I think the
process of frequency synchronization in the 802.16-2004 standard needs some
additional clarification.
The text says
(sections 8.3.12 and 8.4.14)
"During the synchronization period, the SS
shall acquire frequency synchronization within the specified tolerance [2% of subcarrier spacing] before
attempting any uplink transmission. During normal operation, the SS shall
track the frequency changes and shall
defer any transmission if synchronization is lost."
This means an SS
is fully responsible for adjusting its own frequency. On the other hand, the
ranging process enables a BS to send frequency corrections to an SS, using the
frequency correction TLV in the RNG-RSP message. These are 2
conflicting processes, because while a BS is
estimating the frequency offset, it does not know if the SS is making
corrections based on its own tracking. Also, though these corrections are
coded with a 1 Hz precision, there is no requirement on the precision of the
application of the correction by the SS, so the BS does not know how an SS
reacts upon reception of these messages. Having both the BS and SS track the
same frequency offset leads to potential instability.
A comment (#304 by
Yuval Lomnitz) was accepted in the corrigendum last session for the OFDMA
section (but the same issue applies to both OFDM and OFDMA)
saying:
"During the synchronization period, the SS shall acquire frequency
synchronization within the specified tolerance
before attempting any uplink transmission. During normal operation, the
SS shall track the frequency changes
by estimating the downlink frequency offset and shall defer any
transmission if synchronization is lost.
To determine the transmit frequency, the SS shall accumulate the frequency
offset corrections transmitted by the BS
(for example in RNG-RSP message), and may add to the accumulated offset, an
estimated UL frequency offset based on
the downlink signal."
I
think this comment makes things clearer for the SS, but is not satisfactory
from a system point of view because the BS still does not know how the SS will
behave. A first solution would be to remove the frequency correction TLV from
ranging messages. A second solution would be to indicate that once an SS has
received a correction from the BS, it should stop making any further
corrections itself and rely fully on the BS for its frequency
control.
Any
thoughts?
Regards,
Ambroise
Popper
tel : +33 1 44 89 48
11
cell : +33 6 60 63 57 20
SEQUANS
Communications
101-103 bld Mc Donald, 75019 Paris, France
tel : +33 1 44 89 48
07
fax : +33 1 44 89 48 06