N-WEST News #17
National Wireless Electronic Systems Testbed (N-WEST)

August 26, 1999

Topics:

IEEE 802.16 SESSION #3: BOULDER, COLORADO, SEPT. 13-17

The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access will meet in an extended five-day session from September 13-17 at the Regal Harvest House in Boulder, Colorado. The Coexistence, Systems Requirements, MAC Layer, and Physical Layer Task Groups, as well as several ad hoc committees, will meet. See details on Session #3.

IEEE 802.16 SESSION #2 ADDRESSES SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

The Systems Requirements Task Group of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access met on August 4-6 in Denver, Colorado in conjunction with the 1999 IEEE Radio and Wireless Conference (see Special Report below). The group dealt with 130 comments regarding its draft System Requirments document. Comments on the current draft are invited by August 31 for consideration at Session #3. See details.

MAC AND PHY GROUPS SEEK INPUT

The 802.16 MAC Layer Task Group has issued a Call for Contributions in advance of Session #3. 802.16 Vice Chair Lou Olsen of Teligent is now serving as Acting Chair. Jung Yee of Newbridge Networks is the Acting Vice Chair.

The 802.16 Physical Layer Task Group has also issued a Call for Contributions. Both the MAC and PHY groups have specified a deadline of September 9.

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ADVANCED RADIO TECHNOLOGIES (ISART) ON SEPT. 8-10

The 1999 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies (ISART) will be held at the U.S. Department of Commerce Boulder Laboratories on September 8-10, 1999, the week before 802.16 Session #3. The symposium will focus on state-of-the art and future trends in satellite communication technologies and applications. Session presentations by leading experts in satellite communications from government, industry, and academia will be followed by forward-looking open roundtable discussions. Satellite communications topics include networking, applications, hardware, and propagation. For more information on the symposium and registration, see the ISART Web Site.

UPCOMING TALKS

September 1, 1999, 8:30-9:45 am
As part of the Private and Wireless Show/Wireless Broadband Executive Forum at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver on August 31-September 2, Roger Marks will moderate the "Wireless Broadband Executive Roundtable". The panelists include R.J. Mahadev of US West, Carroll McHenry of Nucentrix, Ray Nettleton of Formus Communications, and Bob Shaw of Wytec.
September 9, 1999, 11:15 - 11:45 am
Roger Marks will speak on "Technology Standardization for Broadband Wireless" during the conference Broadband Computing Beyond the LAN at the Westin Hotel at the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center. The conference runs September 9-10.
October 27, 1999
Roger Marks will address broadband wireless access standards in an MTT Distinguished Microwave Lecture to the Portland MTT/ED Chapter of the IEEE in Portland, Oregon. Contact Ed Godshalk.

NEW N-WEST SUPPORTING COMPANY

We now have 74 N-WEST Supporting Companies as we welcome: - Endgate Corporation

SPECIAL REPORT: 1999 IEEE RADIO AND WIRELESS CONFERENCE (RAWCON'99)

The 1999 IEEE Radio and Wireless Conference (RAWCON'99), held in Denver, Colorado, USA on August 1-4, 1999, again forged new ground in the interdisciplinary areas of wireless communications. Approximately 300 people, from 22 countries, enjoyed an outstanding technical program of 45 oral presentations, 29 poster presentations, a Keynote Address, two tutorial workshops, and two panel sessions, all accompanied by a technical exhibition. N-WEST Director and RAWCON founder Roger Marks again chaired the conference.

TECHNICAL SESSIONS FEATURE PAPERS FROM 12 COUNTRIES

In keeping with its philosophy of integrating the technical disciplines that make up wireless communications, RAWCON again offered single-track sessions starting at the system level and working down to the component level. At the system level, many papers dealt with the myriad factors that affect the number of users a system can serve -- from network management and channel allocation to adaptive modulation, smart antennas, and propagation conditions. At the component level, many design choices in amplifiers, RFICs, modems, and passive components have system-level cost and performance impact that can be understood only by a thoroughly interdisciplinary approach. A number of presentations from the conference are readily available for download in PDF format. These are linked from the agenda.

FCC LEADER SPOTLIGHTS NEW TECHNOLOGY IN KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Dale Hatfield, Chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology at the US Federal Communications Commission, provided a Keynote Address entitled The Regulatory Challenges of New Wireless Technologies: Ultrawideband and Software Defined Radios. He also discussed "the importance of wireless communications - and fixed wireless access in particular - in realizing the pro-competitive, deregulatory, and universal service goals of the Telecommunications Act of 1996." The streaming audio of Mr. Hatfield's address, as well as the prepared text of his talk, is available.

BROADBAND WIRELESS OPERATOR'S FORUM SHEDS LIGHT ON TECHNOLOGY NEEDS

A Broadband Wireless Access Operator's Forum, held on Monday evening after the Banquet, featured three key technical executives from the fixed broadband wireless access industry: They addressed key technical challenges faced by the industry, with an emphasis on equipment requirements. The talks, and the question-and-answer session, were recorded and are available, as are the accompanying slides.

PANEL SESSION EXPLORES WIRELESS STANDARDIZATION

The RAWCON'99 Tuesday Evening Panel Session on Wireless Standardization brought together six leaders of international standardization projects. Streaming audio and prepared materials are available, as are the accompanying slides.

TUTORIAL WORKSHOPS ON SMART ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PERSONAL AREA NETWORKS

RAWCON'99 provided two half-day tutorial workshops with international experts in wireless technology. Sunday afternoon's workshop, on Smart Antenna Technology, was led by Glenn Golden of Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies. The Monday morning workshop, on Wireless Personal Area Networks including Bluetooth and HomeRF, was led by Dr. Robert F. Heile of the GTE Technology Organization.

RAWCON AGAIN ON EE TIMES COVER

Once again, RAWCON was mentioned on the cover of _Electronic Engineering Times_. The August 6 issue includes a 1200-word article entitled Developers Apply Advanced Coding to Wireless: Broadband Radio Developers Demonstrate New Concepts at RAWCON.

RAWCON PROCEEDINGS PUBLISHED

The 1999 IEEE Radio and Wireless Conference Proceedings is a copyrighted 312-page record of the technical agenda of RAWCON'99. You may order this softbound book from the IEEE Service Center.

NEW LEADERSHIP FOR RAWCON2000

After three years of serving RAWCON as Technical Program Chair, Dr. Michael Heutmaker (Lucent Technologies, Princeton, NJ) will assume the role of General Chair for RAWCON2000. Dr. Kari-Pekka Estola, Director of the Laboratory of Electronics at the Nokia Research Center, Helsinki, Finland will take over as Technical Program Chair after four years on the Technical Program Committee. Founder and four-year General Chair Dr. Roger Marks of the National Institute of Standards and Technology will support RAWCON2000 as Exhibition Chair and in an advisory capacity.

RAWCON2000 SET TO RETURN TO DENVER AND MOVE TO SEPTEMBER

RAWCON will move to September for RAWCON2000 on September 10-13, 2000. The change will accommodate the interests of the many international attendees by moving away from the peak holiday and airfare seasons. RAWCON2000 will again take place at the Denver Marriott Southeast, which provided superb facilities and service. The RAWCON2000 Advance Call for Papers is out.

RAWCON2000 INVITES WIRELESS STANDARDS GROUPS TO CO-LOCATE

RAWCON has invited the three wireless Working Groups of the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee to co-locate their meetings with RAWCON2000:
Dr. Roger Marks (marks@nist.gov)