MIMO Spectral Efficiency of the Mobile WiMAX Downlink

Abstract

This chapter analyzes by extensive simulations the performance of Mobile Microwave Access (WiMAX) in the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) downlink. It evaluates the link- and system-level performance of the Mobile WiMAX downlink. The chapter addresses the issues of MIMO physical abstraction required for simulation at the system level, as well as adaptive MIMO switching. It provides an overview of the Mobile WiMAX air interface is given according to the documentation available from the WiMAX Forum and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16-2004 and IEEE 802.16e-2005 standards. The chapter deals with the adaptive MIMO switching concept of Mobile WiMAX and considers extensive results for the system performance of the MIMO-based Mobile WiMAX downlink. It presents a brief overview of the physical and media access control layers of Mobile WiMAX is given, where the focus is on those features and techniques used in the simulations for evaluating the link-and system-level performance of the downlink MIMO.