Field measurements and performance analysis of an 802.16 system in a suburban environment

This paper investigates the actual measured performance of an 802.16-based system. A measurement methodology for evaluating the performance is proposed, which is then used for studying and comparing the results of different scenarios. More specifically, the influences of changing the modem height from 2.5 m to 6 m and base station height from 15 m to 45 m are analyzed and discussed in this paper, and it will be shown that only the latter one has a significant effect on the coverage and the performance. Furthermore, the relationship between the carrier-to-interference-noise ratio (CINR) and the wireless link throughput is analyzed, and a semi-empirical model will be proposed. The model remains identical for the different scenarios, emphasizing the usefulness of the obtained model. Indoor reception is also analyzed, and it will be shown that the reception at locations close to the window is approximately 7 dB higher than deeper inside the building. A profound statistical analysis is then performed to validate both the performance measurements and the model, and excellent correspondence is obtained. Finally, as the system supports link adaptive modulation and coding, the results of its effectiveness are discussed in this paper.