Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 1

Contents
1. Introduction................................................................................................................................ 4

2. Background................................................................................................................................ 5

2.1Review of 5G Rel-17....................................................................................................... 5

2.2 Global Market Trends towards 5G-Advanced............................................................... 6

2.3 New use cases for 5G-Advanced.................................................................................. 8

2.4 3GPP timeline for 5G-Advanced .................................................................................. 9

3. Radio-Access Technologies....................................................................................................... 10

3.1 MIMO Evolution for Downlink and Uplink..................................................................... 10

3.2 Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) for

NR Air Interface and NG-RAN.............................................................................................. 11

3.3 Study on Evolution of NR Duplex Operation................................................................. 12

3.4 NR sidelink evolution..................................................................................................... 13

3.5 NR sidelink relay enhancements.................................................................................. 14

3.6 Study on expanded and improved NR positioning ...................................................... 15

3.7 Study on further NR RedCap UE complexity/cost reduction....................................... 16

3.8 Study on network energy savings................................................................................. 18

3.9 Study on NR Network-Controlled Repeaters aka smart repeaters............................. 18

3.10 Enhancement of NR Dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS)............................................ 19

3.11 Study on low-power Wake-up Signal and Receiver for NR

to enhance non-smartphone type devices......................................................................... 20
 3.12 Multi-carrier enhancements for NR............................................................................ 20

3.13 NR NTN (Non-Terrestrial Networks) enhancements.................................................. 22

3.14 IoT NTN enhancements............................................................................................... 23

3.15 NR Support for UAV..................................................................................................... 23

3.16 Dual Tx/Rx MUSIM...................................................................................................... 24

3.17 Enhancements of NR Multicast and Broadcast Services......................................... 25

3.18 Mobile IAB (VMR)......................................................................................................... 25

3.19 Further enhancement of data collection for SON (Self-Organizing Networks)/

MDT (Minimization of Drive Tests) in NR and EN-DC......................................................... 26

3.20 Enhancements for XR................................................................................................. 27

3.21 New spectrum.............................................................................................................. 28

3.22 Coverage Enhancement.............................................................................................. 29

4.System Architecture, Core Networks, and Services................................................................. 30

4.1 Enhancements for Edge Computing............................................................................. 30

4.2 Personal IoT and Residential Networks........................................................................ 31

4.3 Enhancement of RAN slicing ........................................................................................ 32

4.4 Others............................................................................................................................. 34

Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................... 40

Endnotes......................................................................................................................................... 42
1. Introduction
Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has standardized features and specifications
for 3G through 5G cellular technology generations. Enhancements, advancements, and
standardization of 5G technology continue with significant innovation.

This 5G Americas white paper provides an overview of key features and technologies under
study and being specified in 3GPP for Release 18 (Rel-18) for implementation and deployment
in the 2025-time frame. 3GPP Release 18 is branded as 5G Advanced for its significant
improvements as it will include major enhancements in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI)
and extended reality XR) that will enable highly intelligent network solutions that can support a
wider variety of use cases than ever before. Rel-18 proposes standards for further intelligence
into wireless networks by implementing machine-learning-based techniques at different levels
of the network.

The various 3GPP security initiatives are discussed in the 5G Americas white papers on
“Evolving 5G Security for the Cloud” (September 2022)1, “Security for 5G” (December 2021)2,
and “Security Considerations for the 5G Era” (July 2020)3. Furthermore, 3GPP Technical
Specifications for security are contained in the 33.xxx series and security Work Items are listed
in the 3GPP work plan.4

The white paper material is presented in 3 sections. Section 2 “Background” contains a

description of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 3GPP processes, a review of
major enhancements and new vertical applications, an assessment of Global Market Trends
and use cases, and a developmental timeline for currently active 3GPP releases. Section 3
“Radio-Access Technologies” highlights 22 new/enhanced RAN features and capabilities.
Finally, Section 4 “System Architecture, Core Networks, and Services” presents service and core
network developments currently underway in 3GPP.

3GPP Rel-18 sets off the 5G Advanced Evolution. Source: Qualcomm, Jan 2022.

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 4

2. Background
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) unites seven telecommunications standard
development organizations (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC), known as “Organizational
Partners” and provides their members with a stable environment to produce the reports and
specifications that define 3GPP technologies. 5G Americas is represented at 3GPP as a Market
Representative Partner (MRP).

The project covers cellular telecommunications technologies, including radio-access, core

network and service capabilities, which provide a complete system description for mobile
telecommunications. These 3GPP specifications also provide hooks for non-radio access to
the core network, and for interworking with non-3GPP networks. 3GPP specifications and
studies are contribution-driven, by member companies, in Working Groups and at the Technical
Specification Group (TSG) level.

The 3GPP technologies from these groups are constantly evolving through generations (“G’s”) of
commercial cellular / mobile systems. With LTE, LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro and 5G work,
3GPP has become the focal point for most mobile systems beyond 3G.

Although these generations have become an adequate descriptor for the type of network
under discussion, real progress on 3GPP standards is measured by the milestones achieved in
particular Releases. New features are “functionality frozen” and are ready for implementation
when a Release is completed. 3GPP works on several Releases in parallel by starting future
work well in advance of the completion of the current Release. Although this adds some
complexity to the work of the groups, this method ensures that progress is continuous and
stable. This white paper provides a summary of the progress of the 3GPP technical features.

2.1 Review of 5G Rel-17

Following the success of 5G Rel-15 and Rel-16, Rel-17 continues to enhance 5G radio access
technology in the following areas.

• Enhanced existing 5G applications and use cases

• Introduced new applications, use cases, and services for 5G
• Support new type of devices of 5G
The major enhancements to existing applications are summarized below.

• Further enhancements on MIMO for NR to improve spectrum efficiency and robustness of

wireless communications, which is the backbone of 5G. The new techniques introduced
in Rel-17 MIMO enhancements include a unified TCI framework to improve beam
management, multi-TRP transmission to improve the reliability communications, SRS
enhancement to allow more dynamic SRS triggering and enhanced SRS coverage, and
optimization for highspeed communications such as high-speed train.
• Improved coverage of uplink control and data channels with techniques such as
enhancement repetitions, DMRS time domain bundling, uplink data transport block
distribution over multiple slots.
• Enhanced sidelink communications in terms of power saving and Enhanced reliability and
reduced latency. Power saving is achieved with partial sensing and DRX enhancement.
Reliability of sidelink is improved with inter-UE coordination. Sidelink DRX for broadcast,
groupcast, and unicast is supported for sidelink communications. Side link relay is also
supported in Rel-17.
• Positioning enhancement includes improved positioning accuracy in both horizontal and
vertical, lower latency with shortening request and response, improved efficiency at both
network and devices.

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 5

 • UE Power saving enhancements are therefore vital to battery life and smaller form factor. The introduction
the success of 5G/NR. On top of Rel-16 power saving, of RedCap devices facilitates the expansion of the NR
the enhancement in Rel-17 power saving covers both
idle mode and connected mode. For idle mode, PDCCH ecosystem to cater to the use cases that are not yet best
based PEI is introduced to reduce paging false alarm served by current NR specifications, such as wearables,
rate. For connected mode, extension for active BWP industrial wireless sensors, and video surveillance cameras.
with PDCCH skipping by scheduling DCI, and relaxed The latency and throughput requirements of use cases
RLM measurements are introduced.
earmarked for RedCap devices cannot be met by LTE LPWA
• For URLLC/IIoT, HARQ-ACK feedback is enhanced
(i.e., eMTC and NB-IoT), and there is no overlap in their
to support SPS HARQ-ACK deferral, enhanced type-
3 HARQ-ACK, and PUCCH cell switch. Rel-17 also applications. In summary, Redcap devices can be viewed
extends URLLC operations in unlicensed band. as a mid-tier device. It is lower than premium devices for
Multiplexing behavior among HARQ-ACK/SR/CSI and eMBB/URLLC services with large throughput/low latency/
PUSCH for traffic with different priorities are supported.
Propagation delay compensation enhancements are high reliability. But it is higher than eMTC/NB-IoT devices,
introduced for timing sensitive networks. which has the lowest complexity, lowest power consumption,
• IAB enables flexible and dense deployment of NR and largest delay tolerance.
cells while reducing the need for wireline transport
infrastructure. Enhancements to IAB in Rel-17 improve On system architecture, core networks, and services, 5G
various aspects such as robustness, degree of load- Rel-17 supports the following.
balancing, spectral efficiency, multi-hop latency and
end-to-end performance. • Enhanced Access Traffic Selection Steering (ATSSS-
• Rel-17 NTN specifies the enhancements identified for phase 2)
issues due to long propagation delays, large Doppler • Drone Identification (ID-UAS)
effects, and moving cells in NTN (non-terrestrial
networks) especially LEO and GEO with implicit • Edge computing
compatibility to support HAPS (high altitude platform • Further enhancements to Network Automation (eNA-
station) and ATG (air to ground) scenarios. phase 2)
• Security enhancement
New vertical applications introduced in Rel-17 are listed in
» AKMA TLS protocol profiles
the following.
» Non-Seamless WLAN offload in 5GS
• XR study is initiated in Rel-17. XR is an umbrella term • Multi-Media/App-enabler enhancements
for different types of realities, including Augmented
» 5G Multicast-Broadcast Protocols
Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual Reality
(VR), and refers to all real-and-virtual combined » Edge Extensions to 5GMS
environments and human-machine interactions » 5GMS AF Event Exposure
generated by computer technology and wearables.
Rel-17 studied power, capacity, mobility, and coverage » Handsets Featuring Non-Traditional Earpieces
considerations for XR. » 8K Television over 5G
• New spectrum 52.6-71GHz is supported in Rel-17. The » Edge-App
new spectrum supports both licensed and unlicensed » IMS voice enhancements
operation. Both the legacy subcarrier space (120Khz)
and new subcarrier space (480Khz or 960Khz) are 2.2 Global Market Trends towards
supported.
5G-Advanced
• IoT over NTN is supported to allow global connectivity
via satellite for eMTC and NB-IoT devices anywhere on
New mobile technologies profoundly impact economies and
earth, even in areas beyond terrestrial deployments.
societies. 5G or “Fifth Generation” is a commercial reality
• Rel-17 supports basic functionalities of for broadcast/
multicast for UEs in connected mode, and idle/ with approaching two hundred thirty-three deployments
inactive mode. New technologies such as group-based worldwide. By supporting new application types and flexible
scheduling mechanism, NACK-only based feedback spectrum use, including frequencies never used in cellular
for multicast, HARQ-ACK feedback multiplexing systems, 5G provides a communications foundation
between unicast and multicast, and many other new
techniques. for a future world—one of extended reality, metaverse,
autonomous cars, smart cities, wearable computers, and
For new types of devices, NR RedCap (reduced capability)
innovations that are not yet conceived.
device is introduced in Rel-17. Different than the premium
5G NR devices introduced in NR R15/16, Redcap is
designed to achieve lower cost, lower complexity, longer

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 6

5G is already unlocking the potential of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), edge compute and the Internet of things
(IoT). 5G is laying the foundation of Industry 4.0 and becoming instrumental to the success of these new technologies by
offering rich bi-directional communications, a potential to support millions of connected devices per squared kilometer
with staggering speeds and low latency. The capabilities offered by 5G enable a variety of use cases, paving the way for the
economy to realize the cross-industry benefits of magnified and enhanced connectivity.

According to Ericsson Mobility Report (June 2022) 5G is scaling faster than any previous mobile generation and we expect 5G
subscriptions to reach 1 billion by the end of 2022 and 4.4 billion by the end of 2027.

Figure 1: 5G is the fastest growing technology

The scale of 5G’s future impact is expected to be staggering. One glance at industry-analyst forecasts provides us with some
insight:

• 7.6 billion people forecast to be accessing the internet via mobile by 20275
• 5G coverage will roll out rapidly to cover71 percent of the global population by 20276
• 5G will account for 46.4 percent of all connections by 20277
• Close to 5.9 billion 5G mobile connections are forecast by 20278
• 29.4 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices globally in 20309
• The impact of 5G on the U.S. economy will drive up to $2.7 trillion in additional gross output (sales) growth between
2021 and 2025. 5G will add up to $1.5 trillion to the U.S. GDP over the same period.10
• 5G has the potential to create or transform up to 16 million jobs across all sectors of the economy between 2021-202511
• 5G will add $2.2 Trillion to the global economy over the next 14 years12

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 7

Figure 2: Number of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices worldwide from 2019 to 203013

These are clearly enormous numbers. While the promise 2.3 New use cases for 5G-Advanced
of 5G is high, analysts believe the expected results from
5G technology commercial deployments are in the initial 5G-Advanced technologies will enable many exciting new
development stages and will take time to evolve. The 5G use cases and applications such as the following:
architecture is standardized for today and tomorrow’s
• Framework to apply AI/ML to the air-interface,
network evolution. The wireless industry is transformational including the following
using technology enablers like Cloud-Native, Software » CSI feedback enhancement.
Defined Radio, Network Function Virtuality and Multi-Access » Beam management
Edge Computing (MEC). The mega-networks of billions of
» Positioning accuracy enhancements for different
connected things and people of the future will require a scenarios including NLOS operation
major shift in network operations and management. • NR sidelink positioning and relay (coverage extension)
enhancements, including the following
Just as Long-Term Evolution (LTE) continually advanced, » V2X
5G will be constantly enhanced in successive versions » Public safety
of the standard, with Release 18 and beyond termed
» Commercial applications and services
5G-Advanced. These changes are being enabled through
» IIoT
the LTE and 5G specifications created by hundreds
» Positioning integrity for mission critical services
of contributing scientists and engineers at the Third
Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). This white paper • NR RedCap related use cases, including the following
will provide you with some additional background into what » Wearables (e.g., smart watches, wearable medical
devices, AR/VR goggles, etc.)
3GPP currently has in store for the more near-term evolution
» Industrial wireless sensors
for 5G. It will also touch upon the longer-term evolution
» Video surveillance
of wireless communication into a possible 6G era in the
coming decade. » Smart grid
• UAV NR Improvements for UL and DL interference and
For a more detailed look at what is anticipated for Future Aerial mobility
Networks here is the 5G Americas White Paper “Mobile • Dual Tx/Rx MUSIM for Connected mode on both USIMs
Communications Towards 2030”. This paper details the (e.g., voice call via one USIM while downloading data
on the other USIM)
global work of conceptualizing anticipated continued
• Enhancements of NR Multicast and Broadcast
enhancements, and the evolution of 5G and beyond into the
Services, including the following
future. It includes comments as appropriate and presents
» Public safety and mission critical
potential use cases and technologies for the evolution of 5G
» V2X
towards the next Generation.

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 8

 » IPTV
» Live video
» Software delivery
» IoT application
• Mobile IAB (VMR) related use cases, including the following
» Extending coverage in and around vehicles which follow a certain schedule (e.g., public transport buses, trains etc.
» Large public events at venues
» Hot-spot areas
» Emergency or disaster recovery
• Further enhancement of data collection for SON (Self-Organizing Networks)/MDT (Minimization of Drive Tests) in NR and
EN-DC
» Data collection and utilization
• Enhancements for XR, including the following
» Real-time media (consumers, enterprise, public institutions etc.)
» Remote control,
» Industrial control
» Mobility automation

2.4 3GPP timeline for 5G-Advanced

3GPP leverages a parallel workflow system for specification release development. That is, multiple releases are under
development at any given point in time. For 5G-Advanced, it is envisioned that it will span across multiple releases, including
Release 18, Release 19, and perhaps Release 20 and beyond. Scoping in RAN for Release 18, the first target release for
5G-Advanced, began in the 2nd half of 2021 and is scheduled for core specification completion at the end of 2023. This does
not include the performance part in RAN4 or UE conformance testing specification work that follows in RAN5. Figure 3 shows
the current projections for the 5G-Advanced release timeline. The scope of the following section will focus on the initial RAN
5G-Advanced release cycle (Rel-18).

Figure 3: 5G-Advanced Release Timing, Source: 3GPP

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 9

3. Radio-Access Technologies
3.1 MIMO Evolution for Downlink and Uplink
Release-15 NR introduced a flexible framework for massive MIMO solutions, to serve
deployments in both sub-6GHz as well as mmWave frequencies.

Releases 16 and 17 focused mainly on various downlink improvements:

Release-16 reduced the overhead for Type II CSI Codebook – to better serve in the Multi-User
MIMO scenarios, mainly targeted for FDD frequencies; it also introduced the foundational
concepts for multi-TRP operations, with focus on PDSCH.

Release-17 helped further the MIMO operations on FDD, by suggesting partial reciprocity
involving concepts such as Angle of Arrival, Angle of Departure, Delay, etc. Given that the
commercial deployments had already started around the globe, mainly on TDD utilizing massive
MIMO solutions based on channel reciprocity, it was also a good idea to consider extending
the SRS capacity and coverage. In terms of mTRP operations, Release-17 started focusing on
channels other than PDSCH i.e., PDCCH, PUSCH and PUCCH, proposed a unified TCI framework
which now allows a common beam indication for multiple downlink and uplink channels, and
added inter-cell operations to the mTRP framework.

Release-18 still brings certain downlink-related enhancements, yet its main focus are the uplink
ones. In this way, the first release of 5G-Advanced will not only achieve a symmetry of downlink
and uplink capabilities, but it will also prepare for the new emerging applications like AR/VR/XR,
which are uplink-heavy. Another aspect of Release-18 worth noting is the increased interest for
a diverse set of devices: now that every commercial 5G hand-held device is successfully using
massive MIMO solutions to boost the user experience, it is time to extend massive MIMO to
CPE, FWA, industrial and vehicular devices. The below paragraphs aim to show the main trends
in Release-18 massive MIMO.

The previous releases have built a flexible framework for CSI acquisition and reporting, yet
in commercial deployments one may need to prove massive (MU-)MIMO benefits in various
high velocity scenarios: high-speed trains, UEs on the highways, UAV, etc. In such scenarios,
the CSI information received from the UE can become outdated quickly, causing performance
degradation. The existing CSI framework offers workarounds such as transmitting and
measuring CSI-RS – respectively reporting CSI – more often. One needs to acknowledge that
this approach will generate overhead, drain the uplink resources, and ultimately impact the
UE power consumption. It is known that the channel coherence time varies significantly as the
velocity increases, hence there is a need to enhance the existing CSI framework with methods
that exploit temporal channel correlation, as well as Doppler domain information. Since
5G-Advanced aims to start a paradigm shift and bring an AI-based approach, more and more
studies are being conducted to understand how CSI-feedback prediction can help the real-world
scenarios.

Another ambition of advanced NR releases is to extend the focus to other than the usual hand-
held smartphones – CPE, FWA, vehicular, industrial, etc. Since all these types of devices will use
the next generation networks, Release-18 aims to find means to accommodate these needs of
increased capacity. The first step would be to extend the number of orthogonal Demodulation
Reference Signals to 24 – in this way, more users with more layers can take benefit of the
network simultaneously. Since the new devices aim to use 8 Tx, the CSI framework will also

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 10

need to adopt some enhancements in terms of Sounding 3.2 Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI)/
Reference Signals (SRS), SRS Resource Indication (SRI), Machine Learning (ML) for NR Air Interface
TPMI codebooks. For downlink, these enhancements will and NG-RAN
add to the existing SRS Antenna Switching operation,
currently used in many commercial networks. For uplink, With the introduction of 5G, mobile networks are becoming
the scope would be to extend the support to 4 or more data increasingly complex from resource management
layers, potentially sent from more than one UE panel, by perspective with wide variety of combinations for hardware,
using multi-panel UEs. software, deployment architecture and use cases that need
to be handled by the network. Having an appropriately
Releases 16 and 17 set the stage for mTRP and continued dimensioned, efficient, and reliable network configuration
evolving its framework, yet their main scope was the is of paramount importance. It is well understood that
downlink operations. Release-18 will shift the focus onto traditional method design, deployment and operation may
the uplink operations, to again accommodate a more not be able to provide efficiencies in many cases.
diverse set of devices. The previous releases allowed for
a UE with multiple Rx panels to simultaneously receive There is a trend towards leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI)
data from two TRPs. This release will now allow for a UE and Machine Learning (ML) for automating both repetitive
with multiple Tx panels to simultaneously transmit data to and complex tasks by using large amounts of data collected
multiple TRPs. Obviously, transmitting from two UE panels by the system. Applied correctly, AI/ML techniques have the
also involves studying the potential enhancements required potential to provide significant efficiency in the network.
by the timing advance and power control operations. If the
previous releases focused on mTRP Non-Coherent Joint Wireless networks inherently collect large amounts of data
Transmission (NC-JT), suitable for eMBB applications which as part of normal operation. This data centric approach is
can work with a non-ideal backhaul, Release-18 studies the the foundation for AI/ML in RAN.
improvements needed for Coherent Joint Transmissions (C-
JT), especially in terms of CSI feedback. In such scenarios, At the same time, mobile devices have become increasingly
the tight synchronization between TRPs is important, since more powerful in its compute capability. Fueled by the
accurate CSI is a key enabler for C-JT. Yet a C-JT solution increased compute and expanded data availability, various
will be able to improve the coverage, as well as the average implementations for radio functionalities based on AI/
throughput. Finally, Release-18 will extend the existing ML techniques are already in place at the mobile devices.
mTRP framework to accommodate larger collaboration sets The compute capability, including both AI/ML training and
– more than 2 TRPs – to mainly benefit mobility and URLCC. inference, at the mobile devices is expected to increase
multiple folds in the upcoming decade.
Although the main theme of Release-18 is its focus
on uplink operations, with a few additions to enhance 3GPP standards for 5G-Advanced is aimed to address
the downlink ones, there are several leitmotifs worth means to optimize the standardized interfaces for data
mentioning: its increased interest to create an environment collection, while leaving the automation function up to
for a diverse set of devices including CPE, FWA, vehicular, proprietary implementation to ensure vendor incentives in
industrial and the trend to use AI/ML algorithms more and terms of innovation and competitiveness.
more – especially in predicting CSI feedback and in Beam
In 3GPP Rel 15 study, a network functionality NWDAF
Management operations.
(Network Data Analytics Function) was introduced and has
Overall, Release-18 massive MIMO brings a vast range been enhanced in Rel-16 and Rel-17 14. Three uses cases
of enhancements to reduce the overhead and increase were identified in the release 17 study item for AI/ML RAN
the spectral efficiency, to offer more stable connections performance enhancement: 1) Network energy savings; 2)
for all types of scenarios – even the high velocity ones, load balancing; 3) mobility optimization.
and to accommodate the emerging applications requiring
Up until Rel-17, the AI/ML functionalities at the network
low-latency.
side and at the device side have been developed separately,
with the interaction between the two sides having been
largely limited to data collection. One of the visions of the
5G-Advanced, beginning from the Rel-18 AI/ML study,
is to bring synergy between AI/ML functionalities at the

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 11

two sides by introducing various levels of collaborations Figure 4: Illustration of the concept of SBFD comparing
through the air-interface. Specifically, Rel-18 study aims with FDD/TDD
to explore the benefits of augmenting the air-interface
with features enabling improved support of AI/ML through
studying few carefully selected use cases and assessing
their performance in comparison with traditional methods.
It would lay the foundation for future air interface use cases
leveraging AI/ML techniques.

The initial three use cases listed below are aimed to focus
on the formulation of a framework to apply AI/ML to the
air-interface.

• CSI feedback enhancement. e.g., overhead reduction,

improved accuracy, prediction
• Beam management. e.g., Beam prediction in time
and/ or spatial domain for overhead reduction and
accuracy improvement
• Positioning accuracy enhancements for different
scenarios including NLOS operation Full duplex technology is a promising duplexing scheme
that leverages the benefits of both TDD/FDD enabling lower
For the use cases under consideration, Rel-18 study aims to
latency, improved coverage, and flexible UL/DL scheduling.
achieve the following objectives:
3GPP is studying in Release 18 the evolution of NR
• Evaluate performance benefits of AI/ML based duplexing through full duplex operation at gNB in TDD band
algorithms. using non-overlapping UL and DL sub-bands while the UEs
» Methodology based on statistical models for link are still operating in half-duplex mode. Future NR release
and system level simulations (Rel-19+) may consider more advanced duplexing schemes,
» Determine the common KPIs and corresponding e.g., partially or fully overlapping UL/DL sub-bands at the
requirements for the AI/ML operations
gNB and/or full duplex operation at the UE.
• Assess potential specification impact specifically for
the agreed use cases
There are many challenges to enable full duplex technology.
» PHY layer aspects
The major challenge is the self-interference mitigation at
» Protocol aspects the full duplex node. For SBFD gNB, although DL and UL are
» Interoperability and testability aspects separated in different sub-bands with narrow guard band in
The Rel-18 and subsequent studies and specification between each DL and UL sub-bands, the direct leakage may
efforts are expected to bring synergies of 5G and AI/ML, cause blocking or saturation of the gNB RF receiver and/
connecting intelligent edge of smart devices and RAN and or reduce the dynamic range while the unwanted emissions
to enable data-driven and adaptive air interface, RAN, and caused by Tx non-linearly may jam the reception of the UL
device optimization. in the UL sub-band and reduce the SINR. In addition to the
direct leakage, clutter echo from nearby reflectors may be of
3.3 Study on Evolution of NR Duplex comparable signal strengths to the direct and cause similar
Operation effects of blocking and jamming. The other challenge is the
cross-link interference (CLI) between gNBs and between
Current NR operation is based on either paired spectrum UEs. In addition, coexistence with legacy operation is
or unpaired spectrum. Frequency division duplexing (FDD) another major challenge. The coexistence refers to both co-
is the duplexing mode for paired spectrum in which UL channel (intra-operator) with legacy (TDD) gNB and legacy
and downlink transmission occur simultaneously using UE that not aware of full duplex gNB and adjacent-channel
dedicated UL and DL channels sufficiently separated by (inter-operator) coexistence.
a frequency gap. Time division duplexing (TDD) is the
duplexing mode for the unpaired spectrum in which UL and The management of various types of interference may
DL transmission occur at same channel using different time require additional considerations on existing 3GPP
resources. techniques. For example, the exiting CLI and RIM framework

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 12

Figure 5: Road map to evolution of full duplex technologies

may be extended to spatial domain to optimize the beam reliability of sidelink transmissions. Although NR sidelink
selection between UEs and gNBs and expanded to L1/L2 was initially developed for V2X applications, there is growing
CLI framework to increase flexibility and reduce reporting interest in the industry to expand the applicability of NR
latency compared to Rel-16 L3 based CLI framework. sidelink to commercial use cases. With this in mind, at
DL/UL power control may need to be revisited for better 3GPP RAN#95, the RAN plenary approved a Rel-18 work
handing of SI and CLI. Tx/Rx timing alignment at the full item entitled: NR sidelink evolution16.
duplex node could be another aspect for special treatment.
Issues may also arise for scheduling and multiplexing For 5G-advanced sidelink applications, two key
various DL/UL channels to fully exploit the benefits of full requirements have been identified and will be addressed by
duplex. In addition, implementation-based techniques can this work item:
be leveraged to handle some of these interferences. For • Increased sidelink data rate
example, direct self-interference may be handled by having
• Support of new carrier frequencies for sidelink (FR2
separate Tx/Rx panels that improves spatial isolation, and Unlicensed spectrum)
frequency separation by having UL and DL in separate
Increased sidelink data rate is motivated by applications
sub-bands and means of interference cancellation. The
such as sensor information and video sharing between
clutter reflection can be mitigated by means of Tx and Rx
beamform nulling and proper selection of Tx/Rx beam pairs. vehicles with high degree of driving automation. Commercial
use cases could require data rates in excess of what is
3.4 NR sidelink evolution possible in Rel-17. Increased data rate can be achieved
with the support of sidelink carrier aggregation and sidelink
In Rel-16, sidelink communication was developed in over unlicensed spectrum. One of the key objectives is to
RAN, primarily to support advanced V2X (Intelligent study a mechanism to support NR sidelink CA operation
Transportation Systems – ITS) applications by providing based on existing LTE sidelink CA operation. Furthermore, by
direct communication between two UEs without the need enhancing the FR2 sidelink operation, increased data rate
for the participation of a base station (e.g., gNB). In Rel- can be more efficiently supported on FR2. While the support
17, SA2 also studied and standardized Proximity-based of new carrier frequencies and larger bandwidths would also
services (ProSe), including public safety and commercial allow to improve data rates, the main benefit would come
related services15. As part of Rel-17, power saving solutions from making sidelink more applicable for a wider range
(e.g., partial sensing, DRX) and inter-UE coordination have of 5G applications and verticals, e.g., public safety, IoT,
been developed in RAN1 and RAN2 to improve power commercial, etc.
consumption for battery-limited terminals and increased

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 13

More specifically, with the support of unlicensed spectrum and the enhancements in FR2, sidelink will be in a better position
to be implemented in commercial devices since utilization of the ITS band is limited to ITS safety related applications.

Another aspect that this work item will study and specify is to consider the V2X deployment scenario where both LTE V2X and
NR V2X devices are to coexist in the same frequency channel. For the two different types of devices to coexist while using
a common carrier frequency, it is important that there is a mechanism to efficiently utilize resource allocation by the two
technologies without negatively impacting the operation of each technology.

3.5 NR sidelink relay enhancements

3GPP RAN approved a study item “Study on NR sidelink Relay” in Rel-17 to cover the enhancements and solutions necessary
to support the UE-to-network Relay and UE-to-UE Relay coverage extension, considering a wider range of use cases including
V2X, Public Safety and commercial applications and services. The study outcome was documented in 3GPP TR 38.836, and
it contains potential technical solutions for the sidelink relay with a conclusion that both Layer-2 based Relay architecture and
Layer-3 based Relay architecture are feasible and a recommendation for their normative work. However, the follow-up Rel-17
work item “NR sidelink Relay” included only limited features due to the lack of time. It supports only UE-to-Network relay, and
its service continuity solution is limited to intra-gNB direct-to-indirect and indirect-to-direct path switching in Layer-2 relay17.
Figure 6 shows the three scenarios that are considered in TR 38.836.

Additionally, a study item for ProSe phase 2 was approved in SA in order to investigate further 5G system enhancements to
support Proximity Services in Rel-18. RAN-side enhancements for sidelink relay are necessary in accordance with the SA work.

For better support of the use cases requiring sidelink relay, further enhancements are necessary in order to introduce the
potential solutions identified during the Rel-17 study item. To be specific, support of UE-to-UE relay is essential for the sidelink
coverage extension without relying on the use of uplink and downlink. Service continuity enhancements in UE-to-Network relay
are also necessary to cover the mobility scenarios that are not supported in Release 17.

Figure 6: Scenarios for UE-to-Network Relay

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 14

In addition, support of multi-path with relay, where a remote • Positioning methods (e.g., TDOA, RTT, AOA/D) including
UE is connected to network via direct and indirect paths, combination of SL positioning measurements with
other network-dependent positioning measurements
has a potential to improve the reliability/robustness as (e.g., Uu interface-based measurements)
well as throughput, so it needs to be considered as an
• sidelink reference signals for positioning purposes
enhancement area in Rel-18. This multi-path relay solution from physical layer perspective, including signal
can also be utilized to for UE aggregation where a UE is design, resource allocation, measurements, and
connected to the network via direct path and via another associated procedures, etc.
UE using a non-standardized UE-UE interconnection. UE • Positioning architecture and signaling procedures (e.g.,
aggregation aims to provide applications requiring high UL configuration, measurement reporting, etc.) to enable
sidelink positioning covering both UE-based and
bitrates on 5G terminals, in cases when normal UEs are too
network-based positioning.
limited by UL UE transmission power to achieve required
bitrate, especially at the edge of a cell. Additionally, UE In addition to sidelink positioning, two promising
aggregation can improve the reliability, stability and reduce positioning techniques that have been identified in
delay of services as well, that is, if the channel condition of previous 3GPP studies will be considered in Rel-18.
a terminal is deteriorating, another terminal can be used to One technique is to take the advantage of the rich 5G
make up for the traffic performance unsteadiness caused spectrum to increase the bandwidth for the transmission
by channel condition variation. and reception of the positioning reference signals (PRS)
based on bandwidth aggregation for intra-band carriers.
3.6 Study on expanded and improved NR In Release-17, this technique was briefly studied and so
positioning far, the Release-18 work will focus on intra-band carriers.
The second enhancement is to use the NR carrier phase
Since Rel-15, 3GPP NR specifications have supported measurements. NR carrier phase positioning has the
some level of 5G positioning. 3GPP positioning specifies potential for significant performance improvements for
the mechanisms to support or assist in the calculation of indoor and outdoor deployments, which includes concepts
the geographical position of a UE18. UE position knowledge already used today for GNSS carrier phase positioning in
can be used, for example, in support of Radio Resource outdoor environments. This method is motivated from Real
Management functions, as well as location-based services Time Kinematic GNSS (RTK-GNSS) techniques, which relies
for operators, subscribers, emergency services and third- on phase measurements.
party service providers. In Release 17, 3GPP RAN conducted
a study on “Scenarios and requirements of in-coverage, Another area that will be addressed in Rel-18 is positioning
partial coverage, and out-of-coverage NR positioning use integrity. Positioning integrity is a measure of the trust in
cases” focusing on V2X and public safety use cases, the accuracy of the position-related data and the ability to
with the outcome being captured in TR 38.84519. As NR provide timely warnings based on positioning assistance
specifications have evolved, also positioning enhancements data provided by the network. In Rel-17, 3GPP addressed
have been identified to address not only various coverage this concept for GNSS integrity, and for Rel-18 it is natural
scenarios, but also higher accuracy, lower latency location, to extend these solutions to address other 3GPP positioning
high integrity and reliability requirements resulting from new techniques as well as there are relevant integrity aspects of
applications and industry verticals for 5G. mission critical use cases that rely on positioning estimates
and corresponding uncertainty estimates. Integrity enables
Given the current market needs and expanding applications to make the correct decisions based on the
requirements, 3GPP has approved a new Rel-18 Study reported position, inclusive of some measure of positioning
Item on expanded and improved NR positioning20. The integrity.
primary objectives are to build on the conclusions from TR
38.845 and study sidelink positioning solutions to meet Another area is to improve the power efficiency for IIoT
V2X and public safety requirements, and also expanding scenarios such as massive asset tracking. The work will
into commercial and IIoT use cases. 3GPP will evaluate focus on the UEs in RRC_INACTIVE and/or RRC_IDLE
performance and feasibility of potential solutions for state with a target of 6 -12 months battery lifetime.
sidelink positioning over licensed/ITS spectrum, considering Along with evaluating the power consumption of the
relative positioning, ranging, and absolute positioning in the Release-17 positioning techniques for RRC_INACTIVE
following areas: UEs, various aspects for the improvement of power
efficiency will be investigated including DRX cycle, sleeping

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 15

mode, configuration and update for downlink and uplink Figure 7: Release 17 RedCap targets the requirement
reference signals, and the UE behavior for reference signal space between eMBB, URLLC and mMTC
measurement and reporting.

Lastly, Release-17 has specified support for RedCap

(Reduced Capability) UEs with reduced bandwidth support
and reduced complexity, including reduced number of
receive chains. Such UEs could support NR positioning
functionality. However, there is a gap in that the core and
performance requirements have not been specified for the
positioning related measurements performed by RedCap
UEs, and no evaluation has been performed to see how the
reduced capabilities of RedCap UEs might impact eventual
position accuracy. This study item will address these gaps
by evaluating the performance of existing positioning
procedures and measurements with RedCap UEs and define for FR1 and FR2. Table 1 specifies the use case specific
potential enhancements as necessary. Different solutions requirements22.
may be studied to overcome the limited capability including
frequency hopping and stitching of the downlink and uplink The scope of 3GP Release 17 specifications for RedCap
positioning reference signals. includes: half duplex operation with a single transmits and
receive branch; maximum bandwidth support of 20MHz
3.7 Study on further NR RedCap UE in FR1 and maximum 100 MHz operational bandwidth for
complexity/cost reduction FR2; support for eXtended Discontinuous Reception (eDRX)
in RRC Idle and RRC Inactive states, which allows a RedCap
The 3GPP-based global cellular networks are connecting
device to power down for long periods and save power.
things-to-things and things-to-persons across borders. Many
Longer eDRX cycles for RRC Inactive state and Wake-up
industries are experiencing the benefits of cellular IoT, for
signal (WUS) are expected to be supported in 5G-Advanced.
example in the consumer electronics, automotive, railway,
WUS is a compact signal tailored to indicate a coming
mining, utilities, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, and
paging message. The aim is to reduce the power a device
transportation sectors. The flexibility and scalability of 5G
spends on monitoring paging occasions.
NR makes it possible to introduce timely enhancements to
address new use cases to help expand the 5G ecosystem
Enhancements planned in 3GPP release Release-18 are to
and connect an ever-greater number of devices to the
improve the support of three use cases identified in release
network.
17 as well as expand into a new range of use cases such
as smart grid. 5G-Advanced will also introduce positioning
To further accelerate the industrial transformation and
support in RedCap, with detailed description in Section 3.6.
digitalization 3GPP release 17 introduced the support of
The Release-18 RedCap device is intended to be a lower-tier
reduced capability (RedCap) NR devices. The aim is to
device with capabilities between LPWA (eMTC and NB-IoT)
facilitate the expansion of the NR device ecosystem to cater
device and Release-17 RedCap device. Table 2 is showing
to the use cases that are not yet best served by current NR
the detailed capabilities of different types of devices. These
specifications. Generally speaking, RedCap is positioned
enhancements are to be introduced keeping in mind the
to address use cases that are today not best served using
integrity of RedCap ecosystem to maximize the economies
eMBB, ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) or
of scale.
massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) solutions as
depicted by Figure 721.

The use cases that motivate the specification work on NR

RedCap include wearables (e.g., smart watches, wearable
medical devices, AR/VR goggles, etc.), industrial wireless
sensors, and video surveillance. These three use cases
put some generic requirements on the system such as:
reduced device complexity; compact form factor; support

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 16

Table 1: Requirements of wearables, industrial wireless sensors, and video surveillance use cases

Availability/
Data Rate Latency Battery lifetime Device size
Reliability

5 - 50 Mbps DL, up to 1 - 2 Compact

Wearables Relaxed N/A
2 - 5 Mbps UL weeks form factor

Industrial
At least a few
wireless < 2 Mbps < 100 ms 99.99% N/A
years
sensors

2 - 4 Mbps for
Video economic video,
< 500 ms 99% - 99.9% N/A N/A
surveillance 7.5 - 25 Mbps for
high-end video

Table 2: Comparison of device capabilities

R15/16 R17 NR R18 NR RedCap

LTE-M (Cat M1) NB-IoT (Cat NB1)
NR eMBB RedCap (Expected)

100 MHz (FR1) 200 MHz (FR1) 20 MHz or 5 MHz

UE BW 1.4 MHz 180 KHz
200 MHz (FR2) 100 MHz (FR2) (FR1 only)

Duplex FD-FDD, TDD FD/HD-FDD, TDD FD/HD-FDD, TDD FD/HD-FDD, TDD HD-FDD, TDD

1T2R (FDD)/
UE Antenna 1T1R/1T2R 1T1R/1T2R 1T1R 1T1R
1T4R (TDD)

Max 64QAM 64QAM

256QAM for DL,
Modulation (256QAM (256QAM 16QAM QPSK
64QAM for UL
Order optional) optional)

Peak Data
2.3 Gbps 220 Mbps 10 Mbps 588 kbps 26 Kbps
Rate - DL

Peak Data
468 Mbps 120 Mbps 10 Mbps 1119 kbps 66 Kbps
Rate - UL

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 17

The scope of study on further reduction of NR RedCap Scope of the study would be as follows25:
complexity in Release 18 includes the following23:
• Definition of a base station energy consumption model
• The supported peak data rate for Rel-18 RedCap • Definition of an evaluation methodology and KPIs
targets to 10Mbps.
• Study and identify techniques on the gNB and UE side
• UE bandwidth reduction to 5MHz in FR1 to improve network energy savings in terms of Base
• Reduced UE peak data rate in FR1 Station transmission and reception
• UE processing timeline relaxation The study would prioritize idle and low load scenarios and
• Reuse of Release 15 SSB and minimize changes to L1 different loads among carriers and neighbor cells are
• Operation in BWP with/without SSB and without/with allowed.
RF retuning should be considered
The following example scenarios are listed under the scope
Note that the study is only for FR1, but some solutions may
of study in no particular order.
also be applied to FR2.
• Urban micro in FR1, including TDD massive MIMO
3.8 Study on network energy savings • FR2 active antenna scenarios

Mobile data traffic is expected to grow 5 times in the next • Urban/Rural macro in FR1 with/without Dynamic
Spectrum Sharing
5 years (reference Ericsson Mobility Report). If network
deployment and operation is performed in the same way • EN-DC/NR-DC macro with FDD PCell and TDD/Massive
MIMO on higher FR1/FR2 frequency
as 3G and 4G days, energy consumption of mobile network
is also expected to grow significantly. This is neither 3.9 Study on NR Network-Controlled
sustainable nor is it morally responsible. As 5G becomes Repeaters aka smart repeaters
ubiquitous across society, with requirements to handle
advanced services and applications requiring very high In mobile telecommunication system, a good quality
data rates (e.g., XR), networks are being denser, use more network design/consistent RF coverage deployment
antennas, larger bandwidths and more frequency bands. between base stations and end user devices is very
The environmental impact of 5G needs to stay under important. Mobile operators rely on different types of
control, and novel solutions to improve network energy network nodes such as picocell, femtocell, microcell,
savings need to be developed (reference – Breaking the macrocell etc. To offer a unified signal coverage in their
energy curve). network deployments. However, due to the different terrain
types in rural, suburban, and dense urban environments,
According to GSMA report, energy cost for mobile operator signal coverage problems still occur and there might be
account for ~ 23% of OPEX 24. Most of the energy cost locations where a network coverage from base stations
comes from radio access network and in particular from may not be adequate. It may bring network performance
the Advanced Antenna Units (AAU). Power consumption limitations and not to align with planned network design by
of radio can be categorized into two types: dynamic and an operator. Examples of these areas could be coverage
static. Dynamic energy consumption happens when radio holes - a shadow area caused by terrain or buildings,
transmits and receives data. Static consumption happens edge areas of the existing cellular coverage, tunnels, etc.
all the time to maintain necessary operation of the radio This coverage problem could be resolved by densifying or
network. relocating base stations, but it may be not always be an
ideal solution due to backhaul availability limitations, longer
Therefore, there is a need to initiate a study and develop deployment times or it may not economically viable.
an energy consumption model for the radio network. While
reduction in energy saving is important for radio network, Due to these limitations, demand occurs in telecom industry
it should also be evaluated holistically by assessing the to explore a new types of network nodes which potentially
impact on network and end user performance looking at help to increase a mobile operators’ flexibility for their
KPIs such as spectral efficiency, user throughput, latency, network deployments and coverage quality enhancements.
capacity, UE power consumption and other key KPIs such as A Network-Controlled repeater is an example of a network
accessibility, retainability. Basically, energy saving solution node, which does not require a wired backhaul, that can
should not negatively impact these KPIs. help to expand the network coverage area and signal
dead zone elimination, etc. In general, a Radio Frequency

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 18

(RF) repeater is an amplifier system which amplifies-and- Figure 8: Illustration of Network Repeater Concept
forwards received signals. The repeater then beams the
amplified signals into targeted areas such as coverage hole,
tunnels, valleys etc26.

RF repeaters have been used in 2G,3G and 4G commercial

deployments to extend the network coverage. In Rel-17,
3GPP RAN4 specified requirements for RF repeaters for
5G New Radio (NR) targeting both frequency ranges FR1
(i.e., includes sub-6GHz frequency bands) and FR2 (i.e., 3.10 Enhancement of NR Dynamic
frequency bands range from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz). spectrum sharing (DSS)
An RF repeater presents a cost-effective solution for LTE-NR spectrum sharing emerges as a technology that
extending network coverage; however, it has limitations allows service providers to deploy LTE and NR in the
as it does not take into consideration various factors that same carriers and bands. DSS dynamically assigns time-
could improve performance. Such factors may include frequency resources to either LTE or NR according to their
information on semi-static and/or dynamic downlink/ respective traffic demands, enables the coexistence of
uplink configuration, adaptive transmitter/receiver spatial multiple radio access technologies in frequency range 1
beamforming, etc. (FR1) for NR without new dedicated spectrum allocation for
5G.
A network-controlled repeater is an enhancement over
conventional RF repeaters which receive side control NR adopted the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
information from the network base station. Side control (OFDM) waveform as its baseline, with the basic numerology
information could allow a network-controlled repeater of 15 kHz sub-carrier spacing (SCS) support, which was
to perform it’s amplify-and-forward operation in a more compatible with the waveform and numerology of LTE. This
efficient manner. Potential benefits include mitigation enabled a highly aligned resource grid structure between
of unnecessary noise amplification, transmissions and LTE and NR, providing a fundamental basis to support LTE-
receptions with better spatial directivity, and simplified NR co-existence.
network integration. Cost-efficiency would be a key
consideration point. In NR Release 15 and Release 16, the following functions
build the solid foundation of LTE-NR co-existence in FDD
3GPP Release 18 will study NR network-controlled bands.
repeaters with single hop and stationary architecture27.
The TR will include study on side control information • NR 100 kHz channel raster for FDD bands
such as beamforming information, Uplink-Downlink TDD • Optional NR UL 7.5kHz shift for FDD bands
configurations, timing information to align transmission/ • NR PDSCH with rate matching of LTE CRS
reception boundaries, On-Off information to improve • NR PDSCH alternative additional DMRS symbol
energy efficiency, power control information for interference location
management, etc. The study will help to define which side • NR flexible CORESET/PDCCH resource configuration
control information is necessary and a look into how to • Multiple CRS rate matching patterns in an NR carrier
identify and authorize such network-controlled repeaters. • Enhancement of PDSCH mapping type B
Table 3: 3GPP Frequency Range Definition It enables the basic operation (Rel.15) and performance
enhancement (Rel.16) in terms of channel alignment,
interference elimination and resource mapping. However, as
NR Frequency Corresponding
the number of NR devices increases there are not enough
Range Designation Frequency Range
NR scheduling resources in the shared carriers, particularly
limited by PDCCH resource. To avoid interference to the LTE
FR1 410 MHz - 7125 MHz system, NR scheduling is not expected to overlap with the
LTE PDCCH region and symbol with LTE CRS. In this case,
FR2 24250 MHz - 52600 MHz the available resources for NR PDCCH and NR PDSCH are
pretty constrained.

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 19

In Release 17, when carrier aggregation (CA) is activated, idle/inactive mode most of the time to extend its battery
3GPP specification would allow cross-carrier scheduling, life. Paging Early Indication (PEI) feature introduced in
which overcomes the PDCCH resource constraint of NR release 17, focuses on lowering energy consumption in
PCell with the help of SCell, PDCCH of SCell schedules idle and inactive mode UE30. UE only needs to detect PEI
PDSCH or PUSCH on PCell. In case of DSS, PDSCH at the time location configured by SIB, where PEI notifies
resource of PCell can be scheduled via NR SCell PDCCH the UE whether to receive the next Paging Occasion (PO)31,
without utilizing constrained DSS cell PDCCH resource, illustrated in the Figure 10. If UE is paged, then it continues
consequently uplift the DSS cell capacity. Moreover, release to monitor its associated PO; if UE is not paged, UE may stay
17 allows PCell/SCell scheduling multi-PDSCH with single in deep sleep (DS) mode without consuming power of PO
downlink control information (DCI) instead of multi-DCI, detection. In the illustrated Figure 10, PEI is signaled via DCI
without adding PDCCH overhead when allocating SCell format 2-7, or optionally via TRS. Similarly, UE group PEI can
PDSCH resources in resource constrained DSS cell28. be used for PEI, further reducing the power consumption in
idle/inactive mode.
Figure 9: Cross-carrier scheduling of DSS29
Figure 10: Paging early indication in RRC idle state

3.11 Study on low-power Wake-up Signal

and Receiver for NR to enhance non-
smartphone type devices
In the past decades, the Internet of Things (IoT) has become
ubiquitous and connected people around the world. Cellular To further prolong the battery life and improve the user
IoT is considered one of the most attractive contributions to experience, Release 18 studies on a new wake-up signal
the IoT industry, these devices are categorized as low power to trigger the main radio and a separate receiver which can
devices featuring lower consumption and offering a long monitor wake-up signal with ultra-low power consumption.
battery life. Reducing power consumption in a low power Main radio works for data transmission and reception,
device and its interaction with the network has gained a which can be turned off or set to deep sleep unless it is
significant area of focus. turned on32.

In early 3GPP releases, DRX and eDRX were introduced, 3.12 Multi-carrier enhancements for NR
UE is allowed to stop monitoring the radio channel, and
enters the low power consumption mode or sleep mode for There are two major multi-carrier enhancements for
a certain period. In Release 16 Wake-Up Signal (WUS) was 5G-advanced, as listed below
introduced, it indicates whether the next DRX On Duration • Multi-cell scheduling with a single DCI
will contain any scheduling grants or not. Because UE
• UL Tx switching among more than two bands
consumes less power when detecting WUS than monitoring
the entire DRX On duration, therefore extends the batter The first enhancement supports multi-cell scheduling with a
life. Furthermore, UE-Group WUS (GWUS) allows gNB to single DCI.
configure multi WUS group, only one group of UEs paged at
In the 5G-Advanced era, it is expected that more spectrum
a time. This allows the UE to skip the paging procedures if
will be made available. This includes re-faming from
UE is not configured in the paging group, therefore lowers
previous generations and expansion of mmW bands.
the group paging rate and paging false alarm rate.
These spectra can be aggregated for a UE to increase
Release 16 features relaxed measurement in RRC connect data throughput for downlink and/or uplink. There are
mode, however, lower power devices designed to stay in two modes in legacy carrier aggregation – self-scheduling

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 20

and cross-carrier scheduling. For self-scheduling, downlink control information (DCI) that indicates scheduling information
(resource allocation, link adaptation, etc.) of DL data (PDSCH) or UL data (PUSCH) on each carrier is delivered by a PDCCH
on the same cell as for the scheduled data. For cross-carrier scheduling, a PDCCH and the scheduled DL or UL data can be
transmitted/received on different cells. Cross-carrier scheduling further enables to transmit/receive PDCCH carrying multiple
DCIs on a scheduling cell for DL data and/or UL data on multiple different cells.

When the number of cells in the carrier aggregation operation is small, cross-carrier scheduling would enable UE power
efficient operation since the UE monitors PDCCH only on the scheduling cell. However, with the increased number of cells, it
would be difficult to achieve the benefit of cross-carrier scheduling due to the following reasons:

• Many DCIs for multiple scheduled cells for the UE must be carried by a PDCCH of one scheduling cell. This consumes a
lot of resources in the DL control of the cell and hence would block other UE’s scheduling opportunities.
• The UE has to monitor a lot of PDCCH candidates in the scheduling cell, which consumes a lot of UE power.
To address the issues of DL control overhead and UE power consumption, it was agreed to support multi-cell PUSCH/PDSCH
scheduling by a single DCI. Unlike legacy carrier aggregation, single DCI provides scheduling information of DL data or UL data
for multiple scheduled cells. For this feature, the most important open issue is how to design a DCI for multi-cell scheduling.
Since the payload of a DCI is limited (e.g., up to 120 bits excluding CRC), it is not possible to simply concatenate all the
existing indication fields of legacy DCIs for multiple scheduled cells to form a DCI for multi-cell scheduling. Moreover, large
payload of a DCI degrades coverage performance of the PDCCH. On the other hand, reducing the number of bits of a DCI
field loses scheduling flexibility in general. As such, the trade-off between DCI payload size and scheduling flexibility has to be
carefully considered.

The second multi-carrier enhancement is supporting UL Tx switching among more than two bands. 3GPP specified two bands
switching in Rel-16 and Rel-17, while Rel-16 is on 1Tx-2Tx switching and Rel-17 is on 2Tx-2Tx switching. As 5G deployment
expands, operators plan to re-farm more 3G/4G spectrum for 5G and further ask the flexible switching among more than 2
bands.

Figure 12 is an illustrative figure on more than 2 bands switch. Each band may be with 1 or 2Tx which depends on the
supported antenna numbers. The Tx chain(s) could dynamically switch among different bands according to scheduling or
configuration.

Figure 11: Self-scheduling, cross-carrier scheduling, and multi-cell scheduling

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 21

Figure 12: Switching band combination with For non-geostationary satellites, cells on the ground
more than 2 bands supported by satellite beams may be moving (earth-moving)
or fixed (earth-fixed), depending on whether the satellite
beam is steered toward a fixed target area. In either case,
the tracking areas for paging are earth-fixed. That means
the tracking area to cell mapping has to be updated as the
satellite moves to serve a new geographic area.

Figure 13: Transparent NTN architecture

Compared with switching between 2 bands, more than 2

bands switching would result to more complicated switching
band pair and RF combination. For example, without
restriction, the switching could be from any of band list and
to another random band in the list. The overall band pair
combination would be around ten, which is not affordable
for UE implementation. Therefore, the design should target
the switching complexity reduction as the first priority.
One possible way to reduce the complexity is to define the
anchor band among the switching band pairs, and only
allow the switching between anchor band and another non-
anchor band. Some enhancements are expected for NR over NTN and
NB-IoT/eMTC (in LTE) over NTN in Rel-18. As in Rel-17, only
3.13 NR NTN (Non-Terrestrial Networks) transparent NTN architecture (i.e., eNB/gNB functionality
enhancements is not on the NTN node) is considered and UE is required
to have GNSS capability and perform time and frequency
Prior to 3GPP Rel-17, LTE and NR standards have been
compensations in the uplink.
developed for land-based cellular networks. Rel-17 is the
first release of LTE and NR that supports using NTN (non-
Rel-18 enhancements in NR to support NTN connectivity
terrestrial networks) to provide link access for NB-IoT/eMTC
have been decided34 in these areas:
devices and NR UE. NTN can be a constellation of LEO,
MEO, GEO satellites33, or a network of HAPS (High Altitude • Extend NR (FDD mode) NTN to >10 GHz frequency
Platform Stations). The NTN node (LEO, MEO, GEO, HAPS) bands, e.g., Ka band, for VSAT devices. A VSAT terminal
has a higher antenna gain and transmit power and
acts as a repeater, performing frequency conversion and can be installed on airborne, maritime, or land-based
power amplification, and is transparent to the UE. The eNB/ vehicles for broadband data services. These frequency
gNB is located on the ground and connected to the NTN bands will not be accessible for handheld UE and
IoT devices because of the large path loss at high
node via an NTN gateway as shown in Figure 13.
frequencies.

This NTN feature is only available in FDD operation due to • Coverage enhancement for low-data rate and
VoIP services via commercial smart phone in NTN
the round-trip delay of signal via satellite. In Rel-17, NTN scenarios. VoIP is only applicable for LEO due to
is applicable in FR1 using S band or L band. Handheld the latency associated with propagation distance,
devices, IoT devices, or VSAT terminals (with directive while low-data rate service can be provided by all
satellites (LEO, MEO, GEO) by sufficient repetitions of
antenna and higher transmit power) can be the UE
transmission.
connecting to NTN. An NTN capable UE must compensate
• Improve UE mobility in NTN earth-fixed and earth-
the time and frequency offsets caused by propagation moving cells, as well as mobility between NTN and TN,
delay and satellite motion in the uplink transmission. GNSS for service continuity through enhanced procedures
positioning capability is required for the UE to calculate of measurements, cell re-selection, and handover.
the time and frequency compensations together with Tracking areas will be earth-fixed as in Rel-17.
the satellite position and velocity in system information • Network verification of UE location report to meet
broadcast. regulatory requirements in terms of accuracy, latency,
reliability, etc. for various purposes (e.g., emergency
call, lawful intercept, public warning, charging/billing).

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 22

3.14 IoT NTN enhancements
For NTN access, lower complexity IoT devices generally impose additional constraints, including support of half-duplex in FDD
bands, and GNSS and radio modules not operating at the same time. In addition, synchronization must be maintained during
a longer transmission time with repetitions, and UE power consumption needs to kept low for a long battery life. Expected Rel-
18 enhancements for IoT over NTN are in the following areas35:

• Support of discontinuous coverage. In a sparse constellation of satellites, NTN coverage may only be available at specific
times and places. Enhancements will ensure IoT devices can be reached and can transmit/receive data when NTN
coverage is available while UE energy is conserved when NTN is out of coverage.
• Mobility enhancements. Neighboring cell measurements and cell measurements triggering before radio link failure
will be supported in NTN scenarios. NR NTN mobility enhancements introduced in Rel-17 will be considered for eMTC
adoption.
• IoT NTN performance improvement in terms of throughput. HARQ stalling can be severe for NB-IoT and eMTC over NTN,
given that the round-trip-time is long and the number of HARQ processes for IoT devices may be few. Disabling HARQ
feedback for downlink data transmission will be worked on to mitigate the HARQ stalling and improve throughput.
• Optimization of GNSS operation with sparse use of GNSS and with a good power efficiency for long-term connection.
IoT over NTN in Rel-17 is designed for short and sporadic connections where a new GNSS fix is not required. Rel-18 will
improve GNSS operation to allow UE to update its location for maintaining synchronization in a long connection time and
to reduce power consumption.
Core and performance requirements36. The RF, RRM, and demodulation requirements for NB-IoT and eMTC operations over
NTN have not been specified in Rel-17 timeframe. These requirements will be completed in Rel-18.

3.15 NR Support for UAV

To address the needs of a quickly emerging vertical, there has been a lot of activity over the last few years within the 3GPP
to ensure that the 3GPP networks and systems will meet the connectivity needs of Uncrewed (or Unmanned) Aerial Systems
(UAS). UAS, consist of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (drones) and UAV controllers, and along with a UTM (UAV Traffic Management)
entity, supports a wide range of commercial, public safety and law enforcement applications. Figure 14 shows the UAS
architecture model within the 3GPP eco-system to enable various C2 (Command and Control) procedures.

Figure 14: 3GPP UAS reference architecture37

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 23

However, from the 3GPP RAN perspective, to date, up to 3GPP has decided to standardize some aspects of Multiple-
and including Release 17, only LTE enhancements have USIM (or MUSIM) UE behavior in order to address the
addressed UAV/UAS requirements. At 3GPP RAN#94 in shortcomings of reliance on pure UE implementations. To
December 2021, 3GPP agreed to begin work on a Release that end, in Rel-17, several features were introduced. The
18 5G (NR) work item for the second half of 202238. This use case scenario for Rel-17 was when the UE is active
work item will align NR solutions with the existing LTE UAV only at most for one USIM. In other words, only a single
solutions and specify NR-specific enhancements. The four connection or link is allowed to be in Connected mode while
general objectives of this work will include the following: the other one will be in Idle or Inactive mode. The activity
on Idle/Inactive mode is relatively rare; therefore, 3GPP
• Specify enhancements to measurement reports as
follows: UAV-triggered measurement report based has focused on where the UE switches between the two
on configured height thresholds, reporting of height, connections via using “gaps” in the active connection.
location and speed in measurement report, flight
path reporting, measurement reporting based on In practical use cases, the UE may need to be in Connected
a configured number of cells (i.e., larger than one)
mode on both USIMs. For example, the user may be on
fulfilling the triggering criteria simultaneously
a voice call via one USIM while downloading data on the
• Specify the signaling to support subscription-based
UAV identification other USIM. In such scenarios, sharing of UE resources is
more challenging compared to the Rel-17 assumptions of a
• Study and specify, if needed, enhancements for UAV
identification broadcast single active connection since the UE will be receiving and
transmitting in both connections.
• Study UE capability signaling to indicate UAV
beamforming capabilities and, if necessary, RRC
signaling, e.g., FR1 with directional antenna at the UE The main challenge in using UE resources across multiple
side. active links is sharing the RF and other resources
While the Rel-17 NR features improve UE and network dynamically without major disruption to the ongoing
performance with respect to LTE, further improvements are transmissions. As a first step, the network should be aware
needed in Rel-18 to address UAV use cases, since the NR of any changes in the UE resources. It is important to note
system didn’t take aerial vehicles (and UAS) into account that the network becomes aware of UE resources via the
when it was initially designed. In terms of UL and DL UE capability reporting at the initial connection. Several
interference as well as mobility, these and other issues will methods have been introduced by 3GPP to update this
need to be studied with UAV limitations kept in mind, such capability when the UE resources change, for example
as higher latency, reduced MIMO capabilities. Moreover, the due to overheating or power saving purposes. However,
interference issues that may be generated by UAVs should MUSIM will require a more comprehensive and streamlined
be considered in order not to disrupt the operation of a approach to changes in UE capabilities due to simultaneous
network that was intended for terrestrial UEs 39. active links which can change more dynamically.

3.16 Dual Tx/Rx MUSIM In Rel-17, 3GPP has also not considered Dual Connectivity
(DC). Given that the majority of NR deployments are
In many cellular markets, the usage of a phone with multiple currently based on EN-DC (LTE + NR DC) and also evolving
subscriptions has become increasingly common. Here, each towards NR-DC (NR + NR), it is essential to study the case
subscription of the phone is associated with one USIM and of each USIM being in DC mode. Thus, the changes in UE
has an independent connection to the network. This implies capability can also impact either or both connections to the
that the resources of a single UE or mobile equipment primary and secondary gNBs in DC.
have to be shared between these multiple connections.
In the past deployments including HSPA and LTE, this was Another approach to sharing UE resources could be
handled mainly by UE implementations. The drawback of alternating between the two links in a time-division manner.
this approach was that there were not uniform or consistent This can give better performance, especially for uplink
behaviors across UEs in the deployments. In addition, not where dividing the limited UE power between simultaneous
having network awareness and support and relying on the transmissions may not be optimal. This will require
UE side only has limited the extent of optimizations and thus signaling between the UE and the network to determine an
better performance. appropriate time-division across two links, which can also
need to consider the multiple legs of a DC connection.

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 24

In all possible UE resource sharing and capability update Traditional cellular network deployments are mainly on
options, the signaling between the UE and the network fixed macro base stations (BS). In certain environments
should be agile to adapt to the changes on the links and at e.g., dense urban environments, there might be locations
the same time should have low overhead. where a network performance from base stations
may not be adequate, and that area can have a signal
MUSIM operation may also need to consider the impact of coverage problem. Densifying network sites by installation
cooperation between multiple UEs, multi-path operation via of additional base stations on buildings and/or other
relay, and In-Device-Coexistence problems, which are all infrastructure sites or relocating cell sites can resolve
being studied in 3GPP Rel-18. these coverage problems. However, it may not always be
an ideal solution and may bring challenges to the operators
3.17 Enhancements of NR Multicast and such as costs in site installation, power sourcing, backhaul
Broadcast Services availability, real estate permissions, and regulations
approval etc. which may also require significant efforts and
Functionality explicitly targeting the NR support for Multicast
time.
and Broadcast Services (MBS) was first introduced as part
of 3GPP Release 17 with focus on use cases such as public
3GPP Rel 16 has introduced a multi-hop NR (New Radio)
safety and mission critical, V2X applications, IPTV, live
based Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) solution
video, software delivery over wireless and IoT applications,
which aims to reuse the existing 5G radio air interface for
etc. Release 17 included two delivery modes for MBS
wireless backhaul purposes and is expected to provide a
• Multicast (delivery mode 1): Delivery only to UEs in more cost-efficient and faster network deployment solution.
RRC connected state that has joined an MBS session As an alternative to fiber backhaul it can facilitate faster
and addressing higher QoS services deployment of mobile networks. In general, an IAB is a
• Broadcast (delivery mode 2): Delivery to all MBS UEs node serving UEs using a wireless backhaul from a fiber
in a service area regardless of the RRC state and
connected node- called a donor node.
addressing lower QoS services
Further enhancements to the NR support for MBS are 3GPP Release 16 and Release 17 mainly focus IAB use
pursued as part of 3GPP release 18, initially in form of cases and requirements as a stationary network node.
a study item.40 The release-18 work on enhanced MBS 3GPP Release 18 continues to enhance NR IAB solution,
support focuses on the following areas: focusing on the scenario where Mobile-IAB nodes are
mounted on vehicles. This node will use a wireless backhaul
• The possibility for multicast reception also in RRC
inactive state, enabling a larger number of multicast from a 5G core connected stationary donor node and
receiving UEs in a cell and reduced UE energy provide 5G NR coverage and connectivity to UEs located
consumption inside or surrounding to it. This node is also called a Vehicle
• Joint reception of unicast transmissions and broadcast Mounted Relay (VMR)41.
transmissions within a UE
• More efficient provisioning of multicast/broadcast There is a surge in demand for use of wireless broadband
services when the same service is provided by multiple on-board in public/private vehicles in urban areas.
operators in a shared-network scenario
For mobile service providers, the demands to serve
3.18 Mobile IAB (VMR) these mobile users with a better user experience and a
seamless signal coverage while traveling on their network
The introduction and evolution of 5G technology in the is a challenge. Mobile-IAB node could be useful in urban
telecom industry has not only created new radio (NR) environments such as mounted on vehicles which follow a
access standard but also facilitated integration of networks certain schedule (e.g., public transport buses, trains etc.).
for vertical markets with diverse applications such as It could provide opportunities to improve network coverage
Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Internet of and capacity enhancements e.g., better user experience
things (IoT), Vehicle to everything (V2X), Smart cities etc. to users located inside or surrounding to these mobile-IAB
nodes. Other scenarios such as during the large public
5G applications and related services are diverse which bring events at venues, hot-spot areas, Mobile-IAB could also
up the demands for advanced cellular networks in terms of serve the users or devices that are surrounding the vehicle
higher data rate, lower latency, enhanced cellular coverage and it could improve a user experience. Also, the Mobile-IAB
and connectivity. This may be challenging and can have could be useful in emergency or, disaster recovery scenarios
performance limitations in outdoor and mobility scenarios.
Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 25
where there is little or no network coverage and the use of Mobile-IAB node can enable 5G coverage and connectivity in a
timely manner.

In addition to network coverage and capacity enhancements, Mobile-IAB nodes could provide benefits to network operators by
minimizing the network related capital and operational expenditures (CAPEX and OPEX) e.g., time and efforts to invest in real-
estate lease and permissions, monthly operating cost of wired backhaul etc.

A 3GPP release 18 study is investigating a potential single hop architecture. It will also include system level enhancements for
5G systems to support IAB nodes mounted on vehicles using NR for wireless access toward the UE and for backhaul to the
5GC. It is targeted for both frequency ranges FR1 (sub-6GHz frequency bands) and FR2 (24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz) including In-
band and Out-band scenarios. The Study will help to explore several areas such as42,

• support of mobile IAB nodes operation, provisioning, control, and configuration

• Service continuity (including mobility of the UE and/or mobile-IAB nodes)
• UE network access control, policy charging, Quality of Service (QoS), Multi-PLMN RAN sharing
• Multi-link connectivity (i.e., between the donor node and mobile-IAB node, between the mobile-IAB nodes)
• support for regulatory requirements (e.g., first responders, priority services, public safety), and support for location
services for UEs accessing mobile-IAB nodes etc.

Figure 15: Illustration of Mobile IAB node (VMR) Concept

Table 4: 3GPP Frequency Range Definition

NR Frequency Corresponding
Range Designation Frequency Range

FR1 410 MHz - 7125 MHz

FR2 24250 MHz - 52600 MHz

3.19 Further enhancement of data collection for SON (Self-Organizing Networks)/MDT

(Minimization of Drive Tests) in NR and EN-DC
Self-Organizing Networks (SON) is an automation technology that is designed to plan, configure, manage, optimize, and
repair Radio Access Networks (RAN) efficiently and effectively. The 3GPP SON-related work to date encompasses solutions
for network self-configuration and self-optimization, which was first introduced in LTE to support deployment of the system
and network performance optimization. The first SON features, PCI allocation and Automatic Neighbor Relations (ANR)
were introduced in Rel-8. Success of these two features encouraged further study on the topic and resulted in a Rel-9 work
item that eventually enabled 3 SON features: Mobility Robustness Optimization (MRO), Mobility Load Balancing (MLB)

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 26

and RACH optimization. The two first features, MRO and 3.20 Enhancements for XR
MLB, turned out to be key enablers of LTE and they were
further enhanced in following releases to match increasing Majority of the emerging 5G use cases are time critical in
LTE complexity. Besides ANR, MRO, MLB and RACH nature with demanding requirements on reliable low latency.
optimization, other features enabling particular aspects of Such demanding new use cases can be broken down into
network self-optimization were discussed and enabled in four categories key categories: real-time media, remote
separate SIs/WIs: Minimization of Drive Tests (MDT), Energy control, industrial control, and mobility automation. The real-
Saving (ES), interference cancelation (ICIC, eICIC), TDD time media category includes innovative extended reality
UL/DL traffic adaptation (eIMTA), collaborative multi-point (XR) that are of growing interest amongst all segments of
operation (CoMP), etc. subscribers: consumers, enterprise, public institutions etc.

In Rel-16, the Study Item “Study on RAN-centric Data XR is an umbrella term that refers to any of immersive
Collection and Utilization for LTE and NR” studied use cases technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR)
of SON/MDT and other use cases related to data collection and Augmented Reality (AR). XR is expected to improve
and utilization and identified potential solutions for these productivity and convenience for consumers, enterprises
use cases. The Study Item used LTE solutions as a baseline and public institutions in a wide variety of application areas
and take the NR architectures and features into account, such as entertainment, training, education, remote support,
e.g., MR-DC, CU-DU split architecture, beam, inactive remote control, communications and virtual meetings. It
state, etc.43 However, due to limited time, only a subset of can be used in virtually all industry segments, including
potential SON/MDT functions and initial considerations health care, real estate, shopping, transportation and
were studied and specified in the Rel-16. The Rel-17 follow- manufacturing.
on work item introduced enhancement of SON and MDT
features to support in NR standalone and MR-DC, including Although VR holds lot of promise for innovation, MR and
CCO (Coverage and Capacity Optimization), inter-system AR provide true transformational potential. With AR, the
inter-RAT energy saving, inter-system load balancing, 2-step users are present in reality and are free to be mobile
RACH optimization, mobility enhancement optimization, PCI even when using their Head Mounted Device (HMD). By
selection, energy efficiency (OAM requirements), Successful freeing up user’s arm, AR technologies transform the user
Handovers Reports, UE history information in EN-DC, load interaction drastically. As an example, user would be able
balancing enhancement, MRO for SN change failure, RACH to perform complex task in factory or lab environment using
optimization enhancements, MDT enhancement and L2 hands while at the same time getting guidance on HMD
measurements. through AR. This is supposed to increase users’ efficiency
dramatically.
Moreover, further enhancement of SON/MDT was identified
as necessary in Rel-18 to specify additional data collection Building small, fashionable, low power consuming XR device
techniques and features in NR. The 3GPP RAN plenary has is critical for HMD based XR use cases. The best way to
approved a new work item entitled “Further enhancement realize this requirement is to off-load parts of XR processing
of data collection for SON (Self-Organizing Networks)/MDT to the mobile network edge. Figure 16 below shows eight
(Minimization of Drive Tests) in NR standalone and MR-DC main types of XR functionalities that are split between XR
(Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity)” which is to commence in device and the network edge. The devices are categorized
the second half of 202244. This work will specify additional into 3 categories depending on the extent of off-load to the
support of data collection for SON features, including, MRO network edge.
for MR-DC SCG failure scenario, and MRO enhancement for
inter-system handover voice fallback, including specification Many of the XR use cases are characterized by quasi-
of the UE reporting necessary to enhance the mobility periodic traffic with high data rate in DL such as video
parameter tuning and inter-node information exchange, stream, combined with the frequent UL (i.e., pose/
including possible enhancements to interfaces. Additional control update) and/or UL video stream. Both DL and UL
enhancements of SON/MDT for the following will also be traffic are also characterized by a relatively strict packet
addressed in 5G-Advanced: MR-DC CPAC, successful PScell delay budget (PDB). Hence, there is a need to study and
change report, successful Handover Report (e.g., inter- potentially specify possible solutions to better support such
RAT), NPN (Non-Public Networks), RACH report, fast MCG challenging services.
recovery, and NR-U (MRO and UL MLB).

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 27

Figure 16: Split architecture options with 5G connectivity 45 multiple flows, jitter, latency, reliability, etc...). Focus is
on the following techniques:
» C-DRX enhancement.
» PDCCH monitoring enhancement.
• Study mechanisms that provide more efficient
resource allocation and scheduling for XR service
characteristics (periodicity, multiple flows, jitter,
latency, reliability, etc.).

3.21 New spectrum

New spectrum can enable new applications and enhance
existing applications for 5G-Advanced. As shown in
Since most of the XR devices are expected to have a small Figure 17, the available spectrum for 5G-Advanced cell
form factor, it is very important for the devices to be very deployments may be in upper mid bands, such as 7.125
efficient from a power consumption perspective. Therefore, GHz to 24.25 GHz. For the purposes of this white paper,
additional power consumption enhancements may be we refer to this frequency range as “FR3” spectrum
needed to reduce the overall UE power consumption to differentiate from the already defined FR1 and FR2
when running XR services and thus extend the effective spectrum. Ultimately, 3GPP may define frequency range
UE battery lifetime. It is understood that the current DRX designation(s) for any newly defined 5G-Advanced
configurations may not fit well for the unique XR traffic spectrum. The main advantages of “FR3” spectrum
characteristics. Hence enhancements would be beneficial in band(s) include the large bandwidth and the suitability
this area. for wide-area deployments, though more challenging
than FR1 deployments. In other words, “FR3” has the
It is estimated that XR application awareness by devices potential to offer the best of FR1 (coverage) and the best
and infrastructure would improve the user experience, of FR2 (wide bandwidth) bands. Wide area coverage with
improve NR system capacity in supporting XR services, and wide bandwidth availability also makes this band a very
reduce UE power consumption. promising opportunity for enhanced positioning and sensing
capabilities as well. “FR3” could become the new frequency
Study of XR as part of 3GPP RAN release 17 focused on range to design and evaluate key 5G-advanced candidate
key characteristics that are essential for XR applications technologies.
such as data rate and latency. Since XR services typically
comprise multiple data flows (e.g., video, audio and On top of Rel-17 coverage enhancement, Rel-18 will further
control). Flows are mainly periodic, but each has a different study, and if justified, support the uplink coverage in the
periodicity and packet sizes. It is significant for having a following areas.
satisfactory XR service experience to provide high data rate
communication while maintaining low and bounded latency. • PRACH coverage enhancement with either multiple
PRACH transmissions with same beams for 4-step
If besides low latency also low loss is of importance, then RACH procedure or PRACH transmissions with different
L4S (Low Loss Low Latency for scalable throughput) can beams for 4-step RACH procedure.
be used, allowing to prioritize latency over data rates in • Increasing UE power high limit for CA and DC based on
congested situations. 46 Rel-17 RAN4 work on “Increasing UE power high limit
for CA and DC”.
The scope of 3GPP RAN Rel-18 study aims to build upon the • Dynamic switching between DFT-S-OFDM waveform
release 17 specification. Below is the list of focus areas of and CP-OFDM waveform.
study:47 To harvest the potential gains of new spectrum such as
• Study and identify the XR traffic (both UL and DL) FR3, there are several challenges that need to be over-
characteristics, QoS metrics, and application layer come, which are listed below:
attributes beneficial for the gNB to be aware of.
• Study how the above information aids XR-specific • FR3 has larger propagation loss than FR1. To
traffic handling. guarantee similar coverage between FR1 and FR3,
techniques to improve both DL and UL coverage in FR3
• Study XR specific power saving techniques to are essential for the success of FR3 deployment. One
accommodate XR service characteristics (periodicity, of such techniques is Gigantic MIMO, which scales up

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 28

 FR1 massive MIMO to gigantic MIMO antenna panels (>1K elements) to offer larger beamforming gain to overcome the
larger propagation loss in FR3.
• Cellular communications in new spectrum, such as in FR3, might have to coexist with existing communication systems
already deployed in those spectrums. For example, earth/satellite communications have been deployed in many
spectrums in FR3. Advanced interference management and suppression techniques are critical to guarantee cellular
communications and other communications systems can nicely coexist in new spectrum without interfering with each
other.
• New transceivers might be required for cellular communications in new spectrum. The new transceivers could include
new RF filter, high performance power amplifier, new antenna designs at both UE and gNB.
The Rel-18 and subsequent studies and specification efforts are expected to solve the above challenging problems and
enable 5G-advanced deployed in the new spectrum.

3.22 Coverage Enhancement

Cell coverage is critical to the success of 5G deployment. Guaranteeing good cell coverage at everywhere without coverage
holes can deliver good experience of NR services to end users. In Rel-17, 3GPP studied 5G uplink and downlink coverage
respectively and identified that uplink coverage is the bottleneck of the system. Therefore, Rel-17 introduced techniques to
improve the coverage of uplink channels, including PUSCH, PUCCH, message 3 in RACH. On PUSCH coverage enhancement,
the techniques include repetition type A for PUSCH, TB processing over multiple slots for PUSCH, joint channel estimation
for PUSCH. On PUCCH coverage enhancement, PUCCH repetition enhancement and joint channel estimation for PUCCH are
supported. On message 3 coverage enhancement, type A repetition for message 3 is enhanced.

Figure 17: Global snapshot of allocated/targeted 5G spectrum

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 29

4. System Architecture, Core Networks, and Services
4.1 Enhancements for Edge Computing
3GPP has developed Edge Computing capabilities to bring application computing services closer
to end users to help solve the key challenges of bandwidth and latency. Edge computing can
provide a hybrid applications model where centralized connectivity can be used for all the usual
communication services while edge computing is used when the requirements of workloads
require processing in near real time such as Augmented/Virtual Reality based services.

By release 17, 3GPP core network standards for Edge Computing have a full set of features. This
encompasses abilities such as allowing the applications and UEs to obtain Edge configuration
information and discovery the Edge Data Networks and Edge Application Servers. Network
exposure and event notifications features allow the network to supply a long list of information
such as UE location and mobility, e.g., movements of UEs in/out of geographic boundaries,
the current network conditions, e.g., congestion or changes in user data paths, UL/DL packet
delay measurements periodically when it exceeds a threshold, the constant monitoring of UE
reachability status and loss of connectivity, and finally charging support.

Further features available in release 17 involve dynamic traffic routing through edge data
networks and other resources by influencing the selection of User Plane Functions (UPFs). This
influence can be done for the services of a single UE or group of UEs. There is also support
for edge relocation when the UE moves too far away from its current edge services. In some
cases, service continuity support further provides the means for application relocation with user
context transfer and/or application instance relocation.

Looking ahead to evolved 5G systems in release 18, there are additional enhancements to Edge
Compute (EC) being studied. A key capability is to address roaming when using applications
in Edge Hosting Environments (EHEs) in VPLMNs. When the UE is roaming, there are two
scenarios: (1) UE accessing V-EHE via a Local Breakout (LBO) PDU Session and (2) UE accessing
V-EHE via a Home Routed (HR) PDU Session (i.e., with PSA in HPLMN as shown below). For (1),
two different PDU Sessions are required to access an EHE in VPLMN and Home DN in HPLMN
simultaneously. The UE must dedicate an LBO PDU Session for the local traffic routing, and
another home routed (HR) PDU Session for other services. One or more dedicated DNN(s) have
to be assigned to these applications in URSP rules determined by the HLPMN.

Figure 18: Visited EHE via a HR PDU Session

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 30

For (2) as shown in Figure 18, a single PDU Session 4.2 Personal IoT and Residential Networks
and (DNN+S-NSSAI) can support both EC and non-EC
applications in either roaming or non-roaming cases. The Personal IoT Network or PIN is about connecting
However, it needs to be studied how the UE can access the devices that can be placed around the body such as
V-EHE via an HR PDU Session. And in this scenario, one headsets, watches, earphones, and health monitoring
has to consider whether the HPLMN has the knowledge of sensors, or placed around the home such as smart lights,
EAS deployment information in VPLMN for specific services. cameras, thermostats, door sensors, voice assistants,
If the HPLMN does, it can provide information to the UE to speakers, and household appliances. PIN also includes
trigger EAS discovery and local traffic routing in VPLMN. connecting commercial devices placed around the office
If the HPLMN does not, some other solution must be or the factory floor such as printers, meters, and industrial
developed. sensors.

Some solutions in the Rel 18 study are also looking at The majority of these IoT devices have various constraints in
the need for edge relocation due to roaming. Relocation terms of their size, weight, battery capacity and cost which
involves the moving of a running application from one then lead to constraints on the types of radio interfaces and
edge application server to another server in a different communications complexity they can support. Today, most
edge hosting environment. The requirement to expand of these IoT devices connect to the Internet via relays or
edge relocation between home and visited networks was gateways that use wireline access or via a UE connected to
mentioned by the GSMA Operator Platform Group. 5G. In such situations, the current 5G Systems are generally
unaware of these IoT devices. To leverage 5G services and
Another feature in Release 18 is the fast and efficient allow operators options to add value, evolved 5G Systems
network exposure of UE traffic related information to Edge need to be aware of these devices.
Application Server via the Local UPF or Network Exposure
Function (NEF). Edge applications need to react quickly to Due to the personal nature of PINs, the end user needs to
changing network conditions that impact the latency and be able to easily create and delete PINs which are part of
BW of user data with the UE. The network exposes UE traffic the customer premises network. They also must be able to
related information, such as network congestion status, effortlessly add or remove devices to their PINs. At the start
to the common Edge Application Server. This is critical for of release 18, 3GPP has defined three kinds of PIN devices,
some applications such as XR/media or AI/ML services called PIN elements or PINEs. Devices have capabilities
running in the Edge Hosting Environment. for (1) communication, (2) gateway functions, and (3)
management of the PIN. The most basic kind of PINE has
Release 18 will also support more granular sets of UEs or only communication capability to connect to local devices
allow dynamic collection of UEs to be created. In particular, directly or connect to remote devices via a gateway device.
there is a need to support offload policies to match more A gateway capable PINE connects other devices but can
granular sets of UEs without exposing operator-internal directly access the 5G system (thus it is a UE), and a PINE
configurations to 3rd party AFs. Furthermore, there is a with management capabilities can add/remove PINEs and
need to influence the packet services anchor UPF and EAS maintain PIN parameters with the help of the 5G system. Of
(re)location for collections of UEs in scenarios when UEs course, a particular device may have multiple capabilities.
need not use the same EAS and are not members of a pre-
defined group. Thinking about the whole picture, we can see a set of
characteristics for PINs. The evolved 5G system has to
And finally, Release 18 must support various configurations support at a minimum:
of EHEs as required by the GSMA Operator Platform Group.
• The ability to identity PINs and PINEs for 5G system
The first GSMA scenario is when the EHE is hosted by a awareness of devices.
3rd party apart from the MNO. In another scenario, EHEs
• The abilities to create/delete PINs, authorize/de-
might be shared amongst multiple operators: visited and authorize PINEs as well as PINEs with gateway and
home as well as through partnerships. It should be noted management capabilities to manage PINs.
that interconnectivity between EHEs of different operators • The ability for network discovery and PINE discovery.
cannot be assumed to be available for all deployments. • Communication or connectivity between PINEs locally.

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 31

Figure 19: Example PIN Architecture (for illustration only, not formally agreed)

Closely related in functionality to the PIN is the use of devices in the home behind a Residential Gateway (RG) for fixed wireless
services. For release 18, the main task for 3GPP is to determine a method of providing differentiated services, in terms of QoS
and charging, for a mixture of both UEs and Non-3GPP devices connected behind a 5G RG. A non-3GPP device is defined as
a device that uses non-3GPP access technology (typically, this is Wi-Fi) to connect to the RG and does not support the Non-
Access Stratum (NAS) signalling messages.

We further have to support two kinds of non-3GPP devices behind an RG depending on whether the 5G system can
authenticate them. Either Authenticable Non-3GPP devices which can indeed be authenticated or Non-Authenticable Non-
3GPP devices which cannot. An example of a non-authenticable non-3GPP device would be a Wi-Fi device that does not
support USIM.

While 3GPP is studying solutions for PINs and devices behind Residential Gateways as separate efforts, solutions and
technologies will likely be developed and deployed collectively for these two related areas.

4.3 Enhancement of RAN slicing

Strong demand in wireless communication has been expected in vertical markets, as connectivity and mobility empower the
transformation and innovation in industries such as manufacturing, transportation, energy and civil services, healthcare, and
many more use cases in Figure 20. These diverse vertical services bring about a wide range of performance requirements
in throughput, capacity, latency, mobility, reliability, position accuracy, etc. Network slicing in Rel-15 moves from advanced
network architecture towards more flexibility and higher scalability for a multitude of services of disparate requirements.

Figure 20: Network slice supports more use cases

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 32

NR technology promises a common RAN platform to meet the challenges of current and future use cases and services, not
only for those that we can envision today but also for those that we cannot yet imagine. Rel17 provides technical tools in RAN
for network operators to get application providers involved in customizing RAN’s design, deployment and operation for better
support of the applications providers’ business. The multiple network slicing feature requirements and solutions are based the
following network slicing scenarios in Figure 21.

Figure 21: Example of slice deployment scenarios

Note: Geographical location number (1-4) can be one of deployment scenario with different frequency band in the
geographical with designed slice for different services (e.g., EMBB or URLLC).

gNB supports slice-based cell reselection mechanisms and signaling with slice feature requirements. First, gNB broadcasts
the supported slice information of the current cell and neighbor cells. Cell reselection priority per slice is signaled in system
information (SI) or in RRCRelease message. Second, gNB shall support slice-based RACH configuration, specify mechanisms
and signaling including configuration of both separated PRACH and RACH parameters priority for slice or slice group in Figure
22.

Figure 22: Slice-based cell reselection

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 33

Third, gNB shall support service continuity with resource management that includes slices resource re-partitioning /sharing or
configuration-based solution. Service Continuity feature supports service interruption due to slice not supported during Inter-
gNB mobility if is a specific SLAs, where the original slice is required to be available in a specific geographical are (TA/RA) only.
There are multiple scenarios were studied in Rel17. Some scenarios are shared as reference.

Scenario 1 in Figure 23, Slice resource shortage during Intra-RA/Inter-RA mobility. Target gNB fails to accept the UE with at
least one of the ongoing S-NSSAIs due to high slice-related load at target gNB. The service is/are interrupted for the UE.

Figure 23: Service interruption due to slice resource shortage

Scenario 2 in Figure 24: Inter-RA Mobility with Non-supported slice, the UE is moving towards an area that does not support at
least one of UE’s ongoing slices. The target gNB fails to accept the UE with at least one of the ongoing S-NSSAIs. Service(s) for
failed ongoing slice(s) is/are interrupted for the UE.

Figure 24: Service interruption due to slice does not support

For Rel17 remapping traffic into a resource pool used by other slices requires a pre-configured policy by OAM or 5GC. The
Slice remapping decision is determined by the AMF and the target gNB and can be made in the target gNB at the Xn based
handover or at the NG-based handover. Additional slice resource re-partitioning solution is applicable using with spectrum
resource (e.g., slots, beams, carries etc.), transport resources (e.g., backhaul capacity) and hardware resource (e.g., specific
processors, processing load etc.). Multi-carrier radio resource sharing solution is applicable to Scenarios.

A network slice based unified access control framework has been development and shall be applicable to UEs in RRC Idle,
RRC Inactive

4.4 Others
There are several other areas and enhancements, currently under 3GPP study/work in Rel-18, related to aspects (beyond
RAN) specific to system architecture, CN, security, multimedia, and application enablement. This section provides as small
sample of those projects, across different areas and working groups, including a short summary of their scope together with
references to the corresponding WID/SIDs (for extra background, motivations, and detailed objectives).

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 34

4.4.1 Enhancements on Non-Public Networks (NPN)

3GPP introduced NPN support and further enhancements in Rel-16 and Rel-17.

The ongoing Rel-18 study covers the following new functionalities:

• Support for enhanced mobility between SNPNs

• Support for non-3GPP access for SNPN
• Enabling Localized Services via a local hosting NPN, including
» configuration for UEs to discover, select and access the local hosting NPN and services
» user manual selection
For more details, please refer to SP-21165648.

4.4.2 Seamless UE context recovery

The Rel-18 work on Seamless UE context recovery targets the problem and optimized handling in 5GS, of certain UE
“unavailability periods” due the execution of specific events, for example OS upgrade or modem SW updates (also commonly
called as binary updates).

Enabling some co-ordination between UE and operator/application function, and some knowledge in the network, would
minimize impacts to critical operations of certain application serves.

For more details, please refer to SP-21165449.

4.4.3 Evolution of Access traffic steering split & switch (ATSSS)

Basic ATSSS support (see Figure 25) has been introduced in Rel-16, with some additions defined in Rel-17.

Figure 25: High-level ATSSS concept: multi-access PDU across 3GPP and non-3GPP access

3GPP is studying further enhancements in Rel-18, including:

• new functionalities able to steer/switch/split non-TCP traffic flows (e.g., UDP traffic flows and IP traffic flows), including
further study (started in R17) on QUIC-based steering
• functionalities based on DCCP protocol & multipath extensions (e.g., per-packet splitting)
• redundant traffic steering, for both GBR and non-GBR traffic
• switching between two non-3GPP access paths in the same PLMN
• support of one 3GPP access path via 5GC and one non-3GPP access path via ePDG/EPC
For more details, please refer to SP-21161250.

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 35

4.4.4 Location services (LCS) enhancements 4.4.7 Timing Resiliency & other URLLC
enhancements
The Rel-18 SA study on LCS enhancements covers several
areas, among which: 3GPP is looking at new functionalities related to Timing
Resiliency, together with further enhancements to URLLC.
• support positioning signaling via user plane
Some objectives of the ongoing work are:
• reduction of location service latency, signaling
overhead and location estimate exposure • Support of 5G Timing Resiliency requirements,
• support flexible and efficient periodic and triggered including
location for UE power savings » Reporting of 5GS network timing synchronization
status (such as divergence from UTC and 5GS
• location service continuity for UE mobility, i.e., between network timing source degradation) to UEs and 3rd
EPS and 5GS party applications (AFs)
• other enhancements, in collaboration with RAN, e.g., » how to enable AFs to request time synchronization
related to low power high accuracy positioning, use of service in a specific coverage area
Positioning Reference Units (PRUs), network verified
» control of 5G time synchronization service based on
UE location and controlled positioning for satellite subscription
access
• Study how to enable an AF to explicitly provide PER to
For more details, please refer to SP-21163751. NEF/PCF.
• Support for low latency mechanisms for interworking
4.4.5 Next generation Real Time with TSN transport networks.
Communication (RTC)
For more details, please refer to SP-21163454.
3GPP is studying further enhancements for RTC, including:
4.4.8 Deterministic Networking (DetNet)
• new eMMTEL requirements and IMS functionalities,
e.g., related to AR telephony communication and One more interesting project, under study in SA2, regards
3rd party / enterprise verification of specific identity TSC enhancements to enable support of so-called
information (on the callee side).
Deterministic Networking (DetNet). DetNet, already
• support of Data Channel usage in IMS network, e.g., standardized in IETF, relies on IP and Multiprotocol Label
separate control plane and media plane functions,
Data Channel application repository, procedures Switching (MPLS) layer mechanisms, providing time-
between Data channel server and IMS AS to support sensitive features that guarantee almost zero packet loss
call event notifications. rates and bounded latency.
• IMS media control interfaces for service-based
architecture, besides Cx/Dx and Sh/Dh, supporting The 3GPP study investigates 5GS support for DetNet
capabilities for new applications and efficient media
including e.g., interworking between a central DetNet
processing (considering backward compatibility and
based on SIP as core IMS signaling protocol). controller entity (as defined in IETF) and the 5G system,
translation of DetNet traffic/flow profiles into 5GS QoS
For more details, please refer to SP-21164452.
parameters, information to be exposed from the 5G system
4.4.6 Enhancement of 5G UE Policy to the DetNet controller.

The study on UE Policy enhancements aims at investigating For more details, please refer to SP-21163355.
the following areas:
1.1.1 Enhancements for Wireless Wireline
• URSP rule provisioning and updating procedures for Convergence (WWC)
home-routed and LBO roaming scenarios
• Optimization on UE Policy requesting and provisioning 3GPP is studying further enhancements for WWC, including:
related aspects
• support of devices connecting behind 5G-RG, for
• Potential enhancements for provisioning UE with example providing differentiated service (QoS and
consistent URSP across 5GC and EPC charging) for UE and Non-3GPP devices connected
• Support of optimized operator specific URSP traffic behind a 5G RG
categories/descriptors • Trusted/untrusted non-3GPP access network, e.g., how
For more details, please refer to SP-211649 . 53 to select a TNGF/N3IWF that supports the S-NSSAI(s)
needed by the UE
• For more details, please refer to SP-21164056.

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 36

4.4.9 Security for split-RAN Media Capabilities for Augmented Reality: This work
defines service-independent media capabilities for AR
On the security side, there are several ongoing projects and devices. For example, the objectives include:
enhancements under work, many of which related to other
stage-2 architectural features, plus few studies addressing • Potential new AR device categories, and corresponding
terminal architecture, media types and formats,
specific security areas. integration of relevant 3GPP codecs, encoding/
Among the latter, one study targets to create a new 5G decoding capabilities.
SeCurity Assurance Specification (SCAS) to cover security • Define capability exchange mechanisms, e.g., based
tests for split gNB architecture (e.g., CU-DU, CU-CP/CU-UP on device support of EAS KPIs for provisioning of
split). For example, the study objectives include: edge/cloud resources
• VR QoE metrics that can be reused or enhanced for
• identify new threats and critical assets for split gNB AR media (e.g., resolution per eye, Field of view (FOV),
entities round-trip interaction delay, etc.) and relevant KPIs
• specific security functional requirements and related dedicated to AR/MR
test cases for split gNB entities • Specify encapsulations into RTP, ISOBMFF and CMAF
• vulnerability testing requirements and related test • codec-level parameters for session setup and
cases negotiation of the media delivery
For more details, please refer to SP-22020057. • 5G Media Streaming profiles based on AR media
capabilities
4.4.10 Multimedia and XR enhancements • Future integration of IVAS

3GPP continues to enhance the 5G system for supporting For more details, please refer to SP-22024259.
new multi-media applications, devices and protocols. In
Smartly Tethering of AR Glasses: For enhanced end-to-end
the area of XR, several specific enhancements are being
QoS and/or QoE, AR glasses may need to provide functions
studied, few of them summarized below.
beyond the basic tethering connectivity function, and the
Split Rendering Media Service Enabler: This is a work item resulting AR glasses may be referred to as Smartly Tethering
that will develop a Media Service Enabler that packages AR Glasses (SmarTAR).
all required enablers and defines the required formats and
A key challenge for wireless Tethered AR UEs is to properly
protocols to make split rendering accessible (e.g., as SDK)
estimate the required QoS allocations for the AR sessions
to media service and application providers. The scope
considering the wireless/wired tethering link from the glass
of this WID is limited to the interface between the Split-
to the UE. The objectives of the ongoing 3GPP study are to
rendering EAS and the UE, covering the following aspects:
investigate how to address those challenges, including:
• profiles for edge, QoS allocation, and network
assistance functionality for the split rendering Media • different tethering architectures for AR Glasses
Service Enabler including 5G sidelink and non-5G access
• control protocols for establishing and managing split • media handling aspects of different tethering
rendering sessions between the 5GMS AS/EAS and architectures
the UE • end-to-end QoS-handling and supporting mechanisms
• RTP configurations for real-time media transport, to compensate for the non-5G link between the UE and
media formats and corresponding protocols for split the AR glasses
rendering to be exchanged between the Split rendering
For more details, please refer to SP-22024060.
AS EAS and the UE
• edge requirements, such as the EAS profiles, as
well as edge discovery and relocation configurations
appropriate for split rendering
• necessary APIs (for the application on the UE) to use
the split rendering Media Service Enabler control
functions
For more details, please refer to SP-22061258.

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 37

Conclusion
5G continues to be technically enhanced to drive an era of innovation in cellular
communications. In 2022, 3GPP finalized Release 17 and initiated the work on Release 18.

In Release 17, the existing NR capabilities were enhanced from Release 16, improving the
operational efficiency of the radio-access technology. In parallel, Release 17 has introduced
new capabilities, extending NR towards new verticals. Some key features of NR Release 17 are:

• Extending the operation of NR to spectrum above 52.6 GHz to 71 GHZ

• Introducing Reduced Capability NR devices, that is, enabling services with a UE
complexity/capability trade-off in between the conventional high-quality eMBB services
and the low-complexity services enabled LTE-MTC and NB-IoT).
• Enhanced Dynamic Spectrum Sharing
• Enhanced uplink coverage
• Multi-SIM devices
• More advanced sidelink communications
• Small Data Transmission (SDT) capabilities
• Enabling broadcast/multicast services within NR
• Support for non-terrestrial networks (i.e., a satellite component of NR)
In December of 2021, 3GPP defined the scope for Release 18 work items to improve network
capacity, latency, coverage, power efficiency and mobility. For Release 18, many new features
and further enhancements have been outlined in this paper including:

• Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) for NR Air Interface and NG-RAN
• Study on Evolution of NR Duplex Operation such as sub-band full duplex (SBFD)
• Study on network energy saving
• Study on network controlled smart repeaters
• More advanced XR technologies to enable more/new XR applications.
• Continue to enhance NR MIMO, sidelink and sidelink relay, positioning, dynamic spectrum
sharing, multi-carrier communications, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) and IoT NTN,
multicast and broadcast, IAB technologies.
• Further reduction of NR Redcap UE complexity
Overall, the mobile wireless industry continues to make great strides in research, development,
standardization, and deployment of 5G technologies. The evolution and revolution in wireless
continues with new standardized technical features at 3GPP as the mobile wireless industry
connects more people and things in new markets.

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 38

Acronyms
3GPP: 3rd Generation Partnership Project eMTC: Enhanced Machine Type Comminications

5GC: 5G Core FDD: Frequency Division Duplex

5GS: 5G System FR1: Frequency Range 1 (410 MHz-24.25 GHz)

ACK: Acknowledgement FR2: Frequency Range 2 (24.25 GHz-71 GHz)

AI/ML: Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning FR3: Frequency Range 3 (potential new 5G-Advanced FRs)
AR: Augmented Reality FWA: Fixed Wireless Access
ATG: Air To Ground GEO: Geosynchronous Earth Orbiting
ATSSS: Access Traffic Steering Split & Switch GHz: Giga Hertz – 1 billion cycles per second
BWP: Bandwidth Part HAPS: High Altitude Platform Station
C-JT: Coherent Joint Transmissions HARQ: Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest
CA: Carrier Aggregation HPLMN: Home Public Land Mobile Network
CAG: Closed Access Group
IAB: Integrated Access and Backhaul
CBRS: Citizen Broadband Radio Service
IIoT: Industrial Internet of Things
C-DRX: Connected Mode Discontinuous Reception
IMS: IP Multimedia Subsystem
CSI: Channel State Information
IMSI: International Mobile Subscriber Identity
CU: Centralized Unit
IoT: Internet of Things
DAS: Distributed Antenna System
IP: Internet Protocol
DCI: Downlink Control Information
IRAP: Infosec Registered Assessors Program
DCS: Default Credential Server
IT: Information Technology
DetNet: Deterministic Network
ITU: International Telecommunication Union
DL: DownLink
KHz: Kilohertz – 1 thousand cycles per second
DMRS: Demodulation Reference Signal
LAA: Licensed Assisted Access
DNN: Data Network Name
LAN: Local Area Network
DRX: Discontinuous Reception
LCS: LoCation Services
DSS: Dynamic Spectrum Sharing
LEO: Low Earth Orbiting
DU: Distributed Unit
LPWA: Low Power Wide Area
eDRX: Extended Discontinuous Reception
LTE: Long Term Evolution
eIMTA: Enhanced Interference Mitigation & Traffic
Adaptation MDT: Minimization of Drive Tests

EIRP: Effective Isotropically Radiated Power MIMO: Multiple Input Multiple Output

eMBB: Enhanced Mobile Broad Band mMTC: Massive Machine Type Communications

eMMTEL: Enhancements Multimedia Telephony mmWave: Millimeter wave

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 39

Acronyms
MR: Mixed Reality RTC: Real Time Communication

MNO: Mobile Network Operator RU: Radio Unit

mTRP: Multiple Transmission and Reception Point SCAS: SeCurity Assurance Specification

SI: System Information

MUSIM: Multi-User Suscription Information Module
SIM: Subscriber Identity Module
NAS: Non-Access Stratum
SLA: Service Level Agreement
NB-IoT: NarrowBand Internet of Things
SmarTAR: Smartly Tethering AR Glasses
NPN: Non-Public Network
SNPN: Stand-alone Non-Public Network
NR: New Radio
S-NSSAI: Single - Network Slice Selection Assistance
NTN: Non-Terrestrial Network Information

OAM: Operation Administration & Maintenance SON: Self-Organizing Networks

OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer SPS: Semi-Persistent Scheduling

SR: Scheduling Request

OTA: Over The Air
SRS: Sounding Reference Signal
PDCCH: Physical Downlink Control Channel
TDD: Time Division Duplex
PDSCH: Physical Downlink Shared Channel
TPMI: Transmit Precoding Matrix Index
PDU: Protocol Data Unit
TRP: Transmission and reception point
PEI: Permanent Equipment Identifier
UAV: Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle
PLMN: Public Land Mobile Network
UDP: User Datagram Protocol
ProSe: Proximity Services
UE: User Equipment
PUCCH: Physical Uplink Control Channel UL: Uplink
PUSCH: Physical Uplink Shared Channel UPF: User Plane Function

QoE: Quality of Experience URLLC: UltraReliable and Low-Latency Communications

QoS: Quality of Service USIM: User Subscription Information Module

RACH: Random Access Channel VMR: Vehicle Mounted Repeater

RAN: Radio Access Network VPLMN: Visiting Public Land Mobile Network

VPN: Virtual Private Network

RAT: Radio Access Technology
VR: Virtual Reality
RedCap: Reduced Capacity

RF: Radio Frequency WAN: Wide Area Network

RG: Residential Gateway

WWC: Wireless Wireline Convergence
RLM: Radio Link Monitoring
RRC: Radio Resource Control XR: eXtended Reality

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 40

Acknowledgments
5G Americas’ Mission Statement: 5G Americas facilitates and advocates for the advancement
and transformation of LTE, 5G and beyond throughout the Americas.

5G Americas’ Board of Governors members include Airspan Networks, Antel, AT&T, Ciena, Cisco,
Crown Castle, Ericsson, Intel, Liberty Latin America, Mavenir, Nokia, Qualcomm Incorporated,
Samsung, Shaw Communications Inc., T-Mobile USA, Inc., Telefónica, VMware and WOM.

5G Americas would like to recognize the significant project leadership and important
contributions of group leaders Yi Huang, Senior Staff Engineer, Qualcomm Incorporated,
Tingfang Ji, VP of Engineering, Qualcomm Incorporated, Mark Younge, Distinguished MTS,
T-Mobile USA Inc., and Jun Liu, Manager, Systems Architecture, T-Mobile USA Inc. along with
many representatives from member companies on 5G Americas’ Board of Governors who
participated in the development of this white paper.

The contents of this document reflect the research, analysis, and conclusions of 5G Americas
and may not necessarily represent the comprehensive opinions and individual viewpoints of
each particular 5G Americas member company. 5G Americas provides this document and
the information contained herein for informational purposes only, for use at your sole risk. 5G
Americas assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this document. This document
is subject to revision or removal at any time without notice. No representations or warranties
(whether expressed or implied) are made by 5G Americas and 5G Americas is not liable for and
hereby disclaims any direct, indirect, punitive, special, incidental, consequential, or exemplary
damages arising out of or in connection with the use of this document and any information
contained in this document.

© Copyright 2022 5G Americas

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 41

Endnotes
1 https://www.5gamericas.org/evolving-5g-security-for-the-cloud/

2 https://www.5gamericas.org/security-for-5g/

3 https://www.5gamericas.org/security-considerations-for-the-5g-era/

4 https://www.3gpp.org/specifications-technologies/3gpp-work-plan

5 Omdia WCIS August 2022

6 IBID

7 IBID

8 IBID

9 IBID

10 Accenture Strategy | The Impact of 5G on the United States Economy | February 2021

11 Accenture Strategy | The Impact of 5G on the United States Economy | February 2021

12 GSMA

13 Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1183457/iot-connected-devices-worldwide/

14 3GPP RP-213599, “Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) for NR Air Interface”, Dec. 6 - 17, 2021

15 3GPP SP-200972, “New WID on System enhancement for Proximity based Services in 5GS”, TSG SA Meeting #SP-90E, 08 - 14 December 2020.

16 3GPP RP-220300, “WID revision: NR sidelink evolution”, Oppo, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #95e, March 17 - 23, 2022.

17 3GPP RP-221010, “Revised WID on NR sidelink relay enhancements”, LG Electronics, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #95e, March 17 - 23, 2022.

18 3GPP TS 38.305, Stage 2 functional specification of User Equipment (UE) positioning in NG-RAN

(Release 17).

19 3GPP TR 38.845, Study on scenarios and requirements of in-coverage, partial coverage, and out-of-coverage NR positioning use cases (Release
17).

20 RP-213600, “Revised SID on Study on expanded and improved NR positioning”, Intel, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #94e, Dec. 6 - 17, 2021.

21 Ericsson Technology Review, “5G Evolution towards 5G Advanced”

22 Ericsson blog: “What is reduced capability (RedCap) NR and what will it achieve?

23 3GPP RP-213661, “Study on further NR RedCap UE complexity reduction”, December 6 - 17, 2021

24 GSMA Intelligence, “5G energy efficiencies - Green is the new black”

25 3GPP RP-213554, “Study on network energy savings”, December 6 - 17, 2021

26 An Overview of 5G Advanced Evolution in 3GPP Release 18, Source link

27 RP-213700, ‘New SI: Study on NR Network-controlled Repeaters’, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #94 e.

28 3GPP RP-211345,3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #92e, Revised WID on NR Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS)

29 Samsung Technical White Paper: Dynamic Spectrum Sharing

30 3GPP TS 38.304 V17.1.0 User Equipment (UE) procedures in Idle mode and RRC Inactive state

31 3GPP TS 38.213 V17.2.0 Physical layer procedures for control

32 3GPP: RP-212733, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #94 e, New SID on low-power Wake-up Signal / Receiver

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 42

33 LEO: Low Earth Orbiting satellites, MEO: Medium Earth Orbiting satellites, GEO: Geostationary Earth Orbiting satellites.

34 RP- 221819, “Revised WID: NR NTN (Non-Terrestrial Networks) enhancements”, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #96, June 6-9, 2022.

35 RP-221806, “Revised WID on IoT NTN enhancements”, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #96, June 6th – 9th, 2022.

36 RP-220938, “New WID on NB-IoT/eMTC core & performance requirements for NTN”, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #95e Electronic Meeting, March 17th
– 23rd, 2022.

37 3GPP TS 22.125, Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) support in 3GPP, v17.6.

38 3GPP RP-213600, “New WID on NR support for UAV (Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles)”, Nokia, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #94e, Dec. 6 - 17, 2021.

39 RP-213600, “New WID on NR support for UAV (Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles)”, Nokia, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #94e, Dec. 6 - 17, 2021.

40 3GPP RP-213568, “Enhancements of NR Multicast and Broadcast Services”, December 6 – 17 2021

41 3GPP TR 38.874 - Study on Integrated Access and Backhaul

42 SP-211636, New SID on Study on Architecture Enhancements for Vehicle Mounted Relays, 3GPP TSG SA Meeting #SP-94E.

43 3GPP TR 37.816, Study on RAN-centric data collection and utilization for LTE and NR

(Release 16)

44 3GPP RP-221825, “Revised WID: Further enhancement of data collection for SON (Self-Organising Networks)/MDT (Minimization of Drive Tests) in
NR standalone and MR-DC (Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity)”, CMCC, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #96, June 6-9, 2022.

45 Ericsson Technology Review – (XR and 5G)

46 Ericsson whitepaper – “5G Advanced: Evolution towards 6G”

47 3GPP- RP-213587, “Study on XR Enhancements for NR”

48 SP-211656, Study on enhanced support of Non-Public Networks Phase 2, TSG SA Meeting #SP-94E, 14 - 20 December 2021, Electronic meeting.

49 SP-211654, Study on Seamless UE context recovery, TSG SA Meeting #SP-94E, 14 - 20 December 2021, Electronic meeting.

50 SP-211612, New SID on Access Traffic Steering, Switching and Splitting support in the 5G system architecture; Phase 3, TSG SA Meeting #SP-94E,
14 - 20 December 2021, Electronic meeting.

51 SP-211637, New SID on Enhancement to the 5GC Location Services Phase 3, TSG SA Meeting #SP-94E, 14 - 20 December 2021, Electronic
meeting.

52 SP-211644, New SID: Study on system architecture for next generation real time communication services, TSG SA Meeting #SP-94E, 14 - 20
December 2021, Electronic meeting.

53 SP-211649, New SID: Study on system architecture for next generation real time communication services, TSG SA Meeting #SP-94E, 14 - 20
December 2021, Electronic meeting.

54 SP-211634, Study on 5G Timing Resiliency and TSC & URLLC enhancements, TSG SA Meeting #SP-94E, 14 - 20 December 2021, Electronic
meeting.

55 SP-211633, Study on Extensions to the TSC Framework to support DetNet, TSG SA Meeting #SP-94E, 14 - 20 December 2021, Electronic meeting.

56 SP-211640, New SID: new Study on the support for 5WWC, Phase 2, TSG SA Meeting #SP-94E, 14 - 20 December 2021, Electronic meeting.

57 SP-220200, SCAS for split-gNB product classes, 3GPP TSG SA Meeting #95-e, electronic meeting, 15 - 24 March 2022.

58 SP-220612, Split Rendering Media Service Enabler [NEW WORK ITEM], 3GPP TSG SA# 96, Budapest, June 2022

59 SP-220242, Media Capabilities for Augmented Reality, 3GPP TSG SA Meeting #95-e, Electronic meeting, 15 - 24 March 2022.

60 SP-220240, Feasibility Study on Smartly Tethering AR Glasses, 3GPP TSG SA Meeting #95-e, Electronic meeting, 15 - 24 March 2022.

Becoming 5G-Advanced: the 3GPP 2025 Roadmap 43