Comparison of multicast/broadcast services in Long Term Evolution Advanced and IEEE 802.16m networks

This paper performs a comparison of multicast/broadcast services (MBS) support in Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE‐A) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) IEEE 802.16m. Firstly, the main technical features of both standards concerning MBS operation are presented. It is shown that WiMAX offers higher unicast/MBS multiplexing flexibility as it supports both frequency and time multiplexing schemes, whereas LTE‐A only includes time multiplexing. Besides, only WiMAX supports multi‐antenna transmission. Next, the results of two simulation‐based assessments are presented. In the former, it is considered a scenario with all cells transmitting the same MBS service. The effect of inter‐site distance (ISD) on the maximum MBS data rate is evaluated. Results show that WiMAX configurations outperform LTE‐A for small ISD. This is because WiMAX provides a higher number of resources dedicated to data transmission for the same bandwidth. Furthermore, some WiMAX configurations support two spatially multiplexed data streams. With higher ISDs, LTE‐A outperforms single‐stream WiMAX configurations. In the second assessment, a MBSFN area surrounded by interfering cells is considered to compare unicast/MBS multiplexing performance. The higher maximum MBS data rate is achieved in WiMAX with time division multiplexing, which is precisely the only alternative included in LTE‐A. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.