Category: Trends

The baseline 5G system was specified within 3GPP Releases 15 and 16, also known as 5G Phase-1 and 5G Phase 2. There are interesting developments within 3GPP, which evolved the system towards Rel-17. More recently, the standardization took the step towards a significant update with the so-called, “5G-Advanced” using Rel-18 for that purpose. This whitepaper provides an overview of the latest development steps along with outlining the main Work- and Study-Items of both 3GPP Rel-17 and Rel-18 within RAN and SA2 work groups.

This blog post covers the topic of Beamforming in the context of the Open Radio Access Network. First, we discuss the possible implementation of beamforming in 5G networks, namely Grid of Beams. Then, some challenges regarding GoB are highlighted. Finally, some ideas for utilizing O-RAN to solve them are mentioned.

Network slicing, allows to use a single physical infrastructure allowing to put the functionality where and when needed depending on the use case and application. This concept allows flexibility and tailoring of a dedicated virtual network to a specific need. In this post, we’ll discuss the overall concept of network slicing with the focus on 5G RAN aspects. This is followed up by placing the network slicing in the O-RAN context. We'll touch on the architectural aspects related to Open RAN as defined by O-RAN ALLIANCE.

In this blog post, we provide a general overview of ways to improve EE in contemporary mobile networks. This is followed up by some representative examples of algorithms aiming at EE optimization at different levels, with a focus on the utilization of ML techniques. We then put it in the context of O-RAN where the deployment of EE-focused aspects and algorithms is discussed.

RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) is one of the key elements in the O-RAN architecture, which allows feeding an „external” intelligence into the operations of the radio network. It creates a platform for which the software companies could provide per-use case AI-powered algorithms to make way for, among others, radio resources usage or procedure optimizations. This whitepaper provides an overview of the RIC, discusses its functional split into Non-Real-Time and Near-Real-Time entities along with the concept and examples of rApps and xApps.

On the 20th of December 2021, 3GPP SA TSG approved a total of 28 WIs/SIs for the SA2 Rel-18 at the SA plenary meeting #94e. 3GPP Rel-18 is the first release of the 5G-Advanced standard. The approved projects include TSN, NW slicing, support for edge computing, NW automation, location services, AI and ML-based services, XR services to name a few. In this post, we elaborate on each of the approved WI/SI entering 5G-Advanced standardization.