An empirical study and the road ahead of IEEE 802.16

IEEE 802.16, also known as WiMAX is a commonly used broadband wireless access scheme worldwide. This paper presented a survey of research done in the MAC layer of the WiMAX network. A survey was conducted on three main components of the WiMAX MAC layer; scheduling, bandwidth request/granting and Call Admission and Control (CAC) schemes. Various types of scheduling algorithms were surveyed to provide a description on the workings of each of these scheduling algorithms; highlighting their features, advantages and disadvantages. These scheduling algorithms are separated in groups based on their family. Further, various bandwidth request and granting schemes were also surveyed. These bandwidth request and granting schemes were separated into uplink and downlink directions. These schemes are described and their key advantages and disadvantages are also highlighted. Additionally, research done in the past on the WiMAX Call Admission Control (CAC) are also presented. Lastly, a conclusion on the WiMAX research direction is included as a guide for the author’s future works. Thus, this survey would be useful to researchers who are keen on acquiring basic knowledge of the WiMAX network, as well as for researchers aiming to understand the past development before they proceed further.