Mission critical voice, video and data tests

July 5, 2018

ETSI has announced the successful testing of Mission Critical Push to Talk (MCPTT), Mission Critical Data (MCDATA) and Mission Critical Video (MCVIDEO) products built on 3GPP Release 14 specifications.

31 vendors attended the second MCPTT Plugtests, with 120 participants on site. 2000 tests were completed, based on a plan with more than 100 test cases, with a 92 per cent success rate.

3GPP enables MEC over a 5G core

July 4, 2018

By Sami Kekki & Alex Reznik, ETSI ISG MEC

5G networks based on the 3GPP specifications are a key future environment for Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) deployments, as both the 3GPP system - with its Service Based Architecture (SBA) - and the ETSI Industry Specification Group (ISG) MEC work similarly to leverage interactions between different network functions, aligning system operations with the network virtualization and Software Defined Networking paradigms.

3GPP is also looking at edge computing in a more direct way, in Technical Specification (TS) 23.501 (Clause 5.13) on the architecture for 5G Systems, where a set of new functional enablers are given for the integration of MEC in 5G networks.

Progress on FRMCS in Rel-16

July 4-5, 2018, Sophia Antipolis, France

The ETSI Workshop “Developing the Future Radio for Rail Transport” will give an update on the status of standards for the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) and look at the issues raised by the coexistence of multiple access technologies for rail transport communication.

All 3GPP delegates and followers of the standards will be most welcome at this free event. Although the “Developing the Future Radio for Rail Transport” workshop is not a 3GPP activity, there will be a lot of discussion on the progress of the 3GPP specifications to meet the needs of a FRMCS, as well as an exploration of the role payed by the ETSI Technical Committee for Rail Telecommunications (TC RT).

Recruitment of a Director for Testing and Interop. at ETSI

June 4, 2018

ETSI are recruiting a new Director to head up their Centre for Testing and Interoperability (CTI), managing a team of ten, with responsibility for the development and implementation of ETSI testing, methodology & validation activities and for the ETSI Interoperability activities, under the ETSI ‘Plugtests’ banner.

3GPP is a regular beneficiary of the CTI work, not least as our industry leading experts (TF160) – working on the conformance test specifications for LTE and 5G equipment – are embedded in the CTI team.

5G Progress in Chennai

March 28, 2018

Non-3GPP people may wonder whether a group called ‘Indian friends of 3GPP’ may need to find more rewarding ways to spend a weekend, but IF3 are not only healthy in body and mind - they are proving to be an effective means to ensure that India delivers on its promise to be a full partner in standards for 5G.

Thanks to IF3 and to the Telecommunications Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) - some eight (8) 3GPP Working Group or Plenary meetings have taken place in India since the beginning of 2017, culminating in last week’s Technical Specification Group (TSG) meetings in Chennai.