On the design of broadband fixed wireless packet networks

We discuss the design and performance of broadband fixed wireless packet networks with directional terminal antennas. We study cell/sector assignment, uplink power control, and signal-to-interference-ratio (SIR) characteristics using computer simulation for two representative cell-layout designs, a traditional 7-cell-cluster design, and a sectorized 3-cell-cluster design with aggressive reuse. The SIR requirement (>24 dB) for the 64-QAM wireless cable modems used in present (single-cell) broadband fixed wireless networks can be supported only with a relatively large channel reuse distance. We recommend the use of modulation schemes with 12 to 15 dB SIR requirement since they offer up to thrice the overall capacity (as measured in bits/sec/Hz/km ²) by allowing the use of aggressive channel reuse schemes with sectorized cell layouts