IEEE 802.16 Session #31 Report

The session was hosted by Rajesh Bhalla of corporate host ZTE Corporation. As noted in a followup letter to the host, the arrangements, including the Wednesday evening banquet, were superb. The host also provided a company facility tour on Friday morning following the session.

Balloting Completed on Final Draft Revision of IEEE Standard 802.16
Balloting concluded on Draft 5, the final draft of IEEE P802.16-REVd, a comprehensive revision of IEEE Standard 802.16 ("Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems") and its two amendments. The draft has been submitted to IEEE's Review Committee (RevCom) for consideration at its meeting of 23 June. After approval by the IEEE-SA Standards Board, anticipated on 24 June, the document will be published as IEEE Standard 802.16-2004 and will replace IEEE Standards 802.16-2001, 802.16c-2002, and 802.16a-2003.

Comment Resolution on Mobile WirelessMAN (P802.16e) Draft
Comments were resolved following the first recirculation of the Working Group Letter Ballot regarding the IEEE P802.16e draft, which will enhance the WirelessMAN air interface to support mobile as well as fixed users. This activity led Task Group e to the development of Draft 3 for a second recirculation. The Task Group appointed ad hoc committees to address two topics - Handoff and Security - and tasked them to consolidate relevant issues raised during the session for submission during the ballot recirculation. The Task Group drafted a modification of the 802.16e Project Authorization Request (PAR) to address some obsolete language and allow for more flexibility. The modified PAR, which anticipates completion of the draft by the end of 2004, was forwarded by the Working Group for IEEE 802 EC consideration during Session #32. The Task Group issued a closing report and minutes.

Publication of Third Conformance Standard
IEEE Standard 802.16/Conformance03 ("Standard for Conformance to IEEE Standard 802.16 - Part 3: Radio Conformance Tests (RCT) for 10-66 GHz WirelessMAN-SC Air Interface") was approved as an IEEE Standard by the IEEE-SA Standards Board on 12 May 2004. This is the IEEE 802.16 Working Group's eighth standard. Publication is expected in July.

No input was received concerning the recently-approved PAR to draft the fourth document in the series, P802.16/Conformance04 (PICS Proforma for frequencies below 11 GHz). Therefore, a new Call for Contributions was issued.

Network Management Study Group Drafts two PARs
The IEEE 802.16 Network Management Study Group met and drafted two PARs, one to develop a Management Information Base for fixed service and another to develop Management Plane Procedures and Services to include both fixed and mobile service. Both were submitted by the Working Group for IEEE 802 consideration during Session #32. The Study Group issued a report and minutes.

Working Group Ad Hoc Commitee on Licensed-Exempt Coexistence
The Working Group's Ad Hoc Commitee on Licensed-Exempt Coexistence met in its efffort to provide the Working Group with recommendations regarding the advisibility of initiating standardization in this area. It issued an activity report and minutes and will meet again during Session #32.

Working Group Liaison Activities

• The WG Chair reported on his letter to the China Communication Standards Association (CCSA) suggesting a meeting during the week of Session #31. He reported on his subsequent positive meeting with Madame Cao Shumin (CCSA's Deputy Secretary-General), Mr. Wen Ku (Director General of the Department of Science and Technology in China's Ministry of Information Industry), and Jim Carlo (IEEE-SA President). Dang Meimei, who chairs the Broadband Wireless Access Working Group (WG3) within CCSA's Wireless Communications Technical Committee (TC5), presented a weel-received liaison report at the 802.16 Closing Plenary in which she suggested the establishment of a liaison relationship and cooperation between 802.16 and TC5. Following the meeting, Madame Cao sent the WG Chair a letter to IEEE 802.

Earlier in the week, the WG Chair also met, along with Jim Carlo, with a group at the Standards Administration of China (SAC), led by SAC Administrator Li Zhonghai. That meeting followed an earlier invitation from the IEEE-SA.

• The WG approved a liaison statement to TTA PG302 (formerly known as PG05), which is addressing portable Internet service (PIS) in Korea. The letter announced the appointment of Yung Hahn as the WG's liaison to TTA302.
• José M. Costa, the WG's ITU-R Liaison, reviewed the documents Characteristics of Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks - Follow up to contribution to ITU-R and Global Radio Standards Collaboration on Wireless Access Systems including Radio Local Area Networks and Ad Hoc Networking.
• The WG reviewed a letter to IEEE 802.16 from ITU-T Study Group 15.

Documents
The Session #31 document list includes references to over 150 session documents.

Minutes and Motions
The Working Group minutes are available as IEEE 802.16-04/29.

Future Meetings

• IEEE 802.16's Session #32 will take place in Portland, OR, USA on 12-15 July 2004 in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #33 will take place in Seoul, Korea on 30 August - 2 September 2004. The host will be Panyuh Joo of Samsung Corporation.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #34 will take place in San Antonio, TX, USA on 15-18 November 2004 in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #35 will take place in January 2005. The site and dates will be determined during Session #32. Proposals are welcome; please see the IEEE 802.16 Interim Session Guidelines.

About IEEE 802.16
The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards has developed and is enhancing the WirelessMAN^TM Standard for wireless metropolitan area networks. IEEE 802.16 is a unit of the IEEE 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