IEEE 802.16 Session #34 Report

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.

• Update: A Ballot Resolution Committee Recirculation was issued on the new draft P802.16e/D5a, with a deadline of 10 January 2005.

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.

• Update: A Call for Comments was issued on the P802.16g Baseline Document, with a deadline of 17 January 2005.
• Update: Recirculation Ballot #16a began on the P802.16f/D2 draft, with a deadline of 10 January 2005.

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.

• Update: An additional Call for Reply Comments was issued regarding comments previously unaddressed, with a deadline of 13 January 2005. The working document incorporating approved comments was prepared, and a Call for Comments was issued on it.
  

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.

• Update: The 802.16h PAR was approved by the IEEE-SA Standards Board on 8 December. The License-Exempt Task Group was created to develop the project. It issued a Call for Contributions with a deadline of 20 January 2005.

Working Group Liaison Activities

• A WG ad hoc group on ITU-R liaisons met to discuss input on several ITU-R issues. A response to an ITU-R WP 8F questionnaire was developed and approved by IEEE 802, with the intent to submit to ITU-R as an IEEE contribution.
• The WG sent a letter to 3GPP2 TSG-S in response to a request request for a liaison relationship with 3GPP2 TSG-S WG5
• The WG sent a letter to 3GPP TSG-SA in response to a request request for a liaison relationship with 3GPP TSG-SA WG5
• Yung Hahn and Panyuh Joo prepared a TTA PG302 status report.
• Mariana Goldhamer, liaison to ETSI BRAN, prepared an ETSI BRAN Update.
• Michael G. Williams, Vice Chair of the IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover Working Group, presented a Call for Interest to 802.16.

Future Sessions

• IEEE 802.16's Session #35 will take place in Sanya, Hainan, China on 24-27 January 2005. The hosts are Lucy Chen and Kathy Woo of Huawei Technologies Co.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #36 will take place on 14-17 March 2005 in Atlanta, GA, USA in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
• The Working Group decided to hold IEEE 802.16's Session #37 in Sorrento, Italy on 2-5 May 2005. The choice was based on a hosting proposal by Giulio Cavalli of host Siemens Communications. The site selection process also considered proposals to hold the session in Beijing and Taipei.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #38 will take place on 18-21 July 2005 in San Francisco, CA, USA in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
• The Working Group decided to hold IEEE 802.16's Session #39 in Taipei on 12-15 September 2005. The choice was based on a hosting proposal by Arthur Wang involving co-hosts ITRI and CyberTan Technology. The site selection process also considered proposals to hold the session in Montreal and Seoul.

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 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 and an archive of previous Session Reports.

Roger Marks (r.b.marks@ieee.org)
Chair, IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards
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