A Real-Time Implementation of the Mobile WiMAX ARQ and Physical Layer

Abstract

This paper presents an innovative softwaredefined radio architecture for the real-time implementation of WiMAX transceivers. The architecture consists of commercially available field-programmable gate array and digital signal processor modules. We show how the architecture can be used for the real-time implementation of a fullfeatured standard-compliant time-division duplex WiMAX physical layer together with the ARQ functionality of the MAC layer. Both the mobile and the base station contain a transmitter and a receiver to enable real-time concurrent downlink and uplink communications. The design supports the different configurations defined by the standard and the WiMAX Forum. This work also provides the verification and validation of the proposed real-time implementation based on repeatable and reproducible performance evaluation considering the reference scenarios defined by the P. Suárez-Casal • Á. Carro-Lagoa ( ) • J. A. García-Naya •