Comparison

of
3G(1xEVDO, HSPA) and
WiMAX

Dr. A.K. Seth

Based on WiMAX Forum Reports

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and other published literature
 Evolution of 3G and WiMAX

SAE / LTE: System Architecture Evolution / Long Term Evolution

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Comparison of Forward Links
1X versus 1×EV-DO

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 EV-DO
Evolutionary Data-Optimized 1x (1xEVDO) is a data
optimized evolution of CDMA2000 developed by the 3GPP2.
In a 1.25 MHz channel 1xEVDO offers peak data rates of 2.4
Mbps (Rev 0) / 3.1 Mbps (Rev A) in the downlink (DL) and
153.6 kbps (Rev 0) / 1.8 Mbps (Rev A) in the uplink (UL).
EVDO-Rev B, which is still in the process of standardization,
adds further DL capacity enhancements and is expected to
increase the DL peak data rate to 4.9 Mbps in a 1.25 MHz
channel. 1xEVDO-Rev 0 has had initial success in South
Korea and is now being widely deployed.

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 Important Features of EVDO
• Downlink channel is changed from Code Division Multiplex
(CDM) to Time Division Multiplex (TDM) to allow full
transmission power to a single user.
• Downlink power control is replaced by closed loop downlink rate
adaptation.
• Adaptive Modulation & Coding (AMC) is used
• Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) is used
• Fast downlink scheduling is used
• Soft handoff is replaced by a more bandwidth efficient “virtual”
soft handoff

PS: EVDO Rel-A enables VoIP with high data rate and low frame capability in both directions. On the other hand 1xEVDV is
aimed to use left over power in standard 1X for data application in both directions (as realized in UMTS Rel.5).
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 EVDO Rel-A
1xEV-DO-Rev 0 was principally designed to support packet data
services and not conversational services. In a later release, called
1xEVDO-Rev A, additional enhancements were added to the
1xEV-DO specification. In the forward link, these enhancements
include smaller packet sizes, higher DL peak data rate (up to 3.1
Mbps), and multiplexing packets from multiple users in the MAC
layer. In the reverse (or up) link, they include support of H-ARQ,
AMC, higher peak rates of 1.8 Mbps, and smaller frame size (6.67
milliseconds). With these enhancements in both forward and
reverse links, conversational services (e.g. VoIP and gaming) can
be supported in the newly enhanced 1xEVDO-Rev A systems.

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1xEVDO Rel-A Down Link Channel
structure

16 Code
Spread

(Preamble)
TDM TDM TDM TDM

CDM A CDM A CDM

CDM

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1x EVDO Rel-A Reverse (Up Link)
Channel Structure

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 EVDO – Rev B
A further enhancement to the CDMA2000 standard is 1xEVDO-
Rev B (also known as DO Multi-Carrier). This revision to the
standard, increases DL spectral efficiency and data throughput by
adding 64QAM to the DL modulation scheme. It also provides for
dynamic allocation of up to fifteen 1.25 MHz carriers in a 20
MHz bandwidth. As a result, the 1xEVDO-Rev B enhancement
will increase the DL peak over the air data rate for a 1.25 MHz
carrier to 4.9 Mbps and, by aggregating 3 carriers in a nominal 5
MHz channel bandwidth, will provide a peak DL rate of 14.7
Mbps and a peak UL data rate of 5.4 Mbps.

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 Unused / Allocated Code
Capacity for EV-DV / HSDPA

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 HSDPA + HSUPA = HSPA
HSPA is an evolutionary path for WCDMA which
started with Rel.99 based on VSF. Similar to
EVDO the High-Speed Downlink Packet Access
(HSDPA) (as defined by 3GPP) is based on MAC
level TDM multiplexing in a new Packet Data
Shared Channel. This renders peak data rate up to
14 Mbps in a 5 MHz channel. Similarly High-
Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) in Rel.6
provides capacity enhancements to the uplink.

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 Special Features of HSDPA
• Adaptive modulation and coding (AMC)
• Multi-code operation
• Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ)
• Higher DL peak rates (up to 14 Mbps)
• De-centralized architecture where scheduling
functions are moved from the Radio Network
Controller (RNC) to Node-B thus reducing latency
and enabling fast scheduling.

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Control Channel structure of HSDPA

D = Downlink / Dedicated, P = Physical, S = Shared, C = Control 16

High Speed Downlink Shared Channel
(HS-DSCH)
The HS-DSCH sub-frame is again 2 milliseconds
but is divided into 3 slots of .667 mSec. The HS-
DSCH supports both QPSK and 16-QAM
modulation. In addition it supports multi-code
transmission , which translates in mobiles being
assigned multiple channelization codes (CCs) in
the same HS-DSCH sub-frame, depending on its
capability. The same facility can also be used to
support multiple UEs in the same sub-frame, i.e.
multiplexing of multiple mobiles in the code-
domain is allowed.

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Multiplexing of UEs in the Code Domain

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Signaling for HS-DSCH on HS-SCCH
For each HS-DSCH sub-frame, downlink signaling for the
mobile station is carried on the HS-SCCH. This includes
Transport Format, Resource Information and HARQ
related information. The number of HS-SCCHs can range
from one to a maximum of four per mobile station. There
is a one to one mapping between the HS-DSCH data sub-
frame and the HS-SCCH control sub-frame with a 2-slot
delay between the two as shown in Figure. This allows
time for the mobile to set up for HS-DSCH demodulation.

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HS-DSCH and HS-SCCH Association

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 New Channel on Up Link
On the uplink, the new High Speed Dedicated
Physical Control Channel (HS-DPCCH) is used to
signal HARQ acknowledgement and the Channel
Quality Indicator (CQI) to the Node B. The HS-
DPCCH is a separate code multiplexed uplink
channel. Concurrent to high-speed data, regular
data and control information may also be
transmitted on the Dedicated Physical Data and
Control Channels (DPDCH and DPCCH).
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 HS-UPA
Similar to 1xEVDO Rel-0, standard HS-DSPA (as
illustrated earlier) used same methodology as Rel-99 to
carry up link data on UL-DPCH with associated
signaling data on UL-DPCCH. The only change was
additional HS-DPCCH to carry HARQ - ACK and CQI
messages for down link HS-DSCH.
Subsequent release (R6) however uses Enhanced Data
Channel ( DCH) with Enhanced HS-UPA for up link.
This also supports Enhanced HS-DPA for down link.
These comprises a number of additional channels.

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Enhanced DCH (HSDPA & HSUPA)

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R6 with Enhanced HS-DPA and HS-UPA
Down link Enhanced HS-DPA enables Enhanced Data Channel (E-
DCH) (comprising of E-PDSCH & E-DPCCH) supported by two
new code-multiplexed channels on up link viz. E-DCH Dedicated
Physical Data Channel (E-DPDCH) and E-DCH Dedicated Physical
Control Channel (E-DPCCH).
Similarly uplink Enhanced HS-DCH enables E-DCH (comprising of
E-DPDCH &E-DPCCH) along with three new code-multiplexed
channels viz. E-DCH HARQ Acknowledgement Indicator Channel
(E-HICH), E-DCH Absolute Grant Channel (E-AGCH) and E-DCH
Relative Grant Channel (E-RGCH).

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 HSUPA Operation
Scheduling is an important feature for up link E-DPDCH (along with
Scheduling and Transport Format Information) from multiple users. Two
fundamental approaches exist in scheduling UE transmissions
– Node B controlled rate scheduling, where all uplink transmissions can
randomly occur in parallel with the selected rates restricted to keep the
total noise rise at the Node B at an acceptable level
– Node B controlled time and rate scheduling, where only a subset of UEs
with pending data are selected to transmit over a given time interval with
selected rates restricted. This is controlled by Absolute Grant (AG)
message transmitted by serving Node-B and Relative Grant (RG)
message by other Node-B.

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MIB: Management Information Base
LE: License Exempt 26
 OFDMA principle

OFDM modulation can be realized with efficient Inverse Fast

Fourier Transform (IFFT), which enables a large number of
sub-carriers (up to 2048) with low complexity. The opposite
function is carried out by FFT at receive end.
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 OFDMA Symbol Structure
The OFDMA symbol structure consists of three types of sub-carriers
as shown in Figure.
• Data sub-carriers for data transmission
• Pilot sub-carriers for estimation and synchronization purposes
• Null sub-carriers for no transmission: DC carriers

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Example with 1024 Sub-Carriers
Guard Band 1024 sub-carriers with spacing of
1/91.4 uS = 10.94 KHz
11.4 uS 1024 samples in 91.4 uS
(only 720+120 in use for data + Pilot)

102.9 uS
Sampling frequency = 10.94 KHz x 1024 = 11.2 MHz
OFDM Symbol frequency = 1 / 102.9 uS = 9.72 KHz
Bandwidth used: 10.94 x (720 +120) = 9.18 MHz
Data rate = (1024 x 2) / 102.9 uS = 14 Mbps
(based on 16 QAM and ½ coding)

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 Cyclic Prefix for Cancellation of
Multipath Interference
As discussed Cyclic Prefix (CP) completely
eliminates Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) as long as
the CP duration is longer than the channel delay
spread. With appendment of the last samples of data
portion of the block to the beginning of the data
payload the channel appears circularly convolved so
that low-complexity frequency domain equalization
can be used to recover the original signal.

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Cyclic Prefix

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WiMAX : Special Advantages
All systems support HARQ, Scheduling and Virtual Soft Hand off.
WiMAX however supports:
– Tolerance to Multipath and Self-Interference
– Scalable Channel Bandwidth
– Orthogonal Uplink Multiple Access
– Support for Spectrally-Efficient TDD
– Frequency-Selective Scheduling
– Fractional Frequency Reuse
– Improved AMC and Error Correction Techniques
– Fine Quality of Service (QoS)
– Advanced Antenna Technology

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Tolerance to Multipath and Self Interference
CDMA systems generally require RAKE receivers to
combat multipath fading. However, in addition to
multipath, other impairments such as frequency offset,
Doppler effect and lack of time synchronization can
cause CDMA systems to suffer from intra-cell
interference
As sub-carrier orthogonality is not effected in multipath
environment, the OFDMA systems are robust against
interference so long as the delay variation is less than
cyclic prefix.

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 OFDMA Scalability

OFDMA Scalability is obtained by adjusting FFT size depending on available

spectrum

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 Uplink Orthogonality
OFDMA allows allocation of different portions of the channel so that
there is no (or little) multiple access interference (MAI) between
multiple users. OFDMA therefore, can support higher order uplink
modulations and achieve higher uplink spectral efficiency. With
CDMA, on the other hand, each user transmits over the entire
channel. Even though it is possible to construct orthogonal spreading
codes, this is rarely done due to the uplink synchronization issues.
Orthogonal uplink sub-channels also enables the uplink scheduler to
provide better control of the uplink quality and uplink resource
allocation. Therefore the uplink performance is more predictable and
QoS is better enforced.

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 Support for TDD
In spite of need for system-wide frame synchronization, TDD offers
following advantages.
– TDD enables adjustment of the downlink/uplink ratio on a per cluster
basis to efficiently support asymmetric downlink/uplink traffic – as
required for all data applications.
– TDD assures channel reciprocity for better support of link adaptation,
MIMO and other closed loop advanced antenna technologies.
– Unlike FDD, which requires a pair of channels, TDD only requires a
single channel for both downlink and uplink providing greater flexibility
for adaptation to varied global spectrum allocations.
– Transceiver design for TDD implementations is less complex and
therefore less expensive.

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WiMAX TDD Structure

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 Frequency Selective Scheduling
Both 1xEVDO and HSPA signals occupy entire bandwidth. Mobile
WiMAX signals on the other hand only occupy a portion of the
bandwidth. In broadband wireless channels, propagation conditions can
vary over different portions of the spectrum in different ways for
different users. Mobile WiMAX supports frequency selective scheduling
to take full advantage of multi-user frequency diversity and improve
QoS. WiMAX makes it possible to allocate a subset of sub-carriers to
mobile users based on relative signal strength. By allocating a subset of
sub-carriers to each MS for which the MS enjoys the strongest path
gains, this multi-user diversity technique can achieve significant capacity
gains over TDMA/CDMA.

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 Frequency Reuse
Mobile WiMAX, 1xEVDO and HSPA all support frequency reuse one,
i.e. all cells/sectors operate on one frequency channel to maximize
spectrum utilization. However, due to heavy interference in (common
frequency) reuse ‘1’ deployment, users at the cell edge may suffer low
connection quality.
1xEVDO and HSPA address the interference issue by adjusting the
loading of the network. However, the same loading factor is applied to
all users within the coverage area, leading to capacity loss by “over-
protecting” users that are closer to the base station.
In WiMAX the sub-channel reuse pattern can be configured so that
users close to the base station operate on the zone with all sub-channels
available. While for the edge users, each cell/sector operates on the
zone with a fraction of all sub-channels available.

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Fractional Frequency Reuse with WiMAX

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AMC with EVDO, HSPA and WiMAX

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 QoS Control
WiMAX QoS is specified for each service
flow – up and down.The service flow
parameters can be dynamically managed
through MAC messages to accommodate the
dynamic service demand. Furthermore, since
the sub-channels are orthogonal, there is no
intra-cell interference in either DL or UL.
Therefore, the DL and UL link quality and
QoS can be easily controlled by the base
station scheduler.

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QoS Control

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Applications with Different QoS

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 Smart Antenna
In CDMA-based systems, the signals occupy the entire bandwidth.
Since the processing complexity for smart antenna technologies
scales with the channel bandwidth, supporting advanced antenna
technologies in broadband wireless channels poses a more
significant challenge than it does with Mobile WiMAX. Both
1xEVDO and HSPA support simple transmit diversity and the
HSPA standard has an option to support Beam-forming. In general
however, the use of advanced antenna technologies in current
1xEVDO and HSPA solutions has been limited.

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Continued -
Since OFDM/OFDMA converts a frequency selective
wideband channel into multiple flat narrow band sub-
carriers it is far easier to support smart antenna
technologies. Mobile WiMAX supports a full range of
smart antenna technologies to enhance performance
including Beam-forming, STC (Space Time Coding) and
SM (Spatial Multiplexing). These technologies can
improve both system coverage and capacity.

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Continued -

WiMAX also supports dynamic switching between the smart antenna

technologies to maximize the benefit based on channel conditions.
Spatial Multiplexing (SM) for example, improves peak throughput but,
when channel conditions are poor, the Packet Error Rate (PER) can be
high and thus the coverage area where target PER is met may be
limited. Space Time Coding (STC) on the other hand provides large
coverage regardless of the channel condition but does not improve the
peak throughput. Mobile WiMAX supports Adaptive MIMO Switching
(AMS) is used between multiple MIMO modes to maximize spectral
efficiency with no reduction in coverage area

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Adoptive MIMO Switch

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Advanced Antennae Switching

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MBS: Managed Bandwidth service, 50
CQICH: Channel Qual ity Indicator Channel
PKMv2: Private Key Management v2, EAP: Extensible Authentication Protocol
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 Quantitative Comparison
Quantitative comparison of Mobile WiMAX,
1xEVDO and HSPA system performance is
handled using the commonly accepted 1xEV-
DV evaluation methodology. Following are
baseline configurations for WiMAX, EVDO
and HSPA as well as propagation and mixed
user models, as used in simulation.

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EVDO, HSPA and WiMAX Parameters

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Mobile WiMAX and 3G Parameters

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Mobile WiMAX OFDMA Parameters

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Multipath Channel Models for
Comparision

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Throughput Comparision

DL:UL = 1:1, 3:1

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Spectral Efficiency Comparison

DL:UL = 1:1, 3:1

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Thank you

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 Comparison of WiMAX
Rel-d and Rel-e
• Fixed WiMAX: 802.16 – 2004 (802.16d)
– 150 fixed trials on 3.5 GHZ TDD and FDD
• Universal WiMAX: 802.16 – 2005
(802.16e)
– Limited trials AT&T, CTC Telecom Wisconsin
and plans in middle East, Africa, Sri Lanka etc.

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WiMAX-d and WiMAX-e Profile
Comparision

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 WiMAX-d Frame

Small unit allocation with full OFDM symbol

(all sub-carriers) allocated to a user at a time 69
 802.16-e Frame

Unit allocation is large with smaller segment of sub-

carriers allocated to a user – improves efficiency 70
VoIP Improvements with 802.16-
e

• Small Overhead with Header compression (Rel-d Overhead ~ 4 x payload)

•Silence suppression with ertPS (Enhanced Real Tme Packet service)
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Advanced Antenna Technologies
• Rel-d specifies advanced antenna mechanism but
not selected in profiles. Similarly MIMO is
limited to simple diversity coding techniques
(e.g. 2x1 Alamounti scheme with 1 3 dB gain)
• Rel-e profile supports multiple antenna solutions
starting with beam forming solutions for cell
range, interference and capacity increase.

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Interference Mitigation with Beam
Forming

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Link Budget Comparison
(Rel-d / Rel-d+ and Rel-e)

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 CDF vs SINR with and without Beam
Forming

Rel-e provides more spectral efficiency and higher

coverage 75
Scheduling Services, Usage and QoS
parameters

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WiMAX Network Reference Model

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 WiMAX Network - IP based
Architecture

COTS: Commercial Off The Shelf 78

 WiMAX Downlink Budget

PUSC: Partially Used Sub Carrier

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 WiMAX Uplink Margin

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PUSC: Partially Used Sub Carrier
Mobile WiMAX Physical Data Rates

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