Summary
Session #26 of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access was held on 21-25 July 2003 in San Francisco, CA, USA, along with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session. The site was the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Embarcadero. 81 people attended.
IEEE 802.16 Working Group Elects Ken Stanwood as Vice Chair
At its Opening Plenary, the IEEE 802.16 Working Group elected Ken Stanwood as Vice Chair, filling a vacancy. Three candidates were nominated, and Stanwood avoided a runoff by receiving a majority of the votes. On 25 July, the IEEE 802 Executive Committee (EC) unanimously confirmed the election.
IEEE Standard 802.16a, Extending WirelessMAN™Air Interface to 2-11 GHz, Published
On 1 April 2003, IEEE Standard 802.16a was published by the IEEE-SA. The standard, a non-line-of-sight extension of the global IEEE 802.16 WirelessMAN™ standard for 10-66 GHz published in April 2002, provides for fixed broadband wireless access (BWA) in both licensed and license-exempt 2-11 GHz bands. At the IEEE 802.16 Opening Plenary of 21 July, award plaques were presented to several members active in the development of this standard.
Followup activity continued in Task Group d, which proceeded with a Working Group Letter Ballot and recirculation on a draft of system profiles to support compliance testing related to IEEE Std 802.16a. The Working Group and IEEE 802 Executive Committee (EC) approved a change to the project PAR to convert the project from an Amendment into a Revision. This will allow the published standard arising from the project to incorporate IEEE Stds 802.16, 802.16a, and 802.16c, along with the new material, in one integrated publication. Once the new PAR is approved by NesCom, the new consolidated document will be subjected to a further Working Group Letter Ballot.
Mobile Wireless MAN (802.16e) Project Continues Task Group Review
Task Group e considered its second cycle of comments in a Task Group Review regarding the P802.16e project, which will enhance the WirelessMAN air interface for fixed/mobile support. The results of a Handoff Ad Hoc Committee were reviewed and updated. The Task Group voted to conduct an additional Task Group Review, involving a call for comments.
Interoperability Documentation for 10-66 GHz Proceeds
Task Group C continued its progress toward interoperability documentation for the 10-66 GHz WirelessMAN-SC™ air interface. Work progressed on three projects, which were renumbered by NesCom in a simple scheme:
Approval of Recommended Practice P802.16.2a™ Delayed
Although it passed its IEEE Sponsor Ballot unanimously and was endorsed by IEEE-SA's RevCom, Draft 5 of the P802.16.2a Recommended Practice on Coexistence, including recommendations for 2-11 GHz, was not approved by the IEEE-SA Standards Board. The Board was concerned that the document should have been balloted as a Revision instead of as an Amendment. The document will be reballoted beginning in early August.
Working Group Liaison Activities
A liaison letter from ETSI BRAN was reviewed.
802.16 Requests Approved at EC Meeting
All 802.16 motions were unanimously approved at the 802 EC meeting of 25 July 2003. A summary is available.
Documents and Publications
The Session #26 document list indexes the session documents.
Future Meetings
The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards is developing the WirelessMANTM 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. A list of IEEE 802.16 standards and drafts is available on-line, as is a project milestone summary.
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