WiMAX Channel Model for Mountainous Areas

The standard IEEE 802.16 was originally conceived for targeting local and metropolitan area networks, for relatively small link distances. However, the significant deployment of novel wireless-based applications as well as the availability of advanced transmission techniques has suggested a possible extension of the standard-based systems to mountainous and isolated areas. From the propagation point of view, those demanding scenarios result in to non-line-of-sight, long delay spread, and very rich scattering radio environments. Nowadays, no channel models proposed in the literature are suitable for modeling 3.5 GHz transmission in such demanding scenarios. In this paper we propose a possible solution by analyzing and modifying the IST-WINNER model. According to the simulations, the novel channel model characterizes the strong peaks due to the reflection from a mountain and the interfering paths due to near scatterers. The combination of these paths creates a long delay spread that can be fatal for OFDM-based systems. Finally, in order to show the impact of the challenging scenario on the system performance, we present the results related to a system-level simulation using beamforming/MIMO techniques. ©2008 IEEE.