IEEE 802.15 WPAN™

Task Group 4m (TG4m)

TV White Space Amendment to 802.15.4


 


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Overview

The IEEE 802.15 Task Group 4m (TG4m) is chartered to specify a physical layer for 802.15.4 and to enhance and add functionality to the existing standard 802.15.4-2006 MAC meeting TV white space regulatory requirements. The amendment enables operation in the available TV white space, supporting typical data rates in the 40 kbits per second to 2000 kbits per second range, to realize optimal and power efficient device command and control applications.

Purpose of the Project
The purpose of this amendment is to allow 802.15.4 wireless networks to take advantage of the TV white space spectrum for use in large scale device command and control applications.

The IEEE802.15.4m PAR is found here.

Definition of TV white space
White space refers to underutilized portions of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. Large portions of the spectrum are currently unused, in particular the frequencies allocated for analog television and those used as guard bands to prevent interference between channels.

In the United States, frequency allocations in the RF spectrum are made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In November 2008, the FCC voted unanimously to make unlicensed portions of the spectrum available for use.  At that time, at least three-quarters of the spectrum allocated for analog television was unused. These frequencies become available after the changeover to digital television was complete in February 2009. FCC issued the third MO&O, FCC-12-36A1, with revised adjacent channel emission limits in April. 2012.

In other regulatory domains including United Kingdom (Ofcom), Europe (CEPT (ECC)), Canada (Industry Canada (CRTC)), and Singapore (IDA), new regulations for white space are under establishment.

Current Status

The SG-4TV was approved right before the January 2011 LA meeting. Since then, six meetings were held from January to November in 2011. PAR and 5C was prepared and submitted to EC in July, 2011.

The TG4m group was approved right before the September 2011 Okinawa meeting. Thus the first TG4m meeting was held in Okinawa, Japan, in September, 2011.

A Technical Guidance Document (TGD) for guidance for proposers was prepared. To find the most updated TGD, you can click here.

Eight proposals for baselines for standard drafting were submitted and presented in July 2012. These proposals are:

15-12-0328-01 Proposed Approach for MAC changes for TVWS by BCA

15-12-0332-03 ETRI OFDM PHY Proposal for TG4m

15-12-0333-01 IEEE802.15.4m MAC Proposal: TVWS Multi-Channel Utilization (TMCU) by ETRI

15-12-0334-02 ETRI FSK PHY Proposal for TG4m

15-12-0335-01 MAC proposal for supporting the TVBD network by ETRI 

15-12-0336-02 Full Proposal on PHY for IEEE 802.15.4m by NICT

15-12-0338-00 PHY Proposal to TG4m by SSN

15-12-0340-01 PHY Proposal for the IEEE 802.15.4m by Niigata University

 

In September 2012, four merged proposals were presented and seven documents including these merged proposals in five areas were adopted as the baseline documents as follows:

FSK PHY Merged Proposal document:

15-12-0483-00-004m-tvws-fsk-merged-proposal-draft 

 

OFDM PHY Merged Proposal documents:

15-12-0480-01-004m-task-group-15-4m-ofdm-merged-text-proposal

15-12-0481-01-004m-ofdm-phy-merged-proposal-for-tg4m 

 

Narrowband OFDM PHY Merged Proposal document:

15-12-0511-01-004m-tvws-nb-ofdm-merged-proposal-to-tg4m 

 

MAC Merged Proposal documents:

15-12-0512-02-004m-tg4m-merged-mac-proposal

15-12-0513-00-004m-merged-mac-proposal-summary 

 

Ranging Proposal document:

15-12-0473-01-004m-suggested-baseline-for-optional-tg4m-ranging

 

A working group letter ballot and two recirculation letter ballots were completed from February 2013 to May 2013. The first and second Working Group recirculation ballots to submit the contents of d1P802-15-4m_Draft_Standard and d2P802-15-4m_Draft_Standard to Sponsor Ballot, closed with the following aggregate results with 92 and 25 comments received respectively:


Working Group Recirculation 1 (LB #88)

Working Group Recirculation 2 (LB #90)

Voters

125

125

Voted

101

102

Yes

88

89

No

10

10

Abstain

3

3

% Voters

80.8

80.6

% Yes

89.8

89.9

% Abstain

2.97

2.94

No. of comments

92

25


The Sponsor Ballot and the first recirculation ballot were closed on September 7, 2013 and October 24, 2013 respectively with the draft, d4P802-15-4m_Draft_Standard.The group obtained conditional approval from the EC to submit the P802.15.4m draft amendment to RevCom in November 2013.

 


Sponsor Ballot

Sponsor Ballot Recirculation 1

Voted

115

115

Yes

103

109

No

6

0 (4 No’s changed to Yes)

Abstain

6

6

% Yes

94.5

100

% Abstain

5.2

5.2

No. of comments

388

166

 

A couple of recirculation ballots are expected to fix minor errors before submitting the draft to RevCom in February 2014.

How to participate

  • Participate by registering, attending, and presenting documents at IEEE 802.15 Meetings.
  • Access to the IEEE 802.15 Interest Group, Study Group, Task Group and Working Group pages and documents is available through the IEEE 802.15 Working Group home page
  • IEEE 802.15.4m conducts discussions and announcements of teleconferences and meetings via the IEEE 802.15.4m mailing list. You can learn more about the 802.15 Mailing Lists by pointing your browser here.

Information

Sessions & Milestones

Status

Year

Month

Venue

Agenda

Closing Report

Minutes

SG

2011

Jan

LA

15-11-0038-00

15-11-0077-00

15-11-0160-00

Mar

Singapore

15-11-0177-02

15-11-0311-01

15-11-0306-00

May

Palm Springs

15-11-0343-00

15-11-0431-01

15-11-0430-00

Jul

San Francsico

15-11-0467-03

15-11-0553-01

15-11-0549-00

PAR Approved


TG

2011

Sept

Okinawa

15-11-0603-02

15-11-0704-00

15-11-0719-00

Nov

Atlanta

15-11-0752-02

15-11-0834-00

15-11-0873-00


2012

Jan

Jacksonville

15-12-0002-00

15-12-0069-00

15-12-0077-01

Mar

Waikoloa

15-12-0104-02

15-12-0188-00

15-12-0193-00

May

Atlanta

15-12-0226-02

15-12-0297-00

15-12-0312-00

July

San Diego

15-12-0342-03

15-12-0431-02

15-12-0438-00

Sep

Palm Springs

15-12-0470-02

15-12-0531-02

15-12-0536-00

Nov

San Antonio

15-12-0470-02

15-12-0531-02

15-12-0536-00

2013

Jan

Vancouver

15-12-0692-01

15-13-0079-00

15-13-0091-00

Mar Orlando 15-13-0120-00 15-13-0227-01 15-13-0239-00
May Waikoloa 15-13-0261-00 15-13-0330-00 15-13-0340-00
July Geneva 15-13-0362-01 15-13-0453-00 15-13-0450-00
Sep Nanjing 15-13-0509-00 15-13-0575-01 15-13-089-00
Nov Dallas
15-13-0632-00 15-13-0632-00

Who to contact with questions

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
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