IEEE 802.16 Session #13 Report

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Session #13 of the IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access took place on 12-15 March 2001 at the Radisson Hotel Orlando
in Orlando, Florida, USA.

Attendance
The attendance totaled 150. An attendance list is available.

Summary
At Session #13, Task Groups 3 and 4 moved toward a consolidated draft in which both licensed and unlicensed operation will be covered in a single document, constructed as an amendment to the base 802.16 draft being finalized by the Working Group under the leadership of Task Group 1. With Task Group 2's Coexistence draft nearing final approval for publication, a Study Group proposed a followup project to expand its scope. Carl Bushue of Sprint became the Working Group's Secretary, and free distribution of IEEE 802 standards has begun.

Task Group 1: P802.16: Standard Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems [10-66 GHz]
A further round of comment resolution was completed; as a result, Draft 3 was refined and prepared for a recirculation ballot. The Working Group continues to expect final resolution to be complete in time to begin IEEE 802 Sponsor Ballot in July. Publication is still anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2001.

Task Group 3: P802.16a: MAC Modifications and Additional Physical Layer for 2-11 GHz
Task Group 3 accepted baseline text for the Single Carrier and OFDM physical layers. A Table of Contents showing a common structure was developed, with the structure allowing for the incorporation of the TG4 PHY.

Task Group 4: P802.16b: MAC Modifications and Additional Physical Layer for License-Exempt Frequencies (WirelessHUMANTM)
Task Group 4 accepted a "strawman" physical layer draft.

Consolidation of Task Groups 3 and 4
Task Groups 3 and 4 concluded an agreement to consolidate their text into a single air interface document. The editorial work will be developed at a special meeting on 7-8 June 2001 in Pullman, Washington, USA hosted by David G. Williams of Advanced Hardware Architectures. At Session #13, the MAC teams of the two groups met only in joint session and worked on a single document.

Task Group 2: P802.16.2: Recommended Practice for Coexistence of Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems
Draft Recommmended Practice 802.16.2 completed Sponsor Ballot, with 100% approval and full comment resolution, on 16 May. The Working Group approved submission of the draft to the IEEE-SA Standards Board's Review Committee (RevCom) for approval during its meeting of 13 June. The approval was subsequently approved by the IEEE 802 Executive Committee. As shown on the schedule, final approval for publication is expected on 14 June.

Coexistence Study Group: Enhancements to P802.16.2: Recommended Practice for Coexistence of Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems
The 802.16 Study Group chartered to develop enhancements to the 802.16.2 Recommended Practice for Coexistence held its first meetings. It developed a draft Project Authorization Request for submission to the IEEE 802 LAN MAN Standards Committee for July approval. The project, if approved, will focus on expanding 802.16.2 to deal with licensed bands from 2-11 GHz and on enhancing the recommendations for coexistence of point-to-multipoint with point-to-point communications at millimeter-wave bands.

Working Group Activities

Coexistence
Working Group members participated in meetings of the IEEE 802 Executive Committee Study Group on Coexistence, which is seeking to determine procedures for coordinating multiple standards that operate in the same unlicensed bands.
Regulatory
Working Group members participated in 802 Regulatory Activities meetings.
Liaison
A liaison letter to ETSI BRAN was approved in response to a liaison letter received from ETSI BRAN.
Secretary
Carl Bushue of Sprint was appointed Secretary of the Working Group, following a term as Acting Secretary.
Distributution of Standards
As a result of a landmark agreement between the IEEE Standards Association and the IEEE 802 Executive Committee, IEEE 802 standards are now freely available for download beginning six months after publication. See the Get IEEE 802 page for details and downloads.

Documents
The Session #13 document list indexes the session documents.

Detailed Minutes

Future Meetings

About IEEE 802.16
The IEEE 802.16 Working Group on Broadband Wireless Access Standards is creating the WirelessMANTM family of standards for wireless metropolitan area networks. 802.16 is a unit of the 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee, the premier transnational forum for wired and wireless networking standardization.


This report was drafted on 18 May and edited by:

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


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