IEEE Modifies Balloting Procedures In IEEE 802.20™ Mobile Broadband Wireless Working Group; Moves Current Draft Forward

Piscataway, NJ - The non-conflicted IEEE 802 Executive Committee (NC-EC) has adopted a motion to immediately change the voting approach within the IEEE 802.20 Working Group on Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA). The new approach requires that all votes and ballots in the working group be cast on the basis of entity affiliation, with a single vote allowed for each entity. After the new procedure was adopted, the Working Group voted to accept the new IEEE 802.20 draft standard, and forward it to a Working Group letter ballot.

The IEEE 802.20 working group is creating an air-interface standard to deliver voice, video and data services to portable computers and other mobile devices at levels comparable to those of wired broadband systems. The standard, IEEE P802.20™, "Standard Air Interface for Mobile Broadband Wireless Access Systems Supporting Vehicular Mobility - Physical and Media Access Control Layer Specification," will boost real-time data transmission rates in wireless metropolitan area networks to 1 Mbps or more. It will do so at a range of at least 15 km from a base station for users traveling up to 250 km/hr.

"The atmosphere and level of cooperation within IEEE 802.20 has been steadily improving. The implementation of the entity/affiliation voting approach provided further momentum in this direction, with the motion to forward the Working Group draft to Letter Ballot approved unanimously by all those who voted in the Working Group," said Arnie Greenspan, IEEE 802.20 Working Group chair.The latest NC-EC actions are among several the IEEE has taken over the past year after conducting an investigation into a lack of transparency, possible dominance, and other irregularities in the MBWA working group.

"This group has made significant progress after being reorganized in September 2006 to ensure a clearly neutral leadership," said Paul Nikolich, IEEE 802® committee chair. "Concerns about dominance have continued, however. While work on the standard has continued to move forward since the reorganization, this change in voting approach will put the IEEE 802.20 Working Group in a better position to advance its work quickly in a fair, open and consistent manner."

In addition to the reorganization, which included the naming of a new Working Group chair and officers, a call for proposals was issued to solicit additional technical contributions for a new draft of the IEEE P802.20 standard. Several corporations responded with content that has been incorporated into a revised draft.
"The initial draft has evolved considerably and now has broader consensus support than the original. We are hopeful that a revised draft of the IEEE P802.20 standard will be ready for sponsor [i.e., formal] ballot in the near future. The new draft, paired with the revised voting approach, will help us ensure that we can complete the IEEE P802.20 standard in a timely manner," Said Greenspan.

IEEE P802.20 is sponsored by the IEEE LAN/MAN Standards Committee within the IEEE Computer Society.

SOURCE: IEEE