Relay technologies and technical issues in IEEE 802.16j Mobile Multi-hop Relay (MMR) networks

An amendment to the 802.16e standard namely IEEE 802.16j specifying relay station (RS) and multi-hop relay base station (MR-BS) was approved in year 2006 supports Mobile Multi-hop Relay networks. (MMR). It provides coverage extension to isolated area and throughput enhancement by specifying relay stations. The physical (PHY) layer of WiMAX IEEE 802.16j standard is based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 and IEEE 802.16e-2005 standards and was designed from IEEE 802.11a. This paper reviews the Relay technologies and technical issues in the physical and MAC layer of IEEE 802.16j such as Data forwarding schemes frame structure, Link adaptation, modulation and coding, these issues belongs to physical layer, QoS scheduling services, Bandwidth allocation and request, Network planning, MAC handover procedures, connection management, path management, interference management, all these issues belongs to MAC layer.