IEEE 802.16 Session #32 Report

Approval of New Revision of WirelessMAN Standard: IEEE Standard 802.16-2004
On 24 June, the IEEE-SA Standards Board approved IEEE Standard 802.16-2004. This is a consolidated revision of IEEE Standard 802.16-2001 along with its 802.16a and 802.16c amendments. The draft had been developed under the temporary designation IEEE P802.16-REVd. The new standard represents the technical development of WirelessMAN air interface for fixed broadband wireless access systems. A PAR for a corrigendum, to quickly correct errors that may be found in the 915-page draft, was initiated and forwarded to NesCom. Initial discussions on such maintenance issues were held. The corrigendum will be handled by a new Maintenance Task Group.

Comment Resolution on Mobile WirelessMAN (P802.16e) Draft
Comments were resolved following the second recirculation of the Working Group Letter Ballot regarding the IEEE P802.16e draft, which will enhance the WirelessMAN air interface to support mobile as well as fixed users. This activity will lead Task Group e to the development of Draft 4 for a third recirculation. A modification of the 802.16e Project Authorization Request (PAR), to address some obsolete language and allow for more flexibility, was forwarded by the 802 EC to NesCom for 22 September consideration. The Task Group issued a closing report and minutes.

Two Network Management Study Group PARs Forwarded
The IEEE 802.16 Network Management Study Group reviewed two PARs, one to develop a Management Information Base for fixed service and another to develop Management Plane Procedures and Services to include both fixed and mobile service. The IEEE 802 EC forwarded both PARs to NesCom for August 12 approval. The projects will be handled by a new Network Management Task Group.

New IEEE 802.16 Study Group on Licensed-Exempt Coexistence
The Working Group's Ad Hoc Commitee on Licensed-Exempt Coexistence met in its efffort to provide the Working Group with recommendations regarding the advisibility of initiating standardization in this area. It issued a report proposing the creation of an IEEE 802.16 Study Group on Licensed-Exempt Coexistence. The proposal was accepted, and the Working Group, with 802 EC approval, chartered the Study Group until the end of Session #35.

Conformance Standards
IEEE Standard 802.16/Conformance03 ("Standard for Conformance to IEEE Standard 802.16 - Part 3: Radio Conformance Tests (RCT) for 10-66 GHz WirelessMAN-SC Air Interface") was published on 25 June 2004. This is the IEEE 802.16 Working Group's eighth published standard. No input was received concerning the project to draft the fourth document in the series, P802.16/Conformance04 (PICS Proforma for frequencies below 11 GHz). Therefore, a new Call for Contributions was issued.

Working Group Liaison Activities

• The WG sent a letter to Technical Committee TC5 of the China Communication Standards Association (CCSA) in response to a letter from CCSA
• The WG sent a letter to ETSI BRAN in response to a liaison letter from ETSI and a proposed MOU, as well as in response to a liaison letter from ETSI BRAN to ITU-R SG9
• In response to an earlier inviation, the Working Group drafted a Contribution to ITU-R WP9B regarding its "Radio interface specifications for fixed broadband wireless access (BWA) systems". The draft was approved by IEEE 802 and will be submitted on behalf of IEEE, as an ITU-R Sector Member.
• The WG received a liaison letter from TTA PG302.

Future Meetings

• IEEE 802.16's Session #33 will take place in Seoul, Korea on 30 August - 2 September 2004. The host will be Panyuh Joo of Samsung Corporation.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #34 will take place on 15-18 November 2004 in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session. The session is currently planned for San Antonio, TX, USA
• The Working Group decided to hold IEEE 802.16's Session #35 in Sanya, Hainan, China on 24-27 January 2005. The choice was based on a hosting proposal by Lucy Chen of Huawei Technologies Co. The site selection process also considered a proposal to hold the session in Bangalore, India.

Documents
The Session #32 document list includes references to over 150 session documents.

Minutes and Motions
The Working Group minutes are available as IEEE 802.16-04/48. Significant motions drafted for presentation at the Closing Plenary are embedded in the Closing Plenary Agenda. All of the Working Group's requests at the 802 LMSC Executive Committee meeting of 16 July were approved.

New "802.16 News" Mailing List
A new "802.16 News" mailing list ("stds-802-16-news") has been established, with the sole purpose of distributing major announcements related to the Working Group. Those interested in following the progress of the group but not in the day-to-day details may wish to subscribe. Only the Working Group Chair is eligible to post to the list, and mailings will be rare: once after each bimonthly session and additionally for major news, such as the approval of a new standard. Those subscribing to the stds-802-16 mailing list, for active Working Group participants, need not subscribe to stds-802-16-news since the postings will be redundant.

About IEEE 802.16
The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards has developed and is enhancing the WirelessMAN^TM Standard for wireless metropolitan area networks. IEEE 802.16 is a unit of the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee, the premier transnational forum for wired and wireless networking standardization. A list of IEEE 802.16 standards and drafts is available on-line, as is a project milestone summary and an archive of previous Session Reports.

Roger Marks (r.b.marks@ieee.org)
Chair, IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards
tel: +1-303-497-7837