Project
IEEE 802.16 Broadband Wireless Access Working Group <http://ieee802.org/16>
Title
A Proposal for beam steering antennas consideration in 802.16n AWD
Date Submitted
2011-03-15
Source(s)
David Hayes (Plasma Antennas),
Djamal Eddine Meddour (Orange Labs),
Bruno Selva (Thales Communications),
Re:
Call for contributions for the 802.16n Amendment Working Draft
Abstract
This documents propose to include smart antenna technologies in 802.16n for a better network reliability and
robustness
Purpose
To be discussed and adapted by TGn for draft 802.16n AWD
Notice
This document does not represent the agreed views of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group or any of its subgroups. It represents only the views
of the participants listed in the “Source(s)” field above. It is offered as a basis for discussion. It is not binding on the contributor(s), who
reserve(s) the right to add, amend or withdraw material contained herein.
Copyright
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E-mail: dh@PlasmaAntennas.com
djamal.meddour@orange-ftgroup.com
bruno.selva@fr.thalesgroup.com
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A Proposal for beam steering
antennas consideration in
802.16n AWD
Introduction
• This proposal focuses on the capabilities of smart
beam-steering antennas (SBSAs) in the context of
extending IEEE802.16n.
• SBSAs are defined as antennas are able to form
narrow directional beams that can be
electronically steered towards an intended target
• SBSAs may include selectable nulling capabilities
(i.e. the ability to generate well-formed beam
patterns that include deep nulls adjacent to the main
beam) and multi-lobed patterns, where it may be
desirable to cover only selected areas
General Advantages of Smart
Beam-Steering Antennas
SBSAs provide the following advantages:
• Relative to omni-directional and/or sectoral
antennas:
– Higher levels of gain, leading to enhanced link budgets (higher
data rates and/or increased range)
– Narrow beams and low sidelobes, mean that SBSAs suppress
both co-network and cross-network interference.
• Relative to high-gain directional antennas:
– SBSAs can be steered in any direction at high speeds and in
real time (Allow network reconfiguration and fast and easy
link establishment)
Higher Reliability using SBSAs
Given, for example, a natural disaster or a deliberate attack, SBSAs can allow :
– graceful network degradation to occur through network re-configuration,
– continued functionality of the unaffected regions of the network,
– a degree of network recovery by resource reallocation should backbone
connections be lost (dynamic self-healing).
– Nomadic nodes incorporating SBSAs can rapidly discover adjacent network
nodes, enabling new network infra-structure to be deployed quickly and so fill
any network gaps created by the disabled infrastructure.
– Furthermore, due to the combination of narrow beams, low sidelobes and
selectable nulls,SBSAs reduce the vulnerability of the network to interference
caused by:
• co-network
• cross-network interference
• hostile (e.g. terrorist) jamming.
SBSA Usage Scenarios in High
Reliability Networks (1/2)
• High Reliability Mobile Station (HR-MS) Deployment :
– Mobile operation: the directional beam of a cylindrical SBSA (360o FoV)
can be dynamically aligned/re-aligned towards the target HR-BS or HRRS in real time in order to maintain the optimal connection. The
directional gain provides higher gain/link budget than the omnidirectional
alternative. The directional beam generates less co-network interference
and is less susceptible to other sources of inference.
– Nomadic operation: an SBSA can be aligned to the intended target much
more rapidly than a directional antenna using manual or mechanical
actuation, allowing a communication link to become operationally far
more quickly. This rapid deployment capability may provide critical times
savings in emergency and mission critical scenarios. Previously stated
advantages in terms of mast load and maintenance also apply to this
scenario.
SBSA Usage Scenarios in High
Reliability Networks (2/2)
• HR-BS Deployment: In this scenario, SBSAs are
deployed at HR-BSs to communicate with other network
nodes (HR-RSs, HR-MSs). SBSAs supporting very highspeed beam steering enable high-gain directional beams to
be multiplexed between target network nodes on a subframe by sub-frame basis. As with the other scenarios, the
resulting benefits include improved link budget and receive
sensitivity, plus improved interference rejection and a
reduction in the levels of co-network interference
generated.
Text Proposal for IEEE 802.16n AWD
The following text is to be inserted into a new
section 17.1.x called Antennas in the AWD :
17.1.x Antennas
The HR-Network shall operate independently of the
antenna type (conventional or smart-antenna) used
on HR-MS, HR-RS and HR-BS.
HR-MS, HR-RS and HR-BS should support beam
steering operation (azimuth, elevation or both) to
facilitate more robust nomadic deployment and
superior traffic management.