Tag: 3gpp

3GPP Rel-18 is the first release of the 5G-Advanced standard. On the 17th of December 2021, 3GPP TSG RAN plenary (3GPP RAN TSG #94e) approved 28 Release-18 projects (i.e., Study- and Work-Items, SI/WI) with the following split among RAN groups: 12 RAN1-led projects, 10 RAN2-led projects, 5 RAN3-led projects, and 1 RAN4-led project. Those topics include AI/ML for NR and NG-RAN, NTN and MIMO enhancements, evolution for sidelink, UAV, RedCap, SON, QoE, XR services, to name a few. In this post, we elaborate on each of the approved projects entering 5G-Advanced standardization.

Like almost everything in Telecom's, Open RAN is complicated. It's not a single idea. It's not a single product or service. It's not an optimization technique or path towards improved efficiency. It’s hardly even an agreed term. Open RAN is essentially 2 foundational ideas: 1) The disaggregation of network functionality from the underlying hardware. 2) The specification of discrete functional blocks having well-defined interfaces. In other words, modularity.

According to 3GPP the prioritization process on Rel-18 features should be completed by the end of 2021 - with the Rel-18 Package Approval scheduled for December 2021. As of now, the decisions are still focused on the Rel-17 schedule. Meanwhile, some Rel-18 Stage 1 studies are underway.

This article discusses the private (or non-public) mobile networks from the technical perspective. It touches upon 3GPP features related to Private 5G Networks and various options for the deployment of those along with an analysis of advantages and disadvantages for each.

We recently took part in the 5G Core Summit by Informa and Knect365, a virtual conference, which I'd like to shed some light on. The conference's main areas included: 5G use cases and ecosystem development, network cloudification, edge clouds, and network slicing, trials and lessons learned from initial deployments, specialized use cases, private networks and practical aspects of the first implementations, evolution strategies, and alike.

As the first two releases covering the 5G system are completed (i.e. Release-15 and Rel-16), further features and enhancements are being covered within the ongoing 3GPP Rel-17. This post discusses a subset of the features from that release, including Non-Public Networks, higher frequency ranges, Unmanned Aerial Systems, Network Slicing enhancements and alike.