IEEE 802.16 Session #47 Report

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Session #47 Venue and Attendance
Session #47 of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access took place on 15-18 January 2007 at the Hilton London Metropole in London, UK in conjunction with an IEEE 802 Joint Interim Session and sessions of the other IEEE 802 Working Groups and Technical Advisory Groups. 274 people attended the session. This report summarizes the results of the session as well as related and followup activities.

Task Group m (TGm): Advanced Air Interface
Task Group m (TGm) held its first meeting in the development of the P802.16m project, following approval of the P802.16m PAR in December. The intent of the project is to amend the IEEE 802.16 WirelessMAN-OFDMA specification so that, while offering continuing support for legacy WirelessMAN-OFDMA equipment, it can meet the emerging cellular layer requirements of IMT-Advanced next generation mobile networks. The PAR mentions a few specific IMT-Advanced targets, such as 100 Mbit/s and high mobility.

TGm developed an initial work plan and discussed text regarding technical requirements. It issued a Call for Contributions on Requirements for P802.16m Advanced Air Interface and a Call for Contributions on Evaluation Methodology and Key Criteria for P802.16m Advanced Air Interface. A closing report and minutes were released.

Network Management (NetMan) Task Group
The NetMan Task Group met to address its projects, as detailed below. The Task Group issued a closing report and minutes.

P802.16g Project (Management Plane Procedures and Services)
The NetMan Task Group addressed comments arising during Sponsor Ballot of draft P802.16g/D6, which closed on 12 January. Comment resolution led to P802.16g/D7, which was subject to Sponsor Ballot recirculation from 29 January - 13 February. A Ballot Resolution Committee resolved the resulting comments, and P802.16g/D8 was prepared for a second Sponsor Ballot recirculation (23 February - 10 March).
P802.16i Project (Mobile Management Information Base)
The Task Group addressed responses to a Call for Comments regarding the P802.16i Baseline Document. Subsequently, the WG agreed agreed to adopt the updated baseline document as the project's first draft, P802.16i/D1. The draft was subject to review in Working Group Letter Ballot #25, running from 10 February - 12 March.
P802.16k Project (Bridging)
The P802.16k project, to amend IEEE 802.1D for support of 802.16 bridging, was not on the TG agenda. Draft P802.16k/D4 completed IEEE-SA Sponsor Ballot, with unanimous approval, and has been submitted to RevCom. Approval as an IEEE standard is anticipated during the IEEE-SA Standards Board meeting of 22 March.

Maintenance Task Group
The Working Group's Maintenance Task Group met to resolve comments received in on the draft P802.16/Cor2/D1. The comment resolutions led to the development of P802.16/Cor2/D2,  which was subsequently reviewed in Working Group Letter Ballot Recirculation #23a from 1-16 February. The resulting comments will be resolved at Session #48. The TG issued a closing report and minutes.

Following discussions with the IEEE 802.16 Project Planning Committee, the Working Group agreed to forward a PAR requesting the creation of a project to develop a revision of IEEE Std 802.16, consolidating IEEE Std 802.16-2004, 802.16e, and 802.16f, along with maintenance changes. The PAR was submitted to IEEE 802 for review during the IEEE 802 Plenary in conjunction with Session #48. Initiation of the project by the IEEE-SA Standards Board could follow on 22 March.

Relay Task Group
The Working Group's Relay Task Group reviewed approximately 170 contributions received in response to a Call for Technical Proposals. A closing report and minutes were issued. Subsequently, an updated P802.16j Baseline Document was prepared, as was a Call for Technical Comments and Contributions with a deadline of 5 March.

License-Exempt Task Group
The Working Group's Licensed-Exempt Task Group reviewed additional comments received on the first P802.16h project draft, P802.16h/D1. A closing report and minutes were issued. Subsequently, WG Letter Ballot Recirculation #24a opened (1 February - 4 March) to review P802.16h/D2. As a result of a liaison statement to the IEEE 802.11 Working Group, a joint meeting on 802.11/802.16 coexistence simulation was arranged for 9 am on 13 March, during Session #48.

Conformance Standards
IEEE Std 802.16/Conformance04-2006,
addressing PICS Proforma for fixed operation below 11 GHz, was published on 15 January. This was the 14th published IEEE standard developed by the IEEE 802.16 WG.

ITU-R Liaison Activities
A significant amount of activity followed IEEE's contribution to ITU-R Working Party 8F (as ITU-R document 8F/1065]) of IEEE L802.16-06/031r1, which the 802.16 Working Group prepared at Session #46. This document proposed that a new radio interface, named "IP-OFMDA" and based on IEEE Std 802.16, be added as an IMT-2000 technology, as defined by ITU-R Rec. M.1457.

ITU-R WP 8F issued a Liaison Statement regarding its the preliminary draft new Report ITU-R M.[IP CHAR]. The statement included an acknowledgement of IEEE's contribution 8F/1064, which was drafted by the 802.16 WG at its Session #46.

IEEE contribution 8F/1083 ("IEEE New Project to Develop a Standard to Meet the Cellular Layer Requirements of IMT-Advanced") informed ITU-R WP 8F of the new P802.16m project.

The IEEE 802.16 WG is seeking contributions of material relevant to the preparation of an IEEE contribution to ITU-R WP 8F regarding technical requirements for IMT-Advanced.

Other Liaison Activities

Working Group Issues

Future Meetings

Minutes and Motions
The Working Group Session #47 minutes are available as IEEE 802.16-07/014r1.

Documents
The Session #47 Document Guide includes references to all session documents. Draft standards are available with a working group password or by purchase from IEEE-SA. Most IEEE 802.16 standards are available for free download via the Get IEEE 802® program. See the 802.16 publication list for details of published standards and drafts.

About IEEE 802.16
The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards has developed and is enhancing the WirelessMAN® 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 an archive of previous Session Reports. The IEEE 802.16 Interactive Calendar includes sessions and deadlines.

"802.16 News" Mailing List
The "802.16 News" mailing list ("stds-802-16-news") has 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.



With the approval of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group, this report (23 February 2007) was drafted and edited by:

Roger Marks (r.b.marks@ieee.org)
Chair, IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards


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