3GPP RAN Plenary Debrief March 2022

Summary

This eMeeting exceptionally started on a Thursday and ended the following Wednesday.

The two main topics of this meeting were:

• Freezing Rel-17 core functionality (achieved with 45 RAN exceptions, see below)
• Approving a Rel-18 work package for RAN4 (see table of approved WIs and SIs below).

General

RAN Meeting planning (Endorsed: RP-220857)

Upcoming Meetings

All RAN WG meetings until June 2022 and in October 2022 and TSG plenaries in September will be electronic. TSG plenaries in June are planned to be the first face-to-face meetings since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (in Budapest, Hungary, although they may still be changed to electronic meetings if the situation requires it). For all other meetings after June, the planning shows the dates for each meeting both in case it is F2F and in case it is later decided to make it an electronic meeting. The RAN WG October meetings will only handle Rel-18 work.

Rel-17 - RAN

Rel-17 Planning (RAN core functionality and Stage 3 in SA/CT frozen, but with many 3-month exceptions)

• Stage 1: frozen December 2019 with exceptions; Stage 1 work completed by June 2020
• RAN work package: approved December 2019
• Stage 2: frozen June 2021 with exceptions; in March 2022 still 2 unfinished Work Items (5MBS and MINT)
• RAN1: frozen December 2021
• RAN2/3/4 core functionality: frozen March 2022 with 45 exceptions
• Stage 3: frozen March 2022 with 19 exceptions in SA and 27 exceptions in CT
• ASN.1 and open APIs: freezing target June 2022
• RAN4: freezing target September 2022

Rel-17 - SA

Rel-17 Stage 2 Work Items not yet finished in TSG SA (both in SA2)

• Support for Minimisation of service Interruption (MINT)
• Multicast-Broadcast (5MBS)

Granted Rel-17 exceptions (RAN Core part) (3 months)

NR

• RP-220991 Extending current NR operation to 71GHz
• RP-220965 Support of reduced capability NR devices
• RP-220209 Solutions for NR to support non-terrestrial networks (NTN)
• RP-220519 Enhancements to Integrated Access and Backhaul for NR
• RP-220940 Enhancement of RAN slicing for NR
• RP-220609 Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Over-the-Air (OTA) requirements for NR UEs
• RP-220578 NR_demod_enh2
• RP-220970 Further enhancements of NR RF requirements for frequency range 2 (FR2)

LTE

• RP-220943 IoT NTN

NR - Band-related

• RP-220814 Introduction of bandwidth combination set 4 (BCS4) for NR   
• RP-220515 Increasing UE power high limit for CA and DC
• RP-220941 Introduction of 6GHz NR licensed bands
• RP-220150 Introduction of 900MHz NR band for Europe for Rail Mobile Radio
• RP-220400 DC of 1 band LTE (1DL/1UL) and 1 NR band (1DL/1UL)
• RP-220688 DC of 2 bands LTE inter-band CA (2DL/1UL) and 1 NR band (1DL/1UL)
• RP-220808 DC of 3 bands LTE inter-band CA (3DL/1UL) and 1 NR band (1DL/1UL)
• RP-220324 DC of 4 bands LTE inter-band CA (4DL/1UL) and 1 NR band (1DL/1UL)
• RP-220304 DC of x bands (x=1,2,3,4) LTE inter-band CA (xDL/1UL) and 2 bands NR inter-band A (2DL/1UL)
• RP-220207 DC of x bands (x=1,2,3) LTE inter-band CA (xDL/1UL) and 3 bands NR inter-band CA (3DL/1UL)
• RP-220711 DC of x bands (x=1,2) LTE inter-band CA (xDL/1UL) and 4 bands NR inter-band CA (4DL/1UL)
• RP-220204 DC of x bands (x=1,2) LTE inter-band CA (xDL/xUL) and y bands (y=3-x) NR inter-band CA (yDL/yUL)
• RP-220806 NR Intra band CA for xCC DL/yCC UL including contiguous and non-contiguous spectrum (x>=y)
• RP-220197 NR Inter-band CA/DC for 2 bands DL with x bands UL (x=1,2)
• RP-220739 NR Inter-band CA for 3DL/1UL
• RP-220198 NR Inter-band CA/DC for 3 bands DL with 2 bands UL
• RP-220810 NR Inter-band CA for 4 bands DL with 1 band UL
• RP-220677 NR Inter-band CA/DC with 4DL/2UL
• RP-220691 NR Inter-band CA for 5 bands DL with x bands UL (x=1, 2)
• RP-220694 Band combinations for SA NR supplementary uplink (SUL), NSA NR SUL, NSA NR SUL with UL sharing from the UE perspective (ULSUP)
• RP-220385 High power UE (power class 2) for EN-DC with 1 LTE band + 1 NR TDD band
• RP-220812 Power Class 2 for EN-DC with x LTE bands + y NR band(s) in DL and with 1 LTE band +1 TDD NR band in UL (either x= 2, 3, y=1 or x=1, 2, y=2)
• RP-220569 High power UE for NR inter-band Carrier Aggregation with 2 bands downlink and x bands uplink (x =1,2)
• RP-220929 High power UE for NR TDD intra-band Carrier Aggregation in frequency range FR1
• RP-220700 Power Class 2 UE for NR inter-band Carrier Aggregation/Dual Connectivity with or without SUL configurations with x (6>=x>2) bands DL and y (y=1, 2) bands UL
• RP-220703 Additional NR bands for UL-MIMO in Rel-17
• RP-220768 High-power UE operation for fixed-wireless/vehicle-mounted use cases in LTE bands and NR bands
• RP-220736 Uu and V2X con-current operation
• RP-220706 Simultaneous Rx/Tx band combinations for NR CA/DC, NR SUL and LTE/NR DC
• RP-220162 Adding channel bandwidth(s) support in existing NR bands

LTE - Band-related

• RP-220553 LTE Inter-band CA for 2 bands DL with 1 band UL
• RP-220714 LTE Inter-band CA for 3 bands DL with 1 band UL
• RP-220429 LTE Inter-band CA for x bands DL (x=4, 5, 6) with 1 band UL
• RP-220717 LTE Inter-band CA for 2 bands DL with 2 band UL
• RP-220301 LTE Inter-band CA for x bands DL (x= 3, 4, 5) with 2 bands UL
• RP-220817 Additional LTE bands for UE categories M1/M2/NB1/NB2

Granted Rel-17 exceptions (SA) (3 months)

SA3

• SP-220349 5G_ProSe Security Aspects

SA4

• SP-220243 [5MBP3]
• SP-220244 [EVEX]
• SP-220245 [FS_NPN4AVProd]
• SP-220246 [5GMS_EDGE_3]
• SP-220247 [FS_5GVideo]

SA5

• SP-220110 Enhancements of Management Data Analytics Service
• SP-220111 Management data collection control and discovery
• SP-220112 Charging aspects of Edge Computing
• SP-220113 5G Charging for Local breakout roaming of data connectivity
• SP-220114 Network slice provisioning enhancement
• SP-220115 Charging Aspects of 5G LAN VN Group
• SP-220116 Charging aspects of Architecture Enhancement for NR Reduced Capability Devices
• SP-220117 Charging aspects of Proximity-based Services in 5GS
• SP-220118 Enhancement of QoE Measurement Collection
• SP-220119 Intent driven management service for mobile networks
• SP-220120 Enhanced Closed Loop SLS Assurance
• SP-220121 Access control on management service
• SP-220259 Edge Computing Management

Rel-17 RAN Work Item Summaries (descriptions of features in the release after the work has actually finished)

• RP-220165 Study on band combination handling in RAN4
• RP-220802 Further enhancements on MIMO for NR
• RP-220521 NR sidelink enhancement
• RP-220464 NR Dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS)
• RP-220564 NR coverage enhancements
• RP-220919 NR positioning enhancements
• RP-220408 NR Multicast and Broadcast Services
• RP-220410 Multi-Radio Dual-Connectivity enhancements
• RP-220154 NR small data transmissions in INACTIVE state
• RP-220604 Support for Multi-SIM devices for LTE/NR
• RP-220142 NR Uplink Data Compression (UDC)
• RP-220211 NR NR Sidelink Relay
• RP-220560 NR Enhanced eNB(s) architecture evolution for E-UTRAN and NG-RAN
• RP-220822 Enhancement of data collection for SON (Self-Organising Networks)/MDT (Minimization of Drive Tests) in NR standalone and MR-DC (Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity)
• RP-220562 Enhancement of Private Network Support for NG-RAN
• RP-220556 NR QoE management and optimizations for diverse services
• RP-220606 Introduction of UE TRP (Total Radiated Power) and TRS (Total Radiated Sensitivity) requirements and test methodologies for FR1 (NR SA and EN-DC)
• RP-220191 Introduction of DL 1024QAM for NR FR1
• RP-220631 Enhanced NR support for high speed train scenario for frequency range 1 (FR1)
• RP-220316 Enhanced NR support for high speed train scenario in frequency range 2 (FR2)
• RP-220682 RF requirements enhancement for NR frequency range 1 (FR1)
• RP-220752 NR and MR-DC measurement gap enhancements
• RP-220544 NR Repeaters
• RP-220923 UE RF requirements for Transparent Tx Diversity (TxD) for NR
• RP-220530 Additional enhancements for NB-IoT and LTE-MTC
• RP-220445 New bands and bandwidth allocation for 5G terrestrial broadcast (part 1)

Rel-17 SA Work Item Summaries (descriptions of features in the release after the work has actually finished)

• SP-220019 Mission critical security enhancements phase 2 (MCXSec2)
• SP-220020 Edge Computing Management (ECM)
• SP-220075 Network Slice charging based on 5G Data Connectivity
• SP-220089 EMCData3
• SP-220260 Enhancement for the 5G Control Plane Steering of Roaming for UE in CONNECTED mode (eCPSOR_CON)
• SP-220261 TEI17_SPSFAS
• SP-220275 Support of Immersive Teleconferencing and Telepresence for Remote Terminals (ITT4RT)
• SP-220285 5GMARCH
• SP-220289 Authentication and key management for applications based on 3GPP credential in 5G (AKMA)
• SP-220300 8K Television over 5G (8K_TV_5G)
• SP-220308 Enhanced Closed loop SLS Assurance (eCOSLA)
• SP-220309 Enhancement of QoE Measurement Collection (eQoE)
• SP-220310 Plug and connect support for management of Network (PACMAN)
• SP-220311 SP-220311 Management of MDT enhancement in 5G (e_5GMDT)
• SP-220320 MC services support in the Isolated Operation for Public Safety (IOPS) mode of operation (MCIOPS)
• SP-220321 Integration of the Generic Bootstrapping Architecture (GBA) into 5GC (GBA_5G)
• SP-220326 SA WG5 EE5GPLUS
• SP-220357 eV2XARC_Ph2

Rel-17 NR: 5Gi Merger (Approved CRs: RP-220921, RP-220920; Summary: RP-220877)

With TSDSI's confirmation that 5Gi will not be developed separately further, two CRs were approved to merge 5Gi into 3GPP.

Rel-17 NR: MIMO (Summaries: RP-220888, RP-220948)

The core WI was completed and closed, but RAN4 is tasked to discuss and conclude on the following topics in Q2 to enable RAN#96 to make necessary decisions.

• Existence and impact of the incorrect Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI) reporting
• Usefulness of a demod requirement with no impact to other WGs.
• Discuss if it is needed to define a new UE capability, e.g., in relation to a UE reference receiver.

The following point can be discussed in RAN4 if the workload allows. Otherwise, it can be discussed in RAN#96.

• Work scope and the number of RAN4 meetings needed to develop a requirement.

Rel-17 NR: Extending NR operation to 71GHz (Summaries: RP-220889, RP-220951)

Intra-band non-contiguous CA within Frequency Range (FR) 2-2 was removed from Rel-17. Feature Groups (FGs) 24-1c, 24-4c, 24-5c for multi-RB PUCCH, and FGs 24-1b, 24-4b for wideband PRACH are only supported when Power Spectral Density (PSD) limitation applies within FR2-2 based on regional regulations.

Rel-17 NR: Sidelink (Summaries: RP-220890, RP-220986)

The WI was declared complete, with remaining issues handled as part of RAN1 maintenance work.

In addition, FG 32-2 was split into two sub-FGs:

• One sub-FG for support of only S-SSB reception
• Another sub-FG for support of PSFCH reception with pre-requisite of S-SSB reception

Rel-17 NR: Reduced Capability (Revised WID: RP-220966; Summary: RP-220891)

FG 28-1 is reported per UE, and FG 28-3 is reported per band. No RAN1 open issues are captured. It is not pursued to support RRM relaxation for non-RedCap UE in Rel-17. SUL operation for RedCap is not precluded.

Rel-17 NR: Non-Terrestrial Networks (Disc.: RP-220590; Revised WID: RP-220966; Summaries: RP-220893, RP-220957)

It was not acceptable to add an objective on Medium Earth Orbiting (MEO) now, but RP-220590 was noted as a useful reference for future consideration.

Rel-17 NR: Power saving (Approved company CRs: RP-220960, RP-220961; Summaries: RP-220894, RP-221003)

The updated company CRs resolved the challenge to the Working Agreement from several operators. The WI was declared complete. The following issue is expected to be addressed in RAN2 in Q2:

• How to / whether to limit or remove impact of prohibit timer w.r.t. consistency between UE relaxation state the corresponding knowledge at gNB.

Rel-17 NR: RAN slicing (Summaries: RP-220895, RP-220992, RP-221006)

Way Forward:

• CR package for RAN slicing and Common RACH partitioning was approved in RAN#95e and can be updated according to SA2 situation after their April meeting as long as network control for slice based cell reselection is ensured.
• RAN2 and RAN3 will need to discuss and update specifications in May meeting based on the conclusion of SA2 April meeting on slice grouping and slice priority.

Rel-17 NR: RF requirements for FR1 (Revised WID: RP-220681; Summary: RP-220896)

The SCell dropping objective was removed from Rel-17. SCell dropping solutions can be considered in Rel-18 later on as one of the potential items depending on the progress of the Rel-18 WI and is subject to RAN decision. The topic does not have higher priority comparing to other topics dropped from Rel-18 RAN4 WI package.

Rel-17 NR: RF requirements for FR2 (Revised WID: RP-220968; Summary: RP-220897)

Common Beam Management (CBM) was removed from the objective. CA_n260-n261 was added to the objective.

Rel-17 NR: TEI17 (Summaries: RP-220899, RP-221008)

To support Tx switching with multiple TAG on 2 bands, it is planned to add the following note in Rel-18 WI on multi-carrier enhancements in RAN#96, and consider release independence for the switching band pairs:

Note: Extension of TX switching for 2 bands to multiple TAG configurations is included in the scope.

Approved Work Items and Study Items (excluding spectrum-related and conformance testing): None.

Rel-18

Rel-18 Planning (RAN4 work package approved)

• Stage 1: frozen December 2021 without exceptions
• RAN1/2/3 work package: approved December 2021
• RAN4 work package: approved March 2022
• Stage 2: freezing target March 2023
• RAN1: freezing target September 2023
• RAN2/3/4 core functionality: freezing target December 2023
• Stage 3: freezing target December 2023
• ASN.1 and open APIs: freezing target March 2024
• RAN4: freezing target June 2024
• RAN4 Rel-18 work package (Overview endorsed package: RP-220068; TUs: RP-220980)

The following RAN4 WI/SI package was approved.

Rel-18 NR: 6GHz (Revised SID: RP-220157; Latest agreed TR: RP-220159; Summary: RP-220887)

The study was extended to March 2023 (and therefore moved from Rel-17 to Rel-18).

Rel-18 NR: Mobile IAB (LSout: RP-220963; Summary: RP-220881)

RAN confirms that Rel-17 IAB does not consider NR satellite access. Also, RAN will not consider satellite access in the Rel-18 work on Mobile IAB.

Rel-18 NR: MUSIM (Revised WID: RP-220955; Summary: RP-220883)

Rel-18 RRM requirements for Rel-17 MUSIM gap patterns were added to the objective.

Rel-18 NR: Non-Terrestrial Networks (Revised WID: RP-220953; Summaries: RP-220885, RP-221010)

The objective on Network verified UE location was expanded with potential use cases/services and a new objective was added on NTN-TN and NTN-NTN mobility and service continuity enhancements.

Rel-18 NR: Data collection for SON/MDT (Revised WID: RP-221000; Summary: RP-220886)

Clarification of the objective:

• Support of data collection for SON features (only for the Rel-17 leftovers):
• Include inter-RAT Successful Handover Report (SHR)
• Include MRO for MR-DC SCG failure scenario and for NR-U
• Revisit in RAN#96 regarding aspects of MLB, for NR-U and NR-U scope for RAN2

Support of SON/MDT enhancements (only for the Rel-17 leftovers):

• Include MR-DC CPAC
• Include Successful PScell change report
• Include fast MCG recovery
• Revisit in RAN#96 to clarify the detailed scope for RACH report

Support of signalling based logged MDT override protection to address the scenario where the signalling based MDT is configured in E-UTRAN, when the UE comes to connected in NR:

• UE reselects to NR while logged measurements are collected
• UE reselects to NR after logged measurements are collected and before uploading the logged MDT report.

Approved Work Items and Study Items (excluding spectrum-related and conformance testing): See table above