The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) recently completed work on a couple of standards for a new wireless broadband technology called High Performance Radio Access (Hiperaccess). Developed by the same group behind the HiperLan standards for wireless LANs, some of their upper-layer components will be re-used.
Hiperaccess is a group of wireless standards to provide broadband access to public networks. It is based on a point-to-multipoint model with a single base station serving a large number of users located within a range of a few kilometres. Hiperaccess can provide rates to the user of up to 25Mbit/s, which may be dynamically changed depending upon the volume of user traffic. A single base station may use multiple radio carriers and sectored antennae to increase the traffic capacity. Typically, there will be 100 users per carrier, and adding more carriers to the network will not cost much.
Hiperaccess is very flexible so it may be used for many different services, ranging from voice to multi-channel, high-definition video. One of the most interesting applications is for linking 3G mobile base stations to the main network backbone, which would make setting up 3G networks much easier and cheaper, avoiding the need for wired links in many cases.
The standards say nothing about which radio frequency bands should be used, but the aim is to take advantage of regional spectrum allocations. In the UK, the allocations at 3.4GHz and 28GHz might be used but others are possible.
We've heard a lot about mesh radio systems and their resilience and expandability, so how does Hiperaccess compare? Both systems can be expanded to support more data per square kilometre. Mesh does this by adding more nodes, while Hiperaccess adds more radio carriers and base stations. Mesh is better in theory, but the nodes may be more expensive. Hiperaccess is extremely flexible and standardisation will make it more attractive to network operators.
In areas with many users Hiperaccess should do well, but mesh may be better when the demand is less assured or the area is larger. Some special circumstances are natural for wireless access. Take the case of a major sporting event when huge bandwidth is needed for a few days or weeks. A few Hiperaccess base stations could provide all the bandwidth needed and could be deployed rapidly and at low cost.
Hiperaccess is the first international standard for broadband radio access and should lead to several manufacturers making compatible equipment. When this happens, costs will come down, leading to wider deployment and lower tariffs.
If an adequate wired infrastructure existed there would be no need for wireless access methods. But until we get fibre to all buildings, wireless remains the only game in town.
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