2013 Wireless
Technologies and Markets:
Growth and Future Direction For WPANs, WLANs and WMANs

Release date: April 1, 2013

Overview | TOC | TOF

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2013 Wireless Technologies and Markets: the Growth and Future Direction for WPANs, WLANs and WMANs,addresses the three major domains of wireless technology: wireless private area networks (WPANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs) and wireless metropolitan area networks (WMANs), which is provided by service providers and common carriers.


Wireless Personal Area Networks

Wireless personal area networks have evolved to address a broad and growing range of application needs, such as wireless printers, not addressed by other wireless technologies. WPANs provide communications over very short distances, such as within a room or vehicle. Low power and long battery life are its attributes.

This market study addresses IEEE 802.15 WPAN standards and technology; plus it also addresses the technology and standards developed by Bluetooth, Zigbee, and WiMedia. It examines the network architecture of these standards, their benefits and limitations and applications. It also addresses the mission of the associated WPAN alliances.

Wireless Local Area Networks

This market study addresses and explains the key elements of WLAN technology It also addresses the technology drivers for improving performance, capacity, range and management within Wi-Fi networks. And it examines how the industry is addressing these demands to remain viable to growing and future needs.

The study targets the IEEE 802.11 802.11n standard and explains its more complex technology, functionality and features, such as its advanced antenna technology and beamforming. It also addresses the latest amendments to 802.11, the 802.11ac and 802,11ad gigabit standards and presents a full explanation of the functionality of the standards and their beneficial features.


A comparison table presents the parameters of all the 802.11 amendments and their parameters. The section also addresses the Wi-Fi Alliance, which supports the Wi-Fi WLAN industry.

It also addresses the key concepts of new applications that provide greater user flexibility and benefits. The market study also includes a market forecast for Wi-Fi and it addresses its future direction.


Wireless Broadband Access for Metropolitan Area Networks

The major wireless carriers are racing to complete a nationwide broadband access network. They refer to this network as a 4G (fourth generation) network, which is telecommunications jargon for broadband communications. The proliferation of smartphones and skyrocketing number of users with smartphones, tablets, and laptops are placing a heavy demand on existing networks for improved bandwidth. International airports, stadiums, hotspots and heavily populated metropolitan areas exacerbate this situation. Exponentially rising wireless traffic is driving wireless carriers to pursue new broadband technologies and improved infrastructure to accommodate these growing demands. It is also raising strong concerns about exhausting the existing wireless spectrum and is the impetus for carriers to demand the FCC as well as global government agencies to free-up more radio spectrum.


The study also expounds on the two competing 4G broadband technologies for carrier mobile communications, LTE and WiMAX.


This study addresses the major U.S. wireless carriers, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile and examines how they are responding to these pressing bandwidth and traffic congestion demands. It also addresses the timeline for nationwide network coverage within their individual networks. The report also addresses Sprint’s two-year lead with the nation’s first broadband wireless access nationwide network using an existing 4G technology- WiMAX. The report addresses Sprint’s predicament with its nationwide WiMAX network and its need to remain competitive with the other major carriers.


This study also addresses the international standards organizations and developers of wireless technology for global wireless carriers, and the evolution of 2G and 3G technologies that led to the development of LTE and its greatly improved version, LTE Advanced. It also points out the differences between WiMAX and LTE and why the carriers have adopted LTE as their broadband technology. And it explores the future of broadband networks.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Introduction

I. Wireless Private Area Networks (WPANs)

1.0 The IEEE 802.15 Standards
1.1 The Wireless Gigabit Alliance- WiGig
1.2 The Bluetooth Special Interest Group
1.2.1 Bluetooth Low Energy Technology
1.3 The ZigBee Alliance
1.4 The WiMedia Alliance

II. WLANs and Wi-Fi

2.0 The 802.11n Amendment
2.01 Channel Bonding
2.02 MIMO Advanced Antenna Technology
2.03 Spatial Multiplexing
2.04 Beamforming
2.05 Block Acknowledgement
2.06 Packet Aggregation
2.07 Short Guard Interval
2.1 Vendor Proprietary Improvements
2.2 Doubling Wireless Data Rates
2.3 New 802.11n Management Features- 802.11k and v
2.4 Wi-Fi Offloads WMANs via 802.11u
2.5 Wi-Fi Hotspots
2.5.1 Hotspot 2.0 Simplifies Hotspot Connections
2.6 Vendor Innovations
2.7 Bluetooth and Zigbee Wi-Fi Wireless Network Interconnection
2.8 Increased Mesh Network Bandwidth
2.9 Gigabit Wi-Fi (5G Wi-Fi)
2.9.1 Higher Bit Density per Megahertz
2.9.2 802.11ac Beamforming
2.9.3 Expanded Channel Bonding
2.9.4 Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO)
2.10 Emerging Vendor 802.11ac Products
2.11 FCC Frees Unused Spectrum
2.11.1 Wi-Fi Operation in TV White space
2.11.2 FCC Plans to Free 195 MHz of 5 GHz Spectrum
2.12 Cloud Computing
2.13 Unified Communications
2.14 Virtualization
2.15 The Wi-Fi Alliance
2.15.1 Hotspot 2.0
2.16 Wireless Security Mechanisms
2.16.1 WLAN Security (WEP and WPA)
2.16.2 Advanced Encryption Standard (802.11i)
2.16.3 Authentication Standard (802.1x)
2.16.4 Internet Security (IPsec)
2.17 WLAN Market Forecast
2.18 Future Direction

III. WMANs- Carrier Broadband Wireless Access

3.0 FCC Auctions 700 MHz Band
3.1 FCC Plans Spectrum Release in Near Future
3.2 U.S. Carrier Wireless Spectrum
3.2.1 Picocells Add Network Capacity
3.2.2 Broadband Wireless
3.3 Major U.S. Carriers Choose LTE Over WiMAX
3.4 T Mobile LTE Service
3.5 Sprint Nextel
3.5.1 Sprint/LightSquared Satellite LTE Service
3.5.2 Sprint Launches LTE Service
3.5.3 Sprint’s New Network Vision Services
3.5.4 Sprint Nextel IDEN Termination
3.5.5 Legacy WiMAX Service
3.5.6 Japan’s Softbank Bid for Sprint
3.6 Clearwire’s Emerging LTE Network
3.6.1 Sprint Financing Agreement
3.6.2 Dish Network Corporation Proposal
3.7 WiMAX Broadband Wireless Access
3.7.1 WiMAX Standards
3.7.2 FDD vs TDD Multiplexing
3.7.3 WiMAX Global Deployment
3.8 WiMAX Advanced (802.16m)
3.9 WiMAX Remains A Viable Technology
3.10 The WIMAX Forum
3.10.1 WiMAX Forum Organization
3.10.2 WiMAX Certification Testing
3.11 LTE Wireless Broadband Access Technology
3.12 LTE Deployment
3.12.1 Voice over LTE (VoLTE)
3.12.2 LTE- A Possible Global Standard
3.12.3 China Mobile Ltd. LTE Network
3.13 LTE-Advanced- A True 4G wireless Technology

IV. Wireless Standards Organizations

4.0 The IEEE
4.1 International Telecommunications Standards Organizations
4.2 Global System for Mobile Communications- (GSM)
4.3 Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)
4.4 The High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) Family
4.5 Long Term Evolution (LTE)
4.6 Third Generation Partnership Project
4.7 China Communications Standards Association (CCSA)
4.7.1 Scope of Activities
4.8 CDMA
4.8.1 CDMA2000 EVDO
4.9 Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB)
4.10 Wireless Broadband (WiBro)
4.11 ETSI HIPERMAN

V. Frequency Spectrum Regulation Authorities

5.0 The FCC
5.1 The Australian Communications and Media Authority
5.2 Central and South American Telco Regulation Authorities

Table of Figures

Figure 2.1 Example of MIMO Antenna Technology
Figure 2.2 Beamforming Illustration
Figure 2.3 WLAN Revenue Growth
Figure 2.4 Top Five WLAN Vendors Market Share
Table 2.1 IEEE 802.11 Family Characteristics
Table 2.2 Single/Multi-stream Maximum Data Rates for 802.11n and 802.11ac
Table 2.3 Prominent WLAN Vendors and Products
Table 3.0 WiMAX 2 (802.16m) Downlink and Uplink Data Rates
Table 3.1 LTE Release 8 Major Parameters
Table 3.2 LTE Release 8 User Equipment Categories
Table 3.3 LTE Downlink Peak Data Rates per 20 MHz Spectrum
Table 3.4 LTE Uplink Peak Data Rates per 20 MHz Spectrum
Table 3.5 CDMA2000 vs GSM Standards Characteristics
Table 3.6 FCC Unlicensed Frequency Bands
Table 3.7 Telecommunications Regulators of South and Central America

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