IEEE 802.16 Session #20 Report

Summary
Session #20 of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access took place on 8-12 July 2002 at the Hyatt Regency, Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, along with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session. 96 people attended.

P802.16a: MAC Modifications and Additional Physical Layer for 2-11 GHz
Working Group Letter Ballot #7 was completed, and comments were resolved, regarding P802.16a Draft 4. The 802 Executive Committee granted conditional approval to forward the revised draft for IEEE 802 Sponsor Ballot. Plans call for finalization of the standard by October 2002. The standard will extend the IEEE 802.16 WirelessMAN^TM standard for applicability to 2-11 GHz bands, both licensed and license-exempt, and provide a foundation for the expansion of wireless metropolitan area networks in residential neighborhoods.

Mobile WirelessMAN Study Group and other Activity Initiated
The 802.16 Study Group on Mobile Broadband Wireless Access met for the second and final time. The 802.16 Working Group, with the affirmation of the 802 Executive Committee, created a new 802.16 Study Group on Mobile WirelessMAN; this group will address enhancements to the IEEE 802.16a PHY/MAC to support mobile operation, including cell-to-cell and sector-to-sector handoff capability as well as other protocol and MIB support. The 802 Executive Committee chartered a new 802 Executive Committee Study Group on Mobile Broadband Wireless Access until November 2002.

The 802.16 Working Group voted to open Ad Hoc committees to:

• develop one or more PICS PARs in support of 802.16a by the end of Session #21
• develop a PAR for enhancements to IEEE 802.16/16a for support for nomadic operation, roaming, repeaters, MIB/management, and system profiles by the end of Session #21

P802.16c: 10-66 GHz Profiles
Working Group Letter Ballot #6 was completed, and comments were resolved, regarding P802.16c Draft 1. The 802 Executive Committee granted conditional approval to forward the revised draft for IEEE 802 Sponsor Ballot. This quickly-moving project, which was officially initiated only on May 9, will enhance the development of interoperability tests for systems built to the 10-66 GHz WirelessMAN-SC air interface. Completion is planned for October 2002.

In preparation for the next step in testing, the 802 Executive Committee approved a request to forward, for IEEE-SA approval, Project Authorization Request P1802.16.1 to define a Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PICS) Proforma document for the WirelessMAN-SC air interface. IEEE-SA approval is expected on 15 August.

P802.16.2a: Amendment to Recommended Practice for Coexistence of Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems
The 802.16 Working Group accepted the output of the 802.16.2a Task Group as a draft standard and agreed to initiate a Working Group Letter Ballot seeking to forward it to the next stage of balloting. The Working Group moved to delete the 2.5 GHz band from the scope of the project due to a lack of contributions in this area.

Working Group Liaison Activities

ETSI BRAN Liaison

The Working Group approved a liaison letter to ETSI BRAN following a recent letter from ETSI BRAN.

Working Group Membership News
The Working Group membership roll now numbers 93.

Documents
A Session #20 document list indexes the session documents.

Future Meetings

• IEEE 802.16's Session #21 will take place on Cheju Island, Korea, on 23-27 September 2002. The session will be hosted by Panyuh Joo of corporate host Samsung Electronics Co.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #22 will take place in Koloa, Hawaii on 11-15 November 2002 in conjunction with the November 2002 IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
• The IEEE 802.16 Working Group accepted a proposal from the Wireless Communications Association International (WCA) to host Session #23 on 13-17 January 2003 in San Jose, California, USA. The session will be held alongside the WCA's annual Technical Symposium at the Fairmont Hotel.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #24 will take place in Dallas, Texas, USA on 9-14 March 2003 in conjunction with the March 2003 IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
• The IEEE 802.16 Working Group accepted an offer from Alvarion Ltd. to host Session #25 in May 2003 in Sinaia Romania. The decision was based on a formal proposal targeted at Session #23. The dates are not yet firm. Marianna Goldhammer will host.

About IEEE 802.16
The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards is creating the WirelessMAN^TM Standard for wireless metropolitan area networks. IEEE 802.16 is a unit of the 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee, the premier transnational forum for wired and wireless networking standardization. IEEE 802 standards are available for free download at GetIEEE802.

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