IEEE 802.16 Session #36 Report

Summary
Session #36 of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group (WG) on Broadband Wireless Access took place on 14-17 March 2005 in Atlanta, GA, USA. This was an IEEE 802 LMSC Plenary Session, co-located with sessions of the other IEEE 802 Working Groups and Technical Advisory Groups. The attendance list includes 340 individuals.

IEEE Std 802.16-2004 Now Available for Free Download
IEEE Std 802.16-2004 is available for free download as of 1 April 2005 through the Get IEEE 802® program, along with other IEEE 802 standards including several from IEEE 802.16. The 893-page document, published on 1 October 2004, is entitled IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks - Part 16: Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems.

Task Group e (Mobile WirelessMAN®) Activities
Task Group e resolved comments in the IEEE-SA Sponsor Ballot recirculation of draft P802.16e/D6. A new draft, P802.16e/D7, was prepared for recirculation, with comments to be considered at Session #37. Task Group e issued a closing report and minutes.

Update: IEEE-SA Sponsor Ballot recirculation (see cover letter IEEE 802.16-05/020) was initiated on 12 April, with a deadline of 28 April.

Network Management Task Group Activities
The IEEE 802.16 Network Management (NetMan) Task Group addressed responses to a Call for Comments regarding the P802.16g Baseline Document. Based on comment resolution, a new P802.16g Baseline Document was released for a further Call for Comments. Separately, following the successful completion of Working Group Recirculation Ballot #16b, the draft P802.16f/D3 (the Management Information Base [MIB] for fixed operation), was forwarded by IEEE 802 for IEEE-SA Sponsor Ballot, which runs from 28 March to 27 April 2005. The NetMan Task Group, which also held several meetings with the IEEE 802.21 Handover TAG, issued a closing report and minutes.

Maintenance Task Group Activities
The Working Group's Maintenance Task Group resolved comments received during Working Group Letter Ballot #17, under which the P802.16-2004/Cor1/D1 draft was under review. Based on the comment resolutions, the second draft (P802.16-2004/Cor1/D2) of this Corrigendum to IEEE Std 802.16-2004 was developed and submitted for Recirculation Ballot #17a, closing 22 April. The Maintenance Task Group updated its development schedule and issued a closing report and minutes.

Conformance Task Group Activities
The Conformance Task Group, addressing the P802.16/Conformance04 project on PICS Proforma for frequencies below 11 GHz, did not meet. However, the Working Group, based on previous Task Group activities, decided to adopt a first draft P802.16/Conformance04/D1 and initiate its review in Working Group Recirculation Ballot #18. That ballot closes on 2 May 2005.

Licensed-Exempt Task Group
The Working Group's Licensed-Exempt Task Group held its second meeting to develop the P802.16h draft. After reviewing several contributions, the group issued a working document and a Call for Comments. A closing report and minutes were also released.

Liaison Activities

• José Costa, the WG's liaison to ITU-R, prepared a report of the ad hoc group on ITU-R liaisons. The Working Group forwarded to the IEEE 802 Executive Committee (EC) a Proposed Working Document towards a Preliminary Draft New Recommendation ITU-R M.[8A/BWA]. The document was later approved by the EC and then submitted to ITU-R Working Party 8A as an IEEE contribution.
• The WG sent a liaison reply to ETSI BRAN in response to a BRAN liaison statement and a report presented by Mariana Goldhamer, the WG's liaison to ETSI BRAN. The WG also sent an additional liaison statement to BRAN regarding ITU-R.
• The WG sent a liaison statement to TC5/WG3 of the China Communication Standards Association (CCSA) in response to a CCSA TC5/WG3 progress report presented by Dong Xiaolu. The Working Group was mentioned in liaison documents sent from IEEE 802 to the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry, CCSA, and the China Electronics Standardization Institute.
• The WG sent a liaison statement to PG302 of the Korean Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) in response to a liaison statement from PG302
• The WG sent a liaison statement to 3GPP2 TSG-S and 3GPP TSG-SA5 in response to a liaison statement from 3GPP2 TSG-S and a liaison statement from 3GPP TSG-SA5
• The WG sent a liaison statement to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as a followup to a teleconference among IETF 802.16 officials
• The WG received a statement from the WiMAX Forum but deferred its response due to lack of time.
• The Working Group's liaison to the IEEE 802.21 Handover TAG, Ronny Kim, presented an 802.21 Liaison Report.

Future Meetings

• IEEE 802.16's Session #37 will take place 2-5 May 2005 in Sorrento, Italy. In a change from previous session schedules, the session will begin at 9 am on Monday morning. The Member Host is Giulio Cavalli of corporate host Siemens Communications. On-line registration is open. Hotel reservations are currently being accepted through 25 April.
• 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.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #39 will take place on 12-15 September 2005 in Taipei. The session will be supported by Member Hosts Arthur Wang and Stanley Wang The institutional host is ITRI and the co-host is CyberTAN Technology.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #40 will take place on 14-17 November 2005 in Vancouver, BC, Canada in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
• The Working Group decided to hold IEEE 802.16's Session #41 in New Delhi, India on 9-12 January 2006. The decision was based on a hosting proposal and slide set from Aditya Agrawal of corporate host Beceem Communications.

Documents
The Session #36 document list includes references to several hundred session documents. Draft standards are available with a working group password or by purchase from IEEE-SA.

Minutes
The Working Group minutes are available as IEEE 802.16-05/018.

Working Group Membership
The Working Group Membership grew from 220 to 287. At least 85 Potential Members will be eligible for membership by attending Session #38.

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.

"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.

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