Tag: New Radio

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.

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.

5G is the first system where frequencies higher than 6 GHz are taken into account. The motivation behind new spectrum portions is the mentioned need for offering throughput of gigabit/s and more. The game is worth playing since, in the mmWave, Gigahertz spectrum bandwidths can be applied. But one may pose the question: if the price is so exciting then why nobody used mmWaves previously in cellular systems?