Broadband Access –

Fixed Wireless Solutions

Dr. I. J. Wassell
Laboratory for Communication Engineering
Cambridge University Engineering Dept.

Laboratory for Communication Engineering Consulting and Research

 What is Broadband Fixed
Wireless Access?
• Aim of Broadband Fixed Wireless Access
(BFWA) is to deliver broadband data services
to homes and businesses in a flexible and
efficient manner
• Main driver is to provide Internet access for
applications such as
– E-mail
– Web-browsing
– File downloading and transfer
– Streaming audio and video
– Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services
 Broadband Options
• Developed economies
– ADSL and cable TV in urban areas
– Options more limited in rural areas
• Developing economies
– Little existing infrastructure
– BFWA offers fast deployment
– Can be used to backhaul traffic from
cellular Base Stations
Typical BFWA Network Topology

SU
AP
SU

SU

• Point-to-multipoint AP-Access Point

SU-Subscriber Unit
 History – In Cambridge
• ‘Wireless ATM’ project begun in early 1990’s
at ORL, later AT&T Labs
• Project ‘spun-out’ in 1999 as Adaptive
Broadband Ltd. (ABL)
• First BFWA trial conducted 1999/2000 using
ABL equipment
• Cambridge Broadband Ltd. (CBL) formed in
2000 by senior staff from ABL
• CBL ‘Vectastar’ equipment recently deployed
in Cambridge as part of
Radiocommunications Agency’s (RA’s)
‘Spectrum Efficiency Scheme’
 Project Title - Efficient
Dimensioning of BFWA Networks
• Part of the RA’s ‘Spectrum Efficiency
Scheme
• A joint project between
– Cotares Ltd. (Lead contractor)
– CBL (Equipment and support provider)
– LCE (Propagation characterisation and
modelling)
 Project Aim
• To investigate the spectral efficiency of
a FBWA network
• To achieve this
– A near commercial scale FBWA network
has been deployed in and around
Cambridge
• 4 Base sites (each with 4 APs) in or near
Cambridge
• 1 Base site in a semi-rural location
(Cambourne)
• 50 SUs at customer premises
• 2 WiFi hotspots in a semi-rural location
• ISP connection to attract trial users
 VectaStar 3.5 GHz BFWA Equipment Specifications
FDD/TDMA

High order modulation (up to 64 QAM)

Maximum 60 Mb/s full duplex per sector

with 14 MHz pair of channels and 64 QAM

2.5 MS/s full duplex in 3.5 MHz pair of channels

5 Mb/s full duplex with QPSK
max 15 Mb/s duplex with 64 QAM

High efficiency MAC ( > 80% )

ATM packet based frame structure
ARQ rather than FEC for low overhead
statistical multiplexing
very low delay

Priority scheduling, combining ATM & IP QoS

Dynamic support for very low to very high bandwidths within a single sector

Non Line of Sight support using advanced equalisation

 VectaStar System Configuration

Subscriber Unit Standard 4 Sector Base Station

23° x 23° 90° x 8°

antenna antenna
90
15
120 60

12

9
150 30 AP AP AP AP
6
256 x CPE 256 x CPE
3
AP AP
180 0 0
AP AP

256 x CPE 256 x CPE

210 330

240 300
Network Interface
3 options for user interfaces 270

100 BaseT
100 BaseT & E1 SDH / ATM
100 BaseT & 2x POTS
Network
 VectaStar Base Station Configuration

Standard
Standard1-4
1-4Sector
SectorBase
BaseStation
Station

The
TheOut
OutDoor
DoorUnit
Unitcomprises:
comprises:
• •Antenna (90° x 8°)
Antenna (90° x 8°)
• •Radio
Radio(controlled
(controlledbybyAPC)
APC) AP ODU
• •Modem
Modem(controlled
(controlledbybyAPC)
APC)
• •Medium
Medium Access Control(controlled
Access Control (controlledby
byAPC)
APC)
Physical interface:
1300 nm multi-mode fibre, 1.5km reach
SONET OC-3 (SDH STM-1)
other AP ODU
STM-1 Two transport options:
SONET: ATM / STS-3c
Multiplexer SDH: ATM / VC4
Multiplexer
• •low
lowcost
costATM
ATMswitch
switch
• •ATM
ATM155
155OC3c
OC3c/ /STM1
STM1
AP Mux
STM-1 SDH / ATM
network interface Network

The
TheAccess
AccessPoint
PointController
Controllercomprise:
comprise:
• •Radio,
Radio,Modem
Modem&&MAC
MACmanagement
managementfunctionality
functionality STM-1
• •SNMP Agent
SNMP Agent AP Controller
 Cambridge Trial Network Diagram
Bourne Water Tower
UoC Gates Building (Network Core)
Cambourne Base Station
Gates Building Base Station

Gates Building
to
Lime Kiln Hill Lime Kiln Hill
Radio Backhaul to
Cambourne
Radio Backhaul

Core ATM Switch

CISCO
Internet Core
Router

Lime Kiln Hill Base Station

APU Base Station Addenbrookes Base Station

Lime Kiln Hill

 Cambridge Trial Frequency Plan
• 5 Base Stations - 2 using wireless backhaul
• Furthest SU 15 km from Base Site

UoC
BH AP UoCGates
Gates
Building Anglia
Building Anglia
Polytechnic
Polytechnic
University
University
Bourne BH AP (APU)
Bourne (APU)
Water
WaterTower
Tower
overlooking
overlooking
Cambourne
Cambourne
17
17km
kmlink
link

• 5 MHz channels for each

sector i.e. 4 colour frequency Addenbrookes
Addenbrookes
re-use pattern Hospital
Hospital
• Two 5 MHz channels for Point Lime
Lime
to Point backhaul (BH) links. 0
Kiln Hill
Kiln Hill

BH AP Rx BH AP Tx AP Rx / SU Tx AP Tx / SU Rx
BH SU Tx BH SU Rx

3.4 GHz 3.5 GHz 3.6 GHz

Equipment Installation at Lime Kiln Hill Site
Histon WiFi Hot Spot
 Experiments
• To enable quantitative results to be obtained
– All APs and SUs will be polled once per second
and key system information will be written to a
large database
– Data generators at key SUs and in the network
core can be set-up to deliver known traffic flows
on demand
– Traffic monitoring is also performed at the network
core
 Experiments
• Consequently the system can be configured
to investigate the effects on system
throughput and spectral efficiency of
– Various frequency reuse plans
– The effect of radio based backhaul of traffic from
APs – compared with the use of fibre backhaul
– Infrastructure sharing by multiple operators, i.e.,
various QoS and data rate scenarios
– Response of the system to varying traffic levels
Throughput at an example SU
2
Data rate (Mbit/s)

0
Wed. Time (days) Thu.
 SNR at an example SU
40
Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) (dB)

35

30

25
Wed. Time (days) Thu.
 Co-channel Interference
-60
LKHW at 30dBm (mean Rxpow=-65dBm)
-61 LKHW at 20dBm (mean Rxpow=-65dBm)

Receive power at example SU for 2

Rx power (dBm)

-62

-63

-64 different interferer AP Tx powers;

-65

-66
red- co-channel AP power 20 dBm
-67 blue- co-channel AP power 30 dBm
-68

-69

-70
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 30

time LKHW at 30dBm (mean SNR=9.8dB)

LKHW at 20dBm (mean SNR=20.9dB)

25

SNR at example SU for 2 different

SNR (dB)
20

interferer AP Tx powers;
red- co-channel AP power 20 dBm 15

blue- co-channel AP power 30 dBm 10

5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

time
 Propagation Experiments
• Detailed propagation measurements are being
performed at various SU antenna heights using
a vehicle equipped with a pump-up mast
• Comparison with predictions from a ray tracing
based model
• Temporal monitoring
• Development of a statistical propagation model
– Path-loss
– And delay spread
 Measurement Vehicle

• Mobile test vehicle with

pump-up mast (max 18m)
• Ability to capture data for
further analysis
• SU antenna height between
5.5 m and 10 m
• GPS location system
 Channel Impulse Response
C h a n n e l im p u ls e re s p o n s e a v e r a g e P o w e r D e l a y P r o fi l e
30
0

-1 0
25
-2 0

magnitude shifted upward by30dB

20
-3 0 20
0
-4 0
-2 0
15
-5 0
-4 0

-6 0 -6 0
10
-8 0 -7 0
0
-1 0 0 -8 0 5
0 50
-9 0
100
0
200 100 0 50 100 150
x500ns
 Path Loss
Path Loss vs. AP Distance (Based on mean recorded PL) - Gates All APs
170

160

150

140
Path loss (dB)

130

120

110

100 5.5<=h<6.5, n= 3.4705

6.5<=h<7.5, n= 3.2954
7.5<=h<8.5, n= 3.129
90 8.5<=h<9.5, n= 3.2929
9.5<=h<10.5, n= 3.0501
80
-1 0 1
10 10 10
Distance (km)
 Path Loss – Temporal Variation
Rx Power (dBm)

Thu. Time (days) Wed.

 Issues to Date
• Frequency planning has proved difficult with
only four channels owing to the number APs
deployed in a relatively small area
• Difficulties compounded by having the back-
haul channels adjacent to the 4 main
channels
• A couple of sectors (APs) have been turned-
off to reduce unwanted interference
• An 8 channel scheme will be tried to see how
its performance compares with the current
frequency plan.
 Concluding Remarks
• A near commercial scale BFWA network has
been installed in Cambridge
• The quantity of data gathered concerning its
performance is unprecedented
• Will make a major contribution concerning the
planning and deployment of BFWA networks
• The preliminary results are encouraging and
promise that BFWA can compete with other
broadband solutions