802.16 Session #58 Report

IEEE 802.16 Session #58 Report

IEEE 802.16's Session #58 was held 10-13 November 2008 in Dallas, TX, USA. This was an IEEE 802 LMSC Plenary Session and co-located with sessions of the other IEEE 802 Working Groups and Technical Advisory Groups. The attendance was 394 people.

Task Group m (TGm): Advanced Air Interface
Task Group m (TGm) continued its work in the development of the P802.16m project to amend the IEEE 802.16 WirelessMAN-OFDMA specification to meet IMT-Advanced requirements while offering continuing support for legacy WirelessMAN-OFDMA equipment. Following comment resolution, a new version IEEE 802.16m-08/003r6 of the draft System Description Document (SDD) was authorized. A Call for Comments and Contributions will be issued for review of the SDD draft, and Rapporteur Groups were established to address Relay and Femtocell/Self-organization. Following the first Call for Contributions regarding the P802.16m Draft Amendment, initial content was agreed, and the technical editor and drafting group were authorized to create and issue an initial working document towards the draft amendment. Change requests to the System Requirements Document (SRD) and Evaluation Methodology Document (EMD) were agreed. The TG issued a closing report, with minutes to follow.

Update: The following documents have been updated:

Update: TGm issued a Call for Comments on the draft SD, with a deadline of 5 January.

Update: TGm issued a Call for Comments and Contributions on the Project 802.16m Amendment Working Document, with a deadline of 5 January.

Maintenance Task Group
The Maintenance Task Group is developing the 802.16Rev2 project to revise IEEE Std 802.16. It completed the resolution of comments arising in IEEE-SA Sponsor Ballot recirculation of P802.16Rev2/D7. The Working Group agreed to issue a new draft P802.16Rev/D8 for a second Sponsor Ballot recirculation. With the Sponsor Ballot results standing as 166 Approve and 0 Disapprove, the WG also requested conditional approval from the IEEE 802 EC to complete Sponsor Ballot and send the resulting draft for RevCom approval. The EC request was granted. The WG intends to complete the final draft by the end of January. A closing report and minutes were issued.

Update: P802.16Rev2/D8 entered IEEE Sponsor Ballot Recirculation (3-18 December).

Relay Task Group
The Relay Task Group completed the resolution of comments arising in IEEE-SA Sponsor Ballot recirculation of P802.16j/D7. The Working Group agreed to issue a new draft P802.16j/D8 for a second Sponsor Ballot recirculation. With the Sponsor Ballot results standing as 154 Approve and 3 Disapprove, the WG also requested conditional approval from the IEEE 802 EC to complete Sponsor Ballot and send the resulting draft for RevCom approval. The EC request was granted. A closing report was issued, with minutes to follow.

License-Exempt Task Group
The License-Exempt Task Group completed the resolution of comments arising in IEEE-SA Sponsor Ballot recirculation of P802.16h/D7a. The Working Group agreed to issue a new draft P802.16h/D8 for a second Sponsor Ballot recirculation. A closing report was issued, with minutes to follow.

Update: P802.16h/D8 entered IEEE Sponsor Ballot Recirculation (4-25 December).

Working Group Ad Hoc Committee on Network Robustness and Reliability

The Working Group received a call for interest on network robustness and reliability. In response, a Working Group Ad Hoc Committee on Network Robustness and Reliability was initiated, with Arnaud Tonnerre as Chair. The Ad Hoc Committee plans to hold conference calls, to be announced on the 802.16 email reflector, and expects to meet at Session #59.

Working Group Reorganization Discussion

The Working Group Chair discussed the possible reorganization of the Working Group in order to continue its progress following the great growth and success it has experienced. All issues may be on the table. The WG Chair announced that an email discussion is planned for the members' email list, with followup meetings planned for Session #59.

Related IEEE 802 Activities

The IEEE 802 Executive Committee chartered an Executive Committee Study Group on TV White Space, through March 2009. The Chair is IEEE 802.16 Member Mat Sherman, who will also serve as the 802.16 WG's liaison to the Study Group. More details about the SG schedule and agenda have been announced.
The IEEE 802 Executive Committee approved the IEEE 802.18 IMT-Advanced Review Process. The proposal was developed in the 802.18 TAG with significant input from 802.16, including comments developed during Session #58 as well as an earlier document submitted during Session #57.
Reports from the IEEE 802 EC and its various subgroups are available at the Plenary Session Report page.

Liaison Activities

The ITU-R Liaison Group met through the week and prepared a number of documents, as noted below. For more details, see the ITU-R Liaison Group Report.

A document developed on updated material for Recommendation ITU-R M.1457 was agreed by the 802.18 TAG and the IEEE 802 Executive Committee as a contribution to ITU-R Working Party 5D for the update to the IMT-2000 recommendation.
A notification of intention to propose an 802.16m-based technology for IMT-Advanced was agreed by the 802.16 WG, 802.18 TAG, and IEEE 802 Executive Committee as the basis of a contribution to ITU-R Working Party 5D.
A Liaison Statement to the WiMAX Forum addressed the updated ITU-R Liason Group Work Plan, with a focus on IMT-Advanced planning.
Another Liaison Statement to the WiMAX Forum addressed the M.1457 update contribution mentioned above.

Other liaison issues during Session #58 included:

The WG issued a statement to the ARIB IMT-Advanced Subcommittee in response to a liaison request.
The WG issued a statement to the IETF RADIUS Extensions Working Group in response to a review request.
The WG issued a Liaison Statement to the WiMAX Forum on 802.16 clarifications in response to an input statement.
The WG reviewed a Liaison Report regarding the 802.21 WG from Liaison Official Peretz Feder. The 802.21 WG requested to co-locate its interim sessions with those of IEEE 802.16, beginning in January 2010.
Mat Sherman was named as the 802.16 WG's liaison to the 802.19 TAG.

Future Meetings

IEEE 802.16's Session #59 will take place on 12-15 Jan 2009 in San Diego, CA, USA. Lei Wang serves as Member Host, with Corporate Host NextWave Wireless Inc. Hotel reservations and session preregistration opened on 21 November, with a deadline of 22 December 2008 at 6 pm PST. Please act soon to ensure a room of your choice and obtain the discounted registration fee for Session #59. A special Session #59 Portal is available to handle hotel, registration, visa information, etc.
IEEE 802.16's Session #60 will take place on 9-12 March 2009 in Vancouver, BC, Canada in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session. Preregistration and hotel reservations are open, with a deadline of 20 February.
IEEE 802.16's Session #61 will take place on 4-7 May in Cairo, Egypt. This will be an Interim Session of the Working Group. The session is hosted by Fadel Digham and Ahmed Shalash, with the National Telecom Regulatory Authority of Egypt (NTRA) as Corporate Host. The host revised the original tentative venue.
IEEE 802.16's Session #62 will take place on 13-16 July 2009 in San Francisco, California, USA in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
The WG accepted a proposal to hold IEEE 802.16's Session #63 in Jeju, Korea on 31 August - 3 September 2009. The session will be hosted by Hokyu Choi, with Samsung as Corporate Host.
The WG will send a delegation to the IEEE 802.18 TAG meeting of 21-25 September 2009 in Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA, where 802.18 will review IMT-Advanced proposals. Other TGm activities may also be convened at this meeting.
IEEE 802.16's Session #64 will take place on 16-19 Nov 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session.

Minutes and Motions
The Working Group Session #58 minutes will be available.

IEEE 802 Executive Committee Actions
The results of the Working Group's requests at the 802 LMSC Executive Committee meeting of 14 November are available.

Documents
The Session #58 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 (12 December 2008 update) 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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