3GPP Release-18 Work Moves Into Focus as Release-17 Reaches Maturity

In early December 2021, 3GPP reached a consensus on the scope of 5G NR Release-18. With the 3GPP Rel-17 functional freeze set for March 2022, Release-18 work is moving into focus. This is being billed as a significant milestone marking the beginning of 5G Advanced — the second wave of wireless innovations that will fulfil the 5G vision. Release 18 is expected to build on the solid foundation set by 3GPP Releases 15, 16, and 17, and it sets the longer-term evolution direction of 5G and beyond.

(click on the image to enlarge - PDF here)

The 3GPP Release-18 page has a concise summary of all that you need to know, including the timeline. For anyone interested in going through features one-by-one, start navigating from here, select Rel-18 from the top.

New white paper from Nokia, "5G-Advanced: Expanding 5G for the connected world" - https://t.co/7HADpzHhAS #Free5Gtraining #3G4G5G #3GPP #Release18 #5G #5GAdvanced #5GTechnology #5GNetworks #5Gexperience #5Gextension #5Gexpansion #OperationalExcellence #XR #WWC #NetworkSlicing pic.twitter.com/6CYyKPp1Ff

— Free 5G Training (@5Gtraining) January 21, 2022

For others who may be more interested in summary rather than a lot of details, here are some good links to navigate:

• Nokia whitepaper - 5G-Advanced: Expanding 5G for the connected world (link)
• Paper by Ericsson researcher, Xingqin Lin, 'An Overview of 5G Advanced Evolution in 3GPP Release 18' (link)
• Marcin Dryjański, Rimedo Labs - 3GPP Rel-18: 5G-Advanced RAN Features (link)
• Bevin Fletcher, FierceWireless: Next 3GPP standard tees up 5G Advanced (link)

As always, Qualcomm has a fantastic summary of 5G evolution and features in 3GPP Release-18 on their page here. The image above nicely shows the evolution of 5G from Release-15 all the way to Release-18. The image below shows a summary of 3GPP Release-18, 5G-Advanced features.

They also hosted a webinar with RCR wireless. The webinar is embedded below.

The slides can be downloaded from GSA website (account required, free to register) here.

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