International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)

ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-2, Issue-8, August 2014

Technical Assessment between Worldwide

Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)
and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi)
Iroegbu Chibuisi, Omusun Yerima

technologies in order to know which of the technology will be

Abstract This paper is on the Technical Assessment better to build a wireless access infrastructure.
between Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access Section II of this research examines the individual
(WiMAX) and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi). WiFi and WiMAX are technologies. Section III surveyed the methodology, Section
closely evaluated and compared. The technical performance
IV presents the result analysis, while section V summarizes
evaluation of the two technologies are done based on the
information obtained from research works, reports, journals,
and concludes the work.
with more emphases on range and coverage, Scalability,
frequency band, Channel Bandwidth, Bandwidth Efficiency,
Radio Technique, Security, Mobility, Quality of Service (QoS) II. TECHNOLOGICAL OVERVIEW
etc. From the result obtained from this study, it is concluded that
WIMAX technology, although new points out to be better in A. Wi-Fi
terms of mobility, bandwidth efficiency, scalability, security,
channel bandwidth, and Maximum Coverage.
Wi-Fi stands for wireless fidelity. It is a popular technology
which allows any electronic device to exchange and transfer
Index Terms WiMAX, Wi-Fi, Security, Technical, data wirelessly over the network giving rise to high speed
Bandwidth. internet connections [5]. Any device which is Wi-Fi enabled
can connect to a network resource like the internet through a
wireless network access point. Web pages that use SSL are
I. INTRODUCTION secure but unencrypted internet access can easily be detected
by intruders.
With the help of many expert communication engineers, IEEE
has developed various wireless standards in a hierarchical
trend [1]. Some of the deployed wireless standards are 802.11 B. WiMAX
(Wi-Fi), and 802.16 (WiMAX) promoted by WiMAX forum.
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) WiMAX is a fourth generation (4G) telecommunication
is a telecommunications technology based on the IEEE protocols that provides permanent and mobile internet [6]. It
802.16 standard, aimed at providing wireless data over is intended to bring high speed data communication, and it
lengthy distances in a diversity of ways from point-to-point also has the capability to sustain dedicated links and VoIP
links to full mobile cellular type access. Wireless Fidelity services at a reliable and high quality speed. It provides
(Wi-Fi) on the other hand, is a popular technology based on broadband connectivity anywhere, anytime for any device and
IEEE 802.11 standard, which allows any electronic device to on any network. It has the ability to allow a subscriber to
exchange and transfer data wirelessly over the network giving connect to a wireless Internet service provider even when they
rise to high speed internet connections [2]. Improved roam outside their offices or homes. One of the main
semiconductor and electronics manufacturing technology, applications of the WiMAX is that it can be used in disaster
and the growth of the internet and mobile telecommunications recovery scenes where the wired networks have broken down
have also help in fueling the growth in telecommunications. [7].
Many service providers had adopted the WiMAX technology
as a quick and cheap option to provide connectivity between
access points or base stations and their backbone network [3]. III. METHODOLOGY
With the increasing market demand for WiMAX, it is now
regularly compared with Wi-Fi. While both technologies have
some indistinguishable technical characteristics, however Figure1 and 2 shows the network architectures of Wi-Fi and
they are approaching the wireless space from completely WiMAX.
different perspectives [4]. The purpose of this paper is to
provide a technical comparison of Wi-Fi and WiMAX The technical assessment of the two technologies are done
based on the information gained from research works,
reports, journals, with more emphases on range and coverage,
Manuscript received August 23, 2014.
Iroegbu Chibuisi, Department of Electrical/Electronics Engineering,
Scalability, frequency band, Channel Bandwidth, Bandwidth
MOUAU, Abia, Nigeria Efficiency, Radio Technique, Security, Mobility, Quality of
Omusun Yerima, Department of Electrical/Electronics Engineering, Service (QoS) etc
MOUAU, Abia, Nigeria

220 www.erpublication.org
 Technical Assessment between Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and Wireless Fidelity
(Wi-Fi)

D. Mobility
Mobility is the speed of the mobile access point at which the
technology can remain connected to the global world without
losing packets or service interruption. The network must
maintain connection at vehicular speeds
E. Radio transmission Modulation techniques
Wi-Fi uses Direct-Sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)
technique, while WIMAX uses Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiplexing (OFDM).
F. Quality of Service (QoS)
In Wi-Fi, guaranteed QoS is not provided. In WIMAX, QoS
is based on a request/grant protocol. It supports multiple QoS
which is built in MAC.
G. Dependability
Figure 1: Wi-Fi Network Dependability is defined as how much a wireless technology
is reliable to the end user. It evaluate with few significant
metrics like average number of packet loss, average number
of disconnects of calls, and whether the wireless technology is
hampered by environmental issues such as line of sight,
weather, etc. If a connection is not dependable, in that case
packets may loss and that affect the network for that reason
the speed of the network will decrease. Both Wi-Fi and
WIMAX are both dependable.
H. Mobility Management
Mobility management is supported by WiMAX. This
standard supports mobile capability with the support of
hand-offs capability, mainly for users when they moved
between cells. Currently mobility management is not
supported by Wi-Fi.

IV. RESULTS ANALYSIS

Stated in table 1 below are the summarized key results arising
from the technical assessment between WiMAX and Wi-Fi.
Figure 2: WiMAX Network Table 1: Key technical assessment results between WiMAX
and Wi-Fi
A. Security:
COMPARATIVE Wi-Fi WiMAX
Security is a major issue in communication because it protects TOOLS
signals from eavesdropping [9]. Security has been one of the Adjustable
major lacking in Wi-Fi, encryption is optional here [10]. Channel
On the range from 20-25 MHz range from
Bandwidth
WiMAX is designed for public network so security is very 1.25 to 20 MHz
much crucial. All the data that is transmitted in WiMAX Security is optional here.
network is virtually encrypted. Better encryption
3 DES ( 128 bit
Security technique like WPA and
)
B. Efficiency: WEP available now.

In Wi-Fi, the maximum channel bandwidth ranges from 20 OFDM 64 channels and
MHz to 25 MHz, while the bit rates is 54 Mbps and latency OFDM 256
Radio Technique Direct Sequence Spread
Channels
range of 50 ms. In WiMAX, the channel bandwidth ranges Spectrum
from 1.25 MHz to 20 MHz, while the latency ranges from 25 Wireless MAN
to 40ms [8]. mainly
Primary
Wireless LAN designed for
Application
C. Maximum Coverage Range: broadband
wireless
WiMAX ranges from 8 km Non Line of Sight (NLOS) to 50
Designed for
km Line of Sight (LOS). Its main goal is to provide long range Mainly designed for outdoor
transmission. Wi-Fi is mainly designed for indoor use. It has indoor NLOS
Range and
an optimize range of around 100 meters. Coverage
Optimized for 100 meters performance
No mesh topology is Optimized for
supported 50 km
Mesh topology

221 www.erpublication.org
 International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)
ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-2, Issue-8, August 2014
is technologies "From Wi-Fi to WiMAX"," icas-icns, p. 66, Joint
supported International Conference on Autonomic and Autonomous Systems and
Licensed and International Conference on Networking and Services - (icas-icns'05),
Unlicensed Band 2.4 GHz Unlicensed 2005.
Frequency Band [6].Whitepaper published in the Broadband Wireless Report of International
to 5 GHz Band 2 GHz to
11 GHz Engineers Consortium. Title: WiMax The next generation of wireless
communication? ISBN: 978-1-931695-30-x.
MAC designed
[7]. Zakhia Abichar, Yanlin Peng, and J. Morris Chang, WiMax: The
to
MAC designed to support Emergence of Wireless Broadband, IEEE IT professional, Volume: 8,
Scalability support
tens of user Issue: 4, July-Aug 2006, Pages: 44 48
thousands of [8]. Michael F. Finneran, WiMax versus Wi-FI A comparison of
users Technologies, Markets and Business Plan, dBrn Associates, Inc,
Mobile http://www.searchnetworking.techtarget.com/searchNetworking/downl
In Development phase WiMAX build oads/Finneran.pdf, last visited February 20, 2007.
Mobility
now in [9]. Cam-Winget, Nancy, et al. "Security flaws in 802.11 data link
to 802.16e protocols."Communications of the ACM 46.5 (2003) pp. 35-39.
Grant Request [10]. D.V. Chandra Shekar, V. J., "Wireless security: A comparative analysis
Contention Based MAC MAC for the next generation networks", Journal of Theoretical and Applied
(CSMA/CA) Mainly Information Technology (2005-2008), pp. 822-831.
QoS [11]. Cam-Winget, Nancy, et al. "Security flaws in 802.11 data link
QoS is proposed in IEEE designed to
802.11e support voice protocols."Communications of the ACM 46.5 (2003) pp. 35-39.
and video
Bandwidth
0.44 to 2.7 bps/Hz <=5 bps/Hz
Efficiency
Iroegbu Chibuisi received his B.Eng. degree in
Half/Full Duplex Half Full
Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Michael
Okpara University of Agriculture, (MOUAU) Umudike,
BPSK, QPSK, Abia State Nigeria in 2010, and currently a Master of
Modulation QPSK 16-, 64-, Engineering degree scholar in the department of
256-QAM Electronics and Communication Engineering, Michael
Okpara University of Agriculture, (MOUAU) Umudike, Abia State Nigeria.
Convolutional He is a member of International Association of Engineers. His research
FEC Convolutional Code Code Reed- interests are in the fields of wireless sensor networks, Electronic and
Solomon Communication Systems design, Security system design, Expert systems
and Artificial Intelligence, Design of Microcontroller based systems,
Mesh Vendor Proprietary Yes Channel coding etc.

Omosun, Yerima is an Engineer with the Directorate of

Access Protocol CSMA/CA Request/Grant Michael Okpara University Agriculture, Umudike, Abia
State, Nigeria. He is also a Postgraduate Student in the
department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering in the
same Institution. His research interests include Electronic
and Communication Systems, Data Communication,
V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION Information and Communication Technology etc.
This paper has presented a precise description of two of the
most prominent developing wireless access networks.
Detailed technical comparative analysis between the 802.11
(Wi-Fi) and 802.16 (WIMAX) wireless networks that provide
alternative solution to the problem of information access in
remote inaccessible areas where wired networks are not cost
effective has been x-rayed. From the result in table 1, it is
evident that there are many reasons why WIMAX tends to be
a better technology to build wireless access infrastructure.
These factors have been justified in terms of mobility,
bandwidth efficiency, scalability, security, channel
bandwidth, and Maximum Coverage.

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