WiMAX architecture

As we know that the WiMAX system consists of two major parts: Main part is to be (i) A WiMAX base station (ii) And a WiMAX receiver.

Let us take a look at the WiMAX architecture to shown in the figure.

A WiMAX base station :

WiMAX base station is very similar to accessing a wireless access point in a Wi-Fi network, but the coverage is greater than to another network.

WiMAX base station can provide a very large area up to a radius of around 6 miles. A WiMAX base station(BS) consists of indoor electronics and as we know that WiMAX tower similar look like to a cell phone tower.

Each base station(BS) can provide wireless coverage over an area called a cell. The WiMAX base station can also use a multiple antennas point in a different direction. This area covered by one antenna signal called sector.

The uplink and also a downlink channel are shared among the many subscriber stations in a given sector. WiMAX can also have support bursty data and also provide high-quality telephone and high volume multimedia.

The uplink and also for downlink channels are divided into slots of equal size. A WiMAX frame takes multiple slots. Different frame takes a different number of slots. The downlink channel easy to subdivide into connection as only the base station sends on that channel.

A WiMAX receiver : 

A WiMAX receiver side may have a separate antenna or could be a stand-alone box or a PCMCIA card present in your laptop or any other device. It is called as customer premise equipment (CPE).

In most of the cases, a simple plug and play terminal, similar to a DSL modem provides connectivity as shown in the figure given below.

For customer located several kilometers from the WiMAX base station, a self-install outdoor. The antenna may be required to improve transmission quality. 

For customer requesting a voice in addition to broadband services, specific CPE will allow the connection of standard or VoIP phones device.

WiMAX architecture