Research On Frame Partitioning Algorithm In WiMAX Mesh Mode

At present, WiMAX is one of the most promising broadband wireless technologies. It has many advantages, such as high data rates, large coverage area, QoS support and flexible design. The IEEE802.16 standard defines two operation modes: Point-to-Multi-Point (PMP) and the Mesh Mode. In the first mode, all nodes are connected directly to the BS and communication is not allowed amongst nodes. In the other mode, nodes are placed in an ad-hoc manner communicating to neighbors and relaying the traffic of other nodes. The goal of this thesis is to design a partitioning algorithm for the Mesh frame structure. Increasing the frame utilization would result in better support for QoS applications and optimized resource allocation, and thus revenue increase from the service provider's perspective.The mesh frame is divided into control and data subframe, which are further divided into centralized and distributed portions. This thesis proposes a novel and efficient algorithm for partitioning the data subframe between the two schedulers. A Markovian model that studies the system behavior in the long run is proposed to provide predictions based on analysis of previous window of frames. It further enhances the decision by tuning the partitioning through statistical analysis of smaller windows to accommodate demand changes. The simulations show that the proposed algorithm achieves high utilization under different network and traffic conditions and decreases the packet overflow.