way handshaking protocol in which the request for service flow establishment is responded to and the response acknowledged. At the lower ranges, the signals can penetrate barriers and thus do not require a line of sight between transceiver and antenna. This enables more flexible WiMAX implementations while maintaining the technologys data rate and transmission range. [1]

B. Extensions of IEEE 802.16

IEEE 802.16a supports mesh deployment, in which transceivers can pass a single communication on to other transceivers, thereby extending basic 802.16s transmission range. IEEE 802.16b is an extension that increases the spectrum the technology can use in the 5 and 6 GHz frequency bands and provides quality of service.

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IEEE 802.16c represents a 10 to 66 GHz system profile that standardizes more details of the technology. IEEE 802.16d includes minor improvements and fixes to 802.16a. This extension also creates system profiles for compliance testing of 802.16a devices. IEEE 802.16e is a standardized technology networking between carriers fixed base stations and mobile devices, rather than just between base stations and fixed recipients. IEEE 802.16f would enable the high-speed signal handoffs necessary for communications with users moving at vehicular speeds. [12]

Figure 4: IEEE 802.16 Standards

C. Various Amendments
802.16f Management Information Base. 802.16g - Management Plane Procedures and Services. 802.16h - Improved Coexistence Mechanisms for License-Exempt Operation. 802.16i - Mobile Management Information Base. 802.16j Multi-hop Relay Specification. 802.16k - Bridging of 802.16. 802.16m - Advanced Air Interface. [14]

D. Layers
IEEE 802.16 Protocol Architecture has 4 layers: Convergence, MAC, Transmission and physical, which can be map to two OSI lowest layers: physical and data link. [4]

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Figure 5: IEEE 802.16: Broadband Wireless MAN Standard (WiMAX) [4]

1. Physical Layer
The PHY specification defined for 1066 GHz uses burst single-carrier modulation with adaptive burst profiling in which transmission parameters, including the modulation and coding schemes, may be adjusted individually to each subscriber station (SS) on a frame- y-frame basis. [13] The lowest layer, the physical layer, specifies the frequency band, the modulation scheme, errorcorrection techniques, synchronization between transmitter and receiver, data rate and the time-division multiplexing (TDM) structure. [13] For transmission from subscribers to a base station, the standard uses the Demand Assignment Multiple Access-Time Division Multiple Access (DAMA-TDMA) technique. DAMA is a capacity assignment technique that adapts as needed to respond to demand changes among multiple stations. TDMA is the technique of dividing time on a channel into a sequence of frames, each consisting of a number of slots, and allocating one or more slots per frame to form a logical channel. [13]

2. FDM
Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) is a technology that uses multiple frequencies to transmit multiple signals parallel in the same time. Signals are demodulated at the receiver side by filters to separate the bands. [6]

Figure 6: FDM [6]

3. OFDM
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a multi-carrier transmission technique [6]. OFDM is a 256-carrier of OFDM scheme and multiple access different subscriber station (SS) which is Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)-base [3]. OFDM was first introduced by the standard 802.162004 [9]. It is recognized recently as a high speed bi-directional wireless data communication. The technology is used to day in the ADSL as well as Wi-Fi, and WiMAX. Also, it is used in the wireless digital, audio and video broadcasting. It is originally based on the Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM). [6]

- Methodology
OFDM squeezes multiple modulated carriers together, which efficiently reduces the bandwidth and keeps the modulated signals orthogonal. The advantage of making the signals orthogonal is that they do not interfere with each other. This is accomplished by removing the guard band, and making the signals

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perpendicular is the mathematical sense. [6] All carriers are transmitted in parallel with the same amplitude [9].

Figure 7: OFDM [6]

- Advantages of OFDM
OFDM is fixable to multipath which is the effect of multiple reflected signals hitting the receiver. This gives OFDM the ability to deal with the bad conditions of mobile wireless environment. [6] OFDM seems to be favored by the vendor community, because of the lower peak to average ratio, faster FFT calculation, and less stringent requirements for frequency synchronization compared to SOFDMA [3]. It is also good in fixed applications using directional antennae, because of which 802.16-2004 spread faster at a lower cost [9].

- Disadvantages of OFDM
In OFDM, user devices transmit using the entire carrier space at once. That means, user devices are assigned time slots for transmission, but only one device is allowed to transmit during a single time slot. [9]

Figure 8: User Device Transmission [9]

4. OFDMA
Orthogonal Frequency Multiple Access (OFDMA) allows assigning some sub-carriers to different users [6]. OFDMA is a 2048-carrier of OFDM scheme [3]. It introduces the term sub-channel which is the group of sub-carriers [6]. OFDMA was first introduced by the standard 802.16e [9].

- Advantages of OFDMA
OFDMA gives more flexibility in managing different devices in a verity of antenna types. It reduces the interface in devices connected to unidirectional antennas, which is good in supporting mobile subscribers. [9] OFDMA has the ability to transmit more power on some time slot to a user not in favorable condition. Take an in-building coverage for example; it can be achieved by transmitting in high power in subchannels assigned to indoor users. [9]

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OFDMA is a multiple access is PHY and is good only when wide channels are used. Multiple access allows devices to transmit through the sub-channels assigned to them simultaneously, as appears below in figure 9. [9]

Figure 9: OFDMA User Transmission [9]

5- SOFDMA
Scalable OFDMA (SOFDMA) allows Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) in small size to improve performance for lower bandwidth channels [9].

6- MAC Layer
The IEEE 802.16 MAC protocol was designed for point-to-multipoint broadband wireless access applications. It addresses the need for very high bit rates, both uplink (to the BS) and downlink (from the BS). The 802.16 MAC provides a wide range of service types analogous to the classic asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) service categories as well as newer categories such as guaranteed frame rate (GFR). [1] In the downstream direction (base station to subscriber stations), there is only one transmitter, and the MAC protocol is relatively simple. In the upstream direction, multiple subscriber stations compete for access, resulting in a more complex MAC protocol. In both directions, a TDMA technique is used, in which the datastream is divided into a number of time slots. [13]

Figure 10: WiMAX Protocol Stack The WirelessMAN air interface specified in IEEE Standard 802.16 provides a platform for the development and deployment of standards based on metropolitan area networks providing broadband wireless access in many regulatory environments. The standard is intended to allow for multiple vendors to produce interoperable equipment. However, it also allows for extensive vendor differentiation. For instance, the standard provides the base station with a set of tools to implement efficient scheduling. [13]

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The publication of IEEE Standard 802.16 is a defining moment in which broadband wireless access moves to its second generation and begins its establishment as a mainstream alternative for broadband access. Through the dedicated service of many volunteers, the IEEE 802.16 Working Group succeeded in quickly designing and forging a standard based on forward-looking technology. IEEE Standard 802.16 is the foundation of the wireless metropolitan area networks of the next few decades. [13]

IV. SECURITY REQUIREMENT

For security, WiMAX uses public-key infrastructure authentication, in which trusted authorities identify parties to a transmission via digital certificates. The system encrypts data via 56-bit Data Encryption Standard keys. [12]

A. Vulnerabilities
VoIP is increasingly gaining traction among both consumers and enterprise users, offering an alternate, cost-effective means of communications against the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN). Considering how WiMAXs enhanced MAC protocol offers higher QoS for low latency applications such as VoIP, it is expected that this service will comprise the bulk of bandwidth within the first few months of deployment. [8] Security risks remain within the signaling servers themselves, with hackers employing one of several methods to obtain unauthorized access. OEMs must address each of these methods individually, and as a whole, when developing an effective security infrastructure that can thwart against hackers. [8] Server impersonation: After a client registers with a credentialed server, hackers can intercept session initiation requests from the client and reply with a spoofed response that directs the request to a new server. The calls from the client will either fail or connect to the hackers defined endpoints, either way exposing the client. Similarly, hackers can intercept session requests in the registration process itself, redirecting the register requests to a fake server and exposing the servers credentials. [8] Message tampering: Considered as trusted intermediaries, proxy servers are often employed by clients to exchange session initiation requests and stream media. Hackers message periodically, the session definition protocol (SDP) information is tampered with to divert the media stream, resulting in eavesdropped conversations. [8]

B. Security Infrastructure
Firewall and NAT traversal, topology hiding: The firewall provides access to authorized devices for registering and making calls through VoIP servers, dynamically opening and closing multiple ports for signaling, while handling unsolicited incoming sessions. A NAT traversal enables both signaling and media streaming from devices with cloaked IP addresses. [8]

Figure 11: A typical Security infrastructure

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Firewalls specially designed for application-specific gateways: These firewalls have higher capabilities over conventional firewalls because they are part of the VoIP gateways/ IP PBX systems. The firewall can provide security to these elements and detect frauds real-time in the distributed networks, which is not possible in legacy PSTN systems that adopt centralized fraud management systems.

CONCLUSION
IEEE 802.16 and WiMAX are designed as a complimentary technology to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The following table provides a quick comparison of 802.16a with to 802.11b: [4] Parameters Frequency Band: Range Data transfer rate: Number of users: 802.16a (WiMAX) 2-11GHz ~31 miles 70 Mbps Thousands 802.11 (WLAN) 2.4GHz ~100 meters 11 Mbps 55 Mbps Dozens 802.15 (Bluetooth) Varies ~10meters 20Kbps 55 Mbps Dozens

Table 1: WiMAX Vs Wi-Fi WiMAX, referred to as Wi-Fi on steroids, is projected to be the dominant technology for wireless networking within the next 5 years or so. By 2009, industry analysts project the WiMAX market to be worth between $3 and $5 billion.

Figure 12: WiMAX Trend [12] Laptops, PDAs and other portable devices are considered to be optimal equipment for the firstgeneration WiMAX cards. "Generally, these optional specifications have not been implemented by the largest vendors of WiMAX equipment," Solis said. [11] Theoretically, WiMAX has a reach of about 50 kilometers, or 30 miles, and it is already available in selected areas in some countries, including the United States, Britain, Spain, France, Germany and South Korea. [2]

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WORKS CITED

[1]

Eklund Carl, Roger B. Marks, Kenneth L. Stanwood, IEEE Standard 802.16: A Technical Overview of the WirelessMANTM Air Interface for Broadband Wireless Access. Eric Sylvers, The Future of WiMAX, http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/09/business/wireless10.php Ghosh Arunabha, David R. Woltar, Jeffrey G. Andrews, Runhua Chen, Broadband Wireless Access with WiMAX/802.16: Current Performance Benchmarks and Future Potential. IEEE 802.16: Broadband Wireless MAN Standard (WiMAX) http://www.networkdictionary.com/protocols/80216.php?PHPSESSID=%23PKCS IEEE 802.16, http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/802std/index.html#802_16 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, Intel in Communications. Prof. Dave Michelson, Broadband Wireless: A Brief Introduction to IEEE 802.16 and WiMAX. Ranmana Mylavarapu, Security Considerations for WiMAX-Based Converged Network. Senza Fili, Fixed, Nomadic, Portable, and Mobile Applications for 802.16-2004 and 802.16e WiMAX Network. Sian Harris, WiMAX IS COMING; WILL A STANDARDISED APPROACH FINALLY GET FIXED WIRELESS ACCESS TO FULFIL ITS POTENTIAL? Tim Gray, The WiMAX Future Could Be Closer, http://www.internetnews.com/entnews/article.php/3508846 Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J., Achieving Wireless Broadband with WiMAX. William Stallings, IEEE 802.16 for Broadband Wireless, http://www.networkworld.com/news/tech/2001/0903tech.html Wikipedia, 802.16 Standards.

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