Contact: Stuart J. Kerry, Chair of the IEEE 802.11 Working Group

1

DRAFT: 10/12/04

Contact: Stuart J. Kerry, Chair of the IEEE 802.11 Working Group

+1 408 474 7356, .

or

Karen McCabe, IEEE Senior Marketing Manager

+1 732 562 3824,

IEEE INITIATES COMMUNICATION STANDARD PROJECT FOR

CARS, TRUCKS, TRAINS AND OTHER VEHICLES

IEEE P802.11p™ Intended to Enable Wireless Local Area Networks

to Foster Vehicular Safety and New Services, e.g., Mobile Internet

PISCATAWAY, N.J., USA, __ October 2004 – The IEEE has begun a project to develop a draft standard amendment to IEEE Std [rmg1]802.11™-1999 . The amendment, which willto foster wireless communications from vehicles to the roadside and between vehicles. The purpose of the project., which has a target completion date of December 2006. Its purpose, is to open opportunities for advances in collision avoidance, traveler information, toll collection, traffic management and mobile Internet access, among other end uses. Many carautomakers[rmg2] anticipate installation of devices operating underbased on the standard amendment in the 2008 model year.

The standard development project, IEEE P802.11p™, “Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications: Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments,” or WAVE, will support wireless local area networks so carsautomobiles, trucks, trains, ships and other surface vehicles can talk to fixed stations and each other. The network will accommodate vehicles traveling as fast as 200 km/h (125 mph) and separated by distances to one kilometer.

IEEE P802.11p will allow multiple data exchanges in just 4 to 50 milliseconds in utilizing the 5.850-5.925 GHz radio band, a licensed part of the spectrum approved for vehicular wireless LAN use in the U.S. by the Federal Communication Commission[rmg3]. Fixed WAVE hot spots will create bidirectional links that can focus tightly on one car or speak to hundreds of highway vehicles at once across multiple lanes of traffic.

“The main motivation behind WAVE is to make surface transportation safer and more efficient,” says Lee Armstrong, Chair of the IEEE P802.11p Task Group. “It will extend the widely used LAN methods in the IEEE Std 802.11-1999standard to the highway environment.

“This means that, rather than being a stand-alone highway safety protocol[rmg4], WAVE will enable a host of commercial motorist services to be delivered via the Internet or other means. Many state and local government agencies intend to construct highway infrastructures so access points for vehicular WAVE-based radios are widely available. We’ve placed this project on a fast track and expect to begin balloting reviewing an initial draft early in 2005.”

IEEE P802.11p will support the National Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Architecture developed by the US Department of Transportation (DoT). ITS identified WAVE, also known as Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), as a primary mechanism for vehicles to communicate with roadside stations and one another in order to improve highway safety and the flow of traffic. {I think [rmg5]this paragraph ought to be deleted. The first sentence is making a statement about where the project will end up, but I think this is presumptous since I don’t see such language in the PAR. The second sentence essentially says that ITS references “WAVE”, but I think this is inappropriate because there is not even a draft yet. -RBM}

The project will also be coordinated with work underway by ISO Technical Committee 204/Working Group 16, which is evaluating communication media used on vehicles worldwide. IEEE P802.11p will be written for global use and will allow countries to adopt other WAVE frequency bands than isother than those used in North America.

Development of IEEE P802.11p has broad support in the transportation community. Participants in the Working Group for this standard development project include the US DoT and its counterparts in Canada and Mexico, many state and local agencies, automakers, device manufacturers and potential service providers.

IEEE P802.11p is being written in concert with other IEEE WAVE-related projects now underway. These involve IEEE P1609™, which concerns protocols for specific end uses, and IEEE P1556™, which concerns security and user anonymity.

IEEE P802.11p, when approved, will be a part of the IEEE 802.11™ standards family that defines how wireless LAN equipment should be manufactured so equipment from different producers can work together. It will be conducted developed within the IEEE 802.11 Working Group, which is sponsored by the IEEE 802® LAN/MAN Standards Committee of the IEEE Computer Society. For further information, visit:

“I’m pleased to see the application of 802.11 based networks extended to include innovative applications such as Vehicular Environments by the automotive and communications experts,” said Paul Nikolich, Chair of the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee. “The extensive support that this project has is yet another validation of the value of the standards development to our society and economy.”

About the IEEE Standards Association

The IEEE Standards Association, a globally recognized standards-setting body, develops consensus standards through an open process that brings diverse parts of an industry together. These standards set specifications and procedures based on current scientific consensus. The IEEE-SA has a portfolio of more than 870 completed standards and more than 400 standards in development. For further information on IEEE-SA see:

About the IEEE

The IEEE has more than 360,000 members in approximately 175 countries. Through its members, the organization is a leading authority on areas ranging from aerospace, computers and telecommunications to biomedicine, electric power and consumer electronics. The IEEE produces nearly 30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical and electronics engineering, computing and control technology fields. This nonprofit organization also sponsors or cosponsors more than 300 technical conferences each year. Additional information about the IEEE can be found at

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[rmg1]If the year is used Std should should absolutely be used as that is the complete standard number. In this case I would delete the year as P802.11REVma is scheduled to complete before initiation of sponsor ballot, and therefore this project should become an amendment to the then current revision of 802.11 (probably IEEE Std 802.11-2006 based on the PAR forms).

[rmg2]Isn’t automaker preferred over carmaker?

[rmg3]Is the band good for North America or only the US? The approved PAR scope states the former, thus this should be changed to:

“in North America”.

[rmg4]The PAR indicates the project will not address safety and this paragraph confuses that issue. (On my reading I got that it wasn’t stand-alone but still a safety standard.) From the approved PAR: “The standard will not address the safety issues of the cited

example applications above, but will be providing connectivity where the safety issues will be addressed by other

standards or specifications that use the provided vehicular wireless access.”

[rmg5]I did find similar language in the approved PAR to what Roger deleted, though the text in 14a was written as the intent rather than the result. If the deleted text said “IEEE P802.11p is targeted to …” I would have no problem with leaving the paragraph in.

PLEASE UPDATE THE DRAFT PAR ON THE 802.11 SITE TO THE APPROVED PAR, THERE ARE MAJOR DIFFERENCES!