TIA COMMITTEE TR-45
MOBILE & PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS (TR-45)
TITLE:
TR-45 Committee Correspondence (Project MESA Liaison Report)
[Agenda Item 12k]
SOURCE:
TIA Staff
2500 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22201
David Thompson
(703) 907-7749
[email protected]
DATE:
December 1 to December 2, 2005, Wailea, Maui, HI
DISTRIBUTION TO:
Participants of Committee TR-45
ABSTRACT:
This contribution provides a focused report to TR-45 regarding Project MESA activities
(NGN broadband capabilities for Public Safety radiocommunications). Please contact
staff with any questions or need of further information.
RECOMMENDATION:
This contribution is provided for information and reference.
Please send any comments/suggestions related to current/future coverage (for TR45) to TIA staff above.
Notices:
The contributor grants a free, irrevocable license to the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) to incorporate text or other copyrightable
material contained in this contribution and any modifications thereof in the creation of a TIA Publication; to copyright and sell in TIA's name any TIA
Publication even though it may include all or portions of this contribution; and at TIA's sole discretion to permit others to reproduce in whole or in part
such contribution or the resulting TIA Publication. This contributor will also be willing to grant licenses under such copyrights to third parties on
reasonable, non-discriminatory terms and conditions for purpose of practicing a TIA Publication which incorporates this contribution.
This document has been prepared by to assist the TIA Engineering Committee. It is proposed to the Committee as a basis for discussion and is not to be
construed as a binding proposal.
Wailea, Maui, HI
December 1-2, 2005
2
TR45/05.12.01.21
Public Safety Partnership Project MESA
Recent/Future Activity:
The last full meeting of MESA was held October 25-28 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

All meeting documents available at:
o
SC: http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/SC/SC11_Edinburgh_2005/
o
SSG SA: http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/SSG_SA/SA11_Edinburgh_2005/
o
TSG SYS: http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/TSG_SYS/SYS06_Edinburgh_2005/

Joint Press Release: http://www.tiaonline.org/media/press_releases/index.cfm?parelease=05-81

Note: Please see Annex 1 (regarding call for technical industry proposals) and Annex 2 (draft MESA
Action Plan).

Summary: The international public safety mobile broadband data communications standardization
partnership (Project MESA) held its eleventh meeting October 25-28 in Edinburgh, Scotland, with 44
participants from North America, Europe and Asia. At the meeting, participants approved a revised
MESA user-defined Statement of Requirements (SoR) document, a system architecture overview
specification and continued working on identifying technical requirements from the SoR, coordinating
technologies that may be applicable to MESA work, and the MayDayML (markup language) initiative.
MESA's ongoing technical work plan involves identifying and specifying next-generation network
capabilities, architectures and technologies – based on global user requirements – primarily for the
public safety and emergency response sectors.
Gianni Redaelli of ICT Center of Excellence for Research, Innovation, Education and Industrial Labs
Partnership and MESA Steering Committee chairman stated, "The MESA meeting proved to be very
successful, resulting in published and approved documents for the SSG SA (Service Specification
Group – Services & Applications) and TSG SYS (Technical Specification Group – System) groups.
There is a growing interest in MESA goals and activities among leading manufacturers, users and
service providers. We are seeing substantive proposals by manufacturers and other industry leaders
which should pave the way for refining the MESA 'system of systems' concept."
Philip Kidner of the British Association of Public Safety Communications Officers (BAPCO), the host
for this meeting and chair of MESA's Service Specification Group, commented, "It is a significant
achievement to publish a set of common requirements agreed on by public safety users from Europe
and the United States. I am pleased to report that a revised and matured SoR for broadband public
safety data has been approved and will be subsequently utilized by the MESA organizational partners
within their standards development process."
TIA and ETSI senior staff observed that the cooperative project MESA and related public safetyoriented activities are not as market-driven as other more commercial endeavors. As the
communications industry continues to see an increase in demand for next-generation communications
for public safety, emergency and disaster support professionals, the sector's need for more innovation
and industry support becomes more evident.
Jens Behrens, of the Copenhagen Fire Brigade and SSG vice chairman noted, "Over the past decade,
the use of computer-based applications in the emergency arena has increased markedly. The deployed
computer-aided dispatch systems are mainly of a proprietary nature. As a consequence, interactions
between different systems usually involve specialized protocol conversions. The MESA MayDayML
initiative seeks to remedy the data exchange situation in the emergency arena. The primary vehicle for
this is the creation of an XML-based emergency data exchange standard."
Wailea, Maui, HI
December 1-2, 2005
3
TR45/05.12.01.21
Jeff Bratcher, of the U.S. Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and TSG SYS chairman
commented, "The approval of the Project MESA System Overview document in conjunction with a
new draft work Item –Project MESA System Specification, will be used in developing the technical
specifications derived from the MESA SoR user requirements. MESA specifications and subsequently
related national, regional and international standards will be utilized by industry and system owners in
their evolution towards next-generation systems."
The MESA approach represents a challenge to the industry, as public safety organizations may require
communications to operate on a variety of networks and systems, from dedicated radio to personal area
networks, via wireless local area networks, to third-generation networks and beyond. Such capabilities
will extend the tools available for emergency communications users, including voice, video and highspeed data in ubiquitous, wide-area, multiple agency or stand-alone networks.
Project MESA is a joint international broadband communications partnership project of two of the
world's leading standards development organizations, ETSI and TIA. MESA is a collaboration between
radio and networking experts from industry, academia, user communities and organizations working in
the fields of law enforcement, fire fighting, homeland security, national security and emergency
preparedness, national/international crime and terror investigation, emergency and medical services
and disaster response, including mass destruction and bio-terrorism. MESA continues to grow in
numbers and diversity due to heightened interest in public safety and disaster response and now has
participation from the United States, Canada, Europe, India, Korea, Australia and Japan. Interest is
also emerging in South America, Africa and with international emergency response-related
organizations. Visit www.projectmesa.org.


TSG SYS activities: MESA Technical Specification Group (TSG) now active in deriving technical
specifications from the MESA SoR user requirements.
o
MESA Work Item descriptions and status available at:
http://portal.etsi.org/Portal_WI/form1.asp?TbId=528&SubTB=528,+529,+533,+609&TABID=&Param=
u2qH4BcSBEvxxeA13J&Alone=1
o
TSG Drafts being developed are freely available at: http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/Drafts/TSG-SYS/
Next full Project MESA meeting: Spring 2006 in the United States.
o
Official MESA #12 Invitation: TBA

Note: Participation in MESA is encouraged, including new Organizational Partners, and industry or
government members. URL: http://www.projectmesa.org/info/participation.htm

FYI--TIA TR-8.8 Update to MESA:
http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/SC/SC11_Edinburgh_2005/SC11_12%20MESA-11_SC_TR8.8%20Update.zip

Documents Approved this Meeting (will be submitted to TIA for transposition):
o
MESA TR SYS0070012v311, System Reference Overview:
URL: http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/Drafts/TSG-SYS/SYS0070012v311/
Current document filename: SYS0070012v127 MESA System Overview.doc
The present document defines a system architecture that is capable of meeting the requirements of nextgeneration public service and public safety agencies. This technical document articulates requirements
that are detailed in the Project MESA Statement of Requirements document and captures other elements
that encompass the overall user communication landscape. Note the MESA Secretariat is still in process
of finalizing document.
o
MESA SA0070001v321, MESA Service Specification Group - Services and Applications Statement of
Requirements (SoR):
URL: http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/Drafts/SSG-SA/SA0070001v321/
Document filename: SA007001v314_SOR.zip
Wailea, Maui, HI
December 1-2, 2005
4
TR45/05.12.01.21
MESA #11 approved a revised user-defined MESA SoR. Approved changes from meeting not yet
finalized by MESA Secretariat -- available soon as TS 70.001 V3.2.1 within the Approved SoR
Specifications folder (URL: http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/Specifications/).
The SoR is the basis (description of common needs/requirements) for functional and technical
specifications and standards platforms that can be installed as either a private system owned by
government or a governmental/commercial partnership that provides priority service to public safety
agencies and possibly secondary service to other commercial clients. It is envisaged that the derived
Project MESA specifications and OP published standards will define robust management and control
systems to ensure secure and reliable operational capabilities for the public safety and public security
users worldwide.
The document reflects the requirements of public service and public safety agencies to have priority
service and system restoration, extremely reliable service, and ubiquitous coverage within a user's defined
service area.

For Information: The chart below is extracted from MESA TSG draft, Identification and derivation of
the Technical Requirements from the SoR and illustrates scenarios that represents possible situations
which PPDR officers could have to face during their work.
Document Filename: DTS/MESA-SYS0070014 V1.0.2 (2004-06)
URL : http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/Drafts/TSGSYS/SYS0070014v311/SYS0070014v102%20Identification_Tech_Reqs_from_SoR.doc
_____
Wailea, Maui, HI
December 1-2, 2005
5
TR45/05.12.01.21
Annex 1
>>> [email protected] 10:00:00 AM 11/17/2005 >>>
Dear Project MESA Members: This message serves as a follow-up to the letter from Philip Kidner titled "Responses from
industry" dated Monday October 31, 2005 (the text is included at the end of this message for your convenience). As
indicated in his letter I am listing below the current locations of the documents that Philip refers to:
1) Project MESA Statement of Requirements:
http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/Drafts/SSG-SA/SA0070001v321/
Document filename: SA007001v314_SOR.zip
2) Project MESA System Overview:
http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/Drafts/TSG-SYS/SYS0070012v311/
Document filename: SYS0070012v127 MESA System Overview.doc
These documents were approved at the MESA #11 meeting in Edinburgh and will transition to the "Specifications"
directory once the ETSI/TIA publication process has completed (approximately 1 month).
As Philip indicated, formal and detailed responses from Industry to these documents are urgently needed to move the
Project MESA objectives forward. The members of the Users group (SSG) are expecting their partners representing
industry (TSG) in Project MESA to provide specific technical system proposals which should be directly related to
addressing the common requirements contained within the Statement of Requirements and adhering to the Project MESA
System Overview.
Project MESA participants and other interested parties must respond by the proposed deadlines or at least provide enough
detail to ensure that their interest is known and that a formal proposal will be forthcoming within a defined timeline.
Companies who are interested in responding to our Project MESA requirements should recognize that Project MESA is
intended to integrate the traditional worlds of Public Safety/Public Protection Radio-Frequency (RF) communications and
the evolving world of wireless high-speed data into an integrated specification that can be converted to global standards.
Project MESA's emphasis is on moving complex data from wireless subscriber units throughout a "Hot-Spot", an
extemporaneous network, or a defined network. Project MESA's intent is not the replacement of traditional voice
communication systems.
During the Project MESA meeting #11 in Edinburgh, two preliminary Technical Proposals were received - one from
Motorola Inc. and one from EADS (both are available at
http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/TSG_SYS/SYS06_Edinburgh_2005/). The users have indicated that there is not enough
specificity to the proposals, such that the SSG and TSG can:
1) determine whether the proposal adequately addresses the requirements outlined in the SoR, and
2) accurately compare and contrast competing or complimentary proposals.
But the Users do feel it is a step in the right direction to have industry begin to provide potential solutions to address their
Requirements.
To reiterate, a deadline of February 28th, 2006 has been adopted for the receipt of industry proposals so that an initial
review can be accomplished prior to the Spring 2006 Project MESA meeting.
Please feel free to contact myself,
Jatin Kadakia (U.S. Vice Chair TSG-SYS) [email protected],
or Jeppe Jepsen (European Vice Chair TSG-SYS) [email protected] for questions or clarifications.
Regards,
Jeff Bratcher
Project MESA TSG-SYS Chairman
[email protected]
Wailea, Maui, HI
December 1-2, 2005
6
TR45/05.12.01.21
Correspondence by MESA SSG Chair to MESA SSG and TSG Members (Industry)
>>> [email protected] 2:11:10 PM 10/31/2005 >>>
Colleagues,
I am writing to you on behalf of all the users participating in Project MESA.
These users wish to re-state and reinforce their commitment to the aims and objectives of Project MESA in
establishing global specifications for mobile broadband communications.
A number of documents have now been produced that set out the users requirements and architecture overview.
A copy of all these documents is available from the Project MESA website:
http://www.projectmesa.org/ftp/Specifications/. The detailed list of documents will also be distributed by the
TSG SYS chairman once the approved locations are identified.
In order to move forward, it is imperative that there is a reaction to these documents from industry. Accordingly
the users expect to receive documented responses, containing specific technical system proposals, which should
be directly related to each of the common requirements contained within the SOR, and include any comments,
critiques, suggestions or requests for further information.
The SSG intends to review each of these proposals with a view to identifying the most appropriate way
forward. It will also respond to any comments, critiques, suggestions and requests for information. It is
expected that this will form the basis for development of any future MESA specifications.
There needs to be an opportunity to conduct a first review these documents prior to our next scheduled meeting
in the spring of 2006. It is therefore absolutely essential that these responses be received before the 28 Feb
2006.
Everyone should note the absolute criticality of this request. These proposals are regarded as an imperative to
moving the process forward and achieving the user goals.
Regards,
Phil Kidner
Chair SSG
Annex 2
Meeting:
Source:
Title:
Date:
Agenda item:
Document for:
MESA SC#11
MESA SC Chair
Action plan
October 28, 2005
09 ter
Information
Memo
To:
From:
Subject:
Project MESA Members & Guests
Gianni Redaelli, MESA Steering Committee Chairman
MESA #11 Action Plan
During the Introductory remarks from the SC Chairman (action item 05) some open issues have been pointed
out. They are summarized hereunder:
1. Are MESA objectives clearly identified? Is “System of systems” concept perfectly defined?
2. When MESA should achieve its final defined goals?
3. MESA wants to cover several different and complex scenarios: emergencies, disasters, monitoring dayby-day, planned events. Different services should be provided, different QoS, different security levels,
different reliability requested, different availability, different network architectures... and we have to
specify the interoperability among the technologies of the system of systems Are we ready to face all
this complexity? Are we organizing the WIs related to these topics in the right way or could it be better
planned defining more WIs, may be with more restricted and more focused goals?
4. Last but not least, how can be MESA perceived by industries (manufacturers, semiconductors
companies, operators, service providers, users…) as a partnership project able to boost their business?
While some of the items could be resolved extemporaneously, most will require some further deliberation on
the part of both the MESA Chair’s and our MESA Members. In light of the complexity of the issues and
importance of the issues we are facing, I felt it was important to outline some project actions.
Project MESA Steering Committee (SC)
I.
Define a list of targeting companies that could be directly involved in the MESA activities and in
the exploitation of the MESA results, starting from the following table
Notices:
The contributor grants a free, irrevocable license to the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) to incorporate text or other copyrightable
material contained in this contribution and any modifications thereof in the creation of a TIA Publication; to copyright and sell in TIA's name any TIA
Publication even though it may include all or portions of this contribution; and at TIA's sole discretion to permit others to reproduce in whole or in part
such contribution or the resulting TIA Publication. This contributor will also be willing to grant licenses under such copyrights to third parties on
reasonable, non-discriminatory terms and conditions for purpose of practicing a TIA Publication which incorporates this contribution.
This document has been prepared by to assist the TIA Engineering Committee. It is proposed to the Committee as a basis for discussion and is not to be
construed as a binding proposal.
Wailea, Maui, HI
December 1-2, 2005
Manufacturers
Alcatel
Avaya
Cisco
EADS
Ericsson
EF Johnson
Lucent
M/A-com
Motorola
Nokia
Nortel
Qualcomm
Selex
Siemens
Thales
Tyco
…
A.
TR45/05.12.01.21
2
Operators
Verizon
Vodafone
...
Semiconductors
Service Providers
Users
INTEL
?
EU users
STMicroelectronics ...
...
...
EADS
EADS
EADS
EADS
Enrich the list for consideration by Project MESA Steering Committee.
Comments/revision by November 30, 2005.
II.
Define more in detail the MESA mission with highlights of project goals, timelines, active WIs,
advantages for all potential players to participate actively in MESA activities, …. The final
whitepaper will represent the formal MESA Project document for external communication
A.
Draft document will be completed for Steering Committee approval by December 15,
2005 from the contributions from the TSG SYS and SSG SA.
III.
Create an official Project MESA presentation starting from the mission document to be used in
public events.
A.
Draft presentation will be completed for Steering Committee approval by January 15,
2006 with the contribution of the TSG and SSG officials.
IV.
Update of the WEB pages by the MESA secretariat reusing a standard template to reduce
resource effort needed
A.
Outline of the MESA WEB pages will be completed by the MESA secretariat by
December 31, 2005
B.
Approval of the Steering Committee and of the TSG SYS and SSG SA officials by
January 31, 2006
C.
Upload of the updated and new contents and contributions by February 28, 2005.
V.
Organize of a workshop (one in Europe and one in the North America?) by the next MESA
meeting
A.
Decision postponed. Need further information to define the target. Decision by
November 30, 2005
VI.
Additional involvement/liaison between MESA and external standards bodies, industry groups,
etc.
A.
Schedule of relevant external meetings for the next 6 months and proposed attendees and
or presentations from Project MESA.
Wailea, Maui, HI
December 1-2, 2005
VII.
3
TR45/05.12.01.21
The Chair of the Project MESA Steering Committee with the support of the SSG Chair and the
TSG Chair will circulate a monthly MESA progress report, including activities carried out and
open action items
A. Report will be circulated by e-mail to all MESA members.
VIII. The Project MESA Steering Committee will prepare a formal agenda for MESA #12 (Spring 2006)
by March 15, 2006 and will include the following:
A. The number, type, and time allocated for presentations that will be allocated.
B.
Time allocated to work on specific work items.
C.
Allocation of time for breakout sessions, as may be required.
D. Schedule for the TSG and SSG committees.
E.
Related work items for each committee.
Project MESA Service Specification Group (SSG)
I.
Define in detail the SSG activities goals highlighting timelines, active WIs, advantages for all
potential players to participate actively in the SSG MESA activities, ….
A. Draft document will be provided for Steering Committee approval by December 10, 2005.
II.
The Project MESA SSG is committed to reviewing and completing, as appropriate, the action items
contained below in action item TSG n’ II (in TSG work item DTS/MESA-SYS0070014v311
Identification and derivation of the System Technical Requirements from the SoR).
A. Agree on proposed scenarios that will be utilized by June 15, 2006.
B.
Review and complete with as much detail as possible the scenario matrices.
C.
Submit the complete scenario documents to the TSG/SC by August 1, 2006.
III.
Proposals requested from TSG SYS members by the February 28th, 2006 on how they will meet the
SOR Common requirements.
A
Iteration review of proposals by the next #12 MESA meeting
IV.
The Chair and Vice-Chairs of the SSG will work with the MESA SC in preparing and approving
the formal MESA presentations.
V.
Validate the new MESA WEB pages and upload of the new contents and contributions
i. Approval of the SSG SA officials with the Steering Committee by January 31, 2006
ii. Upload of the updated and new contents by February 28, 2006.
Project MESA Technical Specification Group (TSG):
I.
Define in detail the TSG activities goals highlighting timelines, active WIs, advantages for all
potential players to participate actively in the TSG MESA activities, ….
B. Draft document will be provided for Steering Committee approval by December 10, 2005.
II.
The Chair and Vice-Chair of the TSG will work in concert with the SSG and its members in
completing Work Item item #14.
A. The U.S. Public Safety SoR from the U.S. SAFECOM program will be shared with the
Rapporteur of WI 14 before the end of Dec . 2005.
B.
WI 14 work will then use the inputs from SAFECOM for redrafting of the document.
C.
A process will be defined in conjunction with TIA on how documents and work from the
TR8.8 and APIC Broadband Data Task Group can be properly shared with Project MESA.
Wailea, Maui, HI
December 1-2, 2005
D.
III.
TR45/05.12.01.21
Activities will be coordinated with the SSG to more actively involve the European
practitioner community in defining the process for identifying the technical requirements
from the Project MESA SoR.
The TSG Chair will seek out comments and recommendations with regard to the placement and use
of work item #12 involving.
A.
IV.
4
The System Reference Architecture will be renamed System Overview. The document was
accepted by the TSG SYS group and will be forwarded to the SC for final approval and
publication by the end of Dec. 2005
The Chair and Vice-Chair will seek a formal review and comments and approval of work item
DTR/MESA-SYS0070008v311involving Technologies with potential applicability to Project
MESA
A.
B.
C.
Modifications submitted as of the meeting date in Edinburgh will be accepted with minor
clarifications.
Informative reference text will be added to the document to illustrative that it primarily
intended for information to be used by TSG SYS.
The WI will remain open for further changes and additions.
V.
The Chair and Vice-Chairs of the TSG will work with the MESA SC in preparing and approving
the formal MESA presentation.
VI.
Validate the new MESA WEB pages and upload of the new contents and contributions
A. Approval of the SSG SA officials with the Steering Committee by January 31, 2006
B. Upload of the updated and new contents by February 28, 2006.
In that regard I would encourage each of you to contact our various Chairpersons and offer both your comments
on the schedule and your availability to help us meet this schedule. It is also important to know that I anticipate
the following schedule will be updated as needed and distributed through the MESA list server: