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T7: WiMAX Multihop Cellular Networks: Technology and Standardization

Presenters: Mike Hart, UK Broadband
Zhifeng Tao, Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories
Yuefeng Zhou, NEC Europe



Abstract

Multihop relay has been deemed as one of the key technologies to help wireless cellular networks extend coverage, improve QoS, enhance network capacity and eliminate dead spots, all in a cost effective fashion. The first industry standard for multihop relay, i.e., IEEE 802.16j, is anticipated to be officially ratified by the end of 2008. Meanwhile, albeit started only recently, the profiling activity for multihop relay in WiMAX Forum is progressing at a very fast pace. This tutorial is designed to help practitioning engineers, researchers, students and general audience to understand the state-of-the-art multihop relay technology for wireless cellular networks, and the latest results of the associated IEEE and WiMAX Forum standardization activities. We will first introduce the motivations and applications of multihop relay cellular system, and analyze the system requirement and design challenge of WiMAX relay network. We then will elaborate the fundamental concepts and key enabling protocols that will be introduced in multihop relay WiMAX networks, and share the experience and insights gained in the course of IEEE 802.16j standard development. In the end, the future trends of research and development (R&D) related to multihop relay in wireless cellular networks will be discussed. In order to make it self-contained, the tutorial will also supply necessary IEEE 802.16 and WiMAX protocol background, and highlight peculiarities of an IEEE 802.16j multihop relay system.


Biographies

Mike Hart received BSc with first class honors in Physics in 1998, MSc in Communication Systems and Signal Processing with distinction in 1999 and Ph.D. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 2005 all from the University of Bristol, UK.
 
 From 2002 to 2004 he was a consultant for Texas Instruments, providing customer training in Europe on their C6000 and C5000 families of DSP and associated software development tools. In 2003, he joined Fujitsu Laboratories of Europe as a research engineer initially working on the pioneering EU ROMANTIK project under the IST framework that focused on multihop relay technologies. He was promoted to Principal Researcher in 2005 and Assistant Manager in 2007. He joined UK Broadband Ltd. in August 2007, a wholly owned subsidiary of PCCW, where he is currently employed as a System Architect.
 
His previous and active areas of research include CDMA or OFDM/OFDMA wireless communication systems, including 3G (UMTS) and more recently in mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16 OFDMA). Focus has included: channel estimation; scheduler design; power control; multihop relay; MIMO; adaptive antenna techniques; and channel propagation measurements and modeling resulting in the filing of 36 patents and numerous contributions to IEEE 802.16 WG and WiMAX forum.
 
He received an award for the highest overall mark as part of his MSc and whilst working at Fujitsu received three awards, including the Fujitsu Laboratories President‚s, in recognition of his outstanding contribution towards various key projects.
 
He is currently editor of the IEEE 802.16j draft standard, is co-authoring a book on multihop relay technologies and is a regular attendee at the IEEE 802.16 working group and WiMAX forum.
 
Zhifeng Tao is a member of technical staff in digital communications and networking group of Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) located in Cambridge, Massachusetts since September 2006. He has published over 20 journal/conference papers and 1 book chapter in the area of wireless communications and networking, medium access control, quality of service, cooperative communications and analytical modeling. As the project leader of IEEE 802.16j standardization at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, he has made over 50 technical contributions to IEEE 802.16j and 802.16m, and filed more than 50 US patents on technologies related to WiMAX and 4G system. He has written 1 book chapter on IEEE 802.16j system, and is currently co-authoring a monograph on multihop relay network. He has served as the chair of MPDU Construction Adhoc Group within IEEE 802.16j relay task group in 2007, and is currently playing a leading role in developing multihop relay standard in IEEE 802.16 working group and WiMAX Forum service provider working group (SPWG) and technical working group (TWG).
 
Dr. Zhifeng Tao has provided technical consulting service for U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on wireless and telecommunication related issues. He is the Chair for 4G WiMAX Workshop 2008, and a TPC Chair for Frontier on Communications and Networking Symposium of ChinaCom 2008. He has served as publication chair of International Conference on Ambient Media and Systems (Ambi-sys) 2008, and has been a TPC member for many wireless and networking conferences, including International Conference on Access Networks (AccessNets) 2008, IEEE PIMRC 2008, IEEE Globecom 2007, IEEE ICC 2009/2008, IEEE WRECOM 2007 and ChinaCom 2007. He is a co-editor of Special Issue on International Journal of Autonomous and Adaptive Communications Systems (IJAACS), and has been a reviewer for numerous journals and international conferences. He is a member of IEEE and IEEE Communications Society, a voting member of IEEE 802.16 and a member of Tau Beta Pi.
 
Yuefeng Zhou received the B.Eng. (1996) and MSc (2000) degree from Xi‚an Jiaotong University, Xi‚an, P. R. China, and the Ph.D. (2006) degree from the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, U.K., all in electronics and electrical engineering.
 
 From July 2000 to September 2002, he was with the Wireless Research Department, Huawei Research Institute, Shanghai, China. From 2005, he spent 2 years as a senior researcher in the Wireless Technology Division, Fujitsu Laboratories of Europe Ltd., located in Middlesex, UK. Currently, Dr. Zhou is a consultant in Telecommunications Consulting Department of NEC Europe in UK. He has done research in the areas of OFDM/OFDMA channel parameter estimations, Ad Hoc network routing, MAC scheduler technologies, WCDMA IF technologies, wireless personal area network (WPAN), and UWB radio technologies. His current research interests include Multi-hop relay technologies, OFDMA MAC scheduler design, and OFDMA link/system level simulations. He is an active participant and contributor in the IEEE 802.16, WiMAX Forum, ETSI standardization activities. Dr. Zhou has published more than 20 international journals, conference papers, and more than 50 IEEE standardization proposals. He also has more than 30 patents have been filed in UK, Europe, and China in wireless communications area.
 
Dr. Zhou was awarded the ORS (Oversea Research Student) award from UK Universities in 2002, 2003, and 2004. He was also honored with Mobile VCE (Mobile) patent award in 2003 and 2004 from Virtual Centre of Excellence in Mobile & Personal Communications Ltd. in UK. In 2006 and 2007, Dr. Zhou received Fujitsu Laboratories President‚s Award, Fujitsu Qfinity Award, and Fujitsu Best Patent for his research excellence and outstanding performance. He has served as a Co-Chair of Ad-Hoc Group in IEEE802.16j. He has also served on the Technical Program Committee (TPC) and reviewer of various international conferences and journals. He is invited to co-author a book about WiMAX techniques.