Objective
Within the overall work of RACE project R1045 is responsible for the:
- Preparation of common functional specifications (CFS), for the preparation and coordination of contributions to international standardisation bodies and the preparation of common practices (CP) for the development and implementation of IBC based on the results of Part I work.
- Interpretation of user requirements with respect to reference configurations for the orientation of the technical and systems engineering work in RACE based on the inputs by sector actors.
The research has been into the following 2 areas:
the preparation of common functional specifications (CFS), for the preparation and coordination of contributions to international standardization bodies and the preparation of common practices (CP) for the development and implementation of integrated broadband communications (IBC);
the interpretation of user requirements with respect to reference configurations for the orientation of technical and systems engineering work. The research has resulted in the following achievements:
the first draft of many CFs's covering some of the most significant aspects of IBC have been prepared;
there have been many contributions to standards work, particularly to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
Technical Approach
Acknowledging the importance of these responsibilities, the project specifically addresses activities related to the achievement of broad consensus. Some of the major industrial actors are working together with operators in a small professional team which carries out the necessary analytical work on a full-time basis. The team also supports, operationally, the participation and concertation of a very large representation from the totality of RACE projects.
Key Issues
- Ensuring that the RACE programme remains timely, well directed and competitive within the context of advanced telecommunications research world-wide.
- Communicating effectively with the 'RACE Environment' in all activities relating to RACE but not coming under the provisions of the RACE Council Decision.
- Organising and implementing activities directed towards establishing broad consensus with other sector actors on CFS proposals.
- Collating information from RACE participants on technical issues related to developments world-wide and the support of the dissemination of CFS related technical results to the European sector actors.
Achievements
Substantial results have been achieved in two areas:
- first drafts of many of the CFS, covering some of the most significant aspects of the RACE work on IBC, have been prepared, and
- many contributions to standards work, particularly to ETSI, have been submitted.
These achievements have been, in large measure, entirely due to the cooperation and participation of all projects in the RACE Concertation Technical Workshops, which have been run and organised by R1045. This activity is planned to continue to the end of the programme.
The technical workshops have been the prime forum for the consideration of the results of the RACE projects for the purpose of extracting, discussing and reconciling the views of those projects in order to prepare CFS. At the same time the workshops take into account development in the relevant standardisation bodies, particularly ETSI and CCITT, including their conclusions. The participants in the workshops prepare contributions, based on the work of the workshops, to those self same standards bodies, to help them in their work and to exploit the results of the RACE programme.
A total of 76 drafts of common function specifications have now been completed and are being released as Issue B. This includes 44 revisions of CFSs previously released a year ago, as Issue A.
The flow of contributions to standards bodies resulting from RACE consensus has remained high - 261 were submitted during 1991.
A synopsis of the currnt draft CFSs and the impact made by RACE contributions on the formulation of standards is given in Appendix 2 .
Expected Impact
The most useful results from the consensus management activities in RACE will be the contributions made to the standards activities. This is reflected in the significant effort put towards encouraging and coordinating standards contributions based on a consensus within several RACE projects.
It is expected that the CFS themselves will form a coherent framework within which the RACE results will be exploited, and that they will form a firm foundation for possible future research and development work on advance communications technologies in Europe.
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1040 Bruxelles
Belgium