Network Slicing Tutorials and Other Resources

I have received quite a few requests to do a 5G Network Slicing tutorial but have still not got around to doing it. Luckily there are so many public resources available that I can get away with not doing one on this topic. 

This Award Solutions webinar by Paul Shepherd (embedded below) provides good insights into network slicing, what it is, how it efficiently enables different services in 5G networks, and the architectural changes in 5G required to support it.

Then there is also this myth about 3 slices in the network. The GSMA slice template is a good starting point for an operator looking to do network slicing in their 5G networks. The latest version is 3.0, available here.

As this picture (courtesy of Phil Kendall) shows, it's not a straightforward task.  

That is 37 attributes each of which can take multiple values. The permutations are massive.

— Dr. Dan Warren (@TMGB) October 18, 2019

Alistair URIE from Nokia Bell Labs points out some common misconceptions people have with Network Slicing:

1. Multiple slices may share the same cell and the same RU in each slice
2. Single UE may have up to 8 active slices but must have a single CU-CP instance to terminate the common RRC 
3. Slicing supports more than 3 slices 

Back in March, China Mobile, Huawei, Tencent, China Electric Power Research Institute, and Digital Domain have jointly released the Categories and Service Levels of Network Slice White Paper to introduce the industry’s first classification of network slice levels. The new white paper dives into the definitions, solutions, typical scenarios, and evolution that make up the five levels of network slices. It serves as an excellent reference to provide guidance in promoting and commercializing network slicing, and lays a theoretical foundation for the industry-wide application of network slicing.

The whitepaper describes the different phases as:

Phase 1 (ready): As mentioned above, the 5G transport network and 5G core network support different software-based and hardware-based isolation solutions. On the 5G NR side, 5QIs (QoS scheduling mechanism) are mainly used to achieve software-based isolation in WAN scenarios. Alternatively, campus-specific 5G NR (including micro base stations and indoor distributed base stations) is used to implement hardware-based isolation in LAN scenarios. In terms of service experience assurance, 5QIs are used to implement differentiated SLA assurance between slices. In terms of slice OAM capabilities, E2E KPIs can be managed in a visualized manner. This means that from 2020 on, Huawei is ready to deliver commercial use of E2E slicing for common customers and VIP customers of the public network and common customer of general industries (such as UHD live broadcast and AR advertisement).

Phase 2 (to be ready in 2021): In terms of isolation, the 5G NR side supports the wireless RB resource reservation technology (including the static reservation and dynamic reservation modes) to implement E2E network resource isolation and slicing in WAN scenarios. In terms of service experience assurance, features such as 5G LAN and 5G TSN are enhanced to implement differentiated and deterministic SLA assurance between different slices. In terms of slice OAM, on the basis of tenant-level KPI visualization, the limited self-service of the industry for rented slices can be further supported. In this phase, operators can serve VIP customers in common industries (such as AR/VR cloud games and drone inspection), dedicated industry customers (such as electric power management information region, medical hospital campus, and industrial campus), and dedicated industry customers (such as electric power production control region and public security).

Phase 3 (to be ready after 2022): In this phase, 5G network slicing supports real dynamic closed-loop SLAs based on AI and negative feedback mechanism, implementing network self-optimization and better serving industries (such as 5G V2X) with high requirements on mobility, roaming, and service continuity. In addition, industry-oriented comprehensive service capabilities will be further enhanced and evolved.

A more technical presentation from Nokia is available here. The video below shows how innovations in IP routing and SDN work together to implement network slicing in the transport domain.

If you know some other good resources and tutorials worth sharing, add them in the comments below.

Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: 5G Slicing Templates
• The 3G4G Blog: End-to-end Network Slicing in 5G
• The 3G4G Blog: AI your Slice to 5G Perfection 

Lawful Intercept in 5G Networks

Mats Näslund is a cryptologist at the National Defence Radio Establishment outside Stockholm, an agency under the Swedish dept. of defence. As part of his work, he represents Sweden in technical LI standardization in 3GPP. Mats also has a part time appointment as adjunct professor at KTH. Her recently delivered a HAIC Talk on Lawful Intercept in 5G Networks. HAIC Talks is a series of public outreach events on contemporary topics in information security, organized by the Helsinki-Aalto Institute for Cybersecurity (HAIC).

The following is the description from HAIC website:

Our societies have been prospering, much due to huge technological advances over the last 100 years. Unfortunately, criminal activity has in many cases also been able to draw benefits from these advances. Communication technology, such as the Internet and mobile phones, are today “tools-of-the-trade” that are used to plan, execute, and even hide crimes such as fraud, espionage, terrorism, child abuse, to mention just a few. Almost all countries have regulated how law enforcement, in order to prevent or investigate serious crime, can sometimes get access to meta data and communication content of service providers, data which normally is protected as personal/private information. The commonly used term for this is Lawful Interception (LI). For mobile networks LI is, from a technical standpoint, carried out according to ETSI and 3GPP standards. In this talk, the focus will lie on the technical LI architecture for 5G networks. We will also give some background, describing the general, high-level legal aspects of LI, as well as some current and future technical challenges.

The slides are available here.

Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: Everything you need to know about 5G Security
• The 3G4G Blog: Key Technology Aspects of 5G Security by Rohde & Schwarz
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G Roaming with SEPP (Security Edge Protection Proxy)
• The 3G4G Blog: Exploiting Possible 5G Vulnerabilities
• The 3G4G Blog: Presentations from ETSI Security Week 2019 (#ETSISecurityWeek)
• The 3G4G Blog: VoLTE Hacking
• The 3G4G Blog: Evolution of Security from 4G to 5G 

Positioning Techniques for 5G NR in 3GPP Release-16

I realised that I have not looked at Positioning techniques a lot in our blogs so this one should be a good summary of the latest positioning techniques in 5G.

Qualcomm has a nice short summary here: Release 16 supports multi-/single-cell and device-based positioning, defining a new positioning reference signal (PRS) used by various 5G positioning techniques such as roundtrip time (RTT), angle of arrival/departure (AoA/AoD), and time difference of arrival (TDOA). Roundtrip time (RTT) based positioning removes the requirement of tight network timing synchronization across nodes (as needed in legacy techniques such as TDOA) and offers additional flexibility in network deployment and maintenance. These techniques are designed to meet initial 5G requirements of 3 and 10 meters for indoor and outdoor use cases, respectively. In Release 17, precise indoor positioning functionality will bring sub-meter accuracy for industrial IoT use cases.

I wrote about the 5G Americas white paper titled, "The 5G Evolution: 3GPP Releases 16-17" highlighting new features in 5G that will define the next phase of 5G network deployments across the globe. The following is from that whitepaper:

Release-15 NR provides support for RAT-independent positioning techniques and Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) on LTE carriers. Release 16 extends NR to provide native positioning support by introducing RAT-dependent positioning schemes. These support regulatory and commercial use cases with more stringent requirements on latency and accuracy of positioning.25 NR enhanced capabilities provide valuable, enhanced location capabilities. Location accuracy and latency of positioning schemes improve by using wide signal bandwidth in FR1 and FR2. Furthermore, new schemes based on angular/spatial domain are developed to mitigate synchronization errors by exploiting massive antenna systems.

The positioning requirements for regulatory (e.g. E911) and commercial applications are described in 3GPP TR 38.855. For regulatory use cases, the following are the minimum performance requirements:

• Horizontal positioning accuracy better than 50 meters for 80% of the UEs.
• Vertical positioning accuracy better than 5 meters for 80% of the UEs.
• End-to-end latency less than 30 seconds.

For commercial use cases, for which the positioning requirements are more stringent, the following are the starting-point performance targets

• Horizontal positioning accuracy better than 3 meters (indoors) and 10 meters (outdoors) for 80% of the UEs.
• Vertical positioning accuracy better than 3 meters (indoors and outdoors) for 80% of the UEs.
• End-to-end latency less than 1 second.

Figure 3.11 above shows the RAT-dependent NR positioning schemes being considered for standardization in Release 16:

• Downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA): A new reference signal known as the positioning reference signal (PRS) is introduced in Release 16 for the UE to perform downlink reference signal time difference (DL RSTD) measurements for each base station’s PRSs. These measurements are reported to the location server.
• Uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA): The Release-16 sounding reference signal (SRS) is enhanced to allow each base station to measure the uplink relative time of arrival (UL-RTOA) and report the measurements to the location server.
• Downlink angle-of-departure (DL-AoD): The UE measures the downlink reference signal receive power (DL RSRP) per beam/gNB. Measurement reports are used to determine the AoD based on UE beam location for each gNB. The location server then uses the AoDs to estimate the UE position.
• Uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AOA): The gNB measures the angle-of-arrival based on the beam the UE is located in. Measurement reports are sent to the location server.
• Multi-cell round trip time (RTT): The gNB and UE perform Rx-Tx time difference measurement for the signal of each cell. The measurement reports from the UE and gNBs are sent to the location server to determine the round trip time of each cell and derive the UE position.
• Enhanced cell ID (E-CID). This is based on RRM measurements (e.g. DL RSRP) of each gNB at the UE. The measurement reports are sent to the location server.

UE-based measurement reports for positioning:

• Downlink reference signal reference power (DL RSRP) per beam/gNB
• Downlink reference signal time difference (DL RSTD)
• UE RX-TX time difference

gNB-based measurement reports for positioning:

• Uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA)
• Uplink reference-signal receive power (UL-RSRP)
• UL relative time of arrival (UL-RTOA)
• gNB RX-TX time difference

NR adopts a solution similar to that of LTE LPPa for Broadcast Assistance Data Delivery, which provides support for A-GNSS, RTK and OTDOA positioning methods. PPP-PTK positioning will extend LPP A-GNSS assistance data message based on compact “SSR messages” from QZSS interface specifications. UE-based RAT-dependent DL-only positioning techniques are supported, where the positioning estimation will be done at the UE-based on assistance data provided by the location server.

Rohde&Schwarz have a 5G overview presentation here. This picture from that presentation is a good summary of the 3GPP Release-16 5G NR positioning techniques. This nice short video on "Release 16 Location Based Services Requirements" complements it very well. 

Related Posts:

• Connectivity Technology Blog: 5G Indoor Precise Positioning
• The 3G4G Blog: R&S Webinar on LTE-A Pro and evolution to 5G

Couple of Tutorials on ETSI NFV MANO

The premises of virtualization is to move physical network functions (PNF in hardware) into software and to design them in a way so that they can be deployed on a NFVI (Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure, a.k.a. the cloud).

MANagement and Orchestration (MANO) is a key element of the ETSI network functions virtualization (NFV) architecture. MANO is an architectural framework that coordinates network resources for cloud-based applications and the lifecycle management of virtual network functions (VNFs) and network services. As such, it is crucial for ensuring rapid, reliable NFV deployments at scale. MANO includes the following components: the NFV orchestrator (NFVO), the VNF manager (VNFM), and the virtual infrastructure manager (VIM).

NFV MANO is broken up into three functional blocks:

• NFV Orchestrator: Responsible for onboarding of new network services (NS) and virtual network function (VNF) packages; NS lifecycle management; global resource management; validation and authorization of network functions virtualization infrastructure (NFVI) resource requests.
• VNF Manager: Oversees lifecycle management of VNF instances; fills the coordination and adaptation role for configuration and event reporting between NFV infrastructure (NFVI) and Element/Network Management Systems.
• Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM): Controls and manages the NFVI compute, storage, and network resources.

For the NFV MANO architecture to work properly and effectively, it must be integrated with open application program interfaces (APIs) in the existing systems. The MANO layer works with templates for standard VNFs and gives users the power to pick and choose from existing NFVI resources to deploy their platform or element.

Couple of good old tutorials, good as gold, explaining the ETSI NFV MANO concept. The videos are embedded below. The slides from the video are probably not available but there are other slides from ETSI here. If you are new to this, this is a good presentation to start with.

NFV MANO Part 1: Overview and VNF Lifecycle Management: Uwe Rauschenbach | Rapporteur | ETSI NFV ISG covers:

• ETSI NFV MANO Concepts
• VNF Lifecycle Management

NFV MANO Part 2: Network Service Lifecycle Management: Jeremy Fuller | Chair, IFA WG | ETSI NFV ISG covers:

• Network Service Lifecycle Management

If you have any better suggestions for the slides / video, please feel free to add in the comments.

Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: What is Cloud Native and How is it Transforming the Networks?

5G Enhanced URLLC (eURLLC)

One of the interesting features of 5G is Ultra-Reliability and Low-Latency Communication or URLLC. It has been enhanced as part of 3GPP Release-16. A summary of the changes in eURLLC can be seen in the picture above. 

This ATIS webinar that I blogged about last week covered this topic as well. For example L1/L2 changes have been summarised nicely in this Qualcomm slide above while the slide from Intel speaker below looks at redundant transmission and session continuity.

Redundant transmission in the user plane is an extremely useful feature, especially if the packets are mission critical and have to reach from the source to their destination in a guaranteed time / reliability.

Dual connectivity will enable this redundant path when required to meet a guaranteed reliability. 

Here is a short video from the training company Mpirical, explaining the the 5G eURLLC feature: 

Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: ATIS Webinar on '5G Standards Developments in 3GPP Release 16 and Beyond'
• The 3G4G Blog: Carrier Aggregation (CA) and Dual Connectivity (DC)
• The 3G4G Blog - Ultra Reliability: 5x9s (99.999%) in 3GPP Release-15 vs 6x9s (99.9999%) in 3GPP Release-16
• The 3G4G Blog: Anritsu Webinar on 'Evolution of 5G from 3GPP Rel-15 to Rel-17 and Testing Challenges'
• The 3G4G Blog: 2-step RACH Enhancement for 5G New Radio (NR) 

ATIS Webinar on '5G Standards Developments in 3GPP Release 16 and Beyond'

3GPP Organizational Partner, ATIS (Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions), recently delivered a webinar (video & slides below) titled "5G Standards Developments in 3GPP Release 16 and Beyond". 

3GPP News details:

An expert panel brings you up-to-speed on the current state of 5G standardization. The webinar delivers a broad overview of 3GPP's work and introduces some of the key technology elements. It is suitable for people in technical roles and technical executives who want to understand the current state of 5G standardization.

In Release 16, 3GPP delivered important updates to 5G specifications to broaden their range of commercial applications and improve the efficiency of networks. 3GPP is now further enhancing 5G in Release 17 and starting to plan Release 18. This webinar provides an up-to-date view of the completed 3GPP Release 16 work with a particular focus on how the work is expanding capabilities of 5G and enhancing the technical performance of the mobile system. It also looks ahead to future 3GPP deliverables and their use cases.

The webinar features, Iain Sharp, Principal Technologist at ATIS (Moderator), Greg Schumacher, Global Standards at T-Mobile USA and 3GPP SA and SA1 Vice Chairman, Puneet Jain, Director of Technical Standards at Intel and 3GPP SA2 Chairman and Wanshi Chen, Senior Director, Technology at Qualcomm and 3GPP RAN1 Chairman

Many interesting topics have been covered including the updates on mMTC and URLLC. 

There is also details about new features coming in 3GPP Release-17 and an early look at what 3GPP Release-18 might include, as can be seen in the picture above.

Slides are available here and video is embedded below.

Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: Anritsu Webinar on 'Evolution of 5G from 3GPP Rel-15 to Rel-17 and Testing Challenges'
• The 3G4G Blog: 2-step RACH Enhancement for 5G New Radio (NR)
• The 3G4G Blog: Mobile Initiated Connection Only (MICO) mode in 5G System
• The 3G4G Blog: 3GPP MDT - How it works and what is new in Rel. 16
• The 3G4G Blog: Interfacing HSS and UDM in 5GS with UDICOM (a.k.a NU1 / Nhss)
• The 3G4G Blog: Would 5G NSA undergo Sunset? When?
• The 3G4G Blog - Tutorial: Service Based Architecture (SBA) for 5G Core (5GC)
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G and Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) 

Reliance Jio and 5G Network Architecture Option 6

Last week I read about Jio looking at 5G Network Architecture Option 6. There were also a few discussions on Twitter with users sounding a bit confused. So here is my attempt to explain what is Option 6. Video and slides embedded below. 

Why does Jio want 5G Network Architecture Option 6? from 3G4G

You can also see this original video where Satish Jamadagni, Vice President - Network Planning Engineering, Head of Standards at Reliance Jio talks about the need for Option 6. 

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Related Posts:

• Operator Watch Blog: Jio going it alone for 5G Development
• Operator Watch Blog: Jio is the Largest Mobile Network in India by Subscriber Numbers
• Operator Watch Blog: Jio Makes Another Set of Extremely Bold Announcements
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G Network Architecture Options (Updated)
• The 3G4G Blog: The Politics of Standalone vs Non-Standalone 5G & 4G Speeds
• The 3G4G Blog: What about 5G Network Architecture Option 4 (a.k.a. NE-DC) ?
• The 3G4G Blog: Would 5G NSA undergo Sunset? When?
• The 3G4G Blog - Tutorial: Service Based Architecture (SBA) for 5G Core (5GC)
• 3G4G: Free 2G, 3G, 4G & 5G Training Videos
• 3G4G: 5G (IMT-2020) Wireless
• 3G4G: 3GPP 5G Standards and Specifications
• Free 5G Training

Interfacing HSS and UDM in 5GS with UDICOM (a.k.a NU1 / Nhss)

Back in 2012, we were talking about migration from HLR to HSS. Now we are discussing how to interface HSS to the UDM (Unified Data Management in 5G Core).

In the recent 5G World event, Richard Band, Head of 5G Core, HPE talked about 4G to 5G transition planning. During the talk he mentioned about UDICOM, which is the Standardised new interface between HSS and UDM as defined in 3GPP TS 23.632.

5G Security, Openness, and Trust Considerations: How an open and transparent 5G core design can bolster confidence - A joint paper written by @mobileworldlive and @HPE - https://t.co/XkJHUaaGTM#Free5Gtraining #5G #5GNetwork #5GC #5GCore #HPE #MWL #Security #5GSecurity pic.twitter.com/NWVgnl9INQ

— 5G Training (@5Gtraining) September 6, 2020

UDICOM allows operators to deploy separate HSS and UDM, even from different vendors. Supported features include:

• Authentication
• Single Registration Handover
• IMS
• SMS over NAS

3GPP TS 23.632 (Technical Specification Group Core Network and Terminals; User data interworking, coexistence and migration; Stage 2; Release 16) does not use the term UDICOM. It does however describe the interface details, system architecture, system procedures and network function service procedures of UDM-HSS interface.

As can be seen in the picture above, the following reference points are realized by service-based interfaces:
NU1: Reference point between the HSS and the UDM.
NU2: Reference point between the HSS and the 5GS-UDR.

The following Service based interfaces are defined for direct UDM-HSS interworking:
Nudm: Service-based interface exhibited by UDM.
Nhss: Service-based interface exhibited by HSS.

I am not going in more details here but anyone wanting to learn more about the interface should start with 3GPP TS 23.632.

Finally, this talk from HP Enterprise below provides more details of UDICOM.



Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog - Tutorial: Service Based Architecture (SBA) for 5G Core (5GC)
• The 3G4G Blog: Two Types of SMS in 5G
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G Roaming with SEPP (Security Edge Protection Proxy)
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G eXtended Reality (5G-XR) in 5G System (5GS)
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G and Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC)
• Connectivity Technology Blog: Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and the Path to 5G Wireless Wireline Convergence (WWC)
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G Network Architecture Options (Updated)
• The 3G4G Blog: What about 5G Network Architecture Option 4 (a.k.a. NE-DC) ?
• The 3G4G Blog: Would 5G NSA undergo Sunset? When?

Two Types of SMS in 5G

GSMA recently published updated "5G Implementation Guidelines: SA Option 2". It explains the two types of SMS in 5G, the same way there were 2 types of SMS in LTE.

Within 5GC, SMS Function (SMSF) supports SMS over NAS (SMSoNAS) defined in 3GPP TS 23.501. Besides, SMSoIP can also be considered as IMS based SMS solution under 5G network. SMSoIP can be deployed simultaneously with voice service over IMS to provide both voice and short message service. It is recommended to use SMSoNAS solution if voice services over IMS is not supported or for a 5G data card/Machine Type Communications (MTC)/Non-IMS device without voice service. The network architecture of SMSoIP and SMSoNAS is shown in Figure.

Two Types of SMS in 5G: SMS over NAS (SMSoNAS) & SMS over IP/IMS (SMSoIP / SMSoIMS) - https://t.co/A88ayY8F1x via @3g4gUK #Free5Gtraining #3G4G5G #GSMA #Mpirical #4G #5G #5GNetworks #5Gtechnology #SMS #5GSMS #Messaging #5GMessaging #SMSoNAS #SMSF #SMSoIP #IMS #SMSoIMS pic.twitter.com/ceI7wGEWBt

— Free 5G Training (@5Gtraining) May 31, 2021

Mpirical explains it in the video as embedded below:

You may also find "5G SMS is Very Real and Here to Stay" by William Dudley useful. It covers a lot of technical details and signalling. It's available here.

Related  posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: Mobile Voice Communications is neither Dying, nor Dead!

Multi-SIM Terminology

This new video and presentation looks at the operation and terminology associated with multiple SIMs in mobile cellular devices.

Slides and video embedded below introduces the concept of transceivers, active and standby states and then look at Dual Sim Single & Dual Standby (DSSS / DSDS), Dual SIM Dual Active (DSDA), Triple SIM Triple Standby (TSTS) and finally, Quad SIM Quad Standby (QSQS) in case of four SIM cards.

Beginners: Multi-SIM Operation from 3G4G

Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: Embedded SIM (eSIM) and Integrated SIM (iSIM)
• 3G4G: MNO, MVNO, MVNA, MVNE: Different types of mobile operators
• The 3G4G Blog: The Journey from Communications Service Provider (CSP) to Digital Service Provider (DSP)
• The 3G4G Blog: M2M embedded UICC (eSIM) Architecture and Use Cases

Would 5G NSA undergo Sunset? When?

I have been thinking about the long term evolution of 5G and have now reached the conclusion that it would make sense in the long run to switch off non-standalone 5G. This would of course be only after 5G core has been tested and used extensively. Instead of writing my reasoning, here is a 10 minute video and the corresponding slides.

Opinion: Would 5G NSA undergo Sunset? from 3G4G

Let me know what you think in the comments below. If you agree, when do you think is the best time for 5G NSA Sunset?


Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: 5G Network Architecture Options (Updated)
• The 3G4G Blog: The Politics of Standalone vs Non-Standalone 5G & 4G Speeds
• The 3G4G Blog: What about 5G Network Architecture Option 4 (a.k.a. NE-DC) ?
• Operator Watch Blog: The Many Firsts of STC Kuwait 
• The 3G4G Blog: Service Based Architecture (SBA) for 5G Core (5GC)
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS)
• 3G4G: Free 2G, 3G, 4G & 5G Training Videos
• 3G4G: 5G (IMT-2020) Wireless
• 3G4G: 3GPP 5G Standards and Specifications
• Free 5G Training

Key Technology Aspects of 5G Security by Rohde & Schwarz

The 3G4G page contains a lot of useful papers and links to security here but we have also looked at evolution of security from 4G to 5G here. Rohde & Schwarz has a short 8-minute video in which wireless technology manager, Reiner Stuhlfauth, explains the key technology aspects ensuring 5G security. The video is embedded below.



Related Links:

• The 3G4G Blog: Everything you need to know about 5G Security
• 3G4G: Security in 2G, 3G, 4G & 5G Mobile Networks
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G Roaming with SEPP (Security Edge Protection Proxy)
• The 3G4G Blog: Evolution of Security from 4G to 5G

Carrier Aggregation (CA) and Dual Connectivity (DC)

This topic keeps coming up every few months with either someone asking me for clarifications or someone asking us to make a video. While I don't think I will mange to get round to making a video sometime soon, there are some excellent resources available that should help a new starter. Here they are in an order I think works best



The first resource that I think also works best is this webinar / training from Award Solutions. It covers this topic well and the image at the top of the post is a god summary for someone who already understands the technology.

It may also help to understand that in the 5G NSA can have 4G carrier aggregation as well as 5G carrier aggregation in addition to dual connectivity.

If you saw the video earlier, you noticed that DC actually came as part of LTE in Release-12. We covered it in our Telecom Infrastructure blog here. NTT Docomo Technical journal had a detailed article on 'Carrier Aggregation Enhancement and Dual Connectivity Promising Higher Throughput and Capacity' that covered DC in a lot more technical detail, albeit from LTE point of view only. The article is available here. A WWRF whitepaper from the same era can also provide more details on LTE Small Cell Enhancement by Dual Connectivity. An archived copy of the paper is available here.

Another fantastic resource is this presentation by Rapeepat Ratasuk and Amitava Ghosh from Mobile Radio Research Lab, Nokia Bell Labs. The presentation is available here and details the MCG (Master Cell Group) Split Bearer and SCG (Secondary Cell Group) Split Bearer, etc. This article from Ericsson also provides more detail on this topic while ShareTechNote takes it one level even deeper with technical details and signalling here and here.

So hopefully this is a good detailed starting point on this topic, until we manage to make a simple video someday.

Embedded SIM (eSIM) and Integrated SIM (iSIM)

It's been a while since I wrote detailed posts explaining UICC and SIM cards. Since then the SIM cards have evolved from Mini SIM to Micro SIM and Nano SIM. They are evolving even further, especially for M2M / IoT devices as embedded SIM (eSIM or eUICC) and integrated SIM (iSIM).

Embedded SIMs (eSIMs) or embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Cards (eUICCs) are physical SIMs that are soldered into the device and enable storage and remote management of multiple network operator profiles (remote SIM provisioning). The form factor of eSIM is known as MFF2.

The integrated SIMs (iSIMs) moves the SIM from a separate chip into a secure enclave alongside the application processor and cellular radio on a purpose-built system on a chip (SoC).

We made a short tutorial explaining UICC & SIM and then looking at eSIM, iSIM and how remote SIM provisioning works. The video and slides are embedded below. The slides contain a lot of useful links for further reading.

Beginners: UICC & SIM from 3G4G

Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: Multi-SIM: The Jargon
• The 3G4G Blog: M2M embedded UICC (eSIM) Architecture and Use Cases
• The 3G4G Blog: The Journey from Communications Service Provider (CSP) to Digital Service Provider (DSP)
• 3G4G: MNO, MVNO, MVNA, MVNE: Different types of mobile operators
• The 3G4G Blog: UICC and ISIM (IMS SIM)

5G Remote Surgery and Telehealth Solutions

One of the most controversial 5G use cases is the remote surgery. In this post I want to quickly look at the history and what is possible. Before I go to that, here is a short summary video that I am embedding upfront.



As far as I can recall, Ericsson was the first vendor that started talking about remote surgery. This is a tweet from back in 2017.

With #5G and the tactile internet, doctors can perform remote
surgery on a patient anywhere in the world. https://t.co/U81bayv3ws pic.twitter.com/pSXFg1NCJX

— Ericsson (@ericsson) August 28, 2017

Huawei didn't want to be far behind so they did one at MWC Shanghai in 2018. Their tweet with video is embedded below.

Meet the Remote Surgery Robot. At #MWCS18, Huawei stiches together a vivid picture of how #5G’s reliable connection can save lives: https://t.co/cobykl1KKP #WirelessXLabs pic.twitter.com/Pbme8BmcoT

— Huawei (@Huawei) June 28, 2018

In January 2019, South China Morning Post (SCMP) showed a video of a remote surgery on an animal. While the video and the article didn't provide many details, I am assuming this was done by Huawei as detailed here. The video of the surgery below.



This was followed by Mobile World Congress 2019 demo where a doctor used 5G to direct surgery live from a stage at MWC to Hospital Clinic Barcelona over 3 miles away. The team of doctors was removing a cancerous tumor from a patient's colon. This video from that is embedded below.



Vodafone New Zealand had a silly remote surgery of a dog video but looks like they have removed it.  Nothing can beat this Telecom Italia ad embedded below.



There are some realistic use cases. One of them being that with 5G the number of cables / wires in a hospital can be reduced saving on the disinfection.

NTT Docomo showcased 5G Mobile SCOT (Smart Cyber Operating Theater) which is an Innovative solution to enable advanced medical treatment in diverse environments. You can read more details here.

There are lots of other things going on. Here is a short list:

• April 2020: Because of Coronavirus COVID-19, NT Times has an article on Telemedicine Arrives in the U.K.: ‘10 Years of Change in One Week’ - even though this does not involve 5G, it just shows that we are moving in that direction.
• February 2020: 5G-aided remote CT scans used to diagnose COVID-19 patients in China (link)
• February 2020: Verizon teamed with Emory Healthcare to test new 5G use cases for the medical industry at the latter’s Innovation Hub in Atlanta, in a bid to discover how the technology can be used to improve patient care. The collaboration will explore applications including connected ambulances; remote physical therapy; medical imaging; and use of AR and VR for training. (link)
• February 2020: Vodafone 5G Healthcare – Conference & Experience Day (link)
• November 2019: TIM enables first live remote-surgery consultation using 5G immersive reality (link)
• October 2019: Along with a hospital in Malaga, Telefónica has presented what it claims is the first expert assistance system for medical interventions that runs on 5G. (link and video)
• September 2019: Mobile Future Forward 2019 - World's First Remote VR Surgery Demo conducted on Sept 4th, 2019 in Seattle by Chetan Sharma, James Youngquist, Evie Powell, Nissim Hadar, David Colmenares, and Gabe Jones. (link)

Finally, a nice video on Benefits of 5G for Healthcare Technology by T-Mobile



Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: NTT Docomo's Vision on 5G Evolution and 6G
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G eXtended Reality (5G-XR) in 5G System (5GS)
• The 3G4G Blog: Real-life 5G Use Cases for Verticals from China
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G Private and Non-Public Network (NPN)
• The 3G4G Blog: 5G and Industry 4.0
• The 3G4G Blog: Spectrum for 5G NR beyond 52.6 GHz

SCF Releases 5G Functional API to Enable Open Small Cells Ecosystem

The Small Cell Forum (SCF) announced the publication of documents focused on stimulating a competitive ecosystem for vendors of 5G-era small cell hardware, software and equipment. The expanded set of specifications contained in these documents are:

• SCF222 - 5G FAPI: PHY API Specification
• SCF223 - 5G FAPI: RF and Digital Frontend Control API
• SCF224 - 5G FAPI: Network Monitor Mode API

According to the press release:

Expanding upon the 5G Physical Layer API specification, published in July 2019, the new specifications enable small cells to be constructed piece-by-piece using components from different vendors, in order to address the diverse mixture of 5G use cases relatively easily, a common goal to all of the specifications made by Small Cell Forum.

The new release also includes two completely new specifications, SCF223: 5G NR FAPI P19 FrontEnd Interface Specification and SCF224: Network Monitor Mode API for Small Cells.

According to Dr. Prabhakar Chitrapu, Chair of SCF, “FAPI helps Equipment Vendors to mix PHY & MAC Software from different suppliers via this open FAPI interface. So, FAPI is an 'internal' interface.”

“5G-nFAPI (network FAPI) is a 'network' interface and is between a Distributed Unit and Centralised Unit  of a Split RAN/Small Cell network solution. An open specification of this interface (nFAPI) will help network architects by allowing them to mix distributed and central units from different vendors.”

SCF nFAPI is enabling Open RAN ecosystem in its own way by allowing any small cell CU/DU (S-CU / S-DU) to connect to any small cell radio unit (S-RU)

Here is a video playlist from SCF that explains the new API's



Related Posts:

• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Small Cell Forum Releases 5G FAPI API Specifications
• The 3G4G Blog: A quick tutorial on Open RAN, vRAN & White Box RAN
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: SuperMicro's 5G Pole-Mounted DU Server Solution

5G Private and Non-Public Network (NPN)

Private Networks have been around for a while and really took off after 4G was launched. This is due to the fact that the architecture was simplified due to the removal of CS core and also the advancements in silicon, storage, computation, etc. allowed creation of smaller and more efficient equipment that simplified private networks.

While private networks imply an isolated network for selected devices that are allowed to connect on to the network, Non-Public Networks are much broader in scope. Chief among them is the ability of certain devices to be capable of working on Private as well as Public Network or roaming between them.

I recently ran a workshop on 'Introduction to Private 4G & 5G Networks' with a well known Industry analyst Dean Bubley. One of the sections looked at the Network Architecture based on the 3GPP standards. This tutorial is a part of that particular section. Slides and video embedded below. There are also some interesting videos on YouTube that show how and why Private Networks are needed and some use cases. The playlist is embedded in the end.

Advanced: Private Networks & 5G Non-Public Networks from 3G4G

Playlist of Private Networks Use Cases.



Related Posts:

• The 3G4G Blog: 5G and Industry 4.0
• The 3G4G Blog: What is Industrial IoT (IIoT) and how is it different from IoT?
• 3G4G: M2M, MTC & IoT

5G and Industry 4.0

Telefónica published an infographic on 'Benefits of 5G in Industry 4.0' last week. You can download it on their website here. This reminded me that we have now completed the third video in our series of IoT.

1. The beginners guide to M2M, MTC & IoT is discussed here and video is available here.
2. Industrial IoT (IIoT) vs IoT is discussed here.
3. This blog post with with embedded video / slide looks at Industrie 4.0 (a.k.a. I4.0 or I4)

Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial IoT (IIoT) and Industry 4.0

Video in works #3G4G5G #I40 pic.twitter.com/zwavdn1dpL

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) February 8, 2020

Slides and Video is embedded below, let us know what you think.

Beginners: Industry 4.0 & 5G from 3G4G

Related Posts and Links:

• 3G4G: Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-2-Machine (M2M)
• The 3G4G Blog: M2M vs IoT
• The 3G4G Blog: What is Industrial IoT (IIoT) and how is it different from IoT?
• The 3G4G Blog: New 3GPP Release-17 Study Item on NR-Lite (a.k.a. NR-Light)

NTT Docomo's Vision on 5G Evolution and 6G

NTT Docomo released a whitepaper on 5G Evolution and 6G. In a press release they announced:

NTT DOCOMO has released a white paper on the topic of 6G, the sixth-generation mobile communications system that the company aims to launch on a commercial basis by 2030. It incorporates DOCOMO's views in the field of 5G evolution and 6G communications technology, areas that the company has been researching since 2018. The white paper summarizes the related technical concepts and the expected diverse use cases of evolving 5G and new 6G communication technologies, as well as the technology components and performance targets.

Mobile communication systems typically evolve into the next generation over a period of roughly ten years; DOCOMO commenced its research into the commercial launch of 5G in 2010. In 2018, the company conducted successful radio wave propagation experiments at frequencies of up to 150 GHz, levels which are expected to enable the much faster and larger-capacity communications that 6G will require.

DOCOMO will continue to enhance the ultra-high-speed, large-capacity, ultra-reliable, low-latency and massive device-connectivity capabilities of 5G technology. It will continue its research into and development of 5G evolution and 6G technology, aiming to realize technological advances including:

• the achievement of a combination of advances in connectivity, including ultra-high speed, large capacity and low latency
• the pioneering of new frequency bands, including terahertz frequencies
• the expansion of communication coverage in the sky, at sea and in space
• the provision of ultra-low-energy and ultra-low-cost communications
• the ensuring of highly reliable communications
• the capability of massive device-connectivity and sensing

Visitors to DOCOMO Open House 2020 will be able to view conceptual displays incorporating DOCOMO's vision of the evolution of 5G technologies into 6G. The event will take place in the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition complex in Tokyo on January 23 and 24. DOCOMO also plans to hold a panel session entitled "5G Evolution and 6G" on January 24.

Videos from Docomo Open House are embedded below, along with a previous talk by Takehiro Nakamura from 6G Summit.


6G has become a hot topic, especially after China announced back in November that they are working on 6G. We have some interesting tweets on 6G as well.

This one from Stefan Pongratz, Dell'Oro group shows the timeline for 5G, Pre-6G and 6G

5G is not all the same by @StefanPongratz - https://t.co/5ladQa2RGC #SA #NSA #6G #eMBB #URLLC #mMTC #FWA

Ties in nicely with #CWTEC theme @cambwireless @zahidtg pic.twitter.com/R6FfwhUG1J

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) August 9, 2019

This one provides a timeline all the way from Release 99 up till 21

3GPP Release - Technology
99 - UMTS (3G)
4
5 - HSDPA (3.5G)
6 - HSUPA
7 - HSPA+
8 - LTE (3.9G)
9
10 - LTA-A (4G)
11
12
13 - LTE-A Pro (4.5G)
14
15 - 5G
16
17
18 - 5.5G?
19
20
21 - 6G?#CWTEC #3G4G5Gpic.twitter.com/vQi5Dhfsno

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) October 8, 2019

Finally, here is a tweet highlighting the 6G research

6G Research Directions and Vision (with source) for anyone interested - https://t.co/i9XzG3bjFv - frankly that's really high expectations and we worry about laws of physics. 10-100μs latency?
(Paging @IEEEFutureNtwks @ComSoc @PhantomBenn @alainmouradUK @simonchapman ) #CWTEC pic.twitter.com/5dQQxDoQp0

— 3G4G (@3g4gUK) August 16, 2019

Finally, the paper acknowledges the 5G challenges and focus areas for 5G evolution, before focusing on 6G.

The mmWave coverage and mobility needs improvement, while the downlink is able to provide very high data rates, the uplink is struggling to be better than 4G. Also, there are some very extreme requirements for industrial use cases, 5G has yet to prove that it can meet them.

Finally, here is another view from iDate Digiworld comparing 5G vs 6G in terms of performance, spectrum and network.

Related Posts:

• 6G: Above 100 GHz and Terahertz (THz) Frequencies
• 3GPP Release-16, Release-17 & Beyond...
• Couple of talks by NTT Docomo on 5G and Beyond (pre-6G)
• Slides and Videos from the 1st 6G Wireless Summit - March 2019
• ITU 'Network 2030': Initiative to support Emerging Technologies and Innovation looking beyond 5G advances