The Politics of 5G Standardization

An Eleventh Hour Kumbaya, or Rock-Paper-Scissors

11/30/2016 | 17 pages
Price: $725.00

We recently attended the RAN working group meetings which were jointly held, along with the SA2 working group, in Reno, NV. As part of our series of reports on the 5G standardization process, we provide an update on the recent activities pertaining to the new air interface as well as discuss the overall 3GPP standardization process.

Highlights of the Report include the following:

The Standardization Process.  Despite 3GPP attendance at record levels, very few people in the industry have actually attended a meeting. Therefore, we provide some perspectives on how the whole process works and how companies try to work together for a common goal. Most of the time it works quite well while other times it doesn’t.

eMBB Channel Coding.  3GPP came to an agreement of sorts on a way forward for eMBB channel coding (mMTC and URLLC channel coding is TBD). We provide our perspectives on the decisions that were made, why they were made, and what it might mean.

Channel Modeling Revisited.  We earlier discussed our concerns about the channel model (> 6 GHz) being used during the standardization process. Although we have no new insight to suggest the model is or isn’t flawed, we do have greater insight into its importance and how inaccurate simulations could result in poor decisions.

5G Lite?  We question what, if any, incremental benefits 5G / NR offers versus LTE-Advanced Pro in spectrum below 6 GHz. We also question whether or not 3GPP should include URLLC in Release 15.