1. History of 802.11s Standardization
September 2007
doc.: IEEE /2408r0
September 2007
History of s Standardization
Date:
Authors:
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola

2. September 2007
doc.: IEEE /2408r0
September 2007
Abstract
A snapshot of the history of the s standardization effort.
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola

3. History of 802.11s Standardization In the beginning
September 2007
doc.: IEEE /2408r0
September 2007
History of s Standardization In the beginning
Nov 2003 – ESS Mesh Study Group created.
Jan 2004 – ESS Mesh Study Group recommends a charter (PAR) and justification (5 Criteria) for an ESS Mesh Networking Task Group.
Mar 2004 – Approval of s PAR (Charter) and 5 Criteria (Justification) by 802 Executive Committee for forwarding to IEEE-SA.
May 13, 2004 – s approved by IEEE-SA.
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola

4. September 2007
doc.: IEEE /2408r0
September 2007
History of s Standardization Main Points of Initial PAR (Charter)
Produce an amendment to the standard creating a Wireless Distribution System with automatic topology learning and dynamic wireless path configuration.
Target number of packet forwarding nodes: ~32
Support unicast and broadcast/multicast traffic.
Use i security or an extension thereof.
Extensible routing to allow for alternative forwarding path selection metrics and/or protocols.
Use the four-address frame format or an extension.
Interface with higher layers and connect with other networks using higher layer protocols.
Limited to the Extended Service Set (AP meshing) case.
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola

5. History of 802.11s Standardization In the beginning
September 2007
doc.: IEEE /2408r0
September 2007
History of s Standardization In the beginning
Jan 2005 – Call for s proposals issued. 35 notices of intent to submit a proposal were received. Call referenced the following documents developed by s:
Usage Models
Functional Requirements and Scope
Comparison Categories and Informative Checklists
July 2005 – 15 proposals actually presented.
Mar 2006 – One Joint Proposal, supported by Motorola, presented and unanimously (vote ) adopted as the baseline for the s standard. Call for informal technical comments issued with 1 May 2006 deadline.
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola

6. History of 802.11s Standardization Use Cases
September 2007
doc.: IEEE /2408r0
September 2007
History of s Standardization Use Cases
Initial list:
Residential, Office, Campus/Community/Public Access, Public Safety, and Car-to-Car.
802.11s voted to remove the car-to-car case and add a military case. The Military and Public Safety cases were almost merged. Final result:
Residential
Office
Campus/Community/Public Access
Public Safety
Military
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola

7. History of 802.11s Standardization Proposal Sponsors
September 2007
doc.: IEEE /2408r0
September 2007
History of s Standardization Proposal Sponsors
Affiliations of authors of the Joint Proposal
Airespider
ATR
BAE Systems
BelAir
Cisco Systems
ComNets
NTT DoCoMo
Firetide
Fujitsu
Hewlett Packard
Huawei
Intel
InterDigital
ITRI
Kiyon
Kyushu University
MITRE
Mitsubishi Electric
Motorola
NextHop
NICT
Nokia
Nortel
NRL
NTUST
Oki Electric
PacketHop
Philips
Qualcomm
Samsung
Siemens
Sony
STMicroelectronics
Swisscom
Texas Instruments
Thomson
Tropos
Wipro
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola

8. History of 802.11s Standardization Getting to the First Letter Ballot
September 2007
doc.: IEEE /2408r0
September 2007
History of s Standardization Getting to the First Letter Ballot
May 2006 – 283 informal comments received from 18 people.
Nov 2006 – The informal comments having been resolved, s Draft D1.0 was sent to its first Letter Ballot.
Jan 2006 – D1.0 failed with a 48.3% approval required and a little over 5,700 comments. (Most Drafts fail their first Letter Ballot and some fail 2 or 3 times before achieving 75% approval and getting into recirculation.)
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola

9. History of 802.11s Standardization Letter Ballot Comment Resolution
September 2007
doc.: IEEE /2408r0
September 2007
History of s Standardization Letter Ballot Comment Resolution
Total
Editorial
Technical
Resolved
Unresolved
Dec-06
5,713
2,841
2,872
Jan-07
3,001
2,712
2,195
646
806
2,066
Mar-07
4,296
1,417
2,468 7
1,828
1,410
May-07
4,818
895
2,474
2,344
Jul-07
5,230
483
2,756
Sep-07
tbd
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola

10. History of 802.11s Standardization Letter Ballot Comment Resolution
September 2007
doc.: IEEE /2408r0
September 2007
History of s Standardization Letter Ballot Comment Resolution
Total
Editorial
Technical
Resolved
Unresolved
Dec-06
0.0%
100.0%
Jan-07
52.5%
47.5%
77.3%
22.7%
28.1%
71.9%
Mar-07
75.2%
24.8%
99.7%
0.3%
56.5%
43.5%
May-07
84.3%
15.7%
72.4%
27.6%
Jul-07
91.5%
8.5%
85.1%
14.9%
Sep-07
tbd
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola

11. History of 802.11s Standardization Resolution of PAR Defect
September 2007
doc.: IEEE /2408r0
September 2007
History of s Standardization Resolution of PAR Defect
The Joint Proposal and all Drafts ignored PAR restriction to AP meshing. This could cause problems late in the process.
Jan 2007 – Motion to amend PAR fails in WG at a lightly attended closing plenary by one vote (74.82% approval) due to inadequate socialization in advance.
Mar 2007 – Motion to amend PAR passes in WG (91.34% approval).
July 2007 – PAR amendment approved unanimously by 802 Executive Committee.
22 August 2007 – PAR amendment approved by IEEE-SA.
Current PAR
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola

12. History of 802.11s Standardization Resolution of PAR Defect
September 2007
doc.: IEEE /2408r0
September 2007
History of s Standardization Resolution of PAR Defect
New PAR allows Mesh Point capabilities to be orthogonal to Access Point capabilities.
Stations
Mesh Points
Access Points
Mesh Access Points
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola
Donald Eastlake 3rd, Motorola