IEEE 802.16 Session #34 Report

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Summary
Session #34 of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access took place on 15-18 November 2004 in San Antonio, TX, USA. This was an IEEE 802 LMSC Plenary Session and co-located with sessions of the other IEEE 802 Working Groups and Technical Advisory Groups. The attendance of 367 people broke the 802.16 Working Group record. Membership in the Working Group rose to a record of 219 people.

Mobile WirelessMAN Draft in IEEE-SA Sponsor Ballot
Following Session #33, P802.16e Draft 5 completed its Working Group Ballot and was authorized to proceed to IEEE-SA Sponsor Ballot with a group of 185 individuals. The inital ballot concluded on 4 November with an approval ratio below the 75% minimum requirement, but comment resolution in Task Group e is expected to raise the ratio. Most of the nearly 2000 comments were resolved during Session #34; the others will be considered in an email poll of the membership. Afterwards, all the resolutions will be subject to a formal review of the Working Group, with the next round of comment resolution scheduled for Session #35. The goal of completing the final draft in 2004 will not be met, but completion in the first quarter of 2005 remains feasible. Task Group e issued a closing report.

Network Management Task Group Activities
The new IEEE 802.16 Network Management (NetMan) Task Group held its second meeting and made progress on its two projects. The first draft of the P802.16f project (the Management Information Base [MIB] for fixed service) was the subject of Working Group Letter Ballot #16 during October. Following resolution of 170 comments during Session #34, the approval ratio rose to 94%. A new draft is being prepared for recirculation. Regarding the P802.16g project on Management Plane Procedures and Services, thirteen contributions were received. Following discussion and harmonization, agreement was reached on a plan for the editor to assemble a Baseline Task Group Document that will be subjected to a Call for Comments. The NetMan Task Group issued a closing report and minutes.

Maintenance Task Group Activities
The Working Group's Maintenance Task Group continued addressing comments relevant to developing its draft of a Corrigendum to IEEE Standard 802.16-2004, which was published on 1 October. The Task Group agreed to create a working document and open a call for comments on it. The Maintenance Task Group issued a closing report and minutes.

Conformance Task Group Activities
Addressing the P802.16/Conformance04 project on PICS Proforma for frequencies below 11 GHz, the Conformance Task Group reviewed and discussed its Working Document as well as an extensive contribution it received. A closing report, minutes, and a new Call for Comments were issued.

IEEE 802.16's Study Group on Licensed-Exempt Coexistence
The Working Group's Study Group on Licensed-Exempt Coexistence concluded its work, submitting a draft Project Authorization Request (PAR) for the initiation of a new standardization project P802.16h. The IEEE 802 Executive Committee agreed to forward that PAR to the New Standards Committee (NesCom) of the IEEE-SA Standards Board, where action is expected on 8 December. The Study Group issued minutes.

Working Group Liaison Activities

Future Sessions

Documents
The Session #34 document list includes references to over 350 session documents.

Minutes and Motions
The Working Group minutes are available as IEEE 802.16-04/76. Significant motions drafted for presentation at the Closing Plenary are embedded in the Closing Plenary Agenda. The Working Group's requests at the 802 LMSC Executive Committee meeting of 19 November were approved.

"802.16 News" Mailing List
The "802.16 News" mailing list ("stds-802-16-news") has the sole purpose of distributing major announcements related to the Working Group. Those interested in following the progress of the group but not in the day-to-day details may wish to subscribe. Only the Working Group Chair is eligible to post to the list, and mailings will be rare: once after each bimonthly session and additionally for major news, such as the approval of a new standard. Those subscribing to the stds-802-16 mailing list, for active Working Group participants, need not subscribe to stds-802-16-news since the postings will be redundant.

About IEEE 802.16
The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards has developed and is enhancing the WirelessMANTM 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 and an archive of previous Session Reports.


With the approval of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group, this report was drafted and edited (23 December 2004 update) by:

Roger Marks (r.b.marks@ieee.org)
Chair, IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards
tel: +1-303-497-7837


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