Networking

Cellular IoT support and evoluation for the 5G system (SP-18118) is a 3GPP completed work item (WID) for Release 16 as part of the stage 2 work (5G phase 2).

This work focuses on specifying 5GS enhancements to enable cellular IoT functionalities for 5GS capable devices that also support eMTC (WB-EUTRA) or NB-IoT or both.

Functionalities are being specified as per TR 23.724, spanning: 

• Support for infrequent small data transmission.
• Frequent small data communication.
• High-latency communication.
• Power-saving functions.
• Management of enhanced coverage. 
• Overload control for small data.
• Support of the reliable data service.
• Support of common northbound API for EPC-5GC interworking.
• Network parameter configuration API via NEF.
• Monitoring.
• Inter-RAT mobility support to/from NB-IoT.
• Support for expected UE behaviour.
• QoS support for NB-IoT.
• Core network selection and steering for cellular IoT.
• Group message delivery using unicast NDD.
• MSISDN-less MOSMS and interworking with cellular IoT functionalities listed above.

Gap filling: 3GPP Rel-15 focused on specifying 5G system (5GS). This SA2 work fills gaps such as operator deployments of 5GS that need to consolidate CIoT and other services on 5GC, thereby aligning earlier work done on the Nothbound APIs for SCEF-SCS/AS interworking. As such, SP-181118 focuses on solutions capable of providing similar CIoT/MTC related functionality in 5GS. The rapporteur is Qualcomm Inc. (EU-based) with supporting members from EU and global supply-side companies.

Enhancement of Ultra-Reliable Low-latency support in the 5G core (SP-181122) is a 3GPP completed work item (WID) for Release 16 as part of the stage 2 work (5G phase 2) under WG SA2 - architecture.

Its focus is on enhancing the 5G core network defined in TS 23.502 and TS 23.503 based on the study conclusions of FS_5G_URLLC in TR 23.725 to support URLLC services within 5G system.

It is aimed at supporting:

• High-reliability by redundant transmission in user plane.
• Low latency and low jitter during handover procedure.
• QoS monitoring to assist URLLC services. 

Division of E2E PDB (Packet Delay Budget) and automated GBR service reovery.

It also aims to enhance session continuity during UE mobility, including enhancements of coordination between AF (application function) and 5GS, PSA (PDU session anchor) relocation, URLLC (uplink classifier) relocation.

Its overarching goal is to provide data transfer capability with strict performance requirements, e.g. very low latency and high-reliability requirements to fulfil the demands of vertical markets and applications.

Huawei is the rapporteur of this WID with Supporting Individual Members (SIMs) from EU and global supply side companies.

5GS Enhanced Support of Vertical and LAN Services (SP-181120) is a 3GPP completed work item (WID) for Release 16 as part of the stage 2 work (5G phase 2) under WG SA2 - architecture.

The WID specifies enhancements to 5G system based on the conclusions of 3GPP TR 22.734. These enhancements focus on supporting time sensitive communication and non public networks (NPN).

In this respect, it covers:

• Network identification, discovery, selection and access control.
• Access to PLMN services via non public networks and services via PLMN.

It also focuses on improvements in 5G system (5GS) support for 5G LAN service.

Its overarching goal is to support new vertical service requirements for cyber-physical control applications in vertical domains and LAN support in 5G.

The work item rapporteur is Nokia. Supporting Individual Members (SIMs) include EU and global supply side companies with Siemens on the vertical industry side.

The WID was completed in Q2-2019. The expected availability date of Rel-16 is March 2020.

ATIS Standard ATIS-0200003 [https://global.ihs.com/doc_detail.cfm?&csf=ASA&input_doc_number=%20&inpu... provided initial use cases and requirements for Content Distribution Network (CDN) Interconnection between two CDN providers via Cache-based Unicast delivery method – software download was the selected content type to drive these initial use cases and requirements. ATIS Standard ATIS-0200004 [https://global.ihs.com/doc_detail.cfm?&csf=ASA&input_doc_number=%20&inpu... developed use cases and requirements for content distribution via Multicast-based delivery.
In a multi-party Federated environment (multiple Service Providers (SP) acting as CDN Providers), CDN interconnections require additional functionality from service providers beyond the straightforward interconnection of IP transport networks. The interconnection and federation of CDN Providers is expected to evolve through a series of content distribution services. These services can be provided by a variety of different mechanisms including:

• Cache-based http unicast.
• Multicast.
• Publish subscribe mechanisms (e.g., RSS or named-data information-centric content routing).
• Content aggregation (e.g., from machine-machine interconnection).

The selection of the delivery method depends on the nature and type of content that is being requested for delivery¹
Thus, the purpose of this ATIS Standard is to extend the use cases and requirements developed in ATIS- 020000] and ATIS-0200004 for an environment involving multiple CDN providers joining together to form a CDN Federation with multiple available methods of content delivery. The interconnection life cycle use cases and requirements are re-examined for the impact arising from a Federation of multiple CDN providers. Additional emphasis is placed on the interconnection domain functionality such that guidance on the eventual development of Network-Network Interconnect (NNI) architectures and supporting protocol requirements can be derived.
Accordingly, the scope of this document includes the following:

• Multiple SPs forming a CDN Federation for the purpose of distributing content from Content Providers (CP) to End Users (EU) that individually request the content delivery. The multi-party Federation is strictly limited to a fully meshed structure where each SP/CDN Provider directly engages with other SPs/CDN Providers for the purpose of content distribution. Other structures are excluded from consideration in this document. Examples of alternate and/or add-on structures include the presence of a third party broker/exchange as well as the role of SPs who are not Federation members but who have independent agreements for assisting in content delivery with individual Federation members (see section 5). These alternate/add-on structures are for further study.
• Life cycle interactions are re-examined from the perspective of a Multi-Party Federation environment (see section 6)
• The delivery methods are restricted to cache/unicast (section 7) and multicast methods (section 8). All content types that can be delivered by these methods are in scope.
• Logical functionality associated with interconnection domains between pairs of CDN Providers are examined in detail (section 9). Appropriate requirements are derived in support of these functions.

Finally it should be noted that the protocol development work supporting all CDN-I functionality is being developed in the IETF. Appendix A provides a brief summary of this work.
¹An infinite length stream, for example, might be best suited to multicast delivery. Files of various sizes may be suitable for cache-based delivery. Finally, small content units may be appropriate for aggregation and delivery service.

This Technical Report provides a summary of work items for 3GPP Release 14, including future development work.  

Key focus areas include: 

• Improvements of Mission Critical (MC) aspects, particularly  by introducing Video and Data MC services. 
• Introducing Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications, in particular Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V).
• Improvements of the Cellular Internet of Things (CIoT) aspects, with 2G, 3G and 4G support of Machine-Type of Communications (MTC). 
• Improvements of the radio interface, in particular by enhancing the aspects related to the coordination with WLAN and unlicensed spectrum.
•  A set of uncorrelated improvements, e.g. on Voice over LTE (VoLTE), IMS, location reporting.
• Radio and system improvements.

Work on mission-critical applications, V2X and CIoT continues with the involvement also of EU-led and global industry associations in Rel-16 and 17 for 5G.

After the initial delivery in late 2017 of ‘Non-Stand-Alone’ (NSA) NR (new radio) specifications for 5G, much effort focused in 2018 on timely completion of 3GPP Release 15 – the first full set of 5G standards – and on work to pass the first milestones for the 3GPP submission towards IMT-2020.

While initial specifications enabled non-standalone 5G radio systems integrated in previous-generation LTE networks, the scope of Release 15 expands to cover ‘standalone’ 5G, with a new radio system complemented by a next-generation core network. It also embraces enhancements to LTE and, implicitly, the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). This crucial way-point enables vendors to progress rapidly with chip design and initial network implementation during 2019.

As the Release 15 work has matured and drawn close to completion, the focus has shifted to Release 16 and Release 17, often referred to informally as ‘5G Phase 2’.

3GPP uses a system of parallel "Releases" which provide developers with a stable platform ("Freeze") for the implementation of features at a given point and then allow for the addition of new functionality in subsequent Releases. Hence futher developments continue for Rel-16 and Rel-17. 
 

3GPP Release 16 is a major release in relation to the planned IMT-2020 submission for an initial full 3GPP 5G system to its completion.

In addition to that formal process, work has started on around 25 Release 16 studies, on a variety of topics: Multimedia Priority Service, Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) application layer services, 5G satellite access, Local Area Network support in 5G, wireless and wireline convergence for 5G, terminal positioning and location, communications in vertical domains and network automation and novel radio techniques. Further items being studied include security, codecs and streaming services, Local Area Network interworking, network slicing and the IoT.

Technical Reports, or TRs for short, capture results of the initial study phase. These are also being developed on broadening the applicability of 3GPP technology to non-terrestrial radio access (e.g. satellites, airborne base stations) and to maritime aspects (intra-ship, ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship). Work also progresses on new PMR functionality for LTE, enhancing the railway-oriented services originally developed using GSM radio technology that is now nearing end of life.

As part of Release 16, MC services will be extended to address a wider business sector than the initial rather narrow public security and civil defence services for which they had originally been developed. If the same or similar standards can be used for commercial applications (from taxi dispatching to railway traffic management, and other vertical sector scenarios currently being investigated), this would bring enhanced reliability to those MC services through wider deployment, and reduced deployment costs due to economies of scale – to the benefit of all users. Release 16 is expected to be completed in March 2020. 

This CWA addresses a broad set of Principles and Guidance to form a solid foundation for future practice with regard to SEP licensing for ICT standards such as mobile communication standards and other wireless communication standards. The CWA also includes information about licensing to those who are new to the implementation and use of standardised technology and the licensing of patents that cover those technologies.

This 3GPP Technical Report (TR 22.826) provides initial study results on the support of critical medical applications for 5G.

It  specifically focuses on critical medical applications, that is, medical devices and applications involved in the delivery of care for patient's survival. 

In this context, 5G can help healthcare providers that face revenue pressures to adopt new and more efficient care delivery models and shift to outpatient services with a view to reducing administrative and supply costs.

Use case categories refer to "static-local" or "moving-local" when the medical team and patients are collocated in a hospital or medical facility and "static-remote and "moving-remote" when they located at different places.

In the first cases, devices and people consume indoor communication services delivered by non-public networks. In the second cases, devices or people are moving while the care is delivered, such as services by first rescuers or responders.
In these cases, devices and people consume communication services delivered by public land mobile networks (PLMNs).

The TR describes several use cases for the support of critical medical applications, such as:

• Duplicating Video on additional monitors
• Augmented Reality Assisted Surgery
• Robotic Aided Surgery
• Cardiac telemetry outside the hospital

Potential Requirements, which are being further consolidated in 3GPP SA1 (SP-190316) for Release 17.
Consolidated Requirements (both performances and service level).
security considerations: Security has traditionally focused on the attributes of "confidentiality", "integrity" and "availability" with a recent focus on "auditability" to demonstrate to regulators that patient safety and privacy is mainatined.

Publication date: May 2019

3GPP SA1 has completed a study (FS_CMED) on the potential requirements and use cases involving usage of 3GPP interoperable communication technologies between medical devices and critical medical applications (TR 22.826). 

This work item focuses on normative requirements to enable a 3GPP system to adequately provide the connectivity between medical devices and critical medical applications. This work draws on the potential requirements identified in TR 22.826.

Specifically, requirements relating to the following will be documented:

• 5G system performances (KPIs) required to enable use cases involving high quality and augmented imaging systems in hybrid ORs.
• 5G system performances (KPIs) required to enable use cases with tele-diagnosis.
• 5G system performances (KPIs) required to enable use cases with tele or robotic-aided operations.
• Security management in 5G systems for the sharing of medical data between care providers or with patients while still fulfilling national regulatory requirements.

The rapporteur of this work item is b>com, a French ICT institute. Supporting individual members from verticals include the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), BBC, Siemens, Philips and Sennheiser electronic GmbH, along with global vendors and operators. 

Latest update: June 2019 (SP-190316; Unique Identifier: 840033). All active (not completed) items under the sole responsibility of this working group are available here. 

With the emergence of Cloud Services spanning one or many cloud infrastructures managed by various providers, it is imperative that a checklist be developed that provides cloud services lifecycle guidance/requirements for service providers/developers as they integrate these lifecycle functions.
The goal driven checklist is to be developed with the purpose to facilitate the following six lifecycle functions from a cloud service provider. These lifecycle functions can be aggregated in the three categories of build, capture, and modify to facilitate a simpler description of the goals.

• Assessment and acceptance (i.e., build) of services onto the cloud platform/infrastructure.
• Ongoing audit (i.e., capture) of services on the cloud platform/infrastructure.
• Augmentation, abridging, and annulment (i.e., modify) of services within the cloud platform/infrastructure.

The goal of the checklist is to realize greater efficiencies through formalization and automation of integrations between cloud service providers and their corollary actors during the cloud services lifecycle. While the focus in this document is on the cloud services lifecycle, note that the unique goal oriented approach and related paradigms described herein could also be applied elsewhere.

Virtual desktop services enable enterprise IT organizations to logically centralize desktop resources so as to reduce desktop management costs and support any-device, any-network access to desktops by end-users. The emergence of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure as a service additionally allows enterprise IT organizations to take advantage of cloud resources instead of building their own infrastructures. As a result, enterprises can further reduce IT costs.
This document describes the virtual desktop (VD) requirements for enterprise services and specifies a federation framework for deploying VD services across multiple networks and administrative domains. In particular, the framework allows cloud service providers to host VD services for enterprises and at the same time maintain seamless network connectivity to enterprise resources. For the sake of end-user experience, it is essential that VD sessions can be transparently moved between data centers or between service providers without compromising security and isolation. Such transparent migration of VD session poses significant requirements on the underlying networks, which are also addressed by this document.