Sectoring in WiMAX relay 802.16j to enhance the system throughput

WiMax mobile cellular systems are envisioned to provide high data rate multimedia service to users at any time, anywhere at an affordable cost. WiMax is operated at a frequency higher than 2 GHz because of the intensive usage of the frequency bands below and around 2 GHz by the current 2 G, 3 G and other systems. At fixed transmission power, both high data rate and high frequency indicate smaller cell coverage with a given error rate performance. In other words, it requires more base stations to cover the same area. The standard WiMax with relays 802.16j proposes to add the low cost relay in order to extend cell coverage. Moreover, the throughput of the user could be enhanced by using a better link connection. However there are several approaches to coordinate the communication between the BS and the RSs which have impact on the system performance. In this article, we review existing architectures of WiMax with relays and assess their performances. Then we propose a new architecture using a sectoring technique and frequency reuse to better allocate the resource in the base station.