IEEE P802.11 - TASK GROUP U - MEETING UPDATE


Status of Project IEEE 802.11u

Interworking with External Networks

Stephen McCann, Chair
Dave Stephenson, Recording Secretary
Necati Canpolat, Technical Editor

February 2011

IEEE 802.11u-2011 was published on 25th February 2011

The project is now complete and this page will shortly be archived. Thank you for everyone's support with this work.

Comment resolution documents and related presentations containing comments for which resolutions have been considered are available here


Page Contents

Project Authorization Request
Background
Objectives and Goals
February 2011
November 2010
September 2010
July 2010
May 2010
March 2010
January 2010
November 2009
September 2009
July 2009
May 2009
March 2009
January 2009
November 2008
September 2008
July 2008
May 2008
March 2008
January 2008
November 2007
September 2007
July 2007
May 2007
March 2007
January 2007
November 2006
September 2006
July 2006
May 2006
March 2006
January 2006
November 2005
September 2005
July 2005
May 2005
March 2005
January 2005
November 2004
September 2004
July 2004
May 2004

PAR (Project Authorization Request)

To develop a standard specifying interworking with external networks

IEEE 802.11u PAR Document

Background

IEEE 802.11u is a task group within the IEEE 802.11 working group that was chartered to allow devices to interwork with external networks, as typically found in hotspots. In this case, interworking refers to MAC layer enhancements that allow higher layer functionality to provide the overall end to end solution. Indeed the detail of the proposed requirements is described in document (05/0822r11).

The overall purpose of IEEE 802.11u is to assist the advertising and connection to remote services beyond the DS and indeed it intends to provide information to the STA about the external network prior to association. IEEE 802.11u provides a “virtual point of presence” for many different networks through a single AP.

IEEE 802.11u allows IEEE 802.11u-compliant products to interwork with external networks beyond the scope of the IEEE 802.11 DS itself. The IEEE 802.11u specification does not tell the adherents what to do with the external networks, as this is truly out of scope of IEEE 802.11; it merely allows the possibility of the upper layers establishing a transparent end to end connection.

Objectives

IEEE 802.11u assists the advertising and connection to remote services beyond the DS. It provides information to the STA about the external network prior to association.

To achieve this IEEE 802.11u will create an amendment to address interworking issues between an IEEE 802.11 access network and any external network to which it is connected.

This must be done in a generic manner without prejudice to any particular networking technology, although there is a tacit assumption that information exchange is achieved through the use of IEEE 802.3.

Upon further analysis of this primary objective, it is clear that interworking, is actually a collection of different functionalities, resulting in a set of smaller individual issues which collectively define interworking.

Specifically these issues (clusters) are currently:

Goals

The goal of IEEE 802.11u is to produce an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 standard to allow a common approach to interwork IEEE 802.11 access networks to external networks in a generic and standardized manner.

It is felt that this will not only help users within home, enterprise and public access markets, but also assist manufacturers and operators to provide common components and services for IEEE 802.11 customers.


November 2010

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

Comment resolution documents and related presentations containing comments for which resolutions have been considered are available here

January 2011 goals


September 2010

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

November 2010 goals


July 2010

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

September 2010 goals


May 2010

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

July 2010 goals


March 2010

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

May 2010 goals


January 2010

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

March 2010 goals


November 2009

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

January 2010 goals


September 2009

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

November 2009 goals


July 2009

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

September 2009 goals


May 2009

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

July 2009 goals


March 2009

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

May 2009 goals


January 2009

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

March 2009 goals


November 2008

Main documents

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

January 2009 goals


September 2008

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

November 2008 goals


July 2008

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

September 2008 goals


May 2008

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

July 2008 goals


March 2008

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

May 2008 goals


January 2008

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

March 2008 goals


November 2007

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

January 2008 goals


September 2007

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

November 2007 goals


July 2007

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

September 2007 goals


May 2007

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

July 2007 goals


March 2007

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

May 2007 goals


January 2007

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

March 2007 goals


November 2006

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

January 2007 goals


September 2006

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

November 2006 goals


July 2006

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

September 2006 goals


May 2006

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

July 2006 Goals


March 2006

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

May 2006 Goals


January 2006

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

Call for Proposals (March 2006)

March 2006 Goals


November 2005

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

January 2006 Goals


September 2005

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

November 2005 Goals


July 2005

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

September 2005 Goals


May 2005

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

July 2005 Goals


March 2005

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

May 2005 Goals


January 2005

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

March 2005 Goals


WIEN Study Group

Wireless Interworking with External Networks


November 2004

Achievements

The main achievements of this meeting were

In addition, the meeting also created a liaison letter response to a review of the IETF document Identity selection hints for Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) as it been previously agreed that this document maybe relevant to the future work of this group

January 2005 Goals


September 2004

Achievements

The main achievement of this meeting was the approval of the PAR and 5 Criteria document by the working group

Initial list of open issues to be addressed, which is not exhaustive, as stated in the PAR

In addition, the meeting also created a liaison letter response to a review of the IETF document Identity selection hints for Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) as it been previously agreed that this document maybe relevant to the future work of this group

November 2004 Goals


July 2004

Achievements

The main achievement of this meeting was the refinement of technical issues, helping to define PAR scope, purpose and roadmap of a future Task Group (IEEE 802.11). These discussions led to an updated open issues list as described below

List of current open issues to be addressed

These issues will now be distilled into forming the PAR and 5 Criteria of a proposed future Task Group.

In addition, the meeting also discussed the creation of liaisons to other bodies, composing a liaison letter to the IETF regarding "Network Detection and Selection" for IEEE 802.11 technology.

September 2004 Goals


May 2004

Motivation

Hotspot use is currently gaining interest not only with ISPs but also with Cellular operators. It will become an increasing larger issue in public communications and it is felt by many that interworking of hotspots to external networks must be addressed by the IEEE 802.11, even if the conclusion of an initial investigation is that further standardization is not actually required.

Initial May 2004 Meeting Objectives

Work to be done

List of current open issues to be addressed


USEFUL LINKS TO OTHER SITES:

IEEE P802.11 WLANs RELATED

OTHER SITES


This page is maintained by Stephen McCann. Comments are welcome.

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