IEEE 802.16 Session #70 Report

Task Group m (TGm): Advanced Air Interface
Task Group m (TGm) met and completed resolution of comments in Sponsor Ballot of draft P802.16m/D9. P802.16m/D10 will be prepared for recirculation prior to Session #71 in January. The existing IEEE 802.16m Work Plan from 18 March remains accurate. The IEEE 802 Executive Committee granted conditional approval to forward P802.16m to RevCom. The Working Group anticipates that the conditions will be met in early 2011. The TG issued a closing report, with minutes to follow.

Maintenance Task Group
The Maintenance Task Group addressed change requests and updated its database. It also drafted a response to a liaison statement from the WiMAX Forum. The TG issued a closing report and minutes.

GRIDMAN Task Group
The Working Group's GRIDMAN Task Group met to discuss activity under the P802.16n project. The project is amending IEEE Std 802.16 to provide for "Higher Reliability Networks." The WG agreed to adopt the TG's 802.16n System Requirements Document IEEE 802.16gman-10/0038r4 as a baseline. The TG issued a closing report, with minutes to follow.

Machine-to-Machine Task Group
The WG initiated activity under the P802.16p project, which was authorized by the IEEE-SA Standards board of 30 September. The project is amending IEEE Std 802.16 to provide "Enhancements to Support Machine-to-Machine Applications." The WG agreed to adopt the 802.16p System Requirements Document IEEE 802.16p-10/0004r1 as a baseline. A closing report and minutes were issued. The P802.16p PAR was assigned to a new Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Task Group, chaired by Ron Murias.

WG Project Planning Committee
The WG Project Planning Committee met, reviewed contributions, and prepared a report.

Liaison Activities
The ITU-R Liaison Group met through the week and prepared a number of documents. For more details, see the ITU-R Liaison Group Report. Highlights include:

• A statement from ITU-R Working Party 5D provided notification that the final outcome of Steps 4-7 of the IMT-Advanced process included the approval of IEEE"s "WirelessMAN-Advanced" as an IMT-Advanced technology, with plans made to incorporate WirelessMAN-Advanced in draft new Recommendation ITU-R M.[IMT.RSPEC] when it is finalized by ITU-R Working Party 5D at its next meeting (April 2011).
• A Call for Comments was issued regarding a draft IEEE Contribution toward Recommendation ITU-R M.[IMT.RSPEC].
• A liaison statement was issued to external organizations regarding Preparations of the draft IEEE Contribution toward Recommendation ITU-R M.[IMT.RSPEC].
• The ITU-R Liaison Group Workplan was updated.
• Based on an IEEE 802.16 draft, IEEE 802 completed and delivered (2010-12-01) a statement to ITU-R on ITU's use of the term "4G" with respect to IMT-Advanced (see IEEE L802.16-10/0120r1)

A liaison statement to the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) was agreed as a response to a an incoming statement from the MEF.

Working Group Issues
Rakesh Taori was elected as Working Group Vice Chair. Following IEEE 802 EC confirmation, he assumed office on 12 November, for the term though the March 2012 IEEE 802 Plenary. The vacancy arose upon the resignation of Jose Puthenkulam, to whom the Working Group bade farewell.

Future Meetings

• IEEE 802.16's Session #71 will take place on 10-13 January 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan. This Interim Session is sponsored by ITRI and MediaTek. The Member Host is Ching-Tarng Hsieh. The preregistration deadline is 10 December 2011.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #72 will take place on 14-17 March 2011 in Singapore in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
• Session #73 is expected to take place on 16-19 May 2011 in Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. The Member Host is Ron Murias. Corporate sponsorship is solicited.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #74 will take place on 18-21 July 2011 in San Francisco, California, USA in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #75 will take place on 19-22 September 2011. The site was to be determined at Session #70, but the decision was deferred until Session #71. Proposals are solicited. Please see the IEEE 802.16 Interim Session Guidelines.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #76 will take place on 7-10 November 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
• The Future Sessions list and the WirelessMAN Interactive Calendar include all session information through 2012.

Working Group Minutes
The Working Group Session #70 minutes, as recorded by Secretary Scott Probasco, are available as IEEE 802.16-10/0056.

IEEE 802 Executive Committee Actions
The Working Group's requests at the 802 LMSC Executive Committee meeting of 12 November were approved.

Documents
The Session #70 Document Guide includes references to all session documents. Draft standards are available with a working group password or by purchase from IEEE-SA. Most IEEE 802.16 standards are available for free download via the Get IEEE 802® program. See the 802.16 publication list for details of published standards and drafts.

About IEEE 802.16
The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards has developed and is enhancing the WirelessMAN® 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 an archive of previous Session Reports. The IEEE 802.16 Interactive Calendar includes sessions and deadlines.

"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