IEEE standardises '4G' version of mobile WiMAX

Stuart Corner
Saturday, 02 April 2011 14:59

Business IT - Technology

The IEEE has approved the next iteration of mobile WiMAX as IEEE802.16m, the first true 4G version of mobile WiMAX.

The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Standards Board has approved IEEE 802.16m, to give it is full title, as "Amendment to IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks, Part 16: Air Interface for Broadband Wireless Access Systems - Advanced Air Interface.

According to the IEEE, "IEEE 802.16m provides the performance improvements necessary to support future advanced services and applications for next generation broadband mobile communications...IEEE 802.16m incorporates multi-user MIMO, multicarrier operation and cooperative communications. It supports femto-cells, self-organising networks and relays.

"In October 2010, ITU-R agreed to incorporate this technology into its IMT-Advanced Recommendation, specifying systems that support low to high mobility applications, a wide range of data rates in multiple user environments, high-quality multimedia applications, and significant improvements in performance and quality of service'¦Major worldwide governmental and industrial organizations, including ARIB, TTA, and the WiMAX Forum, are adopting this standard."

A yera prior to the ITU accepting 802.16m as an IMT-Advanced technology, along with LTE-Advanced the ITU had announced  three LTE-based and three WiMAX based candidates for IMT-Advanced And it made clear that those selected would, in its view, be the first true 4G technologies.

The ITU now appears to have bowed to the overwhelming pressure of widespread 'misuse' of the term 4G and accepted that it can be used for today's LTE and WiMAX, 802.16e. It issued a statement in December saying "It is recognised that this term [4G], while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of [IMT-Advanced] technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed."