While 5G has been a hot topic for years, there is still a great deal of work to be done behind the scenes in refining and effectively iterating on 5G standards.
When have the 5G standards been released?
The 5G standards for networks, devices, and services were released in 2015 as the International Mobile Telecommunications-2020 (IMT-2020 Standard).
Since the release of Release 15 of the 3GPP standard in late 2018, Release 16 has made huge leaps forward in many areas, providing key functionality for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) industry. Completed in July 2020, Release 16 is the second 5G standard and the latest version to be completed as 3GPP adopts the upcoming Release 17.
This was highlighted in a recent Accenture report, which identified 5G as a key technology for global manufacturing between 2021 and 2025, increasing productivity by 20 to 30 percent, assembly efficiency by 50 percent, and defect detection by 90 percent. In the agriculture industry, Accenture predicts that 5G will contribute to a 25 percent increase in global productivity, a 20 percent reduction in costs, and a 15 percent increase in crop yields.
Massive reliability enhancements of 5G standards
5G NR (New Radio) Release 16 brings critical reliability and latency improvement technologies in several key areas, most notably an enhanced 5G URLLC base to deliver better link reliability (up to 99.9999%).
A key technology in this reliability driver is Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP), which provides various benefits by coordinating transmissions in the downlink and jointly processing received signals in the uplink.
This prevents interruptions when paths are blocked and reduce the impact of any interference. This improved reliability and latency, thanks in part to CoMP and time-sensitive networking (TSN), is driving new use cases, such as the use of remote robots in indoor environments, as demonstrated in Qualcomm’s recent Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) (YouTube video).
MU-MIMO, energy efficiency, and NPN of 5G standards
Another reliability enhancement is the greatly improved multi-beam management in multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), along with improved power efficiency. Beamforming and multibeam management are particularly important for the millimeter-wave band, which itself is critical for maintaining bandwidth as the lower bands become congested. Release 16 also supports full-power uplinks to improve coverage at the cell edge for all MIMO-enabled devices.
In fact, Release 16 specifically targets many areas of energy efficiency, improving the end-user mobile experience and supporting the development of new use cases where power consumption is a key issue, such as remote IIoT deployments.
One example in the release is the new Wake Up Signal (WUS), which alerts the device that a transmission is pending and otherwise keeps it in low-power mode, thus eliminating the need for continuous network monitoring, a power-consuming requirement.
Other key innovations include explicit provisions for non-public networks (NPNs), which have led to a proliferation of private network offerings from manufacturers and operators.
These networks have gained significant traction in industrial IoT use cases, enabling enterprises to deploy 5G industrial IoT networks with dedicated resources immediately, rather than waiting for broader 5G network deployments. Other benefits include specific optimizations for local applications and customized security and privacy settings when needed.
Release 16 also adds more reliable NR-based sidechains for advanced security use cases in C-V2X applications, as well as the new system, features such as two-step RACH and VoNR circuit switch fallback.
Before 5G NR Release 17 and Release 18 of 5G standards
Release 17 builds on many of these aspects; some are very straightforward – the Qualcomm AGV demo provides data on OTA target threshold positioning directly to Release 17.
Key features of Release 17 include URLLC for Industrial IoT, NR sidechaining, integrated access and backhaul (IAB), network slicing for NR, and support for multi-SIM devices for LTE/NR.
In addition, 32 antennas (32 x 32 MIMO) were set to 64 in Release 15 (called massive MIMO or mMIMO) and further increased in Releases 17 and 18.
Network slicing has attracted significant attention, with many operators and large enterprises keen to take advantage of creating virtual slices of 5G NR networks. This can be used to dedicate capacity to smart city-scale self-driving cars, emergency services, or utility-related IIoT devices.
Nonetheless, from a business network perspective, mission-critical services can be supported while still allowing the remaining network capacity to be used for other purposes.
Unfortunately, Release 17 is under pressure due to the pandemic limiting face-to-face meetings at 3GPP. Nevertheless, the latest update from the standards body reports positive progress towards freezing the RAN1 physical layer specification by December 2021.
This should be followed by a Phase 3 freeze by March 2022, and an ASN.1 freeze and performance specification by September 2022. In the meantime, an Release 18 workshop in summer 2021 will prepare the ground for email discussions on endorsement topics. release 18 will be called 5G Advanced and maybe the last iteration of 5G before 6G, although the timeline has not yet been determined.
Developing 5G standards
While the 5G standards creation and approval process may seem cumbersome, the value of developing a single 5G standards roadmap for each industry to submit and contribute to is priceless. This process not only ensures that critical functions are delivered as expected, but also that issues such as forward compatibility, configurability, and energy efficiency are effectively managed.
5G standards avoid unnecessary duplication, effort in network upgrades, and 5G device updates, which will become an increasingly important issue as they become more common. Moving to 5G-Advanced!
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