ITU Recommendations

A complete recommendation set of ITU-T can be found in source [3] and the set of recommendations of ITU-R is located in Ref. [4].

Table 2.1 presents the series of ITU-T.

The recommendations of ITU-T are numbered by the prefix shown above, followed by a decimal point and an integer number. An example of recommendations is V.42bis which was adopted – in addition to the modems – also in the early stage GPRS network as an internal data compression method.

In general, the tasks of ITU-T include the creation of the highest level standards 7 requirements of the third and fourth generation mobile communications systems.

The division of the recommendations of ITU-R is presented in Table 2.2.

2.2.2 ETSI

ETSI (The European Telecommunications Standards Institute) produces globally applicable standards for ICT including fixed, mobile, radio, broadcast, Internet, aeronautical and other areas.

In the area of mobile communications, one of the most significant tasks of ETSI has been to create the first GSM and UMTS standards. The GSM standardization work was executed in various groups under the name SMG (Special Mobile Group). Since 1999, 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) has taken over almost all the areas of the further development of GSM and UMTS. Among various other major activities, another important task of ETSI was the acceptance of DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting, Hand-held).

The European Union recognizes ETSI as an official European standards organization, and one of the aims of ETSI is to provide access to European markets. ETSI has goals to produce high quality standards with low time-to-market. In order to achieve these goals, ETSI collaborates with research bodies. ETSI is also active in significant complementary areas, including interoperability of the systems. ETSI provides facilities for the standardization work in the main location, Sofia Antipolis in France.

ETSI clusters represent different ICT standardization activities. The clusters are basically indicating the major component of a global ICT architecture. ETSI is executing standardization work under all the clusters in various Technical Committees (TC) and Working Groups (WG). In addition, the work of a certain TC may be represented in several clusters. Figure 2.1 presents the ETSI clusters.

The ETSI standards creation process is defined in Ref. [5]. It is applied in the new proposal for a standard topic. The initial need for a common standard is indicated by an ETSI member, or typically also jointly by a

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Table 2.1 The ITU-T recommendations

Series Description

A Organization of the work of ITU-T

B Means of expression: definitions, symbols, classification

C General telecommunication statistics

D General tariff principles

E Overall network operation, telephone service, service operation and human factors

F Nontelephone telecommunication services

G Transmission systems and media, digital systems and networks

H Audiovisual and multimedia systems

I Integrated services digital network

J Cable networks and transmission of television, sound program and other multimedia signals

K Protection against interference

L Construction, installation and protection of cables and other elements of outside plant M Telecommunication management, including TMN and network maintenance

N Maintenance: international sound program and television transmission circuits

O Specifications of measuring equipment

P Terminals and subjective and objective assessment methods

Q Switching and signaling

R Telegraph transmission

S Telegraph services terminal equipment

T Terminals for telematic services

U Telegraph switching

V Data communication over the telephone network

X Data networks, open system communications and security

Y Global information infrastructure, Internet protocol aspects and next-generation networks Z Languages and general software aspects for telecommunication systems

Table 2.2 The classification of ITU-R standards

Series Description

BO Satellite delivery

BR Recording for production, archival and playout; film for television

BS Broadcasting service (sound)

BT Broadcasting service (television)

F Fixed service

M Mobile, radio determination, amateur and related satellite services

P Radio wave propagation

RA Radio astronomy

RS Remote sensing systems

S Fixed-satellite service

SA Space applications and meteorology

SF Frequency sharing and coordination between fixed-satellite and fixed service systems

SM Spectrum management

SNG Satellite news gathering

TF Time signals and frequency standards emissions

Standardization and Regulation 27

Better living with ICT Content delivery

Fixed networks Wireless systems

Transportation Connecting things

Interoperability Public safety Home and office Security

Clusters of ETSI

Figure 2.1 The clusters of ETSI.

group of members. This triggers a concrete proposal, which is handled in a technical committee that is related to the initiation. At this point, the proposal is called as a work item (WI).

Technically, this new work item is documented in a form which is visible to all at ETSI. It shows the ETSI deliverable type, title, scope and schedule of the work item, and the person responsible for drafting the standard. The person is called a rapporteur. The form also lists the ETSI members who support the work. After the item has been visible during a certain time period, and no objections have been raised, the work item is considered adopted by the membership, and the actual work of the standard drafting can be initiated. The items typically require various meetings with subject matter experts, and the time for the standardization in this phase can take from some months up to more than one year. After the drafting has been finalized and agreed in a working group, the standard then enters into the appropriate approval process according to its deliverable type.

The aim of this ETSI Standards Making Process (SMP) is to identify a market need and make sure that its compatibility is taken into account in the development. The participating bodies in the process are ETSI Technical Organization, the ETSI members and the ETSI National Standards Organizations. The process is based on the real market need and the standardization of the respective solutions based on democratic decision making. The process is defined in the ETSI Directives.

SMP consists of identifying needs for standardization, mapping a suitable technical committee for the standardization work flow, identification, definition, approval and adoption of work items, drafting and

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editing the contents, and finally the actual publication. The work is done by applying high quality of work and contents, making sure the work advances on time.

SMP is applied to different types of ETSI documents, which are Technical Specifications (TS), Technical Reports (TR), Group Specifications (GS) and Special Reports (SR). Following the ETSI Technical Working Procedure, the draft specification that has been approved and adopted by the TC, is then submitted to the ETSI Secretariat, which publishes the TS, TR or SR. The draft that is approved by TC goes to Membership Approval Procedure (MAP), which applies to ETSI Guides (EG) and ETSI Standards (ES).

There are also One-step Approval Procedure (OAP) and Two-step Approval Procedure (TAP) that are utilized for the creation of European Norms (EN) and European Harmonized Standards (HS).

2.2.3 IEEE

IEEE provides a wide range of publications and standards that make the exchange of technical knowledge and information possible among technology professionals [6]. The contents of these outcomes is delivered through the IEEE Xplore Digital Library. One of the most important areas of IEEE standards is the series of IEEE 802. These standards can be accessed easiest via [7], which contains the following, most relevant documentations (names have copyright):

r _{IEEE 802: Overview & Architecture.} r _{IEEE 802.1: Bridging & Management.} r _{IEEE 802.2: Logical Link Control.} r _{IEEE 802.3: Ethernet.}

r _{IEEE 802.11: Wireless LANs.} r _{IEEE 802.15: Wireless PANs.}

r _{IEEE 802.16: Broadband Wireless MANs.} r _{IEEE 802.17: Resilient Packet Rings.}

r _{IEEE 802.20: Mobile Broadband Wireless Access.} r _{IEEE 802.21: Media Independent Handover Services.} r _{IEEE 802.22: Wireless Regional Area Networks.}

2.2.4 IETF