Performance Evaluation of Mobile WiMAX with MIMO and Relay Extensions

The latest mobile WiMAX standard promises to deliver high data rates over extensive areas and to large user densities. More specifically, data rates are expected to exceed those of conventional cellular technologies. The IEEE 802.16e WiMAX standard enables the deployment of metropolitan area networks to mobile terminals in non-line-of-sight radio environments. Current concerns include leveraging high data rates, increasing area coverage, and competing with beyond 3G networks. Based on the IEEE 802.16e wirelessMAN-OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) physical (PHY) layer air-interface, this paper presents a physical layer study of MIMO enabled mobile WiMAX in an urban environment. The radio channels are based on those developed in the European Union IST-WINNER project. Results are given in terms of system throughput and outage probability with and without relays for a range of SISO, MISO and MIMO architectures. Results show that satisfactory performance cannot be achieved in macrocells unless radio relays are used in combination with MIMO-STBC.