WiMAX standards are the operational descriptions, procedures or tests that allow manufacturers to produce devices that reliably operate and can work with devices produced by other manufacturers. The development of WiMAX standards is overseen by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

The WiMAX standard is given the standard identifier of 802.16 (there are several variations of 802.16). 802.16 specifications primarily cover the lower layers including the physical layer and media access control (MAC) layer and define the different levels of quality of service (QoS) that can be provided.

Even within the WiMAX specification, there are multiple radio interface types. The need for these variations is typically the result of different industry requirements such as fixed point to point communications or mobile broadband communications, which require tradeoffs in radio access types in exchange for key requirements such as mobility, higher speed data communication rates or longer transmission distance.

To enable the 802.16 system to provide mobile operation (not fixed location), the 802.16e specification was created and released in 2006. 802.16e defines mobile broadband operation in the 2-6 GHz frequency range. 802.16e added mobility management, extensible authentication protocol (EAP), handoff (call transfer), and power saving sleep modes to the WiMAX system.

In addition to the basic 802.16 radio interface specifications, several other 802.16 specifications have been created to the standards of the network and operation of WiMAX devices and systems.

802.16f is an IEEE standard that defines the network management information base (MIB) parts that are used for the 802.16...