Wimax Physical Layer: Analysis and Simulation

Abstract

The usage of wireless data communication systems such as internet exploring, multimedia up/downloading, VoIP, etc. is very rapidly increasing daily. Faster, more efficient and reliable communication systems are needed to meet the market requirements. WiMAX standard of 802.16-2004 is one of the solutions offering high data rate for fixed and semi-mobile users without the need for wire line networks, i.e., wirelessly. It provides solutions to users in rural areas where DSL or fiber optic cables installation might not be an efficient solution in terms of cost.

This thesis gives a deep review of the physical layer of WiMAX 802.16-2004 standard and investigates its performance. The system is studied based on the latest standards. Different analysis and simulations are conducted on the system. For example, how the physical layer will perform when using different system parameters such as bandwidth, cyclic prefixes, and coding. Furthermore, intensive simulations are carried out to check how the coding and interleaving parameters in OFDM will affect the system performance in terms of the bit error rate (BER). Moreover, the system behavior is tested using different channel models. All simulations were carried out with MATLAB.