TSG#33 Highlights

| TSG CT | TSG SA | TSG RAN | TSG GERAN

Previous Highlights: TSG#32 TSG#31 TSG#30| TSG#29 | TSG#28 | TSG#27 | TSG#26 | TSG#25 | TSG#24 | TSG#23 | TSG#22
TSG#21 | TSG#20 | TSG#19 | TSG#16 | TSG#15

Welcome!

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 held in September2006 in Palm Springs, USA.

3GPP has four  TSGs: CT (Core Networks and Terminals); RAN (Radio Access Network); SA (Services and Systems Aspects) and GERAN (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network). 

Please note, these summaries 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.

TSG CT (Core Network and Terminals)

The meeting was hosted by North American friends of 3GPP in Palm Springs, USA on the 20^th to 21^st of September 2006.

 Executive summary of TSG CT #33

• The meeting was run by the usual officials chaired by Hannu Hietalahti (Nokia / ETSI), with the help of vice chairs Gary Jones (T-Mobile / ATIS), Steve Mecrow (O2 / ETSI) and Akishige Noda (Fujitsu / TTC) and the MCC minutes were taken by Kimmo Kymalainen
• In CT1 Pierre-Jean Müller’s vice chairmanship has been re-endorsed by acclamation after change of company
• Rel-7 target date has been defined for March 2007
• Several Rel-7 work items still need more work
• CT6 was given the task to analyse the alternative architectures for UICC high speed interface but leave the voting to the CT plenary, if needed
• Rel-8 stage 1 IMS conferencing work items addresses some common issues with an ongoing CT1 Rel-7 conferencing work item and CT1 was requested to propose some practical alignment
• SAE and LTE schedules are extremely ambitious from CT viewpoint. The immediate problem is getting the work started based on sufficiently stable stage 2.
• Still 5 revised WIDs and 4 new WIDs approved on Rel-7
• 339 CRs were approved, which is 27 more than in TSG CT #32
• TSG CT needs a solution to the ongoing parallel work on some IMS specifications

TSG CT CR trend

 R99

One CR on correction of the naming of GPRS subdomains was approved. There is no no protocol implementation impact, but consistent naming of GPRS entities in different operators configurations allow interoperability and inter-PLMN handover. An LS (CP-060516) was sent to GSMA to inform of the decision

Release-4 Overview
 

• Several SIM test case corrections (TEI)
• CSSPLIT and Mc interface corrections to Alignment of (optional) continuity procedures in old releases for compatibility and syntactical correction of distant_codec_list

Release-5 Overview

•  Rel-5 CR count is down by 16 % since the previous CT plenary

• Corrections were made to CUG, IMS and CSSPLIT and Mc interface

Release-6 Overview

6.1 Release-6 CRs

• Rel-6 CR count is 19 % down since the previous CT

• Corrections were made on the following work items:

• IMS items phase 2, presence, interworking between CS and IMS, Mn interface

• Security

• MBMS

• WLAN

• Flow-based charging

• ACBOP

• MMS Enhancements

• TEI-6

6.2 Release-6 Hot topics

• OMA MMSG originated CR on route visibility when MMS interworking providers are used was revised and then put for email approval. The CR was approved as no objections were received

• CRs to mitigate the risk of DoS attacks via non-integrity protected messages as requested by SA3 are approved

• Several clarifications on ACBOP procedures

• Based on SA3 request the CR to allow large authentication messages for MBMS was approved

Release-7 Overview

7.1    Rel-7 CRs

• Rel-7 CR count is 25 % up since the previous CT plenary

• Active work items:
   

• IMS items: PS domain emergency services (IMS part), Combinational services (CSI), NGN fixed access to IMS (FBI), Stage 3 IETF protocol alignment, Diameter on the Gi interface, Diameter on the Wi interface, Support of conferencing and messaging GM, GRUU

• VGCS enhancements for public authority officials

• WLAN – UMTS interworking

• Evolution of policy control and charging

• Interoperability between VGCS/VBS and A/Gb flexibility

• MAP security

• MBMS

• CUG

• PLMN selection enhancements

• TEI-7

7.2   Rel-7 Hot topics

• CT continues the work assuming that the current Rel-7 WIs are included in Rel-7. All WGs were requested to give a realistic estimate of WI completion to CT #34

• It was liaised (via TSG SA) to ITU-T that 3GPP would like to submit a tentative Rel-7 specification list in December 2006, but it is already known that it cannot be a complete list of specifications for formal reference since some new Rel-7 specifications are expected for approval after Dec. 2006.

• Single home for common IMS specifications is an ongoing discussion with other organisations using IMS. The common core IMS specifications should be maintained in 3GPP. Joint meeting on the 27 – 28 November should give guidance on how to proceed with the IMS SS specifications.

• High speed UICC interface work item was started with the choice of architecture as the first task. CT6 will analyse the technical aspects of high speed I/F and service req’s. If voting is needed it should take place in the CT plenary

• Rel-7 conferencing stage 3 WI 11065 and Rel-8 SA1 WID in SP-060332 need to be checked for alignment as both WIDs address conference policy control, floor control and media other than speech. The SA1 Rel-8 WID covers also several other issues.

7.3   New specifications presented for information (all in Rel-7)

• TSs for information

• TS 24.206 v1.0.0 Voice Call Continuity between the Circuit-Switched (CS) domain and the IP Multimedia (IP) Core Network (CN) subsystem; Stage 3 (CP-060449 / CT1)

• TS 24.305 v1.0.0 Selective Disabling of 3GPP UE Capabilities (SDoUE) Management Object (MO); (CP-060450 / CT1)

• TRs for information

• TR 24.930 v1.0.0 Signalling flows for the session setup in the IM CN subsystem based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)and Session Description Protocol (SDP);Stage 3 (CP-060451 / CT1)

• TR 29.863 V1.0.0 Feasibility Study for the multimedia inter‑working between the IM CN subsystem and CS Networks (CP-060433 / CT3)

7.4    Completed Rel-7 work items

• CAMEL trunk triggering

• Access Class Barring and Overload Protection (ACBOP)

• FS on MAPsec gateway concept

• TCAPsec gateway (BB under Rel-7 security enhancements)

• WLAN interworking, private network access

• Combinational services (CSI)

• Enhancements of VGCS for public authority officials (EVGCS)

7.5    New WIDs

• Service level tracing

• WLAN interworking – enhancements to support QoS provisioning over WLAN

• Interworking between 3GPP CS domain with BICC or ISUP

• High speed interface between UICC and ME

Rel-8 overview

No Rel-8 CRs have been approved in CT yet, but TSG CT saw a presentation of SAE / LTE work plan. Subsequently in TSG SA it was agreed to start tracking the progress of SAE work with higher precision than other less substantial work items.

Back to top

TSG-RAN (Radio Access Network)

TSG RAN meeting #33 took place in Palm Springs, Ca, US. 137 participants attended the meeting and 209 documents were submitted.

Change Requests

The approved Change Requests (CRs) to TSG RAN specifications are summarized in the following table:

Release '99/Rel-4.Release independent CRs (addition of new bands) and tests. Several CRs for Release 99 and 4 are dealing for TDD/PHS coexistence in Japan (6 CRs).

•  Release 5: Change Requests (95 non Cat. A) have been approved.

• TTCN Test for ROHC have been postponed for next year

• Several CRs on spurious correction for TDD

• Completion of Tests

• Completion of the feature removal which have been left in the specification by mistake.

• Release 6:

• Work in WG1 to WG4 is dedicated to corrections mainly on HSUPA/EDCH

• Still some works remain to be started in the Test area and a few other issues.

Incoming Liaisons

There was a LS from TSG GERAN on the issue of GERAN-LTE interworking, where GERAN raises the need for better coordination and asks for a joint meeting between GERAN and LTE experts. This was agreed, and a response LS was sent, cc TSG SA for global coordination (RP-060530).

A LS from RAN WG2 to SA WG2 on the support of SAE bearers was presented. It triggered discussion on what group will have the responsibility of deciding on bearer support and UE capabilities. Various groups could have a word on this, SA WG2, WG4 or the GCF for example, but it was agreed that the decisions on this area will be taken by WG2 (RP-060540).

A LS from OMA on Gaming requirements was received. There was some debate on how to accommodate these requirements with those from SA WG1 and WG4. RAN WG2 will have to look at the LS from OMA and see how it fits with what it has received from the 3GPP SA groups already.

ITU-R matters

As usual the next updates of M.1457 will take place in May 2007 and it is proposed to use as a reference the specification after December.

In January the brief description of the current work under way shall be sent. The document will be established and approved by RAN at its next meeting and forwarded for endorsement by TSG SA in Budapest to be able to get approval from PCG and be in a position to send it in due time for the ITU-R WP8/F meeting in February

Release 7 Work Items and Study Items

A detailed summary of the status of TSG RAN Work Items can be found in Annex D. 

The Work Item Delay optimisation for procedures applicable to CS and PS Connections was completed and closed, related CRs were approved. Remaining open issues in the area will be handled within TEI7.  

TR 25.815 Signalling enhancements for Circuit-Switched (CS) and Packet-Switched (PS) Connections; Analyses and Recommendations was approved. It will be put under change control as v7.0.0 (RP-060605).  

The WI LCS Enhancements Related to Location-Based Services was completed and closed, the last batch of CRs was approved.

 The WI 3.84 Mcps TDD Enhanced Uplink was completed and closed, related CRs were approved.

 There was a request to have a joint meeting dedicated to the MBMS improvements Study during the WGs week in Riga (RP-060621). WG Chairmen are asked to consider this the agendas.

 The group spent some time discussing the backwards compatibility in the HSPA evolution Study and its relation with the SAE work (RP-060617). It was agreed to focus the Study on the model of an Iu interface towards the core, instead of a SAE core and S1 interface.

Long Term Evolution

There were a number of discussions off line and during the meeting on how to optimize the specification of measurements for LTE, aiming at avoiding the troubles had in the past due to the spread of responsibility across groups (WG1 for the definition, WG2 for the RRM aspects, WG4 for the performances) (RP-060636).  

There was a request from a number of operators that a task for performance verification is put in place during the Work Item phase, with clearly dated milestones. This was generally agreed, although the dates were debated, as unwisely chosen deadlines may put unnecessary stress on the normal evolution of the Work Item (RP-060592).

The WI Description Sheets for the LTE Building Blocks were presented and agreed (RP-060630). The Feature description was revised and agreed as well (RP-060635).

There was considerable debate on a CR to 25.813 for LTE that introduced a requirement for UEs to receive paging during MBMS reception. Companies agreed on this underlying assumption, but the wording was contested as it used the expression "single receiver UE" for which different companies and WGs seem to have different interpretation. The CR was finally approved without the controversial sentence and WG2 is tasked to review that particular requirement (RP-060589)

The SAE Work Plan and interactions with LTE were presented. LTE experts in RAN performed a quick review of the issues raised by SA WG2 and a feedback document was produced.

Two operators presented a document highlighting potential problems in the operation of a multi vendor network. The issue was tackled with a requirement in the LTE WI description to ensure that a multi-vendor network has the same network performance as a single-vendor network (RP-060594).

Project management

The budget for 2007 of Task Force 160, dedicated to the production of TTCN test case, was extensively debated. In particular, the allocation of 3 man month for preliminary analysis of LTE testing. It was explained that TF160 proposes to WG5 and TSG RAN a list of items and a request for man month, and this is approved by the groups. It was noted that it is likely that 3GPP PCG does not agree to fund the totality of the request, and companies should consider voluntary contributions to the Task Force.

10 subtasks and 90 Men Months are required for 2007.

Confirmed voluntary funding as at RP#33:

• TDIA 8 MM (for LCR TDD)

• Qualcomm 4 Men Months.

Currently no WIs associated with contingency sub task. 

The new version of the CR coversheet shall be used from the end of the TSGs. This version splits the source field in two, source to WG and source to TSG (RP-060610).

 TSG RAN and GERAN officials have discussed the possibility of merging the two radio TSGs, after a request from 3GPP PCG. The outcome is that for the time being the status quo should be maintained.

 This was the last meeting of César Gutiérrez Miguélez as secretary of the group. The chairman, in the name of TSG RAN, thanked him for the work of 4 years and wished him all the best for the future.

New Work Items and Study Items

The following new WIs were approved:

• Conformance Test Aspects - 7.68 Mcps TDD (RP-060482)

• Conformance Test Aspects - MBMS for 3.84Mcps and 7.68McpsTDD (RP-060483)

• Conformance Test Aspects - 3.84 Mcps and 7.68 Mcps TDD Enhanced Uplink (RP-060484)

• Signalling Conformance Test Aspects – MBMS for LCR TDD (RP-060485)

• Conformance Test Aspects –UE Antenna Performance OTA (RP-060486)

• Enhanced CELL_FACH state in FDD (RP-060619)

• 3G Long Term Evolution (Feature level, approved at TSG RAN #32 but the description is revised in RP-060635)

• 3G Long Term Evolution – Physical Layer (RP-060630)

• 3G Long Term Evolution – Radio Interface Layer 2 and 3 Protocol Aspect (RP-060630)

• 3G Long Term Evolution – eUTRAN Interfaces (RP-060630)

• 3G Long Term Evolution – RF Radio Transmission/Reception, System Performance Requirements and Conformance Testing (RP-060630)

• 3G Long Term Evolution – Terminal Conformance Test Specifications (RP-060630).

The following new Study was approved:

• Dynamically reconfiguring a FDD UE receiver to reduce power consumption when desired Quality of Service is met (RP-060641).

Back to top

TSG-SA (Service and System Aspects)

The meeting was hosted by North American friends of 3GPP in Palm Springs, USA on 25 - 28 of September 2006.

Dear Colleagues,

Please find below my summary of major decisions from SA#33.  It serves to highlight key agreements reached during the meeting and forms the basis of the summary of the SA meeting on the 3GPP web site. I have not included the specific guidance to the SA WGs as the WG chairs and MCC provide that guidance to the WGs. Please let me know any errors or omissions.

The stage 2 for Rel 7 was frozen with a few exceptions (PS domain and IMS impacts for supporting IMS Emergency calls, FBC/PCC, GPRS One Tunnel, CSI Terminating Session handling, and Study on IMS enhancements and optimisations).  Exceptions were granted for those items.  In addition, the overall target for the freezing of the Rel 7 stage 3’s was set at TSG#35 (March 2007).  Items extending beyond that date will be handled by exception requests.

The SAE study is not yet complete.  In order to not slow LTE work it was agreed to prioritize issues required for LTE progress.  SP-060686 provides guidance to SA2 on priority items.  Since it is critical to make decisions by December, SA2 is asked to escalate any blocked priority issues to SA for resolution.  Although significant study has been done on SAE/LTE it was noted that CT and GERAN have not been significantly involved in the work so far.  A composite workplan to coordinate the SAE/LTE specification work across the TSGs was generated and all WGs are requested to review the plan.  The SAE/LTE composite workplan is contained in LS SP-060685.  An error was detected after the meeting in the legend associated with the workplan so a revised version of the Workplan will be provided into the individual WG meetings. 

Some other specific decisions by the SA plenary were:

• Dec 2006 will be used for the baseline for providing input into Q.1741.5 even though the Rel 7 specs will not yet be complete.  This maintains alignment with the RAN deliverables to ITU-R (See SP-060640).
• 3GPP will not reopen the SIM specifications.  This means that EHPLMN will not be added to the SIM specifications.
• The requirement to align CS and multimedia services telephony services within Rel 7 was dropped (SA1 is requested to do this).
• It was recommended that CT move their Rel 7 work on conferencing enhancements to Rel 8 to avoid conflicts with requirements that may arise from the Rel 8 convergent conferencing services study (See SP-060641).
• The low distortion AMR noise suppression algorithm was endorsed by SA
• SA3 should study and document any coexistence issues between HTTP Digest and authentication methods documented in the co-existence TR.  However, the results of the analysis are to be brought to SA so SA can decide if they are to be included in the TR.
• The conclusions of the one tunnel TR (23.809) were endorsed with the expectation that normative work would begin soon and the Rel 7 scope of this work should not expand.
• Information on how PCC is used within Cable and WiMax networks is to be documented informatively within TS 23.203.
• The SMS over IP work should address only transport level interworking.  Furthermore, MMS was removed from the title of the TS.  Work required for service level messaging interworking needs to be covered by a separate work item.
• It was reaffirmed that SAE must support non-3GPP accesses such as WiMax.  Generic solutions for support of non-3GPP accesses are preferred.  Incorporation of such work must follow the standard 3GPP process.
• It was agreed to hold a workshop to address LTE/GERAN radio handover issues.  The workshop terms of reference are contained in SP-060684 with January 10-11 as the likely dates.
• It was agreed that currently there is no requirement for additional number series for the system and core networks specifications associated with SAE/LTE.
  
   

The following New TSs were approved: TS 23.203 – Policy and Charging Control Architecture (SP-060586), TS 23.204 – Support of SMS over Generic 3GPP IP Access (SP-060671), and TS 23.206 – Voice Call Continuity between CS and IMS (SP-060587). 

Several new work items (WIDs) were approved:  eCall Data Transfer Requirements (SP-060678), Charging Harmonization for NGN between 3GPP and ATIS TMOC (SP-060545), Alignment of 3GPP Charging with OMA PoC Enabler Release 2.0 (SP-060546), Local Charging Zone Requirements (SP-060482), Enhancements to BS30 Bearer Service for Videotelephony (SP-060484), Service Alignment (SP-060677), and NDS Authentication Framework Extension for TLS (SP-060507).

Several WIDs were updated. Personal Network Management (SP-060574) was updated to include SA2 work.  Support of SMS over IP Networks (SP-060658) was updated to remove ambiguity over services interworking and MMS.  Multimedia Priority Services (SP-060476) was updated to incorporate comments from SA#32.

Two new studies were started (SIDs): Centralized IMS Service Control (SP-060590) and Paging Permission with Access Control (SP-060485).

Several SIDs were updated. Study of Customized Alerting Tones (SP-060474) was updated with a TR number and revised timeline.  Study of Requirements of IMS Convergent Multimedia Conferencing (SP-060479) was updated to reflect comments from SA#32. Network Composition (SP-060478) was updated to include service continuity and charging aspects.

A workshop on IMS alignment and evolution was held immediately following SA#33.  Conclusions from the workshop are documented in IMS-060022.

Regards,
Stephen Hayes
3GPP TSG-SA Chair
Ericsson Inc.
Tel: +1 817-491-4015
Fax: +1 817-977-8920
Mobile: +1 469 360 8500
mailto:stephen.hayes@ericsson.com

Back to top