Article: IEEE Standardization for the Wireless Engineer

This article explains the process of standardization in the IEEE Standards Association.It emphasizes topics relevant to the wireless engineer,particularly the IEEE 802 LAN MAN Standards Committee and its three projects defining a Wireless Internet infrastructure. This article was published as “IEEE Standardization for the Wireless Engineer, Roger B. Marks, IEEE Microwave Magazine 2, pp. 16-26, June 2001.” Purpose This document may improve the effectiveness of standards developers by aiding their understanding of the IEEE Standards Association. Notice This document has been prepared to assist IEEE 802.16. It is offered as a basis for discussion and is not binding on the contributing individual(s) or organization(s). The material in this document is subject to change in form and content after further study. The contributor(s) reserve(s) the right to add, amend or withdraw material contained herein. Copyright Permission Copyright ©2001 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Reprinted, with permission, from IEEE Microwave Magazine , Volume: 2, Issue: 2 , June 2001, pp. 16-26. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/ republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE (contact [email protected]). By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it. IEEE Standardization for the Wireless Engineer Standards shape communications technology and drive it into the economy. Who creates those standards? In many cases, the answer is people like you. Many of the key technologies in data communications, particularly in wireless, are developed by the IEEE, and IEEE members have special opportunities to participate in the process, whether or not they attend meetings. This Speaker’s Corner article explains the process of standardization in the IEEE Standards Association. It emphasizes topics relevant to the wireless engineer, particularly the IEEE 802 LAN MAN Standards Committee and its three projects defining a wireless Internet infrastructure. IEEE has a number of active standards projects of interest to the wireless engineer: • Many of the world’s leading standards, including those defining an infrastructure for the wireless Internet, are produced through IEEE. Do you realize that Ethernet, the ubiquitous local area network (LAN), is IEEE Standard 802.3? In fact, the IEEE 802 LAN MAN Standards Committee now has three important wireless standards projects, including the immensely successful IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN standard, the IEEE 802.15 project standardizing BluetoothTM and developing other wireless personal area network standards, and the IEEE 802.16 WirelessMANTM group developing a series of fixed broadband wireless access standards for wireless metropolitan area networks (MAN). While IEEE 802 is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society, the MTT Society cosponsors IEEE 802.16. • The MTT Society has occasionally sponsored standards projects. MTT Technical Committees are a good place to handle the development. For instance, Technical Committee MTT-8 (Filters and Passive Components) is currently developing a standard “Definition of Terms for Microwave Filters.” • IEEE is a leader in the very difficult but vital problem of drafting standards on the biological effects of nonionizing electromagnetic radiation. The work is handled mainly by Standards Coordinating Committees (SCC) that cut across the borders of IEEE Societies. For example, SCC 28 (http:// grouper.ieee.org/groups/scc28) studies “Nonionizing Electromagnetic Energy Safety Standards to 300 GHz.” SCC 34 (“Product Performance Safety”) has active projects in experimental and computational dosimetry for human absorption of electromagnetic energy from wireless handsets. This influential work is critical to wireless and microwave technology. In addition, IEEE is open to creating new standards projects but needs people like you to take the initiative. This article overviews IEEE Standards from the view of a wireless engineer, with a focus on IEEE 802. IEEE Standards Association In addition to its many technical and regional activities, IEEE carries out an active program in standardization through the IEEE Standards Association (IEEESA). IEEESA efforts are accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ANSI oversight ensures that its guiding principles of consensus, due process, and openness are followed. While IEEE-SA is accredited by a U.S. organization, many of its projects are global in scope, and it is increasingly working to internationalize and globalize its procedures. IEEE-SA standards are openly developed with consensus in mind. Participation in their development, and use of them, is entirely voluntary. However, history has shown that standards developed in an open forum can produce high-quality, broadly accepted results that can focus companies and forge industries. IEEE-SA oversees the standardization process through the IEEE-SA Standards Board. Project development is delegated to individual standard sponsors, which are generally units of IEEE technical societies. One of the most important of the IEEE-SA sponsor groups is the IEEE 802 LAN MAN Standards Committee. IEEE 802 LAN MAN Standards Committee The IEEE 802 LAN MAN Standards Committee (http://ieee802.org), which is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society, first met in 1980 to develop a local area network (LAN) standard. It develops and maintains standards for physical (PHY) layers and medium access control (MAC) layers, each of which fits under a common logical link control (LLC) layer. Together, these make up the two lowest layers of the OSI seven-layer model for data networks. IEEE 802 holds week-long plenary meetings three times per year, with attendance on the order of 1,000 people recently. In between these plenaries, most of its active working groups hold interim meetings.