WiMAX testbed for interconnection of mobile navy units in operational scenarios

The paper refers to the particular scenario where a set of naval units forms a WiMax-based mobile ad hoc network (MANET) to permit the communications among users on board of them and the sharing of the few satellite links towards the headquarter (HQ). In particular, the paper considers two different technical aspects: the definition of an appropriate architecture for the considered WiMax-based MANET adopting only Commercial off-the-Shelf (COTS) hardware and a performance evaluation campaign of the mobile WiMax communications in marine scenario. The performance was evaluated in terms of received signal strength, throughput at IP level, service availability, Quality of Experience of video services and VoIP calls. The measurement campaign was made on board of navy units, forming the WiMax-based MANET, in order to evaluate performance of such a technology in marine channel conditions. This is relevant considering the scarcity of experimental results on marine environment of Mobile WiMAX technologies.