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3GPP News

Telco Edge Computing - Mapping requirements to standards

January 26, 2022

A workshop organised by the GSMA Operator Platform Group (OPG) has gathered inputs from 3GPP and ETSI to help the Association to compile a mapping of specifications for enabling Telco Edge Computing platforms - that meet the requirements of their new Operator Platform API Group (OPAG).

Prior to the January 21 workshop, the 3GPP Technical Specification Group Service and System Aspects (TSG SA) reviewed the OPAG API work categories and initial mapping. TSG SA concluded that the 3GPP work was not yet fully reflected in the GSMA’s early output, necessitating a 3GPP liaison statement (SP-210003) towards GSMA OPAG.

During the workshop, the 3GPP presentation by Suresh Chitturi, the 3GPP WG SA6 Chair, provided more detailed references to 3GPP specifications and additional comments from the working groups, for discussion. He told the workshop attendees (Over 100 delegates) that Edge computing has been a major focus in 3GPP Release 17, with four key groups in TSG SA carrying out studies and normative work:

SA2: System Architecture enhancement for supporting Edge Computing.
SA3: Security aspects for supporting SA2 and SA6 architectures.
SA5: Management & Charging aspects on Edge Computing.
SA6: Edge Enabler Layer architecture, and deployment scenarios.

A Tribute to Donald E Zelmer

January 7, 2022

Don Zelmer, a friend and main mover in 3GPP has passed away on January 6, following a short illness.

Don served in 3GPP TSG RAN as Vice-Chair for a number of years and participated in 3GPP since its creation in 1998. His attendance at well over 600 technical meetings and as a lead delegate to the Project Coordination Group of 3GPP has been characterised by his ability to ask the tough questions, with a civility that was both charming and sincere - always accompanied by his familiar ‘Don Zelmer, AT&T’ introduction.

In addition to his leadership and mentorship in 3GPP, Don served the ATIS Wireless Technologies and Systems Committee (WTSC), which is one of the primary North American drivers into 3GPP. He was Chair of a WTSC subcommittee, and has also served multiple terms in the role of WTSC Chair and Vice Chair.

Management, Orchestration & Charging webinars

October 13, 2021

Two new webinars are set to provide an introduction to the work of TSG SA Working Group 5 (SA5) on Management, Orchestration and Charging for 3GPP systems. Both events are free to attend, on the ETSI Brighttalk platform.

Webinar Part 1 - Introduction to the exciting world of 3GPP SA5 – “management, orchestration and charging” standardization: OAM
Webinar Part 2 - Introduction to the exciting world of 3GPP SA5 – “management, orchestration and charging” standardization: Charging

See below for the start times in various regions. You can register on the ETSI website - to follow the events live or to catch-up later.

Merging 5Gi and 3GPP specifications

December 17, 2021

A plan of action was agreed at the 3GPP TSG RAN plenary (RAN#94-e) this week, to allow the merger of 5Gi into 5G, with specific milestones set for both 3GPP and TSDSI.

With broad support from many TSDSI member companies, as well as global cellular vendors and multiple operators, TSG RAN contribution (RP-213532) outlines the framework and steps to be taken to facilitate the intended merger.

From the 3GPP side, two Rel-17 Change Requests (CRs) clarifying the specification of the Pi/2-BPSK modulation scheme - to support low peak-to-average-power ratio (PAPR) transmissions – have been technically endorsed. In addition, the objectives of the RAN WG4-led Rel-17 work item along with a recent way forward for the same project have been amended.

In turn, TSDSI has committed to the merger of 5Gi into 3GPP along with a roadmap of pursuing merged 3GPP 5G specifications in India with no further 5Gi updates in ITU-R. The merger of the 5Gi standard into 3GPP, enables a single common specification going forward, as well as creating a single radio access proposal for the ‘IMT.2020’ 5G family of standards (ITU-R).

Rel-17 a Priority as F2F time proves elusive

September 22, 2021

The September Technical Specification Group (TSG) e-meetings (#93-e) have agreed that the freeze date for the Release-17 set of features will remain the major focus in the working groups until the end of the first quarter of 2022.

Release 18 will soon come under the spotlight, with agreement due on its ‘Package Approval’ (Approval of Rel-18 content) in December (TSG#94-e). However, apart from that prioritization process, the TSG#93-e meetings have agreed that the start of full-on Release 18 work can only begin once Release 17 has reached its functional freeze date – the date from which only essential corrections to the specifications are permitted - in March 2022.

With the Release 18 work ramping up from Q2 2022 onwards, a clear timeline is approved for a functional freeze date of the first 5G-Advanced release, in December 2023.