WiMAX Range and Throughput Measurements

Goals
Principal Elements
Process
Path Loss Measurements
Experiment Application Design
Connection Evaluation Steps
NEC Sector Antenna Tilt
Range and Throughput Measurements
Plan
Results
Summary
Conclusions and Next Steps
Authors: Manu Gosain, Tony Michel, Tom Cahill, Harry Mussman

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

Goals
Validate base station installation and configuration process
Provide comprehensive documentation
Design an experiment to evaluate range and throughput
Document for use by other sites in evaluating their
expected range and throughput
Later: move to OMF/OML environment
Evaluate range and throughput at BBN site
Compare to known calculations, measurements
Document for use by other sites in estimating their
expected range and throughput

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

Principal Elements
Base station kit (BTS)
Utilizing NEC Profile C IDU and ODU
Rooftop antennas
NEC 120deg sector
Commercial omnidirectional
Anritsu spectrum analyzer, for measuring received power
Linux laptop with Intel 6250 WiMAX modem, acting as a mobile station (MS)
BTS servers, including:
ASN GW with WiMAX RF AggMgr (Case 1b)
Test host
I&M host
Experiment application, running in:
MS (measurement script)
Test host (ping and iperf servers)
I&M host (report script)

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

Process
1) Conduct power measurements using Anritsu spectrum analyzer
Check for presence of Clearwire signal with Anritsu spectrum analyzer

2) Build and verify experiment application to conduct range and throughput

measurements
3) Decide on best down tilt for NEC sector antenna
Estimate for electrical down tilt: 5deg
Options for mechanical down tilt: 10deg, 6deg, 4deg, 2deg (selected 4deg)

4) Conduct range and throughput measurements near BBN Technologies

location in Cambridge, MA
Focus on line-of-sight, outside only (gives best case)
Keep nominal BTS configuration parameters
Power set to +38dbm, the maximum allowed
Options for base station antenna:
NEC sector base station antenna (at 4deg mechanical down tilt)
Omni-directional base station antenna
Options for Linux laptop mobile station:
Internal Intel 6250 WiMAX modem, and internal antenna
External (USB-connected) 6250, with handheld omni-directional antenna

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

1) Power Measurements
Power measurements using Anritsu spectrum analyzer
Measured with sector antenna, 6deg mechanical tilt
Near antenna: -34dBm
Point 41, 370ft: -59dBm (good signal)
Point, 520ft: -50dBm (good signal)
Point, 1190-ft: -79dBm (edge of coverage)
Presence of Clearwire signal with Anritsu spectrum analyzer
On roof (line of sight): -60dBm
Point 47: -70dBm

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

2) Experiment Application Design

Antenna:
Mobile Station (MS)

1) NEC sector
2) Omni

GREtunnel

Dell 1012 Netbook

DHCP

NEC Base
Station
(BTS)

WiMAX
modem/antenna:

BTS
ODU/IDU

1) USB-connected Intel
6250/external omni
2) internal Intel 6250/
internal

1) Range/throughput
experiment script
tstats2:

ASNG
W
salamis

2) WiMAX AggMgr
service:

Record location
Scan/connect/chk RSSI
Get IP via DHCP
ping sequence
iperf sequence
Log results
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

Monitor GRE tunnels

Collect BTS stats,
chk RSSI
Log results

March 15, 2011

public
Internet

.bbn.dataplane.geni.net

I&M host
black

3) Report script
report:
(manually gather logs
from MS and BTS)
Process logs
Generate location
summaries
Generate run summary

Test host
argos

4) Test
targets:
ping
iperf

Connection Evaluation Steps

Step 1) Verify WiMAX connection occurs
See tunnel setup from BTS log
Check Down Link (DL) RSSI at MS
Check Up Link (UL) RSSI from BTS log
Step 2) Verify MS get IP address via DHCP
Sometimes fails if UL is poor
Step 3) Do a sequence of ping tests between MS and Test Host argos
Ping to argos, 10bytes, 10 times; check response within 1sec
window; log delays, % responses not within window (lost)
Ping to argos, 108bytes, 10 times; check response within 1sec
window; log delays, % responses not within window (lost)
Ping to argos, 1008bytes, 10 times; check response within 1sec
window; log delays, % responses not within window (lost)

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

(continued)
Step 4) Do a sequence of iperf tests between MS and Test Host
argos
Repeat 3 times
Use TCP
Use -d for double connection, separating DL and UL measurements
Throughput in Mb/s calculated from bytes transmitted within
60sec interval
Print throughput in Mb/s to log
TCP parameters:
use Nagles algorithm
window size and segment size per OS: 16kB
depth read/write buffer in socket, default: 8kB
max segment size: 1408B (MTU size) - 40B = 1368B
Use of TCP gives conservative result, but typical of many
applications

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

3) NEC Sector Antenna Tilt

WiMAX antennas typically have a built-in
electrical (down) tilt, and a variable
mechanical (down) tilt
Estimate for electrical tilt on NEC sector
antenna, per specs: 5deg
Options tried for mechanical (down) tilt:
10deg, 6deg, 4deg, 2deg
Too much down tilt buries the signals
close to the base station, and shortens
range
Too little tilt creates a blank spot near
base station
There is always a blank spot very near the
base station (and within the building)
caused by shadow of the building
Chosen for mechanical tilt: 4deg
Throughput measurements showed range
at 4deg to be higher than at 2deg or 6deg
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

4) Measurements Plan
Focus on line-of-sight, outside only (gives best case)
Points 41 through 48, in a straight line at center of 120deg sector pattern
Optional points 1 through 7, in orthogonal direction (with point 7 obstructed by
building), to verify expected 360deg omni coverage
Keep nominal BTS configuration parameters
Power set to +38dbm, the maximum allowed
Options for base station antenna:
NEC sector base station antenna (at 4deg mechanical down tilt), approx 90ft high
Omni-directional base station antenna, approx 90ft high
Expect sector to work better than omni antenna within 120deg sector pattern,
since has higher gain
Options for Linux laptop mobile station (MS):
External (USB-connected) 6250, with handheld large omni-directional antenna
Internal Intel 6250 WiMAX modem, and internal antenna
Expect large omni antenna to work better than internal antenna
Expect packet loss and throughput to vary from moment-to-moment, due to MS
position and multi-path propagation

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

10

(continued)
For each option combination:
A) BS sector, MS omni antennas
B) BS sector, MS internal antennas
C) BS omni, MS omni antennas
D) BS omni, MS internal antennas
For each point:
41 48
option for C): 41 48 and 1 7
Plot vs distance (mi) from base station to mobile station:
DL RSSI (db)
UL RSSI (db)
1008byte pings, the % of responses not within window (lost)
DL iperf throughput, min and max over three attempts (Mb/s)
UL iperf throughput, min and max over three attempts (Mb/s)

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

11

Neighborhood of
BBN Technologies, Cambridge, MA

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

12

Photo of BBN base station and

Concord Ave measurement points 41 - 48

BBN
Base
Station
0

4
1

4
24
4
4

3
4
5

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4
6 4
7

4
8

March 15, 2011

0
(0 mi,
90 ft
up)

BBN
Base
Station
Antenn
a

41
(0.058
mi)

Center
Parking
Lot

42
(0.085
mi)

Social
Security
Entrance

43
(0.090
mi)

NE
FawcettConcord

44
(0.097
mi)

SE
FawcettConcord

45
(0.153
mi)

T (Bus)
Stop

46
(0.200
mi)

S
WheelerConcord

47

West

13

Photo of BBN base station and

Fawcett St measurement points 1 - 7
7
6
5

4
3
BBN
Base
Statio
n
0

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

2
1

March 15, 2011

0
(0 mi,
90 ft
up)

BBN
Base
Station
Antenn
a

1
(0.040
mi)

Parking
Lot

2
(0.080
mi)

Fawcett
St

3
(0.110
mi)

Fawcett
St

4
(0.140
mi)

Fawcett
St

5
(0.180
mi)

Fawcett
St

6
(0.220
mi)

Fawcett
St

Fawcett

14

A) Measurements results for

BS with sector, MS with external omni antennas

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

15

B) Measurements results for

BS with sector, MS with internal antennas

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

16

C) Measurements results for

BS with omni, MS with external omni antennas

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

17

C2) Measurements results for

BS with omni, MS with external omni antennas

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

18

D) Measurements results for

BS with omni, MS with internal antennas

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

19

Measurements Summary
RSSIs
DL RSSIs varies from -30db for a strong signal point, down to
-64db for a weak signal point; below that, the connection fails
UL RSSIs remained more constant, often close to -75db for a wide
range of points. Is this due to automatic WiMAX UL transmit
power adjustments?
Ping loss (1008bytes)
Measured delays are relatively constant (80 100ms) until link is
about to fail
For 1008byte pings, the % of responses not within window (lost)
increases quickly as link is about to fail; otherwise 0%
Good measure of overall connection quality

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

20

(continued)
iperf Throughput
Use of TCP gives conservative result, but is typical of many
applications
Use of TCP results in significant variations over the 3 runs, due to
packet losses and retransmissions; need to consider both min and
max
As link gets poorer, the throughput eventually falls to zero
DL throughput is typically better than UL throughput, following
WiMAX convention
Best case DL throughput is over 10Mb/s
Best case UL throughput is approximately 1 Mb/s

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

21

(continued)
Range:
Best range (to point 48, 0.254mi) seen with BS sector antenna and
MS handheld large omni antenna
Range is worse, as expected, with BS sector antenna and MS
internal antenna
Worst range (to point 46, 0.2mi) seen with BS omni antenna and
MS handheld large omni antenna
However, range is better with BS omni antenna and MS internal
antenna; why?
Expected packet loss and throughput to vary from moment-tomoment, due to MS position and multi-path propagation, but not
directly verified
Range at points 1 - 7 comparable to range at points 41 47
verifies expected 360deg omni coverage
Signal gone at point 7 obstructed by building

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

22

Conclusions and Next Steps

Current measurements give range of approximately 0.25mi
How does this range compare with others?
What might be done to improve range?
Other reported ranges:
Textbook gives calculated range of 0.6mi
Clearwire plots indicate their BSs are approx 0.5mi apart
Univ Colorado plan calculates range up to 0.75mi
But, commercial services operate at higher power, and include
diversity at BS and sometimes diversity at MS
NYU Poly measurements?
UCLA measurements?
Univ Wisconsin measurements?

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March 15, 2011

23

(continued)
Consider to improve range:
Fix some mistake in BTS parameters
Modify BTS parameters to improve range by forcing reduced rate
Add diversity at BS (requires an extra ODU and an extra antenna)
Use vehicular omni antenna at MS (includes ground plane)
Add diversity at MS?
Tune up TCP and/or WiMAX parameters to improve throughput, e.g.,
reduce iperf buffer length so packets fit within MTU
Turn ON ARQ or HARQ
Utilize for UDP traffic, and accept more lost packets
Can we get to 0.6mi?
Expected to reduce range:
Use of MSs indoors
Leaves on trees starting in spring

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation

March 15, 2011

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