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5G paper highlights VR capabilities

April 7, 2017

ATIS have updated and published the second issue of their '5G Reimagined' White Paper, which gives the North American Perspective on deployment scenarios and use cases for 5G networks.

This 68 page paper provides a lot of detail on some of the use cases that will drive the introduction of 5G and the continued development of LTE functionality - to meet that need.

Download the paper ...here

3GPP at the 5G EcoSphere

November 10, 2016

We have two speakers in the 5G Infrastructure Association's 5G conference "Enabling the 5G EcoSphere", in Rome this week. There are also many friends of 3GPP - Past Chairs, Delegates and Partners - in attendance, to discuss how standards will help make 5G happen.

Frank Mademann, 3GPP SA2 Chairman, looked at 3GPP’s flexible 5G system architecture, giving delegates details of the phased approach being adopted by 3GPP.

He emphasised how much effort will go in to 3GPP Release 15, to ensure that it delivers the 5G Phase 1 system definition, including all that is needed for deploying a base system.

His presentation included details of the group's work on network slicing, the functional network architecture and on a Quality of Service model that may bring what he described as 'lighter QoS sessions'.

Dino Flore, 3GPP RAN Chairman, spoke today - in a session on the 5G air interface and radio resource management. He told delegates that the 3GPP submission for 'IMT-2020' will include both the “New Radio of 5G” and LTE. He echoed details about the two phase approach to 5G - with the first specifications to be completed by September 2018 - for a subset of industry priorities. This will be followed by a full set of 5G specifications, addressing all of the identified use cases & requirements, by March 2020 (Release-16).

Both 3GPP presentations are available...here.

Shape the first MCPTT Plugtest

October 6, 2016

The first MCPTT interop event by ETSI is being planned, seeking to test 3GPP Release 13 Mission Critical Push To Talk features in collaboration with the TETRA & Critical Communications Association (TCCA).

The series will seek to develop an interoperability Test Specification that will allow manufacturers to validate their products against the current standard, testing alongside other implementations to conduct early bug fixing.

Telecoms and the Smart City

May 24, 2016

3GPP Partner - GSA - have published a new report “The Central Role of Telecoms in The Smart City”.

The report focuses on the relationship between city authorities and the ICT industry as both address the potential of ‘big data’ and the internet of things (IoT), looking in particular at the impact that they will have on procurement processes.

“The Central Role of Telecoms in The Smart City” also studies the reasons why cities adopt a smart approach - for transportation needs, to make power savings, for water and waste services, to achieve environmental & political goals, etc. - Identifying the emergence of new technologies, including many being studied in 3GPP, that can make smart city infrastructure both desirable and affordable.

The publication of the paper is timely, as a contribution to the discussion on how 3GPP needs to meet the needs of big data, as more sectors - from intelligent transport to energy efficiency, from existing cityscapes to green field planning - will want a slice of what 5G and LTE-Advanced Pro can deliver.

GSMA news article for 3GPP

December 16, 2015

Industry Collaboration Driving Standards in the IoT, by Dr Shane Rooney, Executive Director, GSMA

The GSMA’s Mobile IoT Initiative is a collaboration of 26 mobile operators, OEMs, chipset, module and infrastructure companies, formed to accelerate the development and commercial availability of Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) solutions in licensed spectrum.

LPWA networks are designed for M2M applications that have low data rates, require long battery lives and operate unattended for long periods of time, often in remote locations. They are expected to be used for a wide variety of applications such as industrial asset tracking, safety monitoring, water and gas metering, smart grids, city parking, vending machines and city lighting. The technology will also be used to connect wearable devices for people or animals.

Due to the diversity of IoT application requirements, some technologies are better at addressing particular LPWA use cases. For this reason, we encourage 3GPP to agree three common and complementary licensed standards that will cover all LPWA use cases. These are Narrow Band IoT (NB_IoT), Extended Coverage GPRS (EC-GPRS ^[1]) and LTE Machine Type Communication (LTE_MTC) in Release 13.

The timing of Release 13 has motivated the Mobile IoT Initiative to act decisively to agree these technologies which, once approved, will ensure that they are commercially available and in market as quickly as possible providing customers with a choice which will accelerate adoption and help the Internet of Things to flourish.