Session #15 of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access took place on 10-14 September 2001 at the Denver Marriott Southeast in Denver, Colorado, USA. The meeting was hosted by Roger Marks, with the support of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society.
Summary
Session #15 kept its focus in spite of the traumatic events during the week. Task Groups 3 and 4 completed comment resolution and finalized important technical committee work. This led to a joint working document that, for the first time, was elevated to Working Group status. A Working Group Review of the document will run through Session #16 in November. The document is constructed as an amendment to the base 802.16 draft being finalized by the Working Group under the leadership of Task Group 1. Resolution of comments in the Sponsor Ballot of 802.16 was completed, and that document remains on track for completion in late October. Task Group 2 held its first meeting to develop an amendment to the recently-published IEEE Std 802.16.2.
The attendance at Session #15 totaled 97.
Task Group 1: P802.16: Standard Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems [10-66 GHz]
On September 9, IEEE Sponsor Ballot of the P802.16 WirelessMANTM Air Interface Draft (which is now available in the IEEE Catalog) closed. By an 88% margin, the draft was approved, pending comment resolution and recirculation. Task Group 1 spent the week producing comment resolutions for recirculation to the Ballot Group. Completion of the P802.16 draft is anticipated before the end of October. Final approval of P802.16 by the IEEE-SA Standards Board is expected on 6 December.
Task Group 3 (P802.16a: MAC Modifications and Additional Physical Layer for 2-11 GHz) and Task Group 4 (P802.16b: MAC Modifications and Additional Physical Layer for License-Exempt Frequencies [WirelessHUMANTM])
Task Groups 3 and 4 resolved all comments received on their joint working document 802.16ab-01/01r1. A number of complex technical issues involving ARQ, OFDM preamble, MAC/PHY interface, and others were resolved. The 802.16 Working Group accepted the comment resolutions and agreed to initiate a formal comment-driven Working Group Review of the revised document (which is to be published by 28 September). A Working Group Letter Ballot is anticipated following comment resolution at Session #16 in November. Task Group 4 also addressed a number of coexistence issues, including FCC NPRM 99-231.
Task Group 2: P802.16.2: Recommended Practice for Coexistence of Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems
Following approval by the IEEE-SA Standards Board on 6 July, IEEE Std 802.16.2 was published by IEEE.
On 17 August, the IEEE-SA Standards Board approved Project Authorization Request P802.16.2a, initiating 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. At Session #15, work began on development of this draft.
Working Group Liaison Activities
Documents
The Session #15 document list indexes the session documents.
The Session #15 Minutes are available.
Future Meetings
About IEEE 802.16
The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards is creating the WirelessMANTM Standard for wireless metropolitan area networks. 802.16 is a unit of the 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee, the premier transnational forum for wired and wireless networking standardization.
Roger Marks (r.b.marks@ieee.org)
Chair, IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards
tel: +1-303-497-7837
r.b.marks@ieee.org