IEEE 802.16 Session #19 Report

Session #19 of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access took place on 20-24 May 2002 at the Sheraton Suites Calgary Eau Claire in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The host was Shawn Taylor of Wi-LAN, which served as corporate host and provided an entertaining and enjoyable social event on Wednesday evening at Calgary's historical Heritage Park.

Summary
At Session #19 of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access, the initiation of two Working Group Letter Ballots was approved: one on Draft 4 of the 802.16a project (2-11 GHz air interface), and another on Draft 1 of the new 802.16c project (10-66 GHz profiles). A new PAR, for a 10-66 GHz Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement, was drafted for submission. The 802.16.2a coexistence project significantly advanced its work expects to have a draft ready for ballot in July. A new 802.16 Study Group on Mobile Broadband Access met for the first time.

Attendance
The list of 87 attendees is available, as is a photo album (photos by Manoneet Singh, Shawn Taylor, and Roger Marks).

P802.16a: MAC Modifications and Additional Physical Layer for 2-11 GHz
Task Group a significantly simplied and streamlined the air interface structure in P802.16a Draft 3, defining support for the adaptive antenna system (AAS) option in all the PHY specifications and integrating the OFDMA PHY options. The Working Group agreed to initiate, by 30 May, a Working Group Letter Ballot (#7) regarding P802.16a Draft 4, with the goal of submitting it for IEEE Sponsor Ballot in July. The group adopted a revised schedule which now anticipates completion of the final draft by November 1.

P802.16c: 10-66 GHz Profiles
Task Group c completed a draft standard that was approved for Working Group Letter Ballot #6, which was launched on 24 May.

TGc also completed a Project Authorization Request to initiate a new project, tentatively numbered P1802.16.1, to contain a Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PICS) for the 10-66 GHz WirelessMAN-SC air interface. The Working Group agreed to submit the PAR to the IEEE 802 Sponsor Executive Committee for July approval.

P802.16.2a: Amendment to Recommended Practice for Coexistence of Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems
Task Group 2 completed its reviews of simulations and is on track to complete its first draft for Working Group Letter Ballot at Session #20 in July. Since the group has received no contributions regarding coexistence in the 2.5 GHz bands, it proposes to delete that band from the project scope unless such contributions arrive in time for inclusion in the July draft.

MBWA: Mobile
The Workikng Group's Mobile Broadband Wireless Access Study Group held its first meeting and completed the review of ten contributions. It began forming consensus on issues to be resolved for the development of a PAR and the accompanying "Five Criteria" statement. It created base text for a project scope statement.

Working Group Liaison Activities

ETSI BRAN Liaison

The Working Group approved a liaison letter to ETSI BRAN in response to two recent letters.

TIP1 Liaison

The Working Group approved a liaison letter to Committee T1P1 in response to a recent letter.

Working Group Membership News

Members Mourn Loss of Walt Roehr

Working Group 802.16 mourns the loss of its Member and friend, Walt Roehr, who died while diving in Australia on 20 May. The Group wrote a letter to the Roehr family, sent a card, and determined to contribute to a family-designated charity in Walt's memory. Some photos of Walt have been posted.

Former 802.16 Members Wed

Former 802.16 Members Phil Guillemette and Rebecca Chan were married on 11 May 2002. The Working Group sends its congratulations and best wishes.

Documents
A Session #19 document list indexes the session documents, including the Session #19 Minutes.

Future Meetings

• IEEE 802.16's Session #20 will take place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on 8-12 July 2002 in conjunction with the July 2002 IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
• The Working Group decided to hold Session #21 on Cheju Island, Korea, on 23-27 September 2002. The session will be hosted by Panyuh Joo of corporate host Samsung Electronics Co. This site was selected from three proposals, including:
  • Montreal, Canada, hosted by Rémi Chayer (Harris Corp. and InterDigital Communications Corp., corporate hosts)
  • Bucharest, Romania, hosted by Marianna Goldhammer (Alvarion Ltd., corporate host)
  The additional proposals were welcomed, and the Working Group hopes to be able to visit those sites in future sessions.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #22 will take place in Koloa, Hawaii on 11-15 November 2002 in conjunction with the November 2002 IEEE 802 Plenary Session.
• IEEE 802.16's Session #23 will take place in January 2003. The dates and location are undecided. Hosting proposals are welcome.

Publicity

• The Working Group approved the IEEE 802.16 WirelessMAN Backgrounder, which is available in HTML and PDF versions.

About IEEE 802.16
The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards is creating the WirelessMAN^TM Standard for wireless metropolitan area networks. IEEE 802.16 is a unit of the 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee, the premier transnational forum for wired and wireless networking standardization. IEEE 802 standards are available for free download at GetIEEE802.

Roger Marks (r.b.marks@ieee.org)
Chair, IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards
tel: +1-303-497-7837
r.b.marks@ieee.org