Mobile WiMAX: Multi-Cell Network Evaluation and Capacity Optimization

The performance of a mobile WiMAX system is highly dependent on the application environment. Local clutter has a significant impact on the path loss exponent and the observed multipath statistics. The spectral efficiency of a WiMAX network can be enhanced if channel quality information is included as part of the system optimization process. This paper presents a comprehensive study of such a scenario, with numerical analysis of mobile WiMAX presented for a multi-cell deployment. In order to achieve high coverage and throughput to a large number of users, handover (HO) and link adaptation (LA) strategies are addressed. Interference is spatially separated through the use of dynamic channel allocation and WiMAX user assignment. Results show that coverage to 98% of the service area is achieved with an average throughput of 3.88 Mbps per sector. This is based on a 5MHz (512-FFT) OFDMA TDD profile (using one-third fractional reuse) deployed in licensed 3.5 GHz spectrum.