5.8 GHz Fixed WiMAX Performance in a Sea Port Environment

Abstract

This paper presents a fixed worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) performance at 5.8 GHz in a sea port environment in the presence of multipath, Doppler shift, and boat's rocking. Multipath and Doppler shift measurements were carried out to understand bit error rate (BER) results from a fixed WiMAX equipment. Percentage probability of root-mean-square (RMS) delay spread from multipath measurement reached 100% within the fixed WiMAX symbol period. Doppler shift was the main factor degrading fixed WiMAX performance. However, it was found that this effect can be significantly mitigated by using a directive antenna. Received signal distribution from antenna mounted on a diving boat was compared with that from antenna mounted on shore to understand the effect of boat's rocking to signal reception.