Engineers from Intel, Motorola and Clearwire are quietly testing Mobile WiMAX at a rented house in Hillsboro, Oregon, writes The Oregonian.

Washington County is at the nexus of WiMAX development work at Intel, the state’s largest private employer. If the mobile technology takes off, the Portland area could be among the first places in the country where it’s deployed commercially. The fixed service already is available in many parts of the country, including Eugene, Medford, Bend and the Puget Sound area, all served by Clearwire. Fast Internet connections are beamed wirelessly to boxes little bigger than a cable modem in homes and offices, creating an alternative to cable or DSL Web access.

Technology experts and Intel agree, though, that the success of WiMAX ultimately depends on making it mobile. The engineers in Hillsboro are testing a version that fits on a computer chip the size of a postage stamp, which Intel expects will be bundled into laptop computers alongside its Centrino Wi-Fi chip as soon as next year.

Though Intel has been dabbling in WiMAX for a few years, 2006 marked a turning point in important ways. A month after its big investment in Clearwire last July, Intel helped persuade cell phone carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. to adopt the technology as a complement to its cell phone service. Internationally, several other companies also began major deployments.

Intel’s WiMAX development work grew out of prior Wi-Fi research in Hillsboro, which made Oregon a natural place for it to test the new mobile technology. Additionally, the region’s hilly, forested terrain creates a challenging environment: If it works here, Intel says, it’s likely to work almost anywhere.

“With a wireless system, the air changes. A truck drives by and your performance changes,” said Chris Knudsen, chief technology officer for Intel’s WiMAX division, who is overseeing the test.

“You will see a very quick migration away from the typical handset as a cellular voice device.” — Chris Knudsen, Intel

If all goes well, later this year Intel will expand its initial trials by sending WiMAX chips home with about 4,000 of its 16,000 Oregon employees. In 2008, mobile service could be available to the general public.

If your computer or gadget couldn’t find a Wi-Fi connection, it would instead look for a WiMAX network that you have already subscribed to. WiMAX carriers also might offer one-time connection fees for people who aren’t subscribers.

Motorola’s Mobile WiMAX solutions are being used by Clearwire for basestations and client gear. Intel WiMAX chips will be used in client devices.

MIMO was specified in the 802.16e standard. “The first wave of Mobile WiMAX gear that gets certified will be 2×2 MIMO,” Intel’s Knudsen said. “There is no specific plan to do more than that, but as other silicon gets developed, more sophisticated multi-antenna systems will continue to come to market and get certified.”

According to Wireless Week, Clearwire also has licenses for 2.5 GHz spectrum covering 210 million people in the United States. Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff (left) says they have spectrum covering all or parts of 72 of the top 100 markets.

This year Sprint will also provide Mobile WiMAX service, in Chicago and Washington D.C. to start. Motorola WiMAX gear will be used in Chicago while Samsung Mobile WiMAX gear will be used in Washington D.C..

Samsung showed off “the world’s first mobile Wimax PDA phone” (right) at CES last week. Samsung’s SPH-M8100 phone runs on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 and features both CDMA celllular and 802.16e, with a 2.8″ color screen a 2-megapixel camera, mobile television and a TV-out port.

Pat Gelsinger, then Intel’s Chief Technology Officer, lobbied for 700 MHz WiMAX, Before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation United States Senate, in June, 2004.

The ability to use TV frequencies would accelerate the growth, expand the reach, reduce the cost and improve the quality of broadband wireless service. Even when compared to the 2.5 GHz frequencies—the best alternative available to WiMAX in the U.S.—the TV frequencies make it far more economical to serve rural areas and to compete with wireline broadband alternatives in urban areas.

To cover the same geographic area we estimate that using 2.5 GHz frequencies would approximately result in an 11db drop in signal strength. This drop in signal strength would require 4 to 5 times as many base stations to achieve equal geographic area coverage, for a given air interface and bandwidth.

If the United States were to move forward expeditiously to make this spectrum available for new wireless broadband services, the resulting gains to American consumers, especially in rural areas, would be stupendous and U.S. based companies would achieve important first to market advantages.

(1). Intel supports the FCC’s recently opened Notice of Proposed Rulemaking considering unlicensed use on vacant television channels. (2). Intel believes that the Mass Media Bureau has proposed a very constructive plan. Channels 52-69 represent 108 MHz in the 700 MHz band — 24 MHz for use by public safety and 84 MHz for use by advanced wireless services. (3). Intel believes that the FCC should explore giving broadcasters incentives to turn back their channels in advance of the 2009 for a pro rata share of the auction proceeds.

Related DailyWireless articles include; Portland Gets MobileWiMAX?, State-wide Wireless Broadband Access, Mobile TV: Six Flavors, Grand Rapids + Clearwire, Clearwire Launches in Seattle, Clearwire’s $900M Payday, WiMAX World 2006, WiMAX Interop: Good So Far, Maravedis WiMAX Report, Intel Inside Clearwire, Moto in MobileWiMAX Chips, Sprint: It’s WiMAX! and Mobile WiMAX: It Begins

Posted by Sam Churchill on Sunday, January 14th, 2007 at 9:36 am.