Lower MAC Software Implementations for the IEEE 802.16 Standard

Ioannis PAPAIOANNOU
Chrissavgi DRE

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Communications   Vol.E89-B    No.3    pp.816-827
Publication Date: 2006/03/01
Online ISSN: 1745-1345
DOI: 10.1093/ietcom/e89-b.3.816
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: PAPER
Category: Wireless Communication Technologies
Keyword: 
wireless MAN,  NP and DSP,  lower MAC,  IEEE 802.16 standard,  

Full Text: PDF(2.3MB)>>
Buy this Article


Summary: 
In this paper the development of the control plane for the frame decoding functionality of an IEEE 802.16 Wireless MAN system is described. It is implemented in two ways. The first implementation is based on a general-purpose microprocessor, and specifically the one provided in the TMS320C64xx Texas family devices. The second implementation is based on an Intel's IXP2400 Network Processor chip and the preceding functions are implemented by writing embedded software for that part. The two implementations are compared and the comparison leads to some very useful results. The development of time critical tasks of a MAC protocol stack in software and mainly based on a Network Processor opens paths for very effective system architectures, where the Network Processor runs full the networking and the MAC/DLC processing of such telecom systems. The main question is: Can lower MAC be executed on a Network Processor or not? This manuscript attempts to give an answer to this question.