N-WEST News #31
National Wireless Electronic Systems Testbed (N-WEST)

10 August 2001

Topics:

WirelessMAN™ Air Interface Proceeds to IEEE Sponsor Ballot

Document Approved by IEEE Working Group 802.16

The IEEE 802.16 WirelessMAN™ air interface standard project passed another milestone as the IEEE P802.16 "Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems" entered IEEE Sponsor Ballot on August 10. In this final balloting step in the draft's approval process, it will be reviewed by a committee of volunteers who responded to an open worldwide solicitation.

This process follows the successful conclusion, on August 3, of a Letter Ballot by the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access. In that multistage ballot, the group resolved over 1400 comments from members and nonmembers in many countries. Final approval to proceed to Sponsor Ballot was unanimously granted by the IEEE 802 Sponsor Executive Committee on August 9.

The IEEE P802.16 draft includes the Working Group's basic medium access control layer, which will support multiple physical layers for Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks. The draft also includes the group's first physical layer, which addresses frequency bands from 10-66 GHz. Enhancements to P802.16 are underway in the form of amendments P802.16a (for licensed bands from 2-11 GHz) and P802.16b (for unlicensed bands, primarily from 5-6 GHz).

The copyrighted draft is available to the Working Group's 161 Members and 56 Observers as well as to the 43 members of the Sponsor Ballot Group. The draft is slated to soon to be available for sale by the IEEE Standards Department. Beginning six months after publication, it will be available at no charge through the Get IEEE 802™ program.

The ballot runs through September 9. Comments will be resolved at 802.16's IEEE 802.16 Session #15 on 10-14 September in Denver, Colorado, USA.

Joint 802.16a/802.16b Working Document released for Final Task Group Review

On July 30, a joint 802.16a/802.16b Working Document was released for Final Task Group Review through August 27. The document includes the baseline PHY and MAC text for both projects.

Recommended Practice for BWA Coexistence Approved for Publication

The IEEE 802.16.2 "Recommended Practice for Coexistence of Broadband Wireless Access Systems" was formally approved by the IEEE-SA Standards Board on July 6. The document will be published within a few weeks.

Separately, the Sponsor Executive Committee of the IEEE LAN MAN Standards Committee approved Project Authorization Request P802.16.2a to initiate work to enhance Recommended Practice 802.16.2 by including licensed bands from 2-11 GHz and expanding the recommendations for coexistence of point-to-multipoint with point-to-point communications at millimeter-wave bands. The request has been forwarded to the IEEE Standards Board for final approval, which is expected on August 16.

Session #14 Held in Portland, Oregon, USA

IEEE 802.16's Session #14 was held in Portland, Oregon, USA on July 9-13. 140 people attended. The Session #14 Report provides the details.

Upcoming IEEE 802.16 Sessions Planned

Session #15: 10-14 September 2001, Denver, Colorado, USA. The session is hosted by Roger Marks, with the support of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society.

Session #16 will take place on November 12-16, 2001 Hyatt Regency Town Lake, Austin, Texas, USA as part of the IEEE 802 Plenary Session.

Carl Eklund of Nokia has offered to host Session #17 in Levi, Finland on January 21-25, 2002.

New Nonlinear RF Research Center Plans Meeting Follows Session #15

{Note: The meeting described below has been rescheduled to a later date. A briefing for those interested is still being planned. For details, contact Don DeGroot.}

Plans for a new Joint Research Center on Nonlinear Electronics in Wireless at Radio Frequencies (newRF) will be further developed at a meeting in Boulder, CO, USA, scheduled for Friday 14 September 2001, at the end of 802.16's Session #15 in nearby Denver. The newRF Center aims to take advantage of nonlinear modeling and design knowledge at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) and nonlinear network measurement capabilities at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The Center will allow industrial members to select, then fund, graduate research projects. Twenty three people attended a May 23 newRF Informational Meeting gathered for the IEEE International Microwave Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The Center is led by Prof. K.C. Gupta of CU and Dr. Don DeGroot of NIST.

IEEE Conference On Standardization And Innovation In Information Technology (SIIT2001)

The 2001 IEEE Conference on Standardization and Innovation in Information Technology will be held at the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO, USA on October 3-5, 2001. This is a global forum for exploring the complex relationships between standardization and innovation. SIIT2001 is organized by the International Center for Standards Research (ICSR) at the University of Colorado; it is sponsored by IEEE and technically cosponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the IEEE Standards Association, with several other participating organizations. This conference follows a succcessful SIIT1999 in Aachen, Germany. A selective program of 33 papers (out of 47 submitted) in planned. In addition, special speakers include Houlin Zhao (Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, International Telecommunications Union); Scott Bradner (VP for Standards of the Internet Society); and Jim Carlo (Chair of IEEE 802 and Vice Chair of the IEEE Standards Association's Standards Board).

Recent Publications

R. B. Marks and R. E. Hebner, Government Activity to Increase Benefits from the Global Standards System, 2001 IEEE Conference on Standards and Innovation in Information Technology (Boulder, Colorado, USA, 3-5 October 2001).

In the News

An article in August 6 issue of Interactive Week quoted Roger Marks.
Dr. Roger B. Marks
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado, USA