802.20
A proposed IEEE specification for boosting IP-based data-transmission rates for mobile users in wireless metropolitan area networks (WMANs).
In some cases, this literally means mobile users - 802.20 would support people and devices sitting in trains, subways and automobiles traveling at up to 150 miles per hour.
Formally known as "The Standard Air Interface for Mobile Broadband Wireless Access Systems Supporting Vehicular Mobility - Physical and Media Access Control Layer Specification," 802.20 would support transmission speeds of up to 1M bit/sec in the 3-GHz spectrum band.
"The goal is to have a ubiquitous data wireless network that can support real-time traffic with . . . extremely low latency at 20 milliseconds or less," says Mark Klerer, chairman of the group and executive director of standards at Flarion Technologies, a wireless infrastructure vendor.
Exactly how the standard will operate is still open to debate. Flarion plans to submit a plan to support 802.20 MBWA using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). This is an inverse multiplexing technology that divides a single high-speed channel into multiple parallel low-speed channels that do not overlap. It is similar to dense wavelength division multiplexing, says Craig Mathias, principal at consulting firm Farpoint Group.
In theory, OFDM can offer excellent throughput and reliability, he says. But it's likely other vendors will submit other technical options to support 802.20.
The 802.20 specification will apply to the same band of licensed spectrum that current mobile wireless networks such as AT&T Wireless and Sprint PCS operate in. But Klerer says the 802.20 specification will complement rather than compete with 3G standards, which are geared to voice, rather than data.
From New mobile data standard on the way, Network World, 02/10/03.
Additional resources
IEEE 802.20 working group
Wireless/mobile research center
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