1. 21-07-0415-00-00001 IEEE 802.21 MEDIA INDEPENDENT HANDOVER DCN: 21-07-0415-00-0000 Title: Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement for 802.21 Date Submitted: November 11, 2007 Presented at the IEEE 802.21 session in Atlanta, GA Authors or Source(s): Juan Carlos Zuniga Abstract: This presentation proposes the addition of a Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PICS) performa to the 802.21 specification.

2. 21-07-0415-00-00002 IEEE 802.21 presentation release statements This document has been prepared to assist the IEEE 802.21 Working Group. 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. This is a contribution by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and is not subject to copyright in the US. The contributors do not have the authority to override the NIST policy in favor of the IEEE 802.21 policy. The contributor is familiar with IEEE patent policy, as stated in Section 6 of the IEEE-SA Standards Board bylaws and in Understanding Patent Issues During IEEE Standards Development http://standards.ieee.org/board/pat/faq.pdf> Section 6 of the IEEE-SA Standards Board bylawshttp://standards.ieee.org/guides/bylaws/sect6-7.html#6http://standards.ieee.org/board/pat/faq.pdf

3. Background The main purpose of creating a technical Standard specification is to provide for interoperability between independent implementers Implementing a system based on an approved standard provides with the cost savings and market acceptance of what we are all aware 3

4. Introduction Existing IEEE 802 Specifications approved as Standard by the IEEE SA, ANSI, and ISO/IEC count with one or multiple normative sections These normative sections specify the set of features that a designer is required to implement in order to comply with the specification Typically, these sections start with a text such as the following: “The supplier of a protocol implementation that is claimed to conform to ISO/IEC 8802-XX shall complete the following Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PICS) proforma.” 4

5. Interoperability Organizations In some cases, there are other organizations that count with interoperability certification programs, e.g. Wi-Fi Alliance: Non-profit organization with the goal of driving the adoption of a single worldwide-accepted standard for high-speed wireless local area networking WiMAX Forum: An industry-led, not-for-profit organization formed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon the harmonized IEEE 802.16/ETSI HiperMAN standard. 5

6. Interoperability for 802.21 The IEEE 802.21 specification is a set of “media access-independent mechanisms that optimize handovers between heterogeneous IEEE 802 systems and between IEEE 802 systems and cellular systems” The scope of 802.21 encompasses several media access technologies and therefore it does not fall into the umbrella of any of the existing media access- specific certification programs 6

7. PICS for 802.21 The only way to provide independent 802.21 implementers with comprehensive guidelines to produce an interoperable 802.21 system is with a normative section defining the interdependencies between the different features defined in the specification The current IEEE P802.21 D7.1 document does not count with such a normative section section In order for 802.21 to become a successful standard, a Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PICS) proforma is needed 7 Re: Comment 488

8. Possible approaches Break down the specification features in functional groups: Client/server features MIH Services (IS, CS. ES) MIH Transports (L2/L3) Link layer technologies Coding type (TLV, RDF) Set of messages (MIH_XX Req, MIH_XX Rsp) Optional features that are specific for a medium access technology might be mandated in 21 for other technologies E.g. 11u transport of 21 over management frames 8

9. Discussion Group’s points of view? 9