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Microwave Backhaul
Backhaul for WiMAX: Top 8 Technical Considerations
The next generation of residential and business services will require great deals of IP bandwidth. HDTV, for example, commands 19 Mbps per TV set. Multiply that by 2 or 3 TV sets per household in the US, for example, and we begin to see the heretofore unimagined bandwidth demand necessary to support a triple or quadruple play of competitive telecommunications services. Service providers planning nation wide rollouts are currently shopping for and testing wireless backhaul solutions.
This article will explore service provider options in deploying gigabit Ethernet backhaul to support high bandwidth WiMAX services. Figure 1 below provides a high overview of what is necessary to support a WiMAX network to an appropriate capacity.
WiMAX Architecture - Backhaul Networks Architecting for Success
It is imperative that WiMAX service providers build and maintain their own backhaul networks. It is unlikely that any other service provider of any type (fiber, telco, CATV) can adequately support the demands for a carrier grade WiMAX network given the needs for high aggregate bandwidth, independence from potential competitors and demanding Quality of Service and security needs.
Considerations
It is important to note that the backhaul network supporting an access network must carry the aggregate traffic of all subscribers at any one time. In an enterprise market, an example would be 1,000 data T1s (1.54 Mbps) equaling 1.54 Gigabits per second of aggregate bandwidth over the network. A residential application servicing 1,000 HDTV sets (one small US suburb) at 19 Mbps of aggregated bandwidth demand would equal 19 Gbps.
While some planners might plan for oversubscription that would be some fraction (say, one-tenth) of that 1.54 or 19 Gbps, a millimeter wave solution (60/70/80 Gbps) is still the best technology for that network and allows a good deal of flexibility in future proofing that backhaul network. The evolution of Wi-Fi presents a good historical example. The first Wi-Fi access points offered 2 Mbps of throughput followed by 11 Mbps (802.11b), 54 Mbps (802.11g) and 200 Mbps (802.11n).
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