Organization Charter

NEXTG CHANNEL MODEL ALLIANCE

ORGANIZATIONAL CHARTER

Project Information:

• Project Name: The NextG Channel Model Alliance

• Chair & Sponsor: Dr. Nada Golmie; NIST – Communications Technology Laboratory

• Charter Date: July 9^th, 2015

Mission / Purpose: This charter establishes the working areas, organizational expectations, goals, and participation guidelines for the NextG Channel Model Alliance. The mission of the NextG Channel Model Alliance is to provide a venue to promote fundamental research into measurement, analysis, and statistical representations of mmWave propagation channels. The NextG Channel Model Alliance will also focus on the development of usage scenarios, measurement techniques, and methods for reducing measurement data to channel models.

Scope: The NextG Channel Model Alliance will work to accurately characterize mmWave propagation for frequency bands above 6 GHz. Although the work of this alliance will assist with the development of NextG standards, it will focus on developing more accurate, consistent, and predictive millimeter-wave channel measurement and modeling for long-term, fundamental research. Therefore the activities of this group are not dependent on the submission of channel models for specific wireless systems, equipment, or vendors. The data and products created by this group will be made available to international standards bodies such as 3GPP and/or IEEE 802, but will continue to evolve once initial standards are put in place or these standards bodies select an initial channel model.

Background: There is a pressing industry and research community need for more accurate characterization of propagation in the frequency bands above 6 GHz and improved coordination of existing research efforts across this space. In response to this need, the U.S. National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) has chosen to coordinate a 5G mmWave Channel Model Alliance consisting of industry, academia, and government organizations to support the exchange of information, best practices, and methodologies supporting the development of more accurate, consistent, and predictive channel models. The following drivers outline the environmental need that this alliance looks to address.

Key Causes for Action:

• Need to establish a motivated, coordinated coalition of mmWave and THz researchers that publishes raw measurement data that peer researchers can reuse for a variety of experiments.

• Industry needs mmWave and THz channel models to function optimally under a variety of different usage scenarios and environment.

• Individual research organizations do not have the scale or resources to characterize mmWave and THz propagation across a sufficiently broad spectrum.

• Need for increased partnership and communication between Industry, Academia, and Government.

Legal Status: The NextG Channel Model Alliance is given no legal authority or mandate by NIST, Department of Commerce, or Congressional legislation. This group is intended to be a transparent community of practice where researchers from industry, academia, and government can exchange ideas, approaches, methodologies, and existing work products for mutual benefit.

Working Areas: NIST/CTL and its stakeholders expect the NextG Channel Model Alliance to serve as an honest broker for the channel sounding/modeling research community. This group will maintain an unbiased, independent approach to carrying out detailed mmWave measurement and modeling without compromise due to product and standards development timelines. As it is not currently clear how the wireless community will use mmWave frequencies, this Alliance will consolidate propagation data from researchers around the world. This data will enable more coordinated, systematic characterization of a broad mmWave and Thz frequency spectrum.

NIST/CTL also anticipates the NextG Channel Model Alliance to focus on the following research areas:

• Defining mmWave and THz Usage Scenarios and Parameters for study by the Alliance

• Detailed characterization of propagation in frequency bands above 6 GHz

• Defining methodology and best practices for mmWave and THz channel measurement and modeling

• Characterizing dynamic effects on mmWave and Thz propagation

• Conducting sustained market research and outreach to standards organizations and other industry groups to help prioritize and scope Alliance activities

• Verification and calibration of mmWave and THz channel measurement hardware.

Organizational Expectations:

• Transparency: The NextG Channel Model Alliance will openly publish its mission, research activities, data, and work products. Participation in this group will be open to the public.

• Data Sharing Policy: Participants in this group will be encouraged to share non-sensitive information with fellow working group members to promote the understanding of mmWave and THz propagation in different frequency bands and environments. This group will operate on a data-sharing model that allows members to share sensitive data with fellow “Contributors” to help facilitate efficient collaborative research. Research outcomes including standardization methods, methodology best practices, milestones, reports, and white papers are eligible to be shared with “Participants” or published in an open-source environment. “Contributors” are defined as individuals who have attended at least one in-person Alliance meeting and have committed to contributing resources to Alliance research activities. “Participants” are defined as individuals who have expressed interest in following group activities and/or consuming Alliance research outputs, but have not attended an in-person meeting and/or fail to contribute virtually. Forms will be published on the Alliance Wiki that allow Participants to request Contributor status, and Alliance Chairs reserve the right to add Contributors to sub-working groups at their own discretion.

• Member Discretion in Sharing Information: NIST/CTL understands that some measurement or channel modeling data is considered intellectual property under copyright, and therefore cannot be shared with other working group members. Participants are expected to decide for themselves what information can and cannot be shared freely with the working group and public.

• Active Membership: The success of this group depends on members driving research towards tangible outcomes, exchanging data, and being fully engaged in the collaborative process. NIST/CTL expects all participants to actively contribute data, methodologies and/or work products to the NextG Channel Model Alliance data repository.

• Developing Consensus: This group will publish anecdotal information from participants to benefit the mmWave research community as a whole. NIST/CTL will not use this group as a source of consensus advice or recommendations, and no consensus advice or recommendations resulting from group deliberation is expected or will be solicited.

• Continuous Outreach: The Alliance intends to better understand and support the activities, needs, motivations, and priorities of different players in the mmWave and standards ecosystem to accelerate progress in this community. Contributors will be expected to provide information relating to different approaches and motivations of other stakeholders in this space. Contributors are called to volunteer to serve as Liaisons to other groups to facilitate this outreach and market research. Alliance research, models, and reports will seek to support the activities of standards bodies and other industry groups like 3GPP and IEEE to help incentivize Contributors to actively participate and justify participation in this group to their organizations’ management.

Goals: NIST/CTL envisions that the NextG Channel Model Alliance will provide an open-source data and models repository to the research community. This repository will store raw and processed measurement data, measurement and calibration techniques, channel model methodologies, and specifications for the hardware and instrumentation used to conduct this research. This data will be available to Contributors and will be made publicly available on a case-by-case basis. The envisioned outputs and deliverables for this effort include:

• Processed/calibrated and in some cases raw measurement data

• Documentation of measurement, measurement verification, and calibration techniques

• Documentation of channel modeling techniques

• Prioritized list of key usage scenarios for study by the Alliance

• Verification of hardware

• Improved, predictive channel models

Accountability: The NextG Channel Model Alliance will be accountable to the NIST/CTL Chair(s) for on-time completion of actions and milestones.

Participants: The NextG Channel Model Alliance is a part-time, multi-disciplinary working group open to the public that will serve as a community for academics and industry researchers to share existing work for mutual benefit. Members of the NextG Channel Model Alliance participate in group activities at their own discretion, using their own time and resources – and therefore membership is not bound by any legal contract or agreement. Participation in this consortium will be open to all and no membership fee will be required to ensure the broadest possible participation in working group activities.

Organizational Structure: The NextG Channel Model Alliance is divided into six sub-working groups, and it is envisioned that all groups will routinely collaborate as research demands dictate. These groups include:

1. Steering Committee: Focuses on coordinating sub-working groups and communicating with external organizations such as 3GPP and IEEE.

2. Measurement Methodology: Works across the usage scenario-based working groups to help standardize methodology, calibration, and verification for the entire group.

3. Modeling Methodology: Works across the usage scenario-based working groups to help standardize modeling approaches and capabilities for the entire group.

4. Indoor Usage Scenarios: Focuses on developing use cases, frameworks (statistical vs. geometry-based), and small- and large-scale parameters for indoor usage scenarios. Priority scenarios for this group include: Office, Conference Facility, Factory, Industrial Machine-to-Machine, and Backhaul.

5. Outdoor Usage Scenarios: Focuses on developing use cases, frameworks (statistical vs. geometry-based), and small- and large-scale parameters for outdoor usage scenarios. Priority scenarios for this group include: Urban Micro, Stadium, and Backhaul.

6. Emerging Scenarios: Focuses on developing use cases, frameworks (statistical vs. geometry-based), and small- and large-scale parameters for long-term usage scenarios. Priority scenarios for this group include Chip-to-Chip and Vehicle-to-X.

Actions & Milestones: Deliverables and Work Products will be discussed and developed during sub-working group meetings. Project plans for each sub-working group will be made available on the 5G mmWave Channel Model Alliance Wiki page.

Meetings: NIST/CTL expects sub-working groups to primarily collaborate through virtual meetings, and to hold in-person meetings as needed. Conference call and WebEx details for virtual working group meetings will be published on the Alliance Wiki.

Administration: NIST/CTL will coordinate and facilitate virtual and in-person meetings in coordination with working group leads. NIST/CTL will provide a collaborative Wiki platform to facilitate more effective working group collaboration and communication. The 5G mmWave Channel Model Alliance Wiki page can be found at: https://sites.google.com/a/corneralliance.com/5g-mmwave-channel-model-alliance-wiki/ In addition to the Wiki, NIST/CTL will use an email distribution list to communicate with members. Organization Chair(s) reserve the right to make final decisions regarding the group’s research priorities, meeting cadence, and publication of data and work products.