IEEE P802 Handoff ECSG Call For Contributions

                                  802 Handoff ECSG
                               Call For Contributions
                             Tuesday, March 25th, 2003 

On March 14, the SEC approved a motion chartering the 802 Executive Committee Study Group on Handoff.
David Johnston was named as Chair.

The SEC created the 802 Executive Committee Study Group on Handoff to 
      * Consider the possibility of developing a standard specifying a common handoff framework
        applicable to 802 standards.
      * Consider placement of work (in new working group or in 802.1)

The group is authorized to draft a PAR.

This decision followed a Call for Interest at the March meeting and a tutorial last November. If the
work proceeds and becomes successful, it could allow for devices with interfaces to multiple 802
networks to move from one to another (both inter and intra subnet) without losing high-layer
connectivity.

The first meetings will be at the Dallas interim session, May 12-16th.

Contributions are requested. Suggested topics that may be appropriate:

      * Mechanisms for supporting roaming decisions. Either within a mobile device or within network
        devices (E.G. APs or base stations)
      * The type and structure of relevant information that might need to be passed between
	entities within a network
      * Maintainance of compatibility with existing related mechanisms (E.G. 802.11k, 802.11f,
        802.16 handoff)
      * Issues surrounding interworking with upper later protocols, E.G. IPv6, IPv4
      * Mechanisms for establishment and maintainance of security within a roaming context
      * Layer 2 mechanisms to support seamless roaming
      * Mechansims for supporting scaleable roaming and mobility architectures
      * Summary of ongoing / proposed work in SEAMOBY, TRIGTRAN and IRTF's Micro Mobility initiative
        and requirements they might bring to the Handoff SG
      * Summary of L2/L3 handoff schemes in 3GPP networks and/or other IP wireless networks
      * Requirements for supporting roaming of bursty and real time applications
      * Outlines of functional components for active and dormant mode handoffs within and across
        802 wireless technologies
      * Proposals on an appropriate scope for a working group
      * Work on drafting a PAR and 5 critera
      
Ideal submissions would be targetted towards the goals of the group. I.E. establishing the need,
feasibility, scope and motivation for an 802 Handoff group.

David Johnston
email: david.johnston@ieee.org, dj.johnston@intel.com