Industrial Communication Systems

52-1

52.1 Introduction

Most recent statistics presented by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) show that wireless

mobile services exploded from 11 million subscribers worldwide in 1990 to over 2 billion in 2005 [1].

Worldwide

interoperability

for

microwave

access

(or

WiMAX)

has

materialized

as

reaction

to

the

everlasting

need

for

high-speed

broadband

access,

relieving

the

Internet

providers

from

needed

infra-

structure

costs,

especially

apparent

in

rural

and

remote

areas.

WiMAX

technology

merges

together

the

convenience

of

wireless

technology

with

compelling

performance

of

broadband

access

and

can

be

seen

as

the

next

logical

step

in