IT House reported on April 9 that in late March this year, the third version of the global 5G standard, 3GPP Release 17, completed the third-stage functional freeze (that is, the system design was completed). In December 2019, 3GPP approved the research scope of Release 17. Despite the impact of the epidemic, 3GPP has been working through online collaboration since late January 2020, but most of the planned projects for Release 17 have been completed. The completion of Release 17 not only marks the successful conclusion of the first phase of 5G technology evolution, but also demonstrates the resilience of the mobile ecosystem and its commitment to moving 5G forward.
Enhanced new 5G system capabilities
According to Qualcomm, Release 17 brings more enhancements to a number of fundamental technologies of 5G systems, driving technology development in multiple aspects, including capacity, coverage, latency, energy efficiency and mobility. Here are some key areas of improvement:
Further enhanced massive MIMO:This project in Release 17 focuses on bringing enhanced features to some key technology areas, including enhanced multi-TRP (transmit and receive point) deployment and enhanced multi-beam operation, triggering or handover at SRS (sounding reference signal), and Improvements in CSI (Channel State Information) measurement or reporting.
Override enhancements:For the diverse deployment of Sub-7GHz, mmWave and non-terrestrial networks, Release 17 introduces several enhancements to uplink control and data channel design, such as increased retransmission times for improved reliability, and combined transmission and frequency hopping across multiple segments channel estimation.
Terminal power saving:To further extend the battery life of mobile terminals, Release 17 brings power saving enhancements to terminals in idle/inactive mode and connected mode. For example, this feature supports the reduction of unnecessary terminal paging reception, terminal measurement relaxation of the radio link, and other new functions.
Spectrum spread:Another important item in Release 17 is the expansion of existing 5G NR designs to extend the mmWave spectrum range from 24.25-52.6GHz to up to 71GHz, also referred to by 3GPP as the FR2-2 band. This feature includes support for the global 60GHz unlicensed frequency band, enabling new use cases and new deployments.
Enhanced IAB and Simple Repeater:For more efficient 5G deployments, especially mmWave deployments, the enhanced IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) in Release 17 supports simultaneous transmission and reception (ie, spatially separated full duplex); in addition, Release 17 also introduces simple repeaters ( i.e. amplify and forward relays) as a new cost-effective infrastructure option to help expand network coverage for both FDD and TDD.
Further enhanced URLLC, private enterprise networks and other use cases:Release 17 continues to bring better support for demanding applications such as the Industrial Internet of Things, and introduces new enhancements to URLLC (Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication), such as enhanced physical layer feedback, improved license-free spectrum compatibility, and in-terminal multiplexing and prioritization functions.
Extend 5G to new devices and applications
Release 17 brings us one step closer to the 5G vision of the Internet of Everything. Here are a few key projects in Release 17 that aim to bring system optimization to a wide range of endpoints and applications:
RedCap or NR-Light:In order to efficiently support lower complexity IoT terminals (such as sensors, wearable devices, video cameras), Release 17 narrows the 5G NR design bandwidth (100MHz) to 20MHz in the Sub-7GHz band and 100MHz in the mmWave band. In most of the new Sub-7GHz frequency bands (such as n77, n78, n79, n41, etc.), traditional 5G NR terminals usually need to be equipped with four receiving antennas; this project reduces the number of receiving antennas for NR-Light terminals to one. root or two. The project also supports energy efficiency improvements and the coexistence of RedCap terminals with other 5G NR terminals.
Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN):Following the Release 16 research, Release 17 introduced 5G NR support for NTN. It consists of two different projects: one is satellite backhaul communication for CPE and direct low data rate service for handheld devices; the other is satellite communication supporting eMTC and NB-IoT operation.
Extended Direct Communication:Based on the C-V2X (cellular vehicle networking) 5G PC5 design in Release 16, Release 17 brings a series of new direct-connect communication enhancements, such as optimized resource allocation, power saving and support for new frequency bands. Release 17 also extends Direct Connect to public safety, IoT, and other new use cases that require the introduction of Direct Connect relay operations.
Enhanced precision targeting:Release 17 further advances 5G positioning for more demanding use cases including centimeter-level accuracy. The project also includes other enhancements such as reduced positioning latency, improved positioning efficiency to expand capacity, and better GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) assisted positioning performance.
Extended broadcast/multicast:The scope of this project in Release 17 includes the introduction of independent networking broadcast enhancements and mixed-mode multicast support. For example, adding support for 6MHz / 7MHz / 8MHz carrier bandwidth for standalone broadcast, and defining multicast operations for 5G NR through simultaneous/dynamic switching between broadcast and unicast.
Unbounded XR (Extended Reality):The Metaverse is the ubiquitous internet of space, enabling personalized digital experiences that span the physical and virtual worlds. The XR project in Release 17 focuses on researching and defining various types of XR traffic (AR, VR, cloud gaming). This study defines requirements and evaluation methods for the identified XR traffic types, and supports performance evaluations to determine areas for improvement for future Release 18 projects.
Other enhancements
In addition to the main items above, Release 17 has a number of smaller 5G system enhancements, including enhanced multi-radio dual connectivity, multi-SIM support, higher-order modulation, sporadic data transfer, quality of experience, data acquisition, and RAN slices etc.
What’s next for 5G?
Although the next milestone of Release 17, the completion of the ASN.1 freeze (that is, the agreement freeze, can enter the implementation phase), will not be reached until June this year, 3GPP is about to start the research work on Release 18. Release 18 is the first standard release of 5G Advanced, which will start a new wave of wireless innovation and further realize the 5G vision. At the same time, the 5G ecosystem is rapidly promoting the popularization of 5G networks around the world, facilitating the commercialization of Release 16 features, and promoting the deployment of Release 17 features in the near future.
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