-----Original Message-----
From: Geoff Anderson
[mailto:meerkats@hvc.rr.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003
6:16 PM
To: 'Klerer Mark'; 'Jim
Mollenauer'
Cc: 'Gang Wu';
stds-80220-requirements@ieee.org
Subject: RE: stds-80220-requirements:
Definition of "air interface"
Mark,
Thanks for the comments. I think your discussion
actually made the case for getting rid of the term air-interface because it
really does lack any descriptive information about what we are developing.
Therefore, I would use the language of your definitions with
the following changes:
Definition:
1) The radio-link is the radio-frequency
portion of the transmission path between the wireless terminal (usually portable
or mobile) and the active base station or access point.
2) The radio-link is the shared boundary
between a wireless terminal and the base station or access point.
The introduction to the final standard would read:
This standard specifies the layer 1 and
layer 2 Radio Link Protocol or RLP, between compliant wireless terminals and
base stations.
I don't think there is anything that would preclude us from
using terminology that is already used in other standards. In fact, this
may help many of our 3GPP/2 members understand what it is we are trying to
standardize, since they have already done it.
Best Regards,
geoff
Geoffrey T.
Anderson
Polar Industries,
Inc.
45 Roe Avenue
Cornwall on Hudson,
NY 12520-1403
Phone: 845-534-4589
Fax: 845-818-3513
Cell: 914-843-9572
-----Original
Message-----
From:
owner-stds-80220-requirements@majordomo.ieee.org
[mailto:owner-stds-80220-requirements@majordomo.ieee.org] On Behalf Of Klerer Mark
Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003
4:23 PM
To: 'Jim Mollenauer'; Geoff
Anderson
Cc: 'Gang Wu';
stds-80220-requirements@ieee.org
Subject: RE:
stds-80220-requirements: Definition of "air interface"
I
agree with Jim Mollenauer. Specifically the term RLP as used by Jim Tomcik
actually refers to a very specific protocol used in UMTS. Here is the
definition of RLP:
RLP - Radio Link Protocol
Radio Link Protocol terminates at the MS (Mobile Station)
and the IWF (Interworking Function) generally located at the MSC (Mobile
Switching Centre). It utilizes the reliability mechanisms of the underlying
protocols in order to deliver data. (http://www.mpirical.com/companion/mpirical_companion.html#http://www.mpirical.com/companion/GSM/RLP_-_Radio_Link_Protocol.htm)
I
would like to toss out the following for people to consider.
Considerata:
The word "Interface" is somewhat ambiguous in that we are using it in
the two senses given in Webster's:
2 a
: the place at which independent
and often unrelated systems meet and act on or communicate with each other
<the man-machine interface>
b : the means by which interaction
or communication is achieved at an interface
we seem to be using it in
both the sense of 2a and 2b. This is the root of the difference in the two
definitions that have been shared. So we could speak about an
air-interface and even an air-interface interface.
We have the definition
provided by Gang Wu (via the Intel website) : the air interface is the radio-frequency portion of the circuit
between the cellular phone set or wireless modem (usually portable or mobile)
and the active base station.
And
the one provided by Dan Gal (via the Ericsson web-site): "The air interface is the shared boundary between a
mobile and the base station."
IEEE
100 (The Authoritative Dictionary of IEEE Standards Terms) provides the
following "general definition" [def 4] for "interface": A shared boundary
Suggestion for a way forward:
I would
therefore suggest the following: We define air-interface as:
Definition:
1)
The air interface is the radio-frequency
portion of the transmission path between the wireless terminal (usually
portable or mobile) and the active base station or access point.
2) The air interface is the shared boundary
between a wireless terminal and the base station or access point.
I
am trying to avoid using air-interface interface, and I believe that 2 in
essence is taking a look at the "cross section" of the air interface
between the mobile and base station. I have paraphrased definition one to
remove the term "circuit" and replace it with the more generic
"transmission path" due to the potential connectionless packet nature
of the path.
The
intro/preamble to the actual standard could then read eg:
This
standard specifies the layer 1 and layer 2 protocols of the air-interface
between compliant wireless terminals and base stations. (English to be fixed
and polished when we get there).
In
the requirements document we can put a similar statement in the overview. Note
that the discussion as to whether we indicate what layer a requirement applies
to is a separate issue.
This
is in line with IEEE standards, 3G standards and ISO standards that all use the
term air interface in a similar manner.
Sorry
about this somewhat lengthy epistle. I hope it helps in getting us towards
closure.
Mark
-----Original
Message-----
From: Jim Mollenauer
[mailto:jmollenauer@technicalstrategy.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003
3:04 PM
To: Geoff Anderson
Cc: 'Gang Wu';
stds-80220-requirements@ieee.org
Subject: Re:
stds-80220-requirements: Definition of "air interface"
I respectfully disagree. A protocol and an interface are not the
same thing. A protocol specifies what happens when, and generally
involves several information transfers across one or more interfaces. An
interface is the boundary between two entities, across which information may
flow according to some protocol.
The term "air interface" emphasizes that we are standardizing the
information flow through the air between two systems, and not across some
internal wired interface within one of the systems. Calling it a
"radio link" is confusing: does that imply link layer or physical
layer?
Let's keep "air interface".
Jim Mollenauer
Geoff Anderson wrote:
I think
Jim Tomcik had discussed a term Radio Link Protocol, or RLP during the San
Francisco meeting. After replacing Air Link with Radio Link or Radio Link
Protocol in the document and then re-reading, it seems to make much more sense.
I would
agree with Alan's 10/2 proposal to remove Air Interface and replace with Radio
Link or Radio Link Protocol where it makes sense. Also this decision
would carry forward to all documents of 802.20, as Alan proposed.
geoff
Geoffrey
T. Anderson
45 Roe
Avenue
Cornwall
on Hudson, NY 12520-1403
Phone: 845-534-4589
Fax: 845-818-3513
Cell: 914-843-9572
-----Original
Message-----
From: owner-stds-80220-requirements@majordomo.ieee.org
[mailto:owner-stds-80220-requirements@majordomo.ieee.org]
On Behalf Of Gang Wu
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2003
2:33 PM
To: stds-80220-requirements@ieee.org
Subject: stds-80220-requirements:
Definition of "air interface"
At
least I found one from the web.
"In
cellular telephone communications, the air interface is the radio-frequency
portion of the circuit between the cellular phone set or wireless modem
(usually portable or mobile) and the active base station."