Standards

IEEE 802.15 WPAN Low Rate Alternative PHY
Study Group 4a (TG4a)

The IEEE 802.15 Low Rate Alternative PHY Task Group (TG4a) for Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) defined an amendment to 802.15.4 for two alternative PHYs.

The principal interest is to provide communications and high precision ranging / location capability (1 meter accuracy and better), high aggregate throughput, and ultra low power; as well as adding scalability to data rates, longer range, and lower power consumption and cost. These additional capabilities over the existing 802.15.4 standard are expected to enable significant new applications and market opportunities.

802.15.4a became an official Task Group in March 2004; with its committee work tracing back to November 2002. In March 2005, we selected our baseline specification without enacting our down-selection procedures, and as a result, we confirmed the baseline with 100% approval. The specification is for two optional PHYs consisting of a UWB Impulse Radio (operating in unlicensed UWB spectrum) and a Chirp Spread Spectrum (operating in unlicensed 2.4GHz spectrum).

The committee completed the alternate PHY standard for the applications identified in January 2007 in accordance with the project timeline.   The IEEE-SA Standards Board gave its approval on March 22, 2007 , and the Board of Governors gave the final approval the following day.  After some IEEE format editing, the final standard is expected to be published by the IEEE in July 2007.  Draft copies are usually available on the IEEE-SA web site shortly after Standards Board approval.

Website: IEEE 802.15 WPAN Low Rate Alternative PHY Study Group 4a (SG4a)

DIN Deutsches Institut
 für Normung e. V.

DIN, the German Institute for Standardization, is a registered association, founded in 1917. Its head office is in Berlin. Since 1975 it has been recognized by the German government as the national standards body and represents German interests at international and European level.

DIN offers a forum in which representatives from the manufacturing industries, consumer organizations, commerce, the trades, service industries, science, technical inspectorates, government, in short anyone with an interest in standardization, may meet in order to discuss and define their specific standardization requirements and to record the results as German Standards.

Standardization as undertaken by DIN is a service that aims to benefit the entire community. The results of its work have a significant influence on economic performance at both company and national level. A research project completed in 2000 confirmed the annual benefit to the German economy as being 1% of GNP, or approx. US$15 billion.

DIN Standards promote rationalization, quality assurance, safety, and environmental protection as well as improving communication between industry, technology, science, government and the public domain.

In DIN, standards work is carried out by some 26,000 external experts serving as voluntary delegates in more than 4,000 committees. Draft standards are published for public comment, and all comments are reviewed before final publication of the standard. Published standards are reviewed for continuing relevance every five years, at least.

Website: DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung e. V.

EPC Global

EPCglobal is leading the development of industry-driven standards for the Electronic Product Code™ (EPC) to support the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in today's fast-moving, information rich, trading networks.

It is a subscriber-driven organisation comprised of industry leaders and organisations focused on creating global standards for the EPCglobal Network™.

Its goal is increased visibility and efficiency throughout the supply chain and higher quality information flow between companies and their key trading partners.

Electronic Product Code™ (EPC) is an emerging system that uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for the automatic identification of consumer products. RFID is now being used in everything from automobiles to security pass cards, and it serves a variety of purposes. One of its widespread uses is in devices such as EZ Pass in the US and Liber-T in France that speed the passage of autos through highway toll booths.

Website: EPC Global

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