Showing posts sorted by date for query positioning. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query positioning. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Thursday, 19 December 2024

Evolution and Impact of Cellular Location Services (LCS)

Location Services (LCS) have been standardized by 3GPP across all major generations of cellular technology, including 2G (GSM), 3G (UMTS), 4G (LTE), and 5G. These services enable applications to determine the geographical location of mobile devices, facilitating crucial functions such as emergency calls, navigation, and location-based advertising. The consistent adoption of standardized protocols ensures interoperability, scalability, and reliability, empowering mobile operators and device manufacturers to implement location services in a globally consistent manner.

The evolution of LCS technology has seen remarkable advancements with each generation of cellular networks. Early implementations in 2G and 3G relied on basic techniques such as Cell-ID, Timing Advance, and triangulation, which offered limited accuracy and were suitable only for rudimentary use cases. 

The introduction of LTE in 3GPP Release 9 marked a significant improvement, integrating support for regulatory services like emergency call localization and commercial applications such as mapping. LTE networks commonly employ global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), like GPS, to determine locations. However, alternative methods using the LTE air interface are crucial in scenarios where GNSS signals are obstructed, such as indoors or in dense urban environments. An LTE network can support horizontal positioning accuracy of 50m for 80% of mobiles and a vertical positioning accuracy of 5m and an end-to-end latency of 30 seconds.


In 5G, the introduction of high-bandwidth, low-latency communication and new architectural enhancements allows for even more accurate and responsive location services. These improvements support critical use cases like autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and industrial IoT applications. 

5G networks have further improved LCS with high-bandwidth, low-latency communication and architectural enhancements. These innovations enable critical applications like autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and industrial IoT. In Release 15, 5G devices support legacy LTE location protocols through the Gateway Mobile Location Centre (GMLC). From Release 16, the Network Exposure Function (NEF) streamlines location requests for modern applications. A 5G network is expected to deliver a horizontal positioning accuracy of 3m indoors and 10m outdoors, a vertical positioning accuracy of 3m in both environments and an end-to-end latency of one second.

The standardization efforts of 3GPP have ensured that location services meet stringent requirements for accuracy, privacy, and security. Emergency services, for instance, benefit from these standards through Enhanced 911 (E911) in the United States and similar mandates globally, which require precise location reporting for mobile callers. Furthermore, standardization fosters innovation by providing a common foundation on which developers can create new location-based services and applications. As cellular networks continue to evolve, 3GPP’s standardized LCS will remain a cornerstone in bridging connectivity with the physical world, enabling smarter, safer, and more connected societies.

Mpirical recently shared a video exploring the concepts and drivers of Location Services (LCS). It's embedded below:

If you want to learn more about LCS, check out Mpirical's training course on this topic which seeks to provide an end to end exploration of the techniques and technologies involved, including the driving factors, standardization, requirements, architectural elements, protocols and protocol stacks, 2G-5G LCS operation and location finding techniques (overview and specific examples).

Mpirical is a leading provider of telecoms training, specializing in mobile and wireless technologies such as 5G, LTE, and IoT. They boast a course catalogue of wide ranging topics and technologies for all levels, with each course thoughtfully broken down into intuitive learning modules. 

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Wednesday, 14 August 2024

3GPP Release 18 Description and Summary of Work Items

The first official release of 3GPP TR 21.918: "Release 18 Description; Summary of Rel-18 Work Items" has been published. It's the first official version of 5G-Advanced. Quoting from the report: 

Release 18 specifies further improvements of the 5G-Avanced system. 

These improvements consist both in enhancements of concepts/Features introduced in the previous Releases and in the introduction of new topics.

Some of the key improvements are:

  • a further integration of the Satellite (NTN) access (introduced in Rel-17) in the 5G System (5GS), 
  • a more efficient support of Internet of Things (IoT), Machine-Type Communication (MTC), including by satellite coverage
  • and also several aspects of proximity communication and location (Sidelink, Proximity, Location and Positioning, better support of the industrial needs (Verticals, Industries, Factories, Northbound API), Multicast and Broadcast Services (MBS), Network Slicing or Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAV).

As for the new topics, some of the key aspects are:

  • Energy Efficiency (EE)
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML)
  • eXtended, Augmented and Virtual Reality (XR, AR, VR), immersive communications

The following list is from the v1.0.0 table of contents to make it easier to find the list of topics. If it interests you, download the latest version technical report from the directory here.

5 Satellite / Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN)
5.1 General aspects
5.1.1 User plane: “5G system with satellite backhaul”
5.1.2 Discontinuous coverage: “Satellite access Phase 2”
5.1.3 Radio: "NR NTN enhancements"
5.1.4 Charging and Management aspects of Satelite
5.2 Specific aspects
5.2.1 IoT (Internet of Things) NTN enhancements
5.2.2 Guidelines for Extra-territorial 5G Systems
5.2.3 5G system with satellite access to Support Control and/or Video Surveillance
5.2.4 Introduction of the satellite L-/S-band for NR
5.2.5 Other band-related aspects of satellite

6 Internet of Things (IoT), Machine-Type Communication (MTC)
6.1 Personal IoT and Residential networks
6.2 Enhanced support of Reduced Capability (RedCap) NR devices
6.3 NR RedCap UE with long eDRX for RRC_INACTIVE State
6.4 Application layer support for Personal IoT Network
6.5 5G Timing Resiliency System
6.6 Mobile Terminated-Small Data Transmission (MT-SDT) for NR
6.7 Adding new NR FDD bands for RedCap in Rel-18
6.8 Signal level Enhanced Network Selection
6.9 IoT NTN enhancements

7 Energy Efficiency (EE)
7.1 Enhancements of EE for 5G Phase 2
7.2 Network energy savings for NR
7.3 Smart Energy and Infrastructure

8 Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAV), UAS, UAM
8.1 Architecture for UAV and UAM Phase 2
8.2 Architecture for UAS Applications, Phase 2
8.3 NR support for UAV
8.4 Enhanced LTE Support for UAV

9 Sidelink, Proximity, Location and Positioning
9.1 5GC LoCation Services - Phase 3
9.2 Expanded and improved NR positioning
9.3 NR sidelink evolution
9.4 NR sidelink relay enhancements
9.5 Proximity-based Services in 5GS Phase 2
9.6 Ranging-based Service and sidelink positioning
9.7 Mobile Terminated-Small Data Transmission (MT-SDT) for NR
9.8 5G-enabled fused location service capability exposure

10 Verticals, Industries, Factories, Northbound API
10.1 Low Power High Accuracy Positioning for industrial IoT scenarios
10.2 Application enablement aspects for subscriber-aware northbound API access
10.3 Smart Energy and Infrastructure
10.4 Generic group management, exposure and communication enhancements
10.5 Service Enabler Architecture Layer for Verticals Phase 3
10.6 SEAL data delivery enabler for vertical applications
10.7 Rel-18 Enhancements of 3GPP Northbound and Application Layer interfaces and APIs
10.8 Charging Aspects of B2B
10.9 NRF API enhancements to avoid signalling and storing of redundant data
10.10 GBA_U Based APIs
10.11 Other aspects

11 Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML)
11.1 AI/ML model transfer in 5GS
11.2 AI/ML for NG-RAN
11.3 AI/ML management & charging
11.4 NEF Charging enhancement to support AI/ML in 5GS

12 Multicast and Broadcast Services (MBS)
12.1 5G MBS Phase 2
12.2 Enhancements of NR MBS
12.3 UE pre-configuration for 5MBS
12.4 Other MBS aspects

13 Network Slicing
13.1 Network Slicing Phase 3
13.2 Enhancement of NSAC for maximum number of UEs with at least one PDU session/PDN connection
13.3 Enhancement of Network Slicing UICC application for network slice-specific authentication and authorization
13.4 Charging Aspects of Network Slicing Phase 2
13.5 Charging Aspects for NSSAA
13.6 Charging enhancement for Network Slice based wholesale in roaming
13.7 Network Slice Capability Exposure for Application Layer Enablement
13.8 Other slice aspects

14 eXtended, Augmented and Virtual Reality (XR, AR, VR), immersive
14.1 XR (eXtended Reality) enhancements for NR
14.2 Media Capabilities for Augmented Reality
14.3 Real-time Transport Protocol Configurations
14.4 Immersive Audio for Split Rendering Scenarios  (ISAR)
14.5 Immersive Real-time Communication for WebRTC
14.6 IMS-based AR Conversational Services
14.7 Split Rendering Media Service Enabler
14.8 Extended Reality and Media service (XRM)
14.9 Other XR/AR/VR items

15 Mission Critical and emergencies
15.1 Enhanced Mission Critical Push-to-talk architecture phase 4
15.2 Gateway UE function for Mission Critical Communication
15.3 Mission Critical Services over 5MBS
15.4 Mission Critical Services over 5GProSe
15.5 Mission Critical ad hoc group Communications
15.6 Other Mission Critical aspects

16 Transportations (Railways, V2X, aerial)
16.1 MBS support for V2X services
16.2 Air-to-ground network for NR
16.4 Interconnection and Migration Aspects for Railways
16.5 Application layer support for V2X services; Phase 3
16.6 Enhanced NR support for high speed train scenario in frequency range 2 (FR2)

17 User Plane traffic and services
17.1 Enhanced Multiparty RTT
17.2 5G-Advanced media profiles for messaging services
17.3 Charging Aspects of IMS Data Channel
17.4 Evolution of IMS Multimedia Telephony Service
17.5 Access Traffic Steering, Switch and Splitting support in the 5G system architecture; Phase 3
17.6 UPF enhancement for Exposure and SBA
17.7 Tactile and multi-modality communication services
17.8 UE Testing Phase 2
17.9 5G Media Streaming Protocols Phase 2
17.10 EVS Codec Extension for Immersive Voice and Audio Services
17.11 Other User Plane traffic and services items

18 Edge computing
18.1 Edge Computing Phase 2
18.2 Architecture for enabling Edge Applications Phase 2
18.3 Edge Application Standards in 3GPP and alignment with External Organizations

19 Non-Public Networks
19.1 Non-Public Networks Phase 2
19.2 5G Networks Providing Access to Localized Services
19.3 Non-Public Networks Phase 2

20 AM and UE Policy
20.1 5G AM Policy
20.2 Enhancement of 5G UE Policy
20.3 Dynamically Changing AM Policies in the 5GC Phase 2
20.4 Spending Limits for AM and UE Policies in the 5GC
20.5 Rel-18 Enhancements of UE Policy

21 Service-based items
21.1 Enhancements on Service-based support for SMS in 5GC
21.2 Service based management architecture
21.3 Automated certificate management in SBA
21.4 Security Aspects of the 5G Service Based Architecture Phase 2
21.5 Service Based Interface Protocol Improvements Release 18

22 Security-centric aspects
22.1 IETF DTLS protocol profile for AKMA and GBA
22.2 IETF OSCORE protocol profiles for GBA and AKMA
22.3 Home network triggered primary authentication
22.4 AKMA phase 2
22.5 5G Security Assurance Specification (SCAS) for the Policy Control Function (PCF)
22.6 Security aspects on User Consent for 3GPP services Phase 2
22.7 SCAS for split-gNB product classes
22.8 Security Assurance Specification for AKMA Anchor Function Function (AAnF)
22.9 Other security-centric items

23 NR-only items
23.1 Not band-centric
23.1.1 NR network-controlled repeaters
23.1.2 Enhancement of MIMO OTA requirement for NR UEs
23.1.3 NR MIMO evolution for downlink and uplink
23.1.4 Further NR mobility enhancements
23.1.5 In-Device Co-existence (IDC) enhancements for NR and MR-DC
23.1.6 Even Further RRM enhancement for NR and MR-DC
23.1.7 Dual Transmission Reception (TxRx) Multi-SIM for NR
23.1.8 NR support for dedicated spectrum less than 5MHz for FR1
23.1.9 Enhancement of NR Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS)
23.1.10 Multi-carrier enhancements for NR
23.1.11 NR RF requirements enhancement for frequency range 2 (FR2), Phase 3
23.1.12 Requirement for NR frequency range 2 (FR2) multi-Rx chain DL reception
23.1.13 Support of intra-band non-collocated EN-DC/NR-CA deployment
23.1.14 Further enhancements on NR and MR-DC measurement gaps and measurements without gaps
23.1.15 Further RF requirements enhancement for NR and EN-DC in frequency range 1 (FR1)
23.1.16 Other non-band related items
23.2 Band-centric
23.2.1 Enhancements of NR shared spectrum bands
23.2.2 Addition of FDD NR bands using the uplink from n28 and the downlink of n75 and n76
23.2.3 Complete the specification support for BandWidth Part operation without restriction in NR
23.2.4 Other NR band related topics

24 LTE-only items
24.1 High Power UE (Power Class 2) for LTE FDD Band 14
24.2 Other LTE-only items

25 NR and LTE items
25.1 4Rx handheld UE for low NR bands (<1GHz) and/or 3Tx for NR inter-band UL Carrier Aggregation (CA) and EN-DC
25.2 Enhancement of UE TRP and TRS requirements and test methodologies for FR1 (NR SA and EN-DC)
25.3 Other items

26 Network automation
26.1 Enablers for Network Automation for 5G phase 3
26.2 Enhancement of Network Automation Enablers

27 Other aspects
27.1 Support for Wireless and Wireline Convergence Phase 2
27.2 Secondary DN Authentication and authorization in EPC IWK cases
27.3 Mobile IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) for NR
27.4 Further NR coverage enhancements
27.5 NR demodulation performance evolution
27.6 NR channel raster enhancement
27.7 BS/UE EMC enhancements for NR and LTE
27.8 Enhancement on NR QoE management and optimizations for diverse services
27.9 Additional NRM features phase 2
27.10 Further enhancement of data collection for SON (Self-Organising Networks)/MDT (Minimization of Drive Tests) in NR and EN-DC
27.11 Self-Configuration of RAN Network Entities
27.12 Enhancement of Shared Data ID and Handling
27.13 Message Service within the 5G system Phase 2
27.14 Security Assurance Specification (SCAS) Phase 2
27.15 Vehicle-Mounted Relays
27.16 SECAM and SCAS for 3GPP virtualized network products
27.17 SECAM and SCAS for 3GPP virtualized network products
27.18 MPS for Supplementary Services
27.19 Rel-18 enhancements of session management policy control
27.20 Seamless UE context recovery
27.21 Extensions to the TSC Framework to support DetNet
27.22 Multiple location report for MT-LR Immediate Location Request for regulatory services
27.23 Enhancement of Application Detection Event Exposure
27.24 General Support of IPv6 Prefix Delegation in 5GS
27.25 5G Timing Resiliency System
27.26 MPS when access to EPC/5GC is WLAN
27.27 Data Integrity in 5GS
27.28 Security Enhancement on RRCResumeRequest Message Protection

28 Administration, Operation, Maintenance and Charging-centric Features
28.1 Introduction
28.2 Intent driven Management Service for Mobile Network phase 2
28.3 Management of cloud-native Virtualized Network Functions
28.4 Management of Trace/MDT phase 2
28.5 Security Assurance Specification for Management Function (MnF)
28.6 5G performance measurements and KPIs phase 3
28.7 Access control for management service
28.8 Management Aspects related to NWDAF
28.9 Management Aspect of 5GLAN
28.10 Charging Aspects of TSN
28.11 CHF Distributed Availability
28.12 Management Data Analytics phase 2
28.12 5G System Enabler for Service Function Chaining
28.13 Other Management-centric items

29 Other Rel-18 Topics

If you find them useful then please get the latest document from here.

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Wednesday, 21 June 2023

3GPP TSG RAN and TSG SA Release-19 Workshop Summary

3GPP recently announced the milestone of reaching 100th plenaries of the three Technical Specification Groups (TSGs) in 3GPP which took place in Taipei last week. If you are unsure what TSGs are, we recently made a tutorial of 3GPP, available here.

During the plenary TSG SA and TSG RAN held workshops on Release 19. The top level link for RAN workshop is here while that for SA is here. SA also has HTML link of the documents here.

The slide above is from the RAN chair's summary provides list of topics that were discussed. The following is the executive summary from the draft workshop report:

The 3GPP TSG RAN Rel-19 face-to-face workshop was held June 15 - June 16, 2023 in Taipei hosted by TAICS (Taiwan Association of Information and Communication Standards) and MediaTek with 174 participants (see Annex A) and 491 Tdocs (see Annex B). A GotoWebinar conference call was carried out during the whole workshop to display discussed documents and to allow listen & talk access for people joining remotely.

The workshop agenda was provided in RWS-230001 and split into 3 main parts:

  • High-level overview proposals for Rel-19: 18 Tdocs handled, 46 not treated, 1 in the end endorsed (RP-230488)
  • Specific RAN1/2/3-led Rel-19 topics: 29 Tdocs handled, 369 not treated
  • RAN4-led Rel-19 topics (for information only): 20 not treated

Note: High-level overview proposals for Rel-19 and RAN4-led Rel-19 topics had the restriction of maximum one contribution led per company.

Some guidance about the workshop was provided on the RAN email reflector on 28.04.23 and 02.05.23.

Time plan versions of the workshop were provided on 02.05.23, 11.06.23 and on 15.06.23.

Workshop inputs were possible from 28.04.23 until the submission deadline 31.05.23 9pm UTC.

(Late Tdoc requests as well as revisions of Tdocs after the Tdoc request deadline 30.05.23 9pm UTC were avoided in order to not complicate the Tdoc handling, like quotas for AI 4 and 6, preparations of the workshop in parallel to RAN #100 and preparations of the summary etc.)

Originally, Thursday 15.06.23 and Friday 16.06.23 morning were planned for presentations of a limited set of 47 workshop contributions (selected by the RAN chair trying to achieve a fair coverage of the topics and interests and taking into account that there were many more inputs that can be handled in a 2 days workshop) and Friday afternoon was reserved for the discussion of a summary of the RAN chair (in RWS-230488). Note: Since the presentation part went faster and the Friday lunch break was skipped, the workshop ended on Friday afternoon earlier than originally planned.

Finally, the RAN chair's summary in RWS-230488 was endorsed indicating the motivations and handling of the workshop, the Rel-19 timeline and load plans and the management and categorization of topics.

TSG SA didn't have a summary slide but SWS-230002, output of drafting session on Consolidated SA WG2 Rel-19 Work, listed the following topics:

  • Satellite Architecure Enhancements
  • XRM Enhancements and Metaverse
  • AI/ML enhancements
  • Multi-access (Dual 3GPP + ATSSS Enh)
  • Integrated Sensing and Communication
  • Ambient IoT
  • Energy Efficiency / Energy Saving as a Service
  • IMS and NG_RTC enhancements
  • Edge Computing Enhancements
  • Proximity Services enhancements 
  • TSC/URLLC/TRS enhancements 
  • Network Sharing 
  • User identities + identification of device behind RG/AP
  • 5G Femto 
  • UAS enhancements 
  • VMR Enhancements 
  • UPEAS Enhancements 

Fattesinh Deshmukh has a summary of 3GPP RAN Rel-19 Workshop on LinkedIn here. Nokia has their summary of the workshop here.

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Wednesday, 3 May 2023

Qualcomm Webinar on 'Realizing mission-critical industrial automation with 5G'

Private 5G networks have immense potential to transform industries by improving flexibility within the shop floor of the industries. Industrial 5G networks hold the promise to transform mission-critical industrial automation by using the built-in 5G features of higher bandwidth, lower latency, greater reliability, and improved security.

Some of the ways in which Industrial 5G (I5G) networks will help transform mission-critical industrial networks using automation include:

  • Enhanced Communication: I5G networks will offer faster and more reliable communication between machines, sensors, and other devices. This will lead to better synchronization, increased efficiency, and reduced downtime in industrial processes.
  • High-Quality Video: I5G networks will provide high-quality video streaming, enabling real-time monitoring of industrial processes. This will be particularly useful in applications such as remote inspections, quality control, and process optimization.
  • Edge Computing: I5G networks will support edge computing, that will enable processing of data close to where it is generated. This will help to keep latency to a minimum thereby improve response times and making it possible to perform critical tasks in real-time.
  • Improved Security: I5G networks will provide improved security features along with network slicing, which will enable the creation of secure virtual networks for specific applications or users. This will in-turn help to protect against cyberattacks and ensure the integrity of data.
  • Reduced Downtime: I5G networks will help to reduce downtime by providing real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance capabilities. This will allow identification of potential problems before they cause downtime thereby enabling proactive maintenance and repairs.

Overall, I5G networks have the potential and the capability to significantly improve mission-critical industrial automation by providing faster, more reliable, and secure communication, enabling real-time monitoring and control, and reducing downtime through predictive maintenance capabilities.

In addition, Private/Industrial 5G will help with Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) by providing a highly reliable and low-latency wireless communication network that can support real-time industrial control and automation applications. TSN is a set of IEEE standards that enable time-critical data to be transmitted over Ethernet networks with very low latency and high reliability.

I5G networks provide a wireless alternative to wired Ethernet networks for TSN applications, which can be advantageous in environments where deploying Ethernet cabling is difficult or costly. With I5G, TSN traffic can be prioritized and transmitted over the network with low latency and high reliability, which is critical for industrial automation and control applications that require precise timing and synchronization.

Moreover, I5G networks can be deployed with network slicing capabilities, allowing for the creation of multiple virtual networks with different performance characteristics tailored to specific applications or user groups. This means that TSN traffic can be isolated and prioritized over other types of traffic, ensuring that critical data is always transmitted with the highest priority and reliability.

Last year, Qualcomm hosted a webinar on 'Realizing mission-critical industrial automation with 5G'. The webinar is embedded below:

Here is the summary of what the webinar includes:

Manufacturers seeking better operational efficiencies, with reduced downtime and higher yield, are at the leading edge of the Industry 4.0 transformation. With mobile system components and reliable wireless connectivity between them, flexible manufacturing systems can be reconfigured quickly for new tasks, to troubleshoot issues, or in response to shifts in supply and demand. 

5G connectivity enables flexibility in demanding industrial environments with key capabilities such as ultra-reliable wireless connectivity, wireless Ethernet, time-sensitive networking (TSN), and positioning. There is a long history of R&D collaboration between Bosch Rexroth and Qualcomm Technologies for the effective application of these 5G capabilities to industrial automation use cases. At the Robert Bosch Elektronik GmbH factory in Salzgitter, Germany, this collaboration has reached new heights by demonstrating time-synchronized control of an industrial robot, and remote positioning of an automated guided vehicle (AGV) over a live, ultra-reliable 5G private network.

Watch the session to learn how:

  • Qualcomm Technologies and Bosch Rexroth are collaborating to accelerate the Industry 4.0 transformation
  • 5G technologies deliver key capabilities for mission-critical industrial automation
  • Distributed control solutions can work effectively across 5G TSN networks
  • A single 5G technology platform solves connectivity and positioning needs for flexible manufacturing

The video is also available on Qualcomm site here and the slides are here.

A shorter video looking behind the tech to see how Qualcomm and Bosch are partnering to enable mission-critical industrial automation over a 5G private network is as follows:

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Friday, 30 December 2022

Top Blog Posts of 2022

The 3G4G Blog is our most popular blog, running for over 15 years with nearly 15 million views. With 2022 coming to an end, here are the top 10 most viewed posts from 2022. These posts were not necessarily posted this year, so I have added the month and year each of them was posted.

  1. Network Slicing using User Equipment Route Selection Policy (URSP), Nov 2021
  2. 5G & AI Powered Smart Hospitals, Dec 2021
  3. Four Ways 5G Can Improve the Battery Life of User Equipment (UE), Sep 2022
  4. 3GPP Release-18 Work Moves Into Focus as Release-17 Reaches Maturity, Jan 2022
  5. What is RF Front-End (RFFE) and why is it so Important?, Jan 2022
  6. How Multiband-Cells are used for MORAN RAN Sharing, Aug 2022
  7. Key enablers for mass IoT adoption, Oct 2022
  8. Positioning Techniques for 5G NR in 3GPP Release-16, Oct 2020
  9. Impact of 5G on Lawful Interception and Law Enforcement, Dec 2021
  10. 3GPP 5G Non Terrestrial Networks (NTN) Standardization Update, Jan 2022

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Saturday, 24 December 2022

3GPP Release 17 Description and Summary of Work Items

An updated (looks final) version of 3GPP TR 21.917: Release 17 Description; Summary of Rel-17 Work Items was added to the archive earlier this month. It is a fantastic summary of all the Rel-17 features. Quoting the executive summary from the specs:

Release 17 is dedicated to consolidate and enhance the concepts and functionalities introduced in the previous Releases, while introducing a small number of brand new Features.

The improvements relate to all the key areas of the previous Releases: services to the industry (the "verticals"), including positioning, private network, etc.; improvements for several aspects of 5G supporting Internet of Things (IoT), both in the Core Network and in the Access Network, of proximity (direct) communications between mobiles, in particular in the context of autonomous driving (V2X), in several media aspects of the user plane related to the entertainment industry (codec, streaming, broadcasting) and also of the support of Mission Critical communications. Furthermore, a number of network functionalities have been improved, e.g. for slicing, traffic steering and Edge-computing.

The Radio interface and the Access Network have been significantly improved too (MIMO, Repeaters, 1024QAM modulation for downlink, etc.). While most of the improvements target 5G/NR radio access (or are access-agnostic), some improvements are dedicated to 4G/LTE access. Such improvements are clearly identified in the title and in the chapters where they appear.

Note: To avoid terminology such as "even further improvements of…", the successive enhancements are now referred to as "Phase n": "phase 2" refers to the first series of enhancements, "Phase 3" to the enhancements of the enhancements, etc. In this transition Release, the "Phase n" way of referring to successive enhancements has not always been used consistently nor enforced.

As for the new Features, the main new Feature of this Release is the support of satellite access, and a dedicated chapter covers this topic.

Note that the classifications, groupings and order of appearance of the Features in this document reflect a number of choices by the editor as there is no "3GPP endorsement" for classification/order. This Executive Summary has also been written by the editor and represents his view.

The following list is from the table of contents to provide you an idea and if it interests you, download the technical report here. 

5 Integration of satellite components in the 5G architecture
5.1 General traffic (non-IoT)
5.1.1 SA and CT aspects
5.1.2 RAN aspects
5.2 NB-IoT/eMTC support for Non-Terrestrial Networks

6 Services to "verticals"
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Generic functionalities, to all verticals
6.2.1 Network and application enablement for verticals
6.2.1.1 Enhanced Service Enabler Architecture Layer for Verticals
6.2.1.2 Enhancements for Cyber-physical control Applications in Vertical domains (eCAV)
6.2.1.3 Enhancements of 3GPP Northbound Interfaces and APIs
6.2.2 Location and positioning
6.2.2.1 RAN aspects of NR positioning enhancements
6.2.2.2 Enhancement to the 5GC LoCation Services-Phase 2
6.2.3 Support of Non-Public and Private Networks
6.2.3.1 Enhanced support of Non-Public Networks
6.2.3.2 Enhancement of Private Network support for NG-RAN
6.3 Specific verticals support
6.3.1 Railways
6.3.1.1 Enhancements to Application Architecture for the Mobile Communication System for Railways Phase 2
6.3.1.2 Enhanced NR support for high speed train scenario (NR_HST)
6.3.1.2.1 NR_HST for FR1
6.3.1.2.2 NR_HST for FR2
6.3.1.3 NR Frequency bands for Railways
6.3.1.3.1 Introduction of 900MHz NR band for Europe for Rail Mobile Radio (RMR)
6.3.1.3.2 Introduction of 1900MHz NR TDD band for Europe for Rail Mobile Radio (RMR)
6.3.2 Mission Critical (MC) and priority service
6.3.2.1 Mission Critical Push-to-talk Phase 3
6.3.2.2 Mission Critical Data Phase 3
6.3.2.3 Mission Critical security Phase 2
6.3.2.4 Mission Critical Services over 5GS
6.3.2.5 Enhanced Mission Critical Communication Interworking with Land Mobile Radio Systems (CT aspects)
6.3.2.6 Mission Critical system migration and interconnection (CT aspects)
6.2.3.7 MC services support on IOPS mode of operation
6.3.2.8 MCPTT in Railways
6.3.2.9 Multimedia Priority Service (MPS) Phase 2
6.3.3 Drone/UAS/UAV/EAV
6.3.3.1 Introduction
6.3.3.2 General aspects
6.3.3.2.1 5G Enhancement for UAVs
6.3.3.2.2 Application layer support for UAS
6.3.3.3 Remote Identification of UAS
6.3.4 Media production, professional video and Multicast-Broadcast
6.3.4.1 Communication for Critical Medical Applications
6.3.4.2 Audio-Visual Service Production
6.3.4.3 Multicast-Broadcast Services (MBS)
6.3.4.3.1 Multicast-broadcast services in 5G
6.3.4.3.2 NR multicast and broadcast services
6.3.4.3.3 5G multicast and broadcast services
6.3.4.3.4 Security Aspects of Enhancements for 5G MBS
6.3.4.4 Study on Multicast Architecture Enhancements for 5G Media Streaming
6.3.4.5 5G Multicast-Broadcast User Service Architecture and related 5GMS Extensions
6.3.4.6 Other media and broadcast aspects
6.4 Other "verticals" aspects

7 IoT, Industrial IoT, REDuced CAPacity UEs and URLLC
7.1 NR small data transmissions in INACTIVE state
7.2 Additional enhancements for NB-IoT and LTE-MTC
7.3 Enhanced Industrial IoT and URLLC support for NR
7.4 Support of Enhanced Industrial IoT (IIoT)
7.5 Support of reduced capability NR devices
7.6 IoT and 5G access via Satellite/Non-Terrestrial (NTN) link
7.7 Charging enhancement for URLLC and CIoT
7.8 Messaging in 5G

8 Proximity/D2D/Sidelink related and V2X
8.1 Enhanced Relays for Energy eFficiency and Extensive Coverage
8.2 Proximity-based Services in 5GS
8.3 Sidelink/Device-to-Device (D2D)
8.3.1 NR Sidelink enhancement
8.3.2 NR Sidelink Relay
8.4 Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X)
8.4.1 Support of advanced V2X services - Phase 2
8.4.2 Enhanced application layer support for V2X services

9 System optimisations
9.1 Edge computing
9.1.1 Enhancement of support for Edge Computing in 5G Core network
9.1.2 Enabling Edge Applications
9.1.3 Edge Computing Management
9.2 Slicing
9.2.1 Network Slicing Phase 2 (CN and AN aspects)
9.2.2 Network Slice charging based on 5G Data Connectivity
9.3 Access Traffic Steering, Switch and Splitting support in the 5G system architecture; Phase 2
9.4 Self-Organizing (SON)/Autonomous Network
9.4.1 Enhancement of data collection for SON/MDT in NR and EN-DC
9.4.2 Autonomous network levels
9.4.3 Enhancements of Self-Organizing Networks (SON)
9.5 Minimization of service Interruption
9.6 Policy and Charging Control enhancement
9.7 Multi-(U)SIM
9.7.1 Support for Multi-USIM Devices (System and CN aspects)
9.7.2 Support for Multi-SIM Devices for LTE/NR

10 Energy efficiency, power saving
10.1 UE power saving enhancements for NR
10.2 Enhancements on EE for 5G networks
10.3 Other energy efficiency aspects

11 New Radio (NR) physical layer enhancements
11.1 Further enhancements on MIMO for NR
11.2 MIMO Over-the-Air requirements for NR UEs
11.3 Enhancements to Integrated Access and Backhaul for NR
11.4 NR coverage enhancements
11.5 RF requirements for NR Repeaters
11.6 Introduction of DL 1024QAM for NR FR1
11.7 NR Carrier Aggregation
11.7.1 NR intra band Carrier Aggregation
11.7.2 NR inter band Carrier Aggregation
11.8 NR Dynamic Spectrum Sharing
11.9 Increasing UE power high limit for CA and DC
11.10 RF requirements enhancement for NR FR1
11.11 RF requirements further enhancements for NR FR2
11.12 NR measurement gap enhancements
11.13 UE RF requirements for Transparent Tx Diversity for NR
11.14 NR RRM further enhancement
11.15 Further enhancement on NR demodulation performance
11.16 Bandwidth combination set 4 (BCS4) for NR
11.17 Other NR related activities
11.18 NR new/modified bands
11.18.1 Introduction of 6GHz NR licensed bands
11.18.2 Extending current NR operation to 71 GHz
11.18.3 Other NR new/modified bands

12. New Radio (NR) enhancements other than layer 1
12.1 NR Uplink Data Compression (UDC)
12.2 NR QoE management and optimizations for diverse services

13 NR and LTE enhancements
13.1 NR and LTE layer 1 enhancements
13.1.1 High-power UE operation for fixed-wireless/vehicle-mounted use cases in LTE bands and NR bands
13.1.2 UE TRP and TRS requirements and test methodologies for FR1 (NR SA and EN-DC)
13.1.3 Other Dual Connectivity and Multi-RAT enhancements
13.2 NR and LTE enhancements other than layer 1
13.2.1 Enhanced eNB(s) architecture evolution for E-UTRAN and NG-RAN
13.2.2 Further Multi-RAT Dual-Connectivity enhancements
13.2.3 Further Multi-RAT Dual-Connectivity enhancements

14 LTE-only enhancements
14.1 LTE  inter-band Carrier Aggregation
14.2 LTE new/modified bands
14.2.1 New bands and bandwidth allocation for 5G terrestrial broadcast - part 1
14.3 Other LTE bands-related aspects

15 User plane improvements
15.1 Immersive Teleconferencing and Telepresence for Remote Terminals
15.2 8K Television over 5G
15.3 5G Video Codec Characteristics
15.4 Handsets Featuring Non-Traditional Earpieces
15.5 Extension for headset interface tests of UE
15.6 Media Streaming AF Event Exposure
15.7 Restoration of PDN Connections in PGW-C/SMF Set
15.8 Other media and user plane aspects

16 Standalone Security aspects
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Authentication and key management for applications based on 3GPP credential in 5G (AKMA)
16.3 AKMA TLS protocol profiles
16.4 User Plane Integrity Protection for LTE
16.5 Non-Seamless WLAN offload authentication in 5GS
16.6 Generic Bootstrapping Architecture (GBA) into 5GC
16.7 Security Assurance Specification for 5G
16.8 Adapting BEST for use in 5G networks
16.9 Other security aspects

17 Signalling optimisations
17.1 Enhancement for the 5G Control Plane Steering of Roaming for UE in Connected mode
17.2 Same PCF selection for AMF and SMF
17.3 Enhancement of Inter-PLMN Roaming
17.4 Enhancement on the GTP-U entity restart
17.5 Packet Flow Description management enhancement
17.6 PAP/CHAP protocols usage in 5GS
17.7 Start of Pause of Charging via User Plane
17.8 Enhancement of Handover Optimization
17.9 Restoration of Profiles related to UDR
17.10 IP address pool information from UDM
17.11 Dynamic management of group-based event monitoring
17.12 Dynamically Changing AM Policies in the 5GC
17.13 Other aspects

18 Standalone Management Features
18.1 Introduction
18.2 Enhanced Closed loop SLS Assurance
18.3 Enhancement of QoE Measurement Collection
18.4 Plug and connect support for management of Network Functions
18.5 Management of MDT enhancement in 5G
18.6 Management Aspects of 5G Network Sharing
18.7 Discovery of management services in 5G
18.8 Management of the enhanced tenant concept
18.9 Intent driven management service for mobile network
18.10 Improved support for NSA in the service-based management architecture
18.11 Additional Network Resource Model features
18.12  Charging for Local breakout roaming of data connectivity
18.13 File Management
18.14 Management data collection control and discovery
18.15 Other charging and management aspects

If you find them useful then please get the latest document from here.

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Wednesday, 10 August 2022

AI/ML Enhancements in 5G-Advanced for Intelligent Network Automation

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) has been touted to automate the network and simplify the identification and debug of issues that will arise with increasing network complexity. For this reason 3GPP has many different features that are already present in Release-17 but are expected to evolve further in Release-18. 

I have already covered some of this topics in earlier posts. Ericsson's recent whitepaper '5G Advanced: Evolution towards 6G' also has a good summary on this topic. Here is an extract from that:

Intelligent network automation

With increasing complexity in network design, for example, many different deployment and usage options, conventional approaches will not be able to provide swift solutions in many cases. It is well understood that manually reconfiguring cellular communications systems could be inefficient and costly.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have the capability to solve complex and unstructured network problems by using a large amount of data collected from wireless networks. Thus, there has been a lot of attention lately on utilizing AI/ML-based solutions to improve network performance and hence providing avenues for inserting intelligence in network operations.

AI model design, optimization, and life-cycle management rely heavily on data. A wireless network can collect a large amount of data as part of its normal operations. This provides a good base for designing intelligent network solutions. 5G Advanced addresses how to optimize the standardized interfaces for data collection while leaving the automation functionality, for example, training and inference up to the proprietary implementation to support full flexibility in the automation of the network.

AI/ML for RAN enhancements

Three use cases have been identified in the Release 17 study item related to RAN performance enhancement by using AI/ML techniques. Selected use cases from the Release 17 technical report will be taken into the normative phase in the next releases. The selected use cases are: 1) network energy saving; 2) load balancing; and 3) mobility optimization.

The selected use cases can be supported by enhancements to current NR interfaces, targeting performance improvements using AI/ML functionality in the RAN while maintaining the 5G NR architecture. One of the goals is to ensure vendor incentives in terms of innovation and competitiveness by keeping the AI model implementation specific. As shown in Fig.2 (on the top) an intent-based management approach can be adopted for use cases involving RAN-OAM interactions. The intent will be received by the RAN. The RAN will need to understand the intent and trigger certain functionalities as a result.

AI/ML for physical layer enhancements

It is generally expected that AI/ML functionality can be used to improve the radio performance and/or reduced the complexity/overhead of the radio interface. 3GPP TSG RAN has selected three use cases to study the potential air interface performance improvements through AI/ML techniques, such as beam management, channel state information feedback enhancement, and positioning accuracy enhancements for different scenarios. The AI/ML-based methods may provide benefits compared to traditional methods in the radio interface. The challenge will be to define a unified AI/ML framework for the air interface by adequate AI/ML model characterization using various levels of collaboration between gNB and UE.

AI/ML in 5G core

5G Advanced will provide further enhancements of the architecture for analytics and on ML model life-cycle management, for example, to improve correctness of the models. The advancements in the architecture for analytics and data collection serve as a good foundation for AI/ML-based use cases within the different network functions (NFs). Additional use cases will be studied where NFs make use of analytics with the target to support in their decision making, for example, network data analytics functions (NWDAF)- assisted generation of UE policy for network slicing.

If you are interested in studying this topic further, check out 3GPP TR 37.817: Study on enhancement for data collection for NR and ENDC. Download the latest version from here.

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