Headers Overhead Estimation, Header Suppression and Header Compression in WiMAX

In this paper, we consider header suppression and header compression in WiMAX/ IEEE 802.16 BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) system. The data packet headers always carry some redundancy. In wireless systems such as WiMAX, it is important for radio resource use efficiency to reduce this redundancy. Both header suppression and then header compression have been defined for WiMAX. In this paper, we start by computing PHYsical and MAC (Medium Access Control) layers overhead. Then, we remind upper layers (IP, UDP and RTP) headers suppression and compression processes and evaluate their effect in the specific case of VoIP transmission. We propose application details for header suppression. We estimate and then compare the performance of header suppression and header compression in WiMAX. The paper ends by some interesting future topics of research.