Performance Evaluation of Data Services in Mobile Wimax Networks: a Practical Approach

Due to the lack of a commonly adopted practice in the WiMAX network performance evaluation, one faces a multitude of ad-hoc techniques that are different from market to market and do not guarantee optimality of the process. In addition, all of the WiMAX defined QoS parameters, that help networks in implementing different radio resource assignment strategies and management of QoS classes, are implemented in the MAC layer. And, the algorithms that manage the radio resources are not subject of the standard. Therefore, even though the air interface parameters are the same across various networks, practical implementations may have different properties leading to a change in user experience between different networks. This book presents a methodology for the performance evaluation of data services in mobile WiMAX networks. The methodology is a five step repeatable process developed by analyzing actual measurements collected through drive test. A set of KPIs is developed and used to assess the performance of fundamental aspects of the network. The methodology provides proper course of action for network operators so they can adjust network parameters to improve the QoS of their networks.