InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[nieves]

IDCC Mentioned:Key Wi-Fi Mesh Standard Solidified



The IEEE standards group working on a new species of 802.11 that will set the stage for interoperable Wi-Fi mesh networks has passed a key milestone with the adoption of a single proposal as the basis for the new standard.

The new standard is key to the battle between Wi-Fi mesh and wireless networks based on IEEE 802.16, such as the so-called “WiMAX” and the ETSI HiperMAN.

The new standard, which will be called 802.11s when it is adopted, will define the wireless LAN medium access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) for “extended service set mesh networking.” In technical terms, the goal is to create a protocol for auto-configuring paths between access pointes (APs) over self-configuring multi-hop topologies in a wireless distribution system (WDS) to support both broadcast/multicast and unicast traffic in an ESS Mesh using the four-address frame format or an extension. Put simply, the standard will extend mobility to access points in a wireless LAN.

Initially, the working group had been deluged with 15 proposals for the standard when it met in July 2005. By September 2005, only four remained, and those had been winnowed down to two sets of ideas in January 2006. The teams coalescing around those two proposals were formidable. The first was the Wi-Mesh Alliance (WiMA), created last year (TelecomWeb news break, July 19, 2005) and led by Nortel. Members include Accton Technology, ComNets, InterDigital Communications, NextHop Technologies, Nortel, Philips, Extreme Networks, MITRE, Naval Research Laboratory, Swisscom Innovations and Thomson. Arrayed against them was an equally scary combine calling itself SEEMesh and backed by Intel, Nokia, Motorola, NTT DoCoMo and Texas Instruments.

With such players involved, observers had predicted a joint compromised proposal couldn’t be hammered out until the end of this year or perhaps early next year. Surprisingly the two have just been merged to create a single joint proposal, which the IEEE working group voted quickly to approve.

"Mesh-networking features will help keep IEEE 802.11, already dominant in the WLAN arena with over 100 million chip sets shipping annually, at the cutting edge of technology for the maximum benefit of its users,” says Mesh Networking Task Group Chair Donald E. Eastlake III. He adds that final approval of the new addition to the 802.11 family of standards is targeted for 2008.

http://www.telecomweb.com/news/1142282646.htm