Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access - Essay Example

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES - COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATION AND THE INTERNET Introduction Information and communications technologies are widespread and continue to widen and change with time rapidly. Because they evolve at such a fast pace, there are likely to be issues linked to them. This paper gives the opportunity to recognize some of these current issues and trends with one such technology that is significant in today’s viable environment. The importance will be on developing technical knowledge and a personal perspective concerning issues that encourage the application of scholarly research. The technology that I will take you through is a widespread wireless digital system and is called ‘WiMax’ or the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard and is intended for the use of MAN’s (Metropolitan Area Networks). It is used as an alternative to the other more popular wired broadband like cable and DSL and also wireless technology like WiFi. WiMax, in contrast, covers a wider range, has a higher speed and band and is more expensive. Discussion WiMax - What is it? According to the WiMax Forum, the originator of the name of the technology, “WiMax is a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access” (WiMax Forum, 2001). Like mentioned above, WiMax is wireless broadband that has a broad coverage unlike the WiFi hotspots and it is more portable and can reach suburban and rural areas unlike wired cable and DSL. WiMax is based on Metropolitan Area Networks which is why it covers a fairly broad area. Apart from that, it allows 10 – 66GHz and the 802.16 standard, which is the 2004 amendment, allows 2 to 11GHz. It also has larger channels which range from 1 to 20 Mhz. (Kennedy, 2005). All these specifications tell us that it has a higher bandwidth meaning that it allows more data to be passed and transferred. Hundreds and thousands of businesses and residences can be provided with T-1 speed and DSL connectivity, respectively, with this bandwidth (WiMax Forum, 2001). There are two types of WiMax; Fixed and Mobile. The second one is designed for mobile applications while the first one is found in Internet access installations. This is the kind of WiMax that is an alternative to cable and DSL. All these are the plus points of WiMax and mostly Fixed WiMax. It is fast, covers a large range and is especially important in budding economies as it competes directly with wired media. Also, Mobile WiMax is what is new. Mobile Wimax is a large, broadband, and an all-IP service with full maintenance for time-bound traffic like Voice Over IP (VoIP) and competes directly with cellular (Mathias, 2006). All these factors make it very attractive to the average resident and businessperson. However, like every other medium, this has a number of negatives and these are mentioned in the section that follows. Wi-Max Issues Before I start discussing the problems of Mobile WiMax and how it is tougher than other technologies to engineer, I’d like to put light on the issues of WiMax generally. First of all, because the range of WiMax is so large, the frequency is hardly reused. This is an important scarce resource and must be used wisely. WiMax just uses a lot of it. It just ignores to reuse it. Also, more range means bigger, costlier and (usually) worse battery life as well (Mathias, 2006). With the exception of this, it cannot be ignored that WiMax is costly. It is expensive to set it up as well as to use it. Setting up a nationwide WiMax network in the US was likely to cost in excess of $3 billion (£1.74 billion), said the OECD report (BBC News, 2006). Another issue with WiMax is its spectrum problems. There is no standardization. There is a different spectrum in the US while a different one in the UK. Also the US network is being controlled by FCC while Ofcom operates it in UK. In US, WiMax uses ERP while in the EU, it uses EIRP. In US, the general policy is “if it’s not being used, then you can use it” while in UK “you need a license to use spectrum” (Kennedy, 2005) WiMax also has issues regarding security. WiMax networks must be managed by using techniques like authentication, encryption, and availability to make sure that competitors do not precede their traffic before others. Coming back to Mobile Wimax, it has a number of issues. As previously mentioned, it is more difficult to fabricate it. Firstly, because it requires setting up base stations (remember it directly competes with cellular) and these must be kept to a minimum because they are expensive. However, if these are less and the nature of the application is ‘mobile’, instinctively one can say that there will be a loss of signal. In other words, fading will be experienced by users. Just like cellular networks, Mobile WiMax will have problems with capacity as a number of users try to access it at the same time with a limited number of base stations. Finally, because, like mentioned earlier, different spectrums are available in different countries, it become difficult to deploy this. For example, in developing countries like India and Pakistan, the band provided (2.3 – 2.4 GHz and 5.8GHz) is only good enough for trial and not for a city-wide network. Conclusion In the end, I’d like to pose the biggest question of whether WiMax can actually maintain its competition with celluar. This is also the biggest challenge that WiMax faces but I didn’t mention it in the previous section because I thought that my perspective on this question must conclude the paper because it is quite a significant issue. According to me, I don’t think that it will be able to support all the cellular uses because WiMax is a big-cell technology and celluar is already well established in this space. Therefore, I think, that it will have a difficult time piercing into this space. Secondly, WiFi is very popular with Internet users. Should WiFi be replaced by WiMax because many people say that WiMax is “WiFi on steroids” anyway? In my opinion, both wireless technologies must complement each other. They should be used as complementary technologies rather than as substitutes of each other. This will give the users the benefits of both big- and small-cell spaces. This means that it will solve the problems of coverage and limited capacity. Others might alternatively say that this combination will be hard to win through since other technologies in this plot are already customary. Peter Gardner, who is the head for wireless communications at 3i Group, showed this apprehension when he said “I am skeptical about WiMax as an alternative to either WiFi or cellular. I think spectrum issues may stop WiMax”. (Manners, 2006). REFERENCES 1. Kennedy, S. (2005). WIMAX - WiNOT?. Retrieved April 17, 2008, from NetTek Ltd. Website: http://uknof.org.uk/uknof2/Kennedy-WiMAX.pdf. 2. (2008). WiMax Technology. Retrieved April 17, 2008, from WiMax Forum. Website: http://www.wimaxforum.org/technology/ 3. Mathias, C. (2006). A Look at Wimax, Problems and Pluses. Retrieved April 18, 2008, from Computerworld. Website: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;748240611;fp;2;fpid;3 4. (2006). Doubts Raised Over WiMax’s Future. Retrieved April 18, 2008, from BBC News. Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4802908.stm 5. Manners, D.(2006). Is WiMax Going Places? It Depends Who You Ask. Retrieved April 18, 2008, from electronicsweekly.com Website: http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2006/12/14/40372/is-wimax-going-places-it-depends-who-you-ask.htm Read More