The FLO Forum, an association of wireless industry leaders, announced today the ratification of the FLO(TM) (Forward Link-Only) Air Interface Specification (AIS), which specifies the protocols used over the air between the FLO network and a FLO device. The technical requirements captured in the AIS form a foundation for compatibility standardization for FLO based terrestrial mobile multimedia multicast systems.

"Most industry driven technologies move toward open access to encourage global adoption," said Albert Lin, Director of Research for American Technology Research. "The publication of the AIS for FLO technology is a significant step towards the standardization effort while highlighting the type of crucial role the Forum plays for all interested parties."

The AIS includes a complete description of the Physical layer, which uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and advanced forward error-correction techniques, and a complete description of the Stream/Control and MAC layers, which multiplex a multiplicity of simultaneous multimedia services into logical units distinguishable at the radio interface (physical) layer. The specification enables the delivery of multiple, multimedia streams over the standard TV channel allocation bandwidths while ensuring fast service acquisition, robust performance in mobile fading links, and low receiver power consumption. The AIS, the first technical specification produced by the FLO Forum, will be forwarded to Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) for inclusion in new standards that address the delivery of terrestrial mobile multimedia multicast services to mobile devices.

"The Air Interface Specification forms the foundation for future advances in FLO technology," said Dr. Kamil Grajski, president of the FLO Forum. "Our member companies collaborated to produce a technical specification that is ready for submission to global standardization bodies."