A physical layer simulation for WiMAX MIMO-OFDM system: Throughput comparison between 2×2 STBC and 2×2 V-BLAST in Rayleigh fading channel

WiMAX is a broadband wireless technology based on IEEE802.16 standards family, which defines the physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers and makes several possible configurations available along with non-mandatory options. WiMAX is a new OFDM based technology and promises to combine high data rate services with wide area coverage. In this paper, the performance of WiMAX PHY layer is investigated for two MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) PHY layer modifications, (Space-Time Block Codes, STBC) and (Spatial multiplexing, SM) to provide high suppression against multipath fading, provide high bandwidth efficiency and high throughput with high data rates. This work incorporates the model building of the WiMAX Physical layer using MATLAB simulation. The results obtained for these modifications show that these mechanisms enhance the performance of the WiMAX PHY layer in fixed environments with high spectral efficiency.