WiMAX for Broadband Wireless Access

By: Karim M. El Defrawy ICS UCI-2005

Outline

What is WiMAX 802.16 Introduction 802.16 MAC Highlights 802.16 Reference Model MAC Convergence Sub-Layer (CS) MAC Common Part Sub-Layer (CPS) MAC Privacy Sub-Layer (PS) Questions

What is WiMAX?

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is the common name associated to the IEEE 802.16a/REVd/e standards. These standards are issued by the IEEE 802.16 subgroup that originally covered the Wireless Local Loop technologies with radio spectrum from 10 to 66 GHz.

IEEE 802.16 -- Introduction

IEEE 802.16 (2001)

Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access System MAC and PHY Specifications for 10 66 GHZ (LoS) One PHY: Single Carrier Connection-oriented, TDM/TDMA MAC, QoS, Privacy

IEEE 802.16a (January 2003)

Amendment to 802.16, MAC Modifications and Additional PHY Specifications for 2 11 GHz (NLoS) Three PHYs: OFDM, OFDMA, Single Carrier Additional MAC functions: OFDM and OFDMA PHY support, Mesh topology support, ARQ

IEEE 802.16d (July 2004)

Combines both IEEE 802.16 and 802.16a Some modifications to the MAC and PHY

IEEE 802.16e (2005?)

Amendment to 802.16-2004 MAC Modifications for limited mobility

IEEE 802.16 -- Introduction

Coverage range up to 50km and speeds up to 70Mbps(shared among users).

IEEE 802.16 -- Introduction

Source: WiMAX, making ubiquitous high-speed data services a reality, White Paper, Alcatel.

IEEE 802.16 MAC -- Highlights

WirelessMAN: Point-to-Multipoint and optional mesh topology Connection-oriented Multiple Access: DL TDM & TDMA, UL TDMA;UL OFDMA & TDMA, DL OFDMA & TDMA (Optional) PHY considerations that affect the MAC

Protocol-independent core (ATM, IP, Ethernet) Flexible QoS offering (CBR, rt-VBR, nrt-VBR, BE) Strong security support

Duplex: TDD, FDD, FDX FDD BS and SS, HDX FDD SS Adaptive burst profiles (Modulation and FEC) on both DL and UL

Reference Model

Adaptive PHY

Source: Understanding WiMAX and 3G for Portable/Mobile Broadband Wireless, Technical White Paper, Intel.

Adaptive Burst Profiles

Burst profile: Modulation and FEC On DL, multiple SSs can associate the same DL burst On UL, SS transmits in an given time slot with a specific burst Dynamically assigned according to link conditions

Burst by burst Trade-off capacity vs. robustness in real time

Duplex Scheme Support

The duplex scheme is Usually specified by regulatory bodies, e.g., FCC Time-Division Duplex (TDD)

Downlink & Uplink time share the same RF channel Dynamic asymmetry does not transmit & receive simultaneously (low cost) Downlink & Uplink on separate RF channels Full Duplexing (FDX): can Tx and Rx simultaneously; Half-duplexing (HDX) SSs supported (low cost)

Frequency-Division Duplex (FDD)

IEEE 802.16 MAC OFDM PHY TDD Frame Structure

Time Frame n-1 Frame n Adaptive Frame n+1

DL Subframe
DL TDM pre. FCH DL DL burst 1 burst 2

UL subframe
UL TDMA

...

DL burst n

pre.

UL burst 1

...

pre.

UL burst m

DL MAP

UL MAP

DCD opt.

UCD opt.

Broadcast Conrol msgs

IEEE 802.16 MAC OFDM PHY FDD Frame Structure

Time Frame n-1 Frame n Frame n+1

DL Subframe
DL TDM pre.
Broadcast Control Msgs DL UL DCD MAP MAP opt. UCD opt.

DL TDMA

FCH

DL DL burst 1 burst 2

...

DL burst k

pre.

DL burst k+1

...

pre.

DL burst n

UL subframe
UL MAP for next MAC frame UL bursts

UL TDMA
pre.

UL burst 1

...

pre.

UL burst m

FDD MAPs Time Relevance

DL UL MAP MAP DL UL MAP MAP

DOWNLINK

UPLINK

frame

Broadcast

Half Duplex T erminal #1

Full Duplex Capable User

Half Duplex T erminal #2

IEEE 802.16 MAC addressing and Identifiers

SS has 48-bit IEEE MAC address BS has 48-bit base station ID

Not a MAC address 24-bit operator indicator

16-bit connection ID (CID) 32-bit service flow ID (SFID) 16-bit security association ID (SAID)

IEEE 802.16 MAC Convergence Sub-Layer (CS)

ATM Convergence Sub-Layer:

Support for VP/VC switched connections Support for end-to-end signaling of dynamically created connections ATM header suppression Full QoS support

Packet Convergence Sub-Layer:

Initial support for Ethernet, VLAN, IPv4, and IPv6 Payload header suppression Full QoS support

IEEE 802.16 MAC -- CS Packet Convergence Sub-Layer

Functions:

Classification: mapping the higher layer PDUs (Protocol Data Units) into appropriate MAC connections Payload header suppression (optional) MAC SDU (Service Data Unit), i.e., CS PDU, formatting
MAC SDU = CS PDU
PHSI

Packet PDU (e.g., IP packet, Ethernet Packet)

Payload Header Suppression Index Optional, Depending on upper layer protocol

IEEE 802.16 MAC -- CPS

MAC PDU Format
msb lsb

MAC PDU

Generic MAC Header (6 bytes)

payload (optional)

CRC (optional)

Generic MAC Header Format (Header Type (HT) = 0)

H E T C Type (6 bits) rs C EKS rs v I (2) v

BW Req. Header Format (Header Type (HT) =1)

H E T C Type (6 bits)

LEN msb (3)

BW Req. msb (8) CID msb (8)

LEN lsb (8)

CID msb (8)

BWS Req. lsb (8)

CID lsb (8)

HCS (8)

CID lsb (8)

HCS (8)

IEEE 802.16 MAC -- CPS -- Three Types of MAC PDUs

Data MAC PDUs

Management MAC PDUs

HT = 0 Payloads are MAC SDUs/segments, i.e., data from upper layer (CS PDUs) Transmitted on data connections

BW Req. MAC PDUs

HT =0 Payloads are MAC management messages or IP packets encapsulated in MAC CS PDUs Transmitted on management connections
HT =1; and no payload, i.e., just a Header

IEEE 802.16 MAC -- CPS

Data Packet Encapsulations
Packet PDU (e.g., Ethernet) CS PDU (i.e., MAC SDU)
P H SI

Ethernet Packet

Ethernet Packet

MAC PDU

HT

MAC PDU Payload

CRC

FEC

FEC block 1

FEC Block 2

FEC Block 3

......

FEC block m

PHY Burst
(e.g., TDMA burst)

Preamble

OFDM symbol 1

OFDM symbol 2

......

OFDM symbol n

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS -- MAC Management Connections

Each SS has 3 management connections in each direction:

Basic Connection:

short and time-urgent MAC management messages MAC mgmt messages as MAC PDU payloads longer and more delay tolerant MAC mgmt messages MAC mgmt messages as MAC PDU payloads Standard based mgmt messages, e.g., DHCP, SNMP, etc IP packets based CS PDU as MAC PDU payload

Primary Management connection:

Secondary Management Connection:

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS MAC Management Messages

MAC mgmt message format:

8 bits

mgmt msg HD

MAC mgmt msg payload

MAC mgmt msg can be sent on: Basic connections; Primary mgmt connection; Broadcast connection; and initial ranging connections 41 MAC mgmt msgs specified in 802.16 The TLV (type/length/value) encoding scheme is used in MAC mgmt msg, e.g., in UCD msg for UL burst profiles, (type=1, length=1, value=1) QPSK modulation (type=1, length=1, value=2) 16QAM modulation (type=1, length=1, value=3) 64QAM modulation

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS MAC PDU Transmission

MAC PDUs are transmitted in PHY Bursts The PHY burst can contain multiple FEC blocks MAC PDUs may span FEC block boundaries Concatenation Packing Segmentation Sub-headers

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS MAC PDU Concatenation

Multiple MAC PDUs are concatenated into the same PHY burst

MAC PDU 1
HT MAC PDU Payload CRC HT

MAC PDU 2
MAC PDU Payload CRC

MAC PDU k ......

HT MAC PDU Payload CRC

FEC

FEC block 1

FEC Block 2

FEC Block 3

......

FEC block m

PHY Burst
(e.g., TDMA burst)

Preamble

OFDM symbol 1

OFDM symbol 2

......

OFDM symbol n

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS MAC PDU Fragmentation

A MAC SDU can be fragmented into multiple segments, each segment is encapsulated into one MAC PDU
Fragmentation Sub-Header (8 bits)

MAC SDU
MAC SDU seg-1
HT CRC F S H

MAC SDU seg-2

MAC PDU Payload CRC

MAC SDU seg-3

HT F S H MAC PDU Payload CRC

HT

F S H

MAC PDU Payload

FEC

FEC block 1

......

FEC Block m1

FEC block 1

......

FEC Block m2

Pre.

OFDM symbol 1

......

OFDM symbol n1

Pre.

OFDM symbol 1

......

OFDM symbol n2

PHY Burst

PHY Burst

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS MAC PDU Packing

Packing with fixed size MAC SDUs (no packing sub-header is needed)
MAC SDU 1 MAC SDU 2

......

MAC SDU k

Fixed size MSDUs, e.g., ATM Cells, on the same connection

HT

MAC PDU Payload

CRC

Packing with variable size MAC SDUs (Packing Sub-Heade is neeeded)

MAC SDU or seg. 1

Packing Sub-Heder (16 bits)

MAC SDU or seg 2

MAC SDU or seg n

Variable size MSDUs or MSDU segments, e.g., IP packets, on the same connection
CRC

HT

PSH

PSH

......

PSH

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS

QoS

Three components of 802.16 QoS

Service Flow

Service flow QoS scheduling Dynamic service establishment Two-phase activation model (admit first, then activate) A unidirectional MAC-layer transport service characterized by a set of QoS parameters, e.g., latency, jitter, and throughput assurances Identified by a 32-bit SFID (Service Flow ID) Provisioned: controlled by network management system Admitted: the required resources reserved by BS, but not active Active: the required resources committed by the BS

Three types of service flows

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS

Uplink Service Classes
UGS:

Unsolicited Grant Services rtPS: Real-time Polling Services nrtPS: Non-real-time Polling Services BE: Best Effort

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS

Uplink Services: UGS
UGS:

Unsolicited Grant Services

For CBR or CBR-like services, e.g., T1/E1. The BS scheduler offers fixed size UL BW grants on a real-time periodic basis. The SS does not need to send any explicit UL BW req.

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS

Uplink Services: rtPS
rtPS:

Real-time Polling Services

For rt-VBR-like services, e.g., MPEG video. The BS scheduler offers real-time, periodic, UL BW request opportunities. The SS uses the offered UL BW req. opportunity to specify the desired UL BW grant. The SS cannot use contention-based BW req.

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS

Uplink Services: nrtPS
nrtPS:

non-real-time polling services

For nrt-VBR-like services, such as, bandwidth-intensive file transfer. The BS scheduler shall provide timely (on a order of a second or less) UL BW request opportunities. The SS can use contention-based BW req. opportunities to send BW req.

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS

Uplink Services: BE
BE:

Best Effort

For best-effort traffic, e.g., HTTP, SMTP. The SS uses the contention-based BW request opportunities.

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS

Bandwidth Grant

BW grants are per Subscriber Station:

Allows real-time reaction to QoS need, i.e., SS may redistribute bandwidth among its connections, maintaining QoS and service-level agreements Lower overhead, i.e., less UL-MAP entries compare to grant per connection Off- loading base stations work Requires intelligent subscriber station to redistribute the allocated BW among connections

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS

BW Request/Grant Mechanisms

Implicit requests (UGS): No actual requests BW request messages, i.e., BW req. header

Sends in either a contention-based BW req. slot or a regular UL allocation for the SS;he special B Requests up to 32 KB with a single message Request Incremental or aggregate, as indicated by MAC header

Piggybacked request (for non-UGS services only)

Presented in Grant Management (GM) sub-header in a data MAC PDU of the same UL connection is always incremental Up to 32 KB per request for the CID Presented in the GM sub-header on a UGS connection request a bandwidth req. opportunity for non-UGS services

Poll-Me bit

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS -- Contention UL Access

Two types of Contention based UL slots

Initial Ranging Used for new SS to join the system Requires a long preamble BW Request Used for sending BW req Short preamble
Detection: SS does not get the expected response in a given time Resolution: a truncated binary exponential backoff window

Collision Detection and Resolution

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS UL Sub-Frame Structure

Source: http://www.cygnuscom.com/pdf/WP_PN_Article.pdf

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS

Ranging

Ranging is a process of acquiring the correct timing offset, and PHY parameters, such as, Tx power level, frequency offset, etc. so that the SS can communicate with the BS correctly. BS performs measurements and feedback. SS performs necessary adjustments. Two types of Ranging:

Initial ranging: for a new SS to join the system Periodic ranging (also called maintenance ranging): dynamically maintain a good RF link.

IEEE 802.16 MAC CPS

Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ)

A Layer-2 sliding-window based flow control mechanism. Per connection basis. Only effective to non-real-time applications. Uses a 11-bit sequence number field. Uses CRC-32 checksum of MAC PDU to check data errors. Maintain the same fragmentation structure for Retransmission. Optional.

IEEE 802.16 MAC Privacy Sub-layer (PS)

Two Major Functions:

Secures over-the-air transmissions Protects from theft of service Data encryption protocol A client/server model based Key management protocol (Privacy Key Management, or PKM)

Two component protocols:

IEEE 802.16 MAC PS -- Security Associations

A set of privacy information, e.g., encryption keys, used encryption algorithm Three types of Security Associations (SAs)

Primary SA: established during initial registration Static SA: provisioned within the BS Dynamic SA: dynamically created on the fly

Identified by a 16-bit SAID Connections are mapped to SAs

IEEE 802.16 MAC PS

-- Multi-level Keys and Their Usage

Public Key

Authorization Key (AK)

Contained in X.509 digital certificate Issued by SS manufacturers Used to encrypt AK Provided by BS to SS at authorization Used to derive KEK Derived from AK Used to encrypt TEK

Key Encryption Key (KEK)

Traffic Encryption Key (TEK)

Provided by BS to SS at key exchange Used to encrypt traffic data payload

IEEE 802.16 MAC PS -- Data Encryption

Use DES (Data Encryption Standard) in CBC (Cipher Block Chaining) mode with IV (Initialization Vector). CBC IV is calculated from

Only MAC PDU payload (including subheaders) is encrypted. MAC PDU headers are unencrypted. Management messages are unencrypted.

IV parameter in TEK keying info; and PHY synchronization field in DL-MAP.

IEEE 802.16 MAC one big item is out of scope

Scheduler

Questions ??

References

IEEE802.16-2004 Alcatel White Paper: WiMAX, making ubiquitous high-speed data services a reality Intel White Paper: Understanding WiMAX and 3G for Portable/Mobile Broadband Wireless WiMAX Forum: www.wimaxforum.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMax

IEEE 802.16 MAC commonly used terms

BS Base Station SS Subscriber Station, (i.e., CPE) DL Downlink, i.e. from BS to SS UL Uplink, i.e. from SS to BS FDD Frequency Division Duplex TDD Time Division Duplex TDMA Time Division Multiple Access TDM Time Division Multiplexing OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing OFDMA - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access QoS Quality of Service