The 3GPP working groups have agreed to delay completion of the Release 17 standards for 5G to 2022. The decision takes into account slow work this year due to virtual, rather than face-to-face meetings. With the virtual meetings expected to continue for at least another six months, the groups decided to allow more time for completing Release 17.
The decision was taken at last week's plenary meetings of the 3GPP Technical Specification Groups. They found that the delegates participating in both the e-meetings and discussions in-between meetings need more time to be able to "comfortably and accurately consolidate the results of their work". This takes into account the fact that in the busiest groups the stream of contributions can peak at over 1,000 emails a day, the 3GPP said in a statement.
Based on the assumption that 3GPP will return to physical meetings in the second half of 2021, the new schedule for Release 17 Schedule is a stage 2 functional freeze in June 2021, stage 3 protocol freeze in March 2022 and coding freeze in June 2022.
Only the timeline for the work has changed; the content of Release 17 remains as approved during the December 2019 TSG meetings. The 3GPP studies in several key areas are already underway, on subjects such as coverage and positioning enhancements, NR and slicing QoE work, adding new frequency ranges, NR reduced capacity devices, enhanced support of non-public networks, supporting unmanned aerial systems, support for edge computing in 5GC, proximity-based services in 5GS, network automation for 5G (Phase 2) and for access traffic steering, switch and splitting (ATSSS), among others.
Release 17 is expected to realise the full potential of standalone 5G New Radio networks. Features to look out for include enhancements for ultra low, high reliability latency for industrial IoT, support for non-terrestrial networks, MIMO, integrated access and backhaul, MBS positioning, multicast and broadcast services, RAN slicing, multi-RAT dual-connectivity and support for multi-SIM devices for LTE/NR.
In March, the working groups will decide on whether physical meetings may resume in the second half of 2021. By the end of 2018, they should decide on the contents of Release 18.
