N-WEST News #14

N-WEST News #14
National Wireless Electronic Systems Testbed (N-WEST)

April 16, 1999

Topics:

802.16 TASK GROUPS MEETING IN BOULDER ON MAY 10-12
802.16 ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS GO ON-LINE
802.16 COEXISTENCE TASK GROUP SEEKS SPECIFIC INPUT
802.16 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS GROUP SEEKS SPECIFIC INPUT
802.N-WEST STUDY GROUP WINDS DOWN
PARTICIPATION ON NSF BROADBAND ACCESS STUDY PANEL
N-WEST/FCC VISIT
EVENTS IN DALLAS OF APRIL 12-13
NEW 802.16 PUBLICATION
FOUR NEW N-WEST SUPPORTING COMPANIES

802.16 TASK GROUP MEETINGS IN BOULDER, MAY 10-12

An Interim Task Group Meeting of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access (Meeting #0) has been announced. The meeting takes place in Boulder, CO, USA on May 10-12, running from 1 pm on Monday through 5 pm on Wednesday. The meeting is open to all, with a mandatory $50 registration fee. Full details, including logistics and a registration form, are available.

A Final Agenda will be forthcoming. The primary goals of this meeting are:

to write a Project Authorization Request to authorize a standardization effort on Broadband Wireless Access system coexistence (Coexistence Task Group)
to develop a draft System Requirements document that will form the backdrop of an interoperability specification (System Requirements Task Group)
to agree on a framework of Working Group rules

According to 802 rules, "All persons participating in the initial meeting of the Working Group become voting members of the Working Group." In the interpretation of this rule, the initial meeting of 802.16 shall be Meeting #1, which takes place July 6-8 as part of the July 5-9 IEEE 802 Plenary Meeting in Montreal. The May 10-12 meeting has been designated Meeting #0 to recognize that it is not an official voting meeting; all votes taken at this meeting will need to be affirmed at Meeting #1.

802.16 ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS GO ON-LINE

The 802.16 Web Site is now on-line. If you keep a bookmark to the N-WEST web site , you will continue to find a broad base of information on broadband wireless access standards, and the 802.16 site will be only a click away.

The 802.16 email reflector "stds-802-16@ieee.org" is available for discussions of official 802.16 business. Anyone can post to the list, and anyone can subscribe. N-WEST will continue to report information of broad interest through these "N-WEST News" bulletins.

The stds-802-16 reflector traffic is being archived in threaded format, with hyperlinks to attachments.

802.16 COEXISTENCE TASK GROUP SEEKS SPECIFIC INPUT

The 802.16 Coexistence Task Group is preparing a Project Authorization Request (PAR) for submission to the 802 Executive Committee by June 4, 1999. This PAR will outline the scope, time frame, and other details of a future coexistence standard. The Task Group plans to complete a draft PAR, suitable for submission, at its May 10-12 meeting in Boulder. In preparation, the Group is seeking contributions regarding the content of the PAR. The Task Group seeks specific suggestions of text regarding these topics:

Document Type (standard or recommended practice)
Title
Scope
Purpose
Target Completion Date
Responses to 802's "Five Criteria"

In order to define the project, the Task Group intends for the PAR to address several key issues in greater detail. The group seeks specific contributions on these issues, including:

the form by which and degree to which FDD bandplans will be specified
the form by which and degree to which TDD synchronization will be specified
the means by which TDD/FDD coexistence will be specified
the parameters to be specified, including antenna characteristics, radiated power, and power spectral density
the format for specifying coexistence among systems operating on adjacent frequency bands
the format for specifying coexistence among independent systems deployed by a single license holder
the relative burdens on the transmitter and receiver; that is, the balance between limiting transmissions versus recommending susceptibility
the extent to which susceptibility to interference NOT caused by systems compliant to this specification should be specified

Contributions should be submitted by April 30, 1999 using the 802.16 Document Submission Template. Submissions will be considered non-confidential and will be posted for public access. To submit, please see the detailed procedure on the web.

802.16 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS GROUP SEEKS SPECIFIC INPUT

The 802.16 System Requirements Task Group is working on description of system requirements for broadband wireless access systems. It seeks input and review by the industry to ensure that the ultimate 802.16 standard meets industry expectations. The contributions will be used by the Task Group in the development of a System Requirements document, both in on-line discussions and during the 802.16 Interim Task Group meeting on May 10-12, 1999. The Task Group hopes to generate a draft document by July 5th, 1999. The Group requests contributions both concerning a tentative outline and to the content of the various sections. Specifically, the task group seeks content contributions and subsequent review for:

Targeted markets and services
Network topology, interface reference models
External interfaces
Capacity requirements
Other areas of the outline

For consideration at the May 10-12 meeting, contributions should be submitted by April 30, 1999 using the 802.16 Document Submission Template. Submissions will be considered non-confidential and will be posted for public access. To submit, please see the detailed procedure on the web. At the same URL, you will find a detailed version of the tentative outline.

802.N-WEST STUDY GROUP WINDS DOWN

IEEE 802 Executive Committee Study Group Broadband Wireless Access ("802.N-WEST") was chartered on November 12, 1998 terminated on March 11, 1999. In two meetings, involving 97 people from over 70 companies, it:

developed and submitted a Project Authorization Request (PAR) on an "Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems" that was approved by 802 on March 11, 1999 and the IEEE Standards Board on March 18, 1999.
began the development of a PAR on Coexistence for Broadband Wireless Access.
began the development of a Broadband Wireless Access System Requirements document.
intiated the creation of IEEE Project 802.16 on Broadband Wireless Access.

The activities of the Study Group are documented on the 802.16 web site. The documentation, currently in a draft state, includes the minutes of the two meetings and the membership list.

PARTICIPATION ON NSF BROADBAND ACCESS STUDY PANEL

On April 8, Roger Marks participated in a National Science Foundation (NSF) panel tasked to report on the "Last Mile" problem of broadband access to homes and small businesses. The other invited members of the panel in attendance were David Borth, Motorola; Leah Jamieson, Purdue University; Mari Maeda, DARPA; Lawrence Milstein, University of California at San Diego; A.J. Paulraj, Stanford University and Gigabit Wireless Inc. [a new N-WEST Supporting Company]; John Proakis, Northeastern University; Ted Rappaport, Virginia Tech and Wireless Valley, Inc. [a new N-WEST Supporting Company]; David Schriftgiesser, Lucent Technologies; Nelson Sollenberger, AT&T Labs. Also attending was Tom Kalil, Senior Director at the U.S. governments's National Economic Council, and a number of NSF staffers. A panel report, intended to be publicly available, is in development. Marks submitted a document entitled Broadband Wireless Access for the First Mile.

N-WEST/FCC VISIT

On April 7, Roger Marks met for 90 minutes with Dale Hatfield, Chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology at the Federal Communications Commission, in Hatfield's office. They discussed broadband wireless access standardization and Mr. Hatfield's upcoming Keynote Address at the 1999 IEEE Radio and Wireless Conference (RAWCON'99), with which 802.16 plans to co-locate a meeing in early August. Dr. Hatfield is quite open to hearing industry concerns and noted that the FCC is intent on removing regulatory barriers, giving wireless an equal opportunity in broadband access. He is confident that the FCC will not mandate BWA interoperability standards. While it could act to facilitate such standards, he does not believe that such action is necessary in light of the efforts already underway in 802.16 and the support that the National Institute of Standards and Technology is providing for the process.

EVENTS IN DALLAS OF APRIL 12-13

The 1999 IEEE Emerging Technologies Symposium on Wireless Communications and Systems was held April 12-13, 1999 in Richardson, Texas. Many of the talks, including the Panel Session and Plenary Talks, referred to broadband wireless access technology. Events of partciular interest included:

An LMDS Tutorial on April 12 was organized by 802.16 Coexistence Task Group Leader Leland Langston and featured talks by Langston, Roger Marks, and Eli Reese. Marks' talk, on 802.16, generated significant interest in the standards process. Approximately 80 people attended.
A session entitled "Local Multipoint Distribution Service Overview" included several talks. One, by 802.16 Secretary Scott Marin, had been presented at the March meeting of the Study Group that preceded 802.16.
An informal informational meeting regarding 802.16 was held from 7-9 pm on April 12. 13 people attended, 6 of whom have not been previously involved.

NEW 802.16 PUBLICATION

The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access, by R. B. Marks, was published in IEEE Network, March-April, 1999, p. 4.

UPCOMING EVENTS

April 22, 1999, 4 pm: Roger Marks will present a talk on "Broadband Wireless Access Standards" to the Denver/Boulder Chapter of the IEEE MTT Society as a Distinguished Microwave Lecturer. The talk takes place at NIST, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO and is open to all. For information, contact Richard Geyer at 303-497-5852.
April 27, 1999, 11:30 am - 1 pm: Roger Marks will present a talk on "Broadband Wireless Access Standards" to the Pikes Peak Chapter of the IEEE Communications Society as an MTT-S Distinguished Microwave Lecturer. The lunch and talk take place at the County Line Barbecue at 3350 North Chestnut in Colorado Springs, CO. All are invited. For reservations, contact John Meredith (719-590-3382) by 4:00 on April 26.
May 10-12, 1999: Interim Task Group Meetings (Coexistence Task Group and System Requirements Task Group) of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access, in Boulder, CO. Runs from 1 pm Monday through 5 pm Wednesday.
May 25, 1999, 10 am: Roger Marks will present a talk on Planning for Standardized Equipment at the LMDS and Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Conference at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.
May 25, 1999, 6:15 pm: Roger Marks will present a talk on "Broadband Wireless Access Standards" to the Baltimore and Washington Chapters of the IEEE MTT Society as an MTT-S Distinguished Microwave Lecturer. The talk takes place at the Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD and is preceded by dinner at 5:30 pm.
June 13-17, 1999: 1999 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium, Anaheim, California.
July 6-8, 1999 The first formal meeting of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access. The meeting is part of the July 5-9 IEEE 802 Plenary Meeting, Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

FOUR NEW N-WEST SUPPORTING COMPANIES

We now have 67 N-WEST Supporting Companies as we welcome:

Dr. Roger Marks (marks@nist.gov)

N-WEST News #14 National Wireless Electronic Systems Testbed (N-WEST)