5G Technology

155G Phase 2 and Beyond

Antti Toskala

Nokia Bell Labs, Finland

CHAPTER MENU

1. Introduction
2. 3GPP Release 16 Timing and Key Themes
3. Summary and Outlook for Release 17
4. References

15.1 Introduction

With Release 15, 5G Phase 1, just finalized, 3GPP is working further with the 5G Phase 2 to introduce new features both in the radio and core side in Release 16. A big part of the focus of Release 16 is to address use cases beyond the mobile broadband use case, covering work on Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and enhanced Ultra‐Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC). Further, 3GPP is introducing support for unlicensed operation with 5G and adding support for vehicle‐to‐vehicle (V2V) communications.

15.2 3GPP Release 16 Timing and Key Themes

The Release 16 timing is targeting to have specifications available in mid‐2020. The schedule, as shown in Figure 15.1, delivers the physical layer details at the end of 2019 and radio protocols by March 2020, with an ASN.1 freeze in June 2020. The work was slightly delayed from the original timing due to the efforts needed for Release 15 finalization, and at the same time there was a desire to ensure early enough stability for the L1 parameters. This was an issue in Release 15 finalization and prevented from use of an earlier than December 2018 version for commercial implementations.

Figure 15.1 Release 16 schedule.

The content of Release ...