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in Release 5?|
What's in Release 6?
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Previous Highlights: TSG#15 | TSG#16
| TSG#19
Welcome
to the latest edition of TSG Highlights! The aim is to provide you with a
concise summary of the decisions and actions of the most recent 3GPP Technical
Specification Group meetings in June 2003 in Hämeenlinna, Finland.
As
well as updating a number of specifications from earlier Releases, the meetings
moved closer to the freezing of the features for Release 6, foreseen for the end
of 2003 or early 2004. (By the way, don't believe all you may have read in the
technical press! Release 6 is still firmly on track, although there is certainly
a lot of work for 3GPP to do). Also, the Technical Report from the ad hoc group
looking at the long term evolution of 3G, providing a "road map" for
this evolution is still expected later this year.
3GPP
has five TSGs: CN (Core Network); RAN (Radio Access Network); T (Terminals); SA
(Services and Systems Aspects); and GERAN (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network). This
summary reports on the first four of these, as GERAN meetings take place
separately from the other TSGs.
Please
note, these summaries to do not constitute formal, approved reports of the
meetings – they are opinions only and also may not be complete. They are
offered for guidance only.
Well,
within 3GPP, a Release is a full set of technical specifications (and supporting
documents) that define a mobile system. A mobile system can be constructed based
on the set of all specifications that comprise a given Release. And a specific
Release differs from the previous Release by having added functionality
introduced as a result of ongoing standardization work.
In
order to permit an effective project management of the work, the task is made up
of Work Items, each usually resulting in a specification or some other document.
Three levels of Work Items are recognised. The top level is a Feature: each
feature can be considered as an optional extra, which can be added or not to a
system as a function of market demand. Normally a feature embodies an improved
service to the customer and/or increased revenue generation potential to the
supplier.
The
next level of Work Item a Building Block, several of which make up a Feature.
Building Blocks are composed of the lowest level, Work Tasks. TSG Highlights
will mostly just refer to Features.
Release
'99 was functionally frozen (i.e. the functionality defined by the
specifications included in this Release was frozen) at the end of 1999, Release
4 was frozen in March 2000, and Release 5 was frozen during the first half of
2002. Release 6 is expected to be functionally frozen around the end of 2003 or
early in 2004.
Like
the previous Releases, there are several hundred specifications in Release 5, so
it's impossible to give a concise answer here. The best thing to do is to take a
look at specification 21.101
v5.4.0 (or later) or, if you want more complete detail, the current 3GPP
workplan: http://www.3gpp.org/Management/WorkPlan.htm
The
expected contents of Release 6 (and even what lies beyond Release 6) can be
found in the 3GPP workplan
.
At its recent meeting in June
2003 in Hämeenlinna, Finland, TSG-T has been working on the maintenance of the
existing Releases, and has continued work on Release 6. Work on testing always
follows the main specification task, and this is so for User Equipment (UE)
testing, which is ongoing for Release '99, Release 4, and for Release 5 (see the
"Testing" section below).
Maintenance work was
performed on the existing Releases of MMS specifications and the scope of the
Release 6 work item for Multimedia Message Service (MMS) enhancements was
refined. A revised Work Item Description was approved. MMS Release 6 will add
new functionality to the existing MMS standard in several areas which will
further enhance the user experience of this rich messaging service. Several
change requests were approved introducing new functionality into MMS Release 6.
Examples are the introduction of support for Over The Air (OTA) provisioning for
MMS parameters (as a second mechanism allowing the modification of MMS
parameters if they are not already stored on the card) and the support of
Digital Rights Management (DRM) in MMS.
The work on Generic User
Profile (GUP) is progressing. GUP will provide easy access and sharing of
end-user profile data, including data about the user's devices, services
enabled, billing arrangements, address, calendar and preferences. This will lead
to better service experience for the user.
A discussion took place on
improving the cooperation with the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). Proposals have
been made to continue all bearer agnostic MMS work after Release 6 in OMA and
restructure TSG-T at this point in time e.g. by dissolving T2 and continuing the
maintenance work of T2’s specifications during TSG-T meetings. However, it
became apparent during the meeting that many companies are still undecided on
these topics and the discussions will continue. As a conclusion for this
meeting, TSG-T advised T2 to focus on its work on Release 6 and TSG-T took the
working assumption that the discussion about addressing the balance of work
should focus at the time of freezing of Release 6.
T3 decided to change the name
of the group from “USIM” to “Smart Card Application Aspects” to reflect
the fact that there is more than one application being maintained by the group,
and therefore presented an updated ToR to TSG-T for approval.
A Work Item Description (WID)
was presented on WLAN interworking aspects on UICC applications. Objections were
expressed on this work item mainly because the requirement from SA1 seemed not
clear and because there were concerns that this work item could lead to changes
to the frozen SIM specifications. Therefore, the work item was not approved and
T3 was asked to investigate if a revised version of the WID is required.
An update of the WID on TS
23.048 test specification was approved.
A proposed WID on MMS used as a
bearer for USAT was not approved since it was felt that the WID needs a system
based review and that other groups should comment. A Liaison Statement was
created on this topic requesting feedback from SA1, SA2 and T2, and T3 was asked
to come up with an updated version of the WID at the next T plenary.
A WID was proposed about the
MMS storage in the smart card. Concerns were expressed on the capabilities of
current smart card to store Multimedia Messages, on the handling of the varying
message size by the card and on the performance of the terminal – card
interface. The WID was therefore not approved. TSG-T advised T3 to revise the
scope of the WI based on the comments made during TSG-T for the next plenary.
TSG-T agreed to accept the
responsibility for maintaining and developing TS 11.10-4 “Mobile Station (MS)
conformance specification; Part 4: Subscriber Interface Module (SIM) application
toolkit conformance specification” within T3.
66 TTCN test cases are now
verified by T1 to Mar 2002 baseline. Another 10 are expected by the end of June
2003 by email. The quick progress in this area is very encouraging.
Over 90 P1 & 48 P2 TTCN
test cases have now been verified by Motorola against the Jun 02 baseline.
Although these will still need to be reviewed by T1, it prepares the way for a
smooth transition to update the test cases against a later version of core
specifications in accordance with the GCF certification criteria.
Strategy agreed for conversion
to Mar 2003 baseline: Up to end July 2003, P1 & P2 verified test cases
available as Mar 2002. Between T1#20 and T#21 all existing tests subject to
regression testing using Mar 2003 baseline. At T#21 approval will be sought for
P1 & P2 test cases against Mar 2003. Thereafter only Change Requests (CRs)
received will reflect Mar 2003 baseline or later. Approved test cases will be
published in v 3.2.0.
Radio Resource Management (RRM)
Background Analysis: Considerable effort between meetings to evaluate the method
of error analysis to determine the test tolerance for Cell Reselection in
CELL_FACH test cases in TS 34.121 (8.3.5.1 & 8.3.5.1). Relative worst case
scenario and statistical approach both deemed acceptable and further analysis is
ongoing, with early results promising. Parameters agreed for single frequency
test (8.3.5.1). RAN4 guidelines requested for two frequency tests (8.3.5.2).
Encouraging progress to be expected at T#21.
TSG-T endorsed in principle
Working Group T1’s approach of having one specification TS 34.121 “Terminal
Conformance Specification, Radio Transmission and Reception (FDD) for all
Releases (R99, Rel-4, Rel-5)”.
A new work item to cover CRs to
Terminal Conformance Specification of Radio Transmission and Reception for
DS-CDMA Introduction in the 800 MHz Band was approved.
TR 34.901 v2.0.0 “Test Time
Optimisation based on statistical approaches; Statistical theory applied and
evaluation of statistical significance” was approved.
T1 reported that the issue of
enabler conformance testing (e.g.) was considered by T1 to establish whether it
could or should assist OMA to develop test specs. A long discussion took place
in TSG-T on this issue and the investigations of T1 were noted in the end. Any
further investigations in T1 in this area is contribution driven.
This group held its penultimate meeting – its final one will take place just before SA#21 in September 2003. The draft minutes were issued as SP-030328, with a summary in SP-020329. The output of this group will be Technical Report TR 21.902, scheduled for completion in September. The core part of this document consists in identifying End User, Network Operators and Manufacturer/Application Developer expectations, and grouping them into "Focus Areas". It lists the potential technology evolutions that 3G might use.
Significant
progress was achieved on the following features:
3G/WLAN
Interworking, seen as one of the essential Release 6 Features, is assumed to
provide bearer services for connecting a 3GPP subscriber via Wireless Local Area
Network (WLAN) to IP-based services compatible with those offered via the packet
switched (PS) domain. Six different interworking scenarios are being
investigated: Common Billing and Customer Care, 3GPP system based Access Control
and Charging, Access to 3GPP system PS based services, Service continuity,
Seamless services, and Access to 3GPP system circuit switched (CS) based
Services. Only the first three of these are intended to belong to Release 6.
Stage 2
description TS 23.234 was presented for second time for information (v.1.10.0 in
SP-030313): Scenario 2 is now stable, so the related protocol definition work
can now be started in CN groups, but as some issues are still open for Scenario
3, the Stage 2 as a whole will be considered as completed only in September.
Security
Aspects are addressed in the draft TS 33.234, progressing normally. Implications
of the trust relation between the Cellular Operator and the WLAN Access Provider
are being discussed by email. Several Liaison Statements (LSs) were sent on this
subject.
TR 23.835 on
the applicability of Galileo in Location Services (LCS) was presented for
information (v.1.0.0 in SP-030311). This TR, due for completion in September,
investigates the potential benefits of using Galileo (alone or combined with
GPS) on LCS service performance, in particular for urban and indoor
environments. The document examines the impact on the complexity of terminals
and the network, as well as how those impacts may be minimized. All other
Release 6 LCS improvements are being defined by 3GPP for the Stage 2
description, and by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) for the Stage 3.
Multimedia
Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) is also progressing well: TS 23.246 on Stage
2 was presented for information (v.1.0.0 in SP-030312) and is due for completion
by September. Stage 3 (in CN, RAN, GERAN) will then be able to be started, view
a view to completion by March 2004. Security Aspects are addressed in draft TS
33.246, progressing normally. Note was taken of the importance of frame lengths
in determining mechanisms for efficient transport. Finally, it was decided that
teleservices using MBMS should be clearly defined, and a Work Item Description
(WID, SP-030347) was created for this as an independent Feature.
Another new
feature created was a Feasibility Study on (U)SIM Security Reuse by Peripheral
Devices on Local Interfaces (approved version in SP-030341). The Work Item (WI)
is to study the use of the USIM security with a variety of devices and is not
aimed at any particular technology (e.g. WLAN) although example technologies may
be included in the WI.
The Release
6 enhancements of the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) are also progressing
normally with completion due by March 2004. Among these enhancements will be
Charging and Addressing improvements at reference point MM7, Extension of
delivery report at reference point MM4, Analysis of MMS applicability to IMS,
etc. (see also TSG T highlights). The Audio Codec selection for MMS and
Streaming is ongoing and the selection criteria are expected to be agreed by
SA#21.
For Speech
Recognition and Speech Enabled Services, the competition for the default codec
was started, the selection taking place at SA#22 (December 2003).
The 3GPP
Generic User Profile (GUP), which is "the collection of user related data
which affects the way in which an individual user experiences services and which
may be accessed in a standardised manner", is now completed from the Stage
2 perspective (TS 23.240 raised to v.6.0.0 in SP-030310). The Stage 3
description can now be got underway, particularly by Working Groups T2 and CN4,
with completion planned by March 2004.
Remaining
open issues on the Provision of User Equipment Specific Behaviour Information to
Network Entities (UESBI, also called "Handling of Early UEs") were
closed. UESBI is a solution to overcome some issues identified by 3GPP e.g. in
TR 25.994 (Measures employed by the UTRAN to overcome early UE implementation
faults).
The stage 2
description for UESBI in TS 23.195 (in SP-030314) was raised to v.5.0.0, and in
parallel TSG RAN has been able to select a solution based on Bitmap over the Iu
Interface. RAN Change Requests (CRs) were approved for Release 5, and the
information was immediately provided to TSG CN for approval of the corresponding
CRs.
Concerns
about the rate of progress on IPv6 in the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF), which had led to discussions in SA#19 on the possibility of using IPv4
for IMS (and not only IPv6), were addressed by confirmation that the required
work is indeed in progress in IETF. Working Group SA2 has reviewed the drafts
and is satisfied with the direction of the architecture work. 3GPP members were
encouraged to support the work in IETF.
Successful
discussions took place about co-operation between 3GPP and OMA, 3GPP2 and the
IETF.
Finally, a
review of the global 3GPP Work Plan confirmed that the Release 6 Functionality
Freeze date could realistically be set at March 2004. It was agreed that no new
requirements should be presented after September 2003, in order to allow
completion of Stage 2 descriptions by December 2003 and Stage 3 by March 2004.
TSG RAN meeting #20 took place in Hämeenlinna, Finland from 3rd to 6th June 2003. 101 participants were registered and 173 documents were presented. The group spent the usual time on corrections to old releases (149 independent Change Requests (CRs) were approved to Release '99, Release 4 and Release 5) and review of the open Work Items. The discussions on "Early UEs" were finally concluded, and the "Out of service" issue was covered in detail.
Some interesting discussions took place on the way the groups and the work are organized. 3GPP PCG has issued recommendations to reduce the overall cost of the project, for example by re-organizing the structure. The merging of Working Groups (WG), and eventually the merging of TSGs GERAN and RAN, are possibilities under study. No conclusion was reached in the meeting, as it is clear that this is a long term discussion.
Concerning the Working
Procedures, a couple of papers were presented highlighting some flaws of the
current RAN Work Plan:
Unlike other TSGs, a few
"generic" Features cover RAN Building Blocks where the actual work is
contained. This was felt misleading, as the Items that actually describe the
work are hidden under an additional layer, which is not the case for other TSGs.
However, the term Feature as generally understood in 3GPP does not match RAN
Work Items naturally, and these generic Features basically divide the work in
Radio-related and RAN-related aspects. The group accepted to continue with this
approach, although it was agreed that an accurate description of the work
ongoing in RAN should be encouraged.
Also, a contribution
questioning the current 3GPP approach to a Release as a bundle of Features was
presented. A more flexible proposal was suggested: to have a few Features
mandatory for a given Release and a list of Release-independent Features. This
proposal was presented to trigger further discussion and for forward thinking.
The Early User Equipment (Early
UE) discussion (whereby networks can determine UE having limited capabilities)
was solved without the need of a vote. An indicative show of hands demonstrated
a clear majority supporting the CR with the "bitmap" alternative,
after which the companies opposing that solution decided to withdraw their
position.
A short discussion followed on
the Release of introduction. The feature is based on Release '99 functionality,
so in practical terms the Release of implementation of the CRs is secondary. It
was decided to approve only the CRs for Release 5, in consistency with the fact
that no new features can be added to Release '99 and Release 4.
The meeting discussed the Out
of service issue (There are different interpretations on what should be the UE
behaviour when it loses coverage: should it keep the RRC connection or not, and
for how long, or should it camp a different PLMN for "emergencies
only", or do both.). An ad hoc meeting had been held between RAN WG2/CN
WG1/SA WG2 in April 2003, where some conclusions had been reached. A short joint
session with TSG CN took place during this RAN#20 meeting; CN aspects were
reviewed and it was shown that two interpretations are possible for the UE
behaviour in the GPRS Mobile Management (MM) protocol. TSG CN will not however
change MM specifications in Release 5, whereas Radio Resource Control (RRC) may
be modified in TSG RAN to allow for one behaviour only in Release 5. (Currently,
when camping to an "Emergency only" cell, the UE can either keep the
old RRC connection or go to idle). The final decision for Release 5 will be
taken in RAN#21. For the time being the decision is for Release '99 and Release
4 to allow for the two behaviours.
There was a proposal to make
the SFN-SFN type II measurement optional, on the basis that it is only useful
for positioning when used together with Idle Period Downlink (IPDL), which is an
optional feature in the network. Finally, it was agreed to make it optional for
Release '99 and Release 4, the situation for Release 5 to be decided at the next
meeting.
High-speed downlink packet
access (HSDPA) work was finished in RAN WG4 with the approval of the pending
requirements and test cases, hence work on this Release 5 feature is now
completely closed.
Release 6 and beyond
All RAN Work Items (WI) and
Study Items were reviewed. The following list highlights the main issues:
CRs under the WI Open interface between the Serving Mobile Location Centre
(SMLC) and the Serving Radio Network Controller (SRNC) within the Universal
Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) to support Release 4 positioning
methods were presented to close the WI, but a discussion raised on the value
of the "pathloss" measurement for positioning. The expected
completion is moved to September 2003.
It was agreed to change the completion date of the WI Introduction of the
Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) in RAN to March 2004.
Completion of the Multiple-Input Multiple Output (MIMO) WI is delayed to
March 2004. TR25.996 "Spatial Channel Model for Multiple-Input Multiple
Output Simulations" is approved. This Technical Report collects the
first part of the work done in RAN WG1, jointly with 3GPP2.
The Study Item Viable deployment of UTRA in additional and diverse spectrum
arrangements is closed. The related TR, TR 25.889, "Feasibility Study
considering the viable deployment of UTRA in additional and diverse spectrum
arrangements", is approved. The work on this issue will be forwarded to
ITU-R
The following new WIs were approved:
A-GPS minimum performance specification. Work task under the “UE
Positioning” block, responsibility in RAN WG4, expected completion date: March
2004. The objective is to specify Assisted Global Position System (A-GPS)
minimum performance for measurement reporting accuracy for both User Equipment
(UE) based and UE assisted A-GPS.
Subscriber and Equipment Trace support in UTRAN. Responsibility in RAN WG3, Work
task under the “Release 6 Trace Management” feature of SA WG5, expected
completion date: September 2003. The main objective is to analyse the impacts on
UTRAN architecture and provide the signalling support on the UTRAN Interfaces to
fulfil the requirements on Subscriber and Equipment Trace as defined in TS
32.421.
Feasibility Study on Uplink Enhancements for UTRA TDD. Responsibility in RAN WG1, Work task under the “Radio Interface Improvement” feature, expected completion date: March 2004. The objective is to study a number of new techniques available to optimize the performance of Uplink Time Division Duplex (TDD).
Release 5 Deep Freeze:
The TSG CN#20 meeting was the final opportunity to approve "nice-to-have" Change Requests (CRs) against Release 5. After CN#20, Release 5 goes into "Deep Freeze" meaning that more rigorous criteria must be fulfilled in order to approve CRs against Release 5. This resulted in a large volume of CRs against the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and a major cleanup of the Mobile Application Part (MAP). Exceptions are however provided to allow the completion of the following tasks at CN#21:
·
Specialized Resource Function (SRF) based solution for Mobile Number Portability
(the Intelligent Network (IN) Solution was approved at CN#20)
·
A solution for Home Location Register (HLR) interrogation for SCUDIF (Service
Change and UDI/RDI Fallback - one or two step interrogation)
·
Security Association lifetime corrections to align with Working Group SA3
requirements clarifications
·
Addition of JAVA code annex to the Open Service Access (OSA) specifications
Radio Resource Control (RRC)
mis-synchronization when out of service:
No Release 5 exception was
granted to address a pageability problem due to RRC mis-synchronization when out
of service. This issue was discussed in a joint CN/RAN meeting. There may be
ambiguity in the CN specifications: however, it is unclear that this leads to
frequent and serious mis-operation. The RAN CRs are apparently not dependent on
the clarification of the CN Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) selection
behaviour for these cases. It may be more appropriate to address these issues as
part of the emergency call enhancement work planned for Release 6.
Iu User Plane (UP)
re-initialization:
The CRs relating to Iu UP
re-initialization were not approved. Instead Working Group SA4 was asked to
clarify if they could live with the future restriction that codecs using the
same SDU format must be distinguishable. Working Group CN4 was directed to
provide CRs to CN#21. If a single solution cannot be agreed, then alternative
CRs may be proposed and a vote taken at CN#21.
In the light of a Liaison
Statement received from the GSM Association indicating that they would attempt
to ensure deployment of all necessary network fixes by Q3 2003, no User
Equipment (UE) workaround CRs were agreed.
Based upon the RAN decision
that early UE handling would use the bitmap, a set of CRs were agreed providing
the CN component of this solution. Two alternatives exist depending on the GERAN
decision on UE Specific Behaviour Information (UESBI) transport over the A
interface. Thus the specifications affected by these CRs cannot be resolved
until the next GERAN plenary.
Use of Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF) protocols for Ut interface:
CN agreed the following working
assumption: Use of IETF protocols over Ut interface (UE Data Manipulation).
TR 29.962 (Signalling
interworking between the 3GPP profile of the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
and non-3GPP SIP usage) was approved. The TR will be used by Working Group SA2
to study the various Stage 2 considerations.
The following new CN Work Item
Descriptions (WIDs) were approved:
Enhancements to Cx and Sh
(NP-030229)
Gq - Dynamic Policy Control -
Stage 3 (NP-030198)
The following CN WIDs were
revised
Emergency Call Enhancements IP
& PS (NP-030287)
Enhancements to Cx and Sh
(NP-030229)
IMS Stage 3 (NP-030286)
Presence (NP-030302)
Interworking IMS<->CS
(NP-030292)
Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast
Service (MBMS: NP-030288)
Vice Chair elections announced
for September 2003
Since Ian Park is stepping down
as CN vice-chair at CN#21, there will be an election for a new CN vice-chair.