5G Standardization Update

When the Marketing Tail Wags the Technology Dog

06/29/2016 | 25 pages
Price: $695.00

Earlier this month we attended the RAN#72 Plenary, held in Busan, South Korea. As part of our series of reports on the 5G standardization process, we provide an update on the recent activities pertaining to both the new air interface as well as the more “mundane” activities that relate to LTE-Advanced Pro.

Highlights of the Report include the following:

Accelerated Schedule.  Although nothing is cast in stone, there are developments unfolding which could result in an early completion of at least some Release 15 functionality that pertains to NR. The motivation is somewhat understandable and definitely a bit odd since we now have marketing departments dictating what is and isn’t 5G, not to mention when they think it will / should happen.

The Architecture.  There are a potential of up to 12 different combinations of LTE, NR, and their associated core network counterparts. Not all of these options will happen and those options that will happen won’t happen all at once. We discuss the implications of NSA (non-standalone) and SA (standalone) options.

Updates to the NR Study Item, Deployment Scenarios and KPIs.  We look at what has changed with respect to the NR Study Item and how the deployment scenarios, along with their associated KPIs, have evolved. We also discuss RAN1 and SA activities, including an update on the new channel model for above [and below] 6 GHz.

And in the other Corner – Release 14.  We highlight several of the new / modified Release 14 work and study items which 3GPP RAN is working on as well as other items which are on the fence, suggesting they could be added to the list at some point.