3GPP Rel. 17 Laying Foundation for the Next Phase of 5G
Prakash Sangam, January 13, 2022
Having seen most of its development under the shadows of a global pandemic, Rel. 17 is putting a solid foundation for the next phase of 5G. The primary focus of the standard has been expanding the benefits of 5G beyond traditional smartphone and broadband markets to many industry verticals. It blazes a new trail supporting several path-breaking concepts, enabling a wide range of industry verticals while also elevating mobile broadband performance. It is expected to be finalized in the third quarter of 2022.
The report includes:
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New concepts such as Reduced Capability (Red Cap), eXtended Reality (XR), and Non-terrestrial Network (NTN)
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Enhancements to Rel.15 and Rel. 16 features such as MIMO, Integrated Access Backhaul (IAB), Positioning, SideLink, and more
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5G Advanced with Rel. 18 introducing futuristic concepts such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML), Full-Duplex operation, Network Power Saving, and others