TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................... 1 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 2 2 BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................................... 2 2.1 Global Market Trends....................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Extension to New Use Cases .......................................................................................................... 4 2.3 3GPP TimeLine ................................................................................................................................. 5 2.4 ITU-R and the 3GPP IMT-2020 Submission ................................................................................... 5 3 RADIO-ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES ..................................................................................................... 6 3.1 LTE ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 3.1.1 Background ................................................................................................................................. 7 3.1.2 LTE Evolution in Release 16 ....................................................................................................... 8 3.1.3 Further LTE Evolution in Release 17 ........................................................................................ 12 3.2 New Radio (NR) .............................................................................................................................. 12 3.2.1 NR - Current Status .................................................................................................................. 12 3.2.2 NR Evolution in Release 16 ...................................................................................................... 13 3.2.3 Further Evolution in Release 17 ................................................................................................ 30 4 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE AND NETWORK-RELATED FEATURES ............................................. 35 4.1 5G Deployment Options and Migration........................................................................................ 35 4.2 5G RAN/CN Architecture and Key Features ................................................................................ 37 4.2.1 5G RAN and CN Architecture and Key Features for Release 16 ............................................. 37 5 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 45 Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................... 47 1 1 INTRODUCTION 5G, or “Fifth Generation” mobile wireless technologies, are projected to be a disruptive force central to the development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. These sets of technologies are expected to be a major driver for a dizzying array of groundbreaking digital services and changes that will sweep across the world over the next decade. The transition to 5G will transform our lives, our economy, our jobs, and our industries as evidence of early signs emerges each day. For instance, wearables such as cellular smart watches or connected glasses are evolving to become self- contained mobile computing devices. Autonomous vehicles, one of the most highly anticipated 5G technologies, are expected to help us reclaim commute time for new activities in our lives. Healthcare is changing as services like remote monitoring and Telemedicine provide new opportunities for care. Drones will be used for transportation, surveillance and rescue operations. Robots and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will create new dynamics for both humans and machines. Cellular to Everything (C-V2X) connectivity expected to save lives and increase transportation efficiency. Automated end-to-end manufacturing processes enabled by 5G connectivity. The scale of 5G’s impact is expected to be staggering. One glance at industry analyst forecasts provides us with some insight: • 5 Billion people forecast to be accessing the internet via mobile by 2025 • 5G coverage will roll out rapidly to cover 40 percent of the global population by 2025 • 5G will account for almost 1 in 7 connections (14 percent) by 2025 • Global penetration rate for all mobile connections will reach 110 percent worldwide by 2025 • 9 Billion mobile connections by 2025 • 5.9 Billion unique subscribers in 2025 • 25 Billion Internet of Things devices globally in 2025 (11.4 Billion Consumer Internet of Things (IoT); 13.7 Billion Industrial IoT in 2025) • Global Mobile Annual Revenue of $1.1 Trillion in 2025 • 25 Billion Internet of Things devices globally in 20251 These are clearly enormous numbers. But while the promise of 5G is high, analysts believe the expected results from 5G technology commercial deployments are just beginning and will take some time. The wireless industry is virtualizing with Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) looking to redefine computing itself. The mega-networks of billions of connected things and people of the future will require a major shift in network operations and management. These changes are being enabled through the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G specifications created by hundreds of contributing scientists and engineers at the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). This white paper will provide you with some additional background into what 3GPP has in store for future technology releases for LTE and 5G. 2 BACKGROUND The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) unites seven telecommunications standard development organizations (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC), known as “Organizational Partners” and 1 Mobile World Congress Daily, GSMA Intelligence. 1 March 2018. 2 provides their members with a stable environment to produce the reports and specifications that define 3GPP technologies. The project covers cellular telecommunications technologies, including radio-access, core network and service capabilities, which provide a complete system description for mobile telecommunications. These 3GPP specifications also provide hooks for non-radio access to the core network, and for interworking with non-3GPP networks. 3GPP specifications and studies are contribution-driven, by member companies, in Working Groups and at the Technical Specification Group (TSG) level. The 3GPP technologies from these groups are constantly evolving through Generations of commercial cellular / mobile systems. With LTE, LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro and 5G work - 3GPP has become the focal point for most mobile systems beyond 3G. Although these Generations have become an adequate descriptor for the type of network under discussion, real progress on 3GPP standards is measured by the milestones achieved in particular Releases. New features are ’functionality frozen’ and are ready for implementation when a Release is completed. 3GPP works on several Releases in parallel, starting future work well in advance of the completion of the current Release. Although this adds some complexity to the work of the groups, such a way of working ensures that progress is continuous & stable. This white paper provides a summary of the progress of the 3GPP technical features. 2.1 GLOBAL MARKET TRENDS At of the end of December 2019, there are nine billion mobile connections globally, the vast majority of which are LTE. With 5.22 billion LTE connections, that equates to a global penetration rate of 118% and an LTE penetration rate of 68%2, based on a world population of 7.7 billion people. 5G network connection numbers are also healthy, currently surging with over 5.2 million 5G subscriptions projected for the end of the year. This number is expected to increase to 1.9 billion at the end of 20243, which represents up to 21% of the world’s population. The first 5G smartphones were launched in December 2018 to coincide with the launch of 5G networks in South Korea. Smart phones for all three 5G bands (low-band, mid-band and high-band) are expected to be available before the end of 2019. Figure 2.1. Forecasted Connections by Wireless Technology 2 OVUM (WCIS) September 2019 3 IBID 3 Figure 2.1 shows the growth of both LTE and 5G technologies as GSM and HSPA decline over the next six years, with LTE reaching a peak of 6.2 billion connections by 2022 before beginning to slowly decline as 5G gains more popularity. Overall, 5G network deployment is growing far more rapidly than any other previous generation. A total of 51 commercial 5G networks have already been deployed as of December 18, 2019, with 67 commercial networks forecast by the end of the 2020. This is still a forecast as not all operators have announced their year-end launches as of this printing. Figure 2.2. Global 5G Commercial Deployments Reported by TeleGeography, Dec 20194 In addition to mobile subscriptions, fixed wireless access (FWA) subscriptions and cellular IoT connections are also increasing. There are currently approximately one billion cellular IoT connections, which is expected to increase to more than four billion in 2024. Currently, the majority of cellular IoT connections rely