IEEE 802.16 Session #77

IEEE 802.16 Session #77 Report

Working Group Mourns Jim Carlo

The IEEE 802.16 Working Group mourns the loss of its good friend Jim Carlo. As Chair of the IEEE 802 Executive Committee when IEEE 802.16 began in 1998-99, Jim was personally instrumental in mentoring the group to its intial successes. Later, after moving on to other leadership roles in IEEE Standards (including President of the IEEE-SA), Jim became active as a participant in the 802.16 Working Group, holding a membership from 2005-2009. The members acknowledge Jim's many successess in advancing the networking technology and fondly recall his extraordinary warmth, good humor, and friendship.

Session #77 Overview

IEEE 802.16's Session #77 was held on 16-19 January 2012 in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. This Working Group interim session was co-located with the IEEE 802 Wireless Interim.

Attendance

The attendance list includes 40 individuals.

Updated Project Authorizations

On 7 December, the IEEE-SA Standards Board approved the WG's proposals to divide the existing P802.16n and P802.16p amendment projects so that, in each case, new separate amendments (P802.16.1a and P802.16.1b) will be developed with respect to the 802.16.1 standard.

Machine-to-Machine Task Group

At Session #77, the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Task Group resolved comments in WG Letter Ballot Recirculation #33a. Subsequently, following a confirming recirculation, Working Group Letter Ballot #33 was completed, and draft P802.16p/D3 was accordingly submitted for IEEE Sponsor Ballot, through 2012-03-08. At Session #77, the TG also resolved comments in WG Letter Ballot #36. Following successful recirculation, the ballot was completed. With IEEE 802 Executive Committee (EC) approval of 2012-02-17, draft P802.16.1b/D2 was accordingly submitted for IEEE Sponsor Ballot, through 2012-03-11. Comments from both ballots will be addressed at Session #78. The TG issued a closing report.

Maintenance Task Group

Following successful conclusions of WG Letter Ballot #35 and WG Letter Ballot #32, respectively, both the P802.16Rev3 and P802.16.1 drafts satisfied the IEEE 802 EC conditions to proceed to Sponsor Ballot, with both ballots closing on 2012-01-15, just before the Session. The Maintenance Task Group resolved comments, and both drafts proceeded to Sponsor Ballot Recirculation, closing 2012-03-06, in time for comment resolution at Session #78. The TG issued a closing report and minutes.

GRIDMAN Task Group

The Working Group's GRIDMAN Task Group met to progresss the P802.16n andP802.16.1a projects. The WG agreed to progress drafts P802.16n/D1 and IEEE P802.16.1a/D1, respectively, to WG Letter Ballot #37 and WG Letter Ballot #38, both closing on 2012-03-06, in time for comment resolution at Session #78. The TG issued a closing report.

Project Planning Committee

The WG's Project Planning Committee met for two periods during Session #77. In response to three contributions, it updated the Hierarchical Network Study Report . The Committee issued a closing report.

Liaison Activities

The ITU-R Liaison Group, as planned, did not meet.

WirelessMAN-Advanced formally declared as IMT-Advanced by ITU

As announced on 18 January, the ITU (in the ITU Radiocommunication Assembly) concluded its approval of the IMT-Advanced specification, granting the WirelessMAN-Advanced air interface status as "IMT-Advanced". The IMT-Advanced standard has been published as Recommendation ITU-R M.2012. The WirelessMAN-Advanced air interface was first specified in IEEE Std 802.16m and is currently being developed into the standalone IEEE Std 802.16.1. The standard has also been adopted by ARIB, TTA, and the WiMAX Forum.

Future Sessions

IEEE 802.16's Session #78 will take place on 12-15 March 2012 in Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
Session #79 will take place on 14-17 May 2012 in in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in conjunction with the IEEE 802 Wireless Interim.
Session #80 will take place on 16-19 July 2012 in San Diego, California, 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 #77 minutes are available as IEEE 802.16-12-0142-00.

Documents

The Session #77 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® Standards 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 WirelessMAN 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.