WiMAX

This is a GENI project that addresses the challenges of integration and trial deployment of a commercial Mobile WiMAX radio as part of an open virtualized experimental framework. The project leverages a commercial 802.16e base station from NEC, replacing the standard WiMAX controller with an open software implementation that supports virtualization and layer 2/3 programmability. The most prominent features provided by the modifed BS control framework include the capability to perform all frame switching using purely layer 2 information, and control mechanisms to provide isolation across slices, which is needed to ensure experiment repeatability.

The virtualized WiMAX Basestation Transceiver (BTS) system consists of different sets of APIs shared by components of the system.

A brief overview of the interaction between different system components is as shown in the Figure 1. The slice manager (SM) grid service allows the user to perform basic setup functions such as slice creation, instantiation, and destruction. The Radio management (RM) grid service allows the user to invoke all the WiMAX radio functionalities when operating as part of a slice. The SM and RM services in turn talk to other system components such as the datapath controller and NEC BS controller to execute API invoked by the Slice owners. The Datapath controller module is responsible for laying out the L2 datapath from the slice virtual machines to the physical WiMAX BTS. The NEC BS controller allows for the getting and setting of various WiMAX radio features.