MAX Forum Working Groups involved in the certification program. Reproduced from C 2008 WiMAX [17] 4.6.1 Background The IEEE 802.16d certification process was started in 2004-2005 with the creation of specifications and test suites to guide subsequent certification testing. The very first Fixed WiMAX certified products were made available in January 2006 and operated in the 3.5GHz band. The WiMAX certification process for Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) which was supposed to provide interoperability between CPEs of various vendors and radio equipment of several suppliers was delayed considerably. It was supposed to start in December 2006 but was pushed out till early 2008. The first certified equipment based on IEEE 802.16e-2005 was announced in April 2008, and it included base stations and subscriber devices that operate in the 2.3 and 2.5 GHz bands. The main thrust of today's certification process is on conformance to the standard at the Physical (PHY) and Media Access Control (MAC) layers, and on interoperability as part of Forum Release 1.0. Release 1.0 that certifies 802.16e products is subdivided into Wave 1 and Wave 2. 8 Wave 1 and only focus on TDD mode of operation. Release 1.5 for 802.16-2009 certification testing will be expanded to include FDD duplexing mode along with TDD, radio and protocol conformance, conformance above the MAC layer, and interoperability with core network elements. It will also focus on the WiMAX Network specifications (Profiles A, B, and C). 4.6.2 What is Involved in Certification? The Certification Working Group (CWG) manages the certification program within the WiMAX Forum. It works closely with the Technical Working Group (TWG), the Service Provider Working Group (SPWG), and the Network Working Group (NWG), which develop the specifications that are at the core of certification testing (Figure 4.19) [17]. Wave 2 includes advance antennas techniques. IEEE WiMAX Table 4.3 WiMAX profiles WiMAX Type Profile Name Frequency Band (GHz) Channel Bandwidth (MHz) Duplexing Scheme Fixed 3.4-3.6