Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX

Deployment in 700MHz Band

1. Abstract
The economics of the wireless systems is the major consideration when choosing the
technology, the deployment strategy and the modes of operation. It determines the
investment required to deploy a network, the expense required to operate it and the
operator’s profit margin. In the context of WiMAX technology, a careful evaluation
of the economics of the network is even more crucial. Since WiMAX technology was
born into a tough world where competing alternatives such as ADSL, fiber and high
speed cellular technologies already exist, WiMAX needs to have a significant
advantage over these incumbent technologies in order to justify the initial deployment
cost, the operation cost and to successfully compete over time in a reality of ARPU
erosion.
In order to substantiate the WiMAX business case, efficient ways for maximizing
spectral efficiency are required. Two main techniques are proposed by the WiMAX
forum to enhance spectral efficiency: Aggressive frequency reuse schemes and the use
of multiple antenna techniques – MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) and AAS
(Adaptive Antenna Systems).
WiMAX in 700MHz has some unique characteristics that make the deployment of a
WiMAX network at this frequency band even more challenging. The main challenges
are the high capacity required by the large cells characterizing the 700MHz
deployment, the large size antenna arrays that might be required if MIMO and AAS
are chosen as the capacity enhancing techniques and on top of all that the small
spectrum slices assigned to operators in this band.
Experienced wireless operators, not without reason, express their concern about
whether aggressive reuse schemes will prove themselves in “Real World”
deployments and what impact might the co-channel interference have on overall
system capacity and QoS. In addition, there is a reasonable concern that MIMO will
not be effective in many 700MHz links where LOS (Line of Sight) or NLOS (Near
Line of Sight) exists and both MIMO and AAS antennas will not be a realistic option
in 700MHz deployment due to the size of the antenna structure.
The Cross Sector Interference Cancellation (XSIC) capacity enhancement technology,
developed by Pallasium, addresses these concerns and provides a significant capacity
boost to WiMAX networks, using small size conventional sector antennas. It enables
aggressive reuse schemes and eliminates the dependency on MIMO for capacity
enhancement. However, XSIC can also operate over MIMO, allowing the benefit of
both worlds.
XSIC software improves network economics and user experiences through
interference cancellation and gains in spectral efficiency, client data rates, and overall
system capacity.

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 1 of 15
2. The Challenges of 700 MHz WiMAX
Deployment
WiMAX in the 700MHz band is mainly used for providing fixed and nomadic
services in suburban and rural areas. In North America the 700MHz band may also be
used for public safety application, including mobile subscribers.
Due to the propagation characteristics of signals in 700MHz, a given area can be
covered with large cells, resulting in potentially fewer base stations. However, since
each cell serves a large number of subscribers, capacity soon becomes the limiting
factor. In many 700MHz systems where relatively small slices of spectrum are
assigned to the operator, capacity becomes a bottleneck even sooner. In order to
exploit the long range propagation of the 700MHz signal and enable large size cells
incorporating spectral efficiency enhancers becomes crucial. Unfortunately, the
MIMO - WiMAX leading spectral efficiency enhancer, exhibits poor performance in
700MHz WiMAX due to the high LOS (Line of Sight) or NLOS (Near Line of Sight),
typical to such deployments. On top of that, the antenna arrays required for MIMO
(Multiple Input Multiple Output) and AAS (Adaptive Antenna Systems) in the
700MHz band are, in many situations, too large to be a realistic option.
Reuse Strategies
Following the WiMAX Forum, the nomenclature for describing the frequency reuse
pattern in this paper is (c, n, s); where c is the number of base station sites in a cluster,
n is the number of unique frequency channels required and s is the number of sectors
per base station site.

Cell and Sector Reuse 1 (1,1,1)

Source:
WiMAX Forum

Figure 1 : Frequency Reuse of 1 with 3-Sector Base (1,1,3)

According to this strategy all available sub-channels are assigned to all sectors and
cells with no spatial separation. The concept assumes that some amount of co-channel
interference is tolerable as long as the interference is equally spread between the
subscribers. To equally share the interference between the subscribers and avoid a
situation where a single subscriber is severely affected, WiMAX, in FUSC and PUSC
`

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 2 of 15
modes, assigns sub-carriers to sub-channels randomly. Although this method works
quite well in an unloaded network, it looses its effectiveness as the network load
increases. As more sub-carriers are simultaneously in use, more co channel collisions
occur; resulting is both throughput degradation and lower probability for adequate
SINR, a fact that hampers significantly the ability of providing adequate QoS.

Cell Reuse 1 / Sector Reuse 3 (1,3,3)

According to this strategy the available spectrum is divided between the three sectors
in a way that each sector uses one third of the available spectrum as shown in Figure
2. Sector reuse 3 eliminates co-channel interference at the sector boundaries and
significantly decreases co-channel interference between neighboring cells due to the
increased spatial separation for channels operating at the same frequency.
Neglecting for a moment the co-channel interference, sector reuse 1 has the potential
of providing three times higher capacity than sector reuse 3. This is due to the fact that
the same spectrum is reused three times in the same cell.
However, in the real world, a significant overlap exists between sectors and between
cells, resulting in co-channel interference in the overlapping areas. If a way will be
found to cancel the co-channel interference in the overlapping areas, a significant
capacity boost may be achieved.

Source:
WiMAX Forum

Figure 2 : Cell reuse 1 / sector reuse 3 (1,3,3)

3. XSIC – Capacity Enhancement with No

Additional Antennas and Radios
The Cross Sector Interference Cancellation (XSIC) technology, developed by
Pallasium, addresses these concerns and provides a significant capacity boost to
WiMAX networks, using small size conventional sector antennas. It enables

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 3 of 15
aggressive reuse schemes and eliminates the dependency on MIMO for capacity
enhancement. XSIC can also operate over MIMO, allowing the benefit of both
worlds.

How Does XSIC Work ?

Figure 3: Cross sector interference Figure 4: Cross sector cancellation

in a conventional sector when XSIC is employed

XSIC provides the operator with an efficient capacity enhancement tool using simple
sector antennas. Capacity gain is achieved by allowing the operator to reuse the same
spectrum by all sectors (sector reuse -1) while the XSIC algorithm eliminates the co-
channel interference in the overlapping areas between the sectors. In contrast with
AAS and MIMO, which become highly questionable in 700MHZ deployment, XSIC
does not require additional antennas and transceivers. Its algorithm utilizes only the
existing conventional sector antennas.
Figure 3 illustrate cross sector interference in a three-sector cell. The desired signal is
represented by a solid line and the interfering signal is represented by a dashed line.
The signal originating in sector-1 is colored blue and the signal originating in sector-2
is colored green.
Figure 4 shows the same scenario with the XSIC algorithm activated. The cross sector
interference is canceled by steering a null toward the interferer in the pertinent
pattern, so that each subscriber receives only the signal from the sector it is affiliated
to.
As opposed to the AAS and MIMO methods, keeping large distances between the
sector antennas is not required. On the contrary, it is better for the sector antennas to
be with as little spacing as possible.
Using XSIC in a Single Cell Network
To avoid cross sector interference in conventional single cell deployment, sector reuse
is employed. In a 3-sectors cell, for instance, each sector uses a third of the available
sub-carriers. When employing XSIC algorithm in such a cell, frequency reuse-1 plan

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 4 of 15
can be implemented where all three sectors use all sub-carriers. By utilizing the same
spectrum three times at the same cell capacity a gain of about 300% can achieved.

1/3 1/3 Full

Full
spectrum spectrum spectrum spectrum

1/3 Full
spectrum spectrum

With no XSIC, sector reuse With XSIC, the same spectrum

3 is required to avoid cross can be reused in all sector.
sector interference Resulting in close to 3 times
capacity improvement.

Figure 5: Using XSIC in a single cell 3-sector system.

XSIC Capacity Improvement in a Single Cell System

To demonstrate the improvement achieved by Pallasium's XSIC technology in a
single cell deployment the following reuse schemes and scenarios were investigated:
• Sector reuse-3 (each sector uses one third of the spectrum without XSIC)
• Full reuse-1 (the three sectors use the same spectrum without XSIC)
• Full reuse-1 with XSIC (the three sectors use the same spectrum with XSIC
employed).
Full details on the scenarios' parameters and simulations conditions are provided in
Appendix A.
The following table summaries the simulation results for single cell scenarios, in
terms of spectral efficiency. It compares the spectral efficiency of sector reuse 1 and
sector reuse 3 plans without XSIC to a reuse 1 plan while XSIC is activated. Spectral
efficiency is provided per two criteria: calculated for both criteria: “Equal Time” and
“Equal Data”. (According to “Equal Time” criteria, throughput is calculated where
each subscriber is granted the same activity time. According to “Equal Data” criteria,
throughput is calculated where each subscriber is granted the same data volume).
Table 1: Single Cell Simulation results comparison
System Equal Time Equal Data
Bit/Cell/Hz Improvement Bit/Cell/Hz Improvement
Baseline Reuse1 1.9 - 0.96 -
Baseline Sector Reuse-3 1.46 -23% 1.29 34%
XSIC Reuse-1 4.34 128% 3.94 310%

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 5 of 15
As expected, the fact that XSIC enables using three times the same spectrum, provides
a significant spectral efficiency improvement over reuse-1 and reuse-3 scenarios:
128% for “Equal Time” criteria and 310% for “Equal Data” criteria.
Using XSIC in a Multi Cell Network
The prevalent reuse strategy in a multi-cell WiMAX network is Cell Reuse 1 / Sector
Reuse 3, shown in Figure 6-a. Using XSIC, a novel topology can be created which
significantly improves spectral efficiency. The new topology sets the frequency reuse
in cells structure rather than in sectors. In this topology cells are arranged in clusters
of three. Each cell uses one third of the available spectrum. On the other hand, each of
the three sectors of the cell uses the full spectrum assigned to this cell. Due to the use
of XSIC technology inter-sector interference are avoided. Figures 6-a and 6-b
illustrate both cell reuse 3 and sector reuse 3 approaches. As can be seen in figure 6-a
and 6-b, the reuse distance in the cell frequency reuse-3 is higher by approximately
75% than sector frequency reuse-3, resulting in a corresponding spectral efficiency
improvement of more than 160 %.

Figure 6-a: Conventional Figure 6-b: Better reuse scheme:

approach: Cell reuse 1 / Sector using XSIC: Cell reuse 3 /
reuse 3. (1,3,3) Sector reuse 1, (3,3,1)

Figure 6: Using XSIC in a multi cell network

.

Throughput Enhancement Using XSIC

Adaptive modulation assigns each subscriber the highest possible modulation scheme
allowed by the quality of the link. In the presence of co-channel interference, the
quality of the link degrades and a lower modulation scheme is assigned to the
subscriber. The following figures show the size and location of the areas where each
modulation scheme is provided.

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 6 of 15
Figures 7 and 8 show the offered throughput (in terms of modulation scheme) in reuse
(1,3,3) vs. reuse (3,3,1) with XSIC. As can be seen, larger areas can be served with
higher modulation schemes.

Figure 7: Offered modulation schemes with “conventional” reuse

(1,3,3)

Figure 8: Offered modulation schemes with reuse (3,1,3) with XSIC

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 7 of 15
The results shown in Figure 7 and 8 are summarized in the following table.

Table 2: Offered Modulation Scheme with and without XSIC

Reuse Plan Under QPSK 1/2 to QAM16 1/2 QAM(?)
2/3 and
QPSK 1/2 QAM16 1/2 QAM 64 2/3 above
Cell reuse 1 / sector 23% 35% 20% 22%
reuse 3 – NO XSIC
Cell reuse 1 / sector 9% 19% 36% 36%
reuse 3 – with XSIC

Spectral Efficiency Enhancement Using XSIC

The following table summaries the performances of the different reuse schemes and
relative performance improvement compared to the ‘Baseline reuse-1’ system.
Spectral efficiency is provided per “Equal Time” and “Equal Data” criteria.

Table 3: XSIC spectral efficiency improvement in a (3,1,3) reuse scheme

Reuse Scheme Equal Time Equal Data
Bit/Cell/Hz Improvement Bit/Cell/Hz Improvement
“Conventional” (1,3,3) 0.68 -21% 0.31 0%
reuse scheme
XSIC employed on 1.02 18.6% 0.52 67.7%
(3,1,3) reuse scheme

As can be seen in Table 3 significant improvement is achieved by use of XSIC

technology over conventional reuse 1 and reuse 3 plans.

Employing XSIC on a full reuse 1 (1,1,3) scheme

An aggressive full reuse 1 (1,1,3) scheme is promoted by several vendors. According
to this strategy, all available sub-channels are assigned to all sectors and cells with no
spatial separation. This concept assumes that some co-channel interference is tolerable
as long as the interference is equally spread between the subscribers and not
concentrated in one or in a few of them. This method has the highest potential for
“sub-carries collision” resulting in co-channel interference. When XSIX is employed
on a full reuse 1 scheme, a significant improvement in terms of SINR, spectral
efficiency and capacity is gained.
Table 2 summarizes the simulation results in terms of percentage of subscribers for
each range of modulation scheme.
`

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 8 of 15
 Figure 9: Offered modulation schemes in Figure10: Offered modulation schemes
reuse (1,1,3) without XSIC (CPE Omni) in reuse (1,1,3) with XSIC (CPE Omni)

Figures 9 and 10 show the offered throughput (in terms of modulation scheme) in
reuse (1,1,3) vs. reuse (3,1,3) with XSIC. Comparing Figure 9 to Figure 10 it is easy
to see that with XSIC employed on reuse (3,3,1), larger areas can be served with
higher modulation schemes.
The results shown in Figure 9 and 10 are summarized in the following table:
Table 4: Offered Modulation Scheme with and without XSIC
Reuse Plan Under QPSK 1/2 to QAM16 1/2 QAM(?)
2/3 and
QPSK 1/2 QAM16 1/2 QAM 64 2/3 above
Cell reuse 1 / sector 63% 24% 11.5% 1.5%
reuse 1 – No XSIC
Cell reuse 1 / sector 52% 23% 14% 11%
reuse 1 – with XSIC

XSIC In Full Reuse Scheme In a Fixed System.

Many 700MHZ systems serve fixed subscribers with directional antennas. In such
systems, the inter-cell interference level is significantly reduced and the benefits of
XSIC technology are even more prominent as shown in the following data.
Adaptive modulation assigns each subscriber the highest possible modulation scheme
allowed by the quality of the link. In a presence of co-channel interference, the quality
of the link degrades and a lower modulation scheme is assigned to the subscriber. The
following diagrams show the size and location of the areas where each modulation
scheme is provided.
`

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 9 of 15
 Figure 11: Offered modulation schemes Figure 12: Offered modulation schemes
with reuse (1,1,3) without XSIC (CPE with reuse (1,1,3) with XSIC (CPE
directional). directional).

The results shown in Figure 11 and 12 are summarized in the following table:
Table 5: Offered Modulation in Reuse1 with fix directional SUs antennas
System Under QPSK 1/2 to QAM16 1/2 QAM 2/3
and above
QPSK 1/2 QAM16 1/2 QAM 64 2/3
Baseline Reuse1 34% 36% 25.5% 4.5%
XSIC Reuse1 5% 15% 36% 44%

Figures 11 and 12 show the offered throughput (in terms of modulation scheme) in
reuse (1,1,3) vs. reuse (3,1,3) with XSIC. Comparing Figure 11 to Figure 12 it is easy
to see that with XSIC employed on reuse (1,1,3), larger areas can be served with
higher modulation schemes.

The following table provides the spectral efficiency improvement when XSIC is
employed on a system serving fixed subscribers. Spectral efficiency is provided per
“Equal Time” and “Equal Time” criteria:

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 10 of 15
Table 6: XSIC spectral efficiency improvement in a (1,1,3) reuse scheme when
CPE’s use directional antennas
System Equal Time Equal Data
Bit/Cell/Hz Improvement Bit/Cell/Hz Improvement
Baseline Reuse1 1.71 - 0.87 -
XSIC Reuse1 3.52 106% 2.31 165%

4. Summary
The XSIC technology presented in this document, addresses the challenges involved
with WiMAX deployment in the 700MHZ band. It provides the operator an efficient
capacity enhancement tool using simple sector antennas. Capacity gain is achieved by
allowing the operator to reuse the same spectrum by all sectors (sector reuse -1) while
XSIC algorithm eliminates the co-channel interference in the overlapping areas. As
opposed to AAS and MIMO, which become highly questionable in 700MHZ
deployment, XSIC does not require additional antennas and transceivers. Its algorithm
utilizes only the existing conventional sector antennas.
XSIC principle of operation was explained and data was provided showing a
significant capacity enhancement, in various reuse plans, translated to lower cost of
Mbps per square area, fewer base stations per network and lower operation
expenditure.

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 11 of 15
Appendix A –Simulation Assumptions
The performance improvement achieved by XSIC technology in 700MHZ
deployment scenarios is demonstrated by means of simulation. The simulations were
conducted on two network types: single cell and multi cell topologies.
Single Cell Scenario
In this scenario a single 3 sector 10KM radius macrocells has been assumed. With this
scenario no inter-cell interference exist.
Three baseline tests have been defined:
• Sector Frequency reuses-1 without XSIC.
• Sector frequency reuse-3 without XSIC.
• Single omni sector.
One scenario with XSIC was tested:
• Frequency reuse-1 with XSIC.
Multi Cell Scenario
The simulation was performed over 19 hexagonal 3 sector 10KM radius macro-cells,
where interference is evaluated in the center cell. 2-Baseline scenarios without XSIC
have been defined:
• Frequency reuse-1.
• Sector frequency reuse-3.
Three topologies with XSIC were tested against base line:
• Cell/Sector frequency reuse-1 with XSIC.
• Sector frequency reuse – 1-Cell frequency reuse-3 with XSIC.
• Fractional cell reuse-3 with XSIC – a frequency reuse saving scheme
recommended by the WiMAX forum.
Simulation Conditions
Network Topology
Basic 3 sectors 19 hexagonal cells canonic network topology was employed.
Table 1: Network Topology Parameters
Number of cells 19
Sectors per Cell 3
Sectors boresight angles (300,1500,-900) or (00,1200,-1200)
Cell Radius 10000m
`

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 12 of 15
Equipment Model
The equipment model assumes all BS/MSs have identical characteristics.
BS is modeled with a single 900 antenna per sector.
Table 2: BS Model
Tx Power 36dBm
Antenna Boresight Gain 16dBi
Antenna 3dB Beamwidth1 900/1200
Front to Back power ratio 25dB
Noise Figure 4 dB
Number of Antennas per
1
Sector
Note:
1) 900 antennas are used in network simulation to reduce cross cell interferences
when using sector reuse-3. 1200 antennas are used in a single cell deployment to
increase coverage at sectors fringes.
MSs are modeled with a single omni-directional antenna and 24 dBm TX power.
Table 3: MS Model
Tx Power 24dBm
Noise Figure 6 dB
Number of Antennas 1

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 13 of 15
Channel Model
Table 4: Channel Model
Pathloss Single slop model (COST 231 HATA)
PL = 34.5 + 34LOG10(d)
Where d is distance in meters.
Shadowing Lognormal distributed random variable with zero
mean and 8 dB standard deviation.
• Shadowing of a given user at sectors of the
same cell is 100% correlated.
• Shadowing of a given user at sectors of
different cells is 50% correlated.

Implementation Loss 1 dB

WiMAX PHY Parameters

The simulation is performed with the following WiMAX Air Interface parameters.
Table 5: WiMAX Channel Parameters
Channel Bandwidth 10 MHz
Frame Duration 5 ms
Sub-Channelization mode PUSC
DL/UL Data Symbols1 DL:28 UL:12
Sounding symbols per Frame 2
DL/UL Data Symbols with Sounding2 DL:26 UL:12
Notes:
1) Only data carrying symbols without preamble FCH and mapping were used.
2) When Sounding is used the UL/DL symbols allocation is changed so only the
DL is influenced.

Adaptive Modulation
The assumption is that adaptive modulation is applied according to the MS SINR,
with modulation and coding available from QPSK 1/12 to QAM64 3/4. In addition
HARQ is employed with up to 3 repetitions.

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 14 of 15
Table 6: Modulation SNR and capacity
Modulation Data rate Per Sub- Implementation
channel1 Loss
Required SNR [dB]
Without With
Bits/QAM Symbol
Sounding Sounding
QPSK 1/18 HARQ3 -9.11 .055 7466.6 6933.3
QPSK 1/12 HARQ2 -7.34 .083 11200 10400
QPSK 1/12 -4.34 .166 22400 20800
QPSK 1/8 -2.57 .25 33600 31200
QPSK 1/4 0.43 .5 67200 62400
QPSK 1/2 3.43 1 134400 124800 1 dB
QPSK 3/4 6.09 1.5 201600 187200
QAM16 1/2 9 2 268800 249600
QAM16 3/4 11.58 3 403200 374400
QAM64 2/3 16.15 4 537600 499200
QAM 64 3/4 17.2 4.5 604800 561600
Note:
1) Data rate is calculated per sub-channel per second according the number of
data carrying OFDM symbols in the DL sub-frame according to Table 5.
XSIC Performance Assumption
The XSIC algorithm reduces interferences between different sectors of the same cell
by 15dB and up 20 maximum of -25dB.

Overcoming the Challenges of WiMAX Deployment in 700MHz Band

Page 15 of 15