3GPP Release 11 Features and Study Items

3GPP has already started work on Release 11. See objectives of features & study items from 3GPP Work Items below.

Advanced IP Interconnection of Services (source: 3GPP Work Item SP-100227)

To specify the technical requirements for carrier grade inter-operator IP Interconnection of Services for the support of Multimedia services provided by IMS and for legacy voice PTSN/PLMN services transported over IP infrastructure (e.g. VoIP). These technical requirements should cover the new interconnect models developed by GSMA (i.e. the IPX interconnect model) and take into account interconnect models between national operators (including transit functionality) and peering based business trunking. Any new requirements identified should not overlap with requirements already defined by other bodies (e.g. GSMA, ETSI TISPAN). Specifically the work will cover:

• Service level aspects for direct IP inter-connection between Operators, service level aspects for national transit IP interconnect and service level aspects for next generation corporate network IP interconnect (peer-to-peer business trunking).
• Service layer aspects for interconnection of voice services (e.g. toll-free, premium rate and emergency calls).
• Service level aspects for IP Interconnection (service control and user plane aspects) between Operators and 3rd party Application Providers.

Study on IMS based Peer-to-Peer Content Distribution Services (source: 3GPP Work Item SP-090491)

The objectives are to study IMS based content distribution services with the following aspects:

Identifying the user cases to describe how users, operators and service providers will benefit by using/deploying IMS based content distribution services. such as with the improvement of Peer-to-Peer technology. The following shall be considered:

• Mobile access only (e.g. UTRAN, E-UTRAN, I-WLAN);
• Fixed access only (e.g. xDSL, LAN);
• Fixed and mobile convergence scenarios;
• Identifying service aspects where IMS network

Study on Non Voice Emergency Services (source: 3GPP Work Item SP-090897)

The objectives of this study include the following questions for Non Voice Emergency Services with media other than or in addition to voice:

• What are the requirements for Non Voice Emergency Services?
• What are the security, reliability, and priority handling requirements for Non Voice Emergency Services?
• How is the appropriate recipient emergency services system (e.g., PSAP) determined?
• Are there any implications due to roaming?
• Are there any implications to hand-over between access networks
• Are there any implications due to the subscriber crossing a PSAP boundary during Non Voice Emergency Services communications (e.g., subsequent text messages should go to the same PSAP)?
• Do multiple communication streams (e.g., voice, text, video emergency services) need to be associated together?
• What types of “call-back” capabilities are required?
• Investigate the load impact of Non Voice Emergency Services in the case of a large scale emergency event or malicious use.

Non Voice Emergency Services will be applicable to GPRS (GERAN, UTRAN) and to EPS (GERAN, UTRAN, E-UTRAN and non-3GPP).

Study on UICC/USIM enhancements (source: 3GPP Work Item SP-090852)

Objectives of this study item are:

• To identify use cases and requirements for new USIM-based services taking into account the GSMA Smart SIM deliverables;
• o identify use cases and requirements for the USIM used inside terminals with specialised functionalities (e.g. radio modems, 3G Notebook terminals) taking into account the GSMA 3GNBK deliverables;
• To identify use cases and requirements to drive the evolution from the traditional USAT to a multimedia USIM toolkit support, with a particular aim to the Smart Card Web Server;

Study on Alternatives to E.164 for Machine-Type Communications (source: 3GPP Work Item SP-100198)

Determine an alternative to identify individual devices and route messages between those devices. Requirements for this alternative include:

• Effectively identify addressing method to be used for end point devices
• Effectively route messaging between those devices
• Support multiple methods for delivering messages, as defined by 22.368
• Support land-based and wireless connectivity
• Make use of IP-based network architectures
• Addressing/identifiers must support mobility and roaming
• support on high speed packet-switched networks when available and on circuit-switched networks
• Consider if there are security issues associated with any alternatives

source:LteWorld

The size of the mobile market

A nice infographic from iStrategy

3GPP Release 9, Release 10 and Beyond: HSPA+, SAE/LTE and LTE-Advanced

3G Americas, recently published a highly anticipated resource report on 3GPP standards and their evolution to IMT-Advanced, or 4G. The white paper, 3GPP Mobile Broadband Innovation Path to 4G: Release 9, Release 10 and Beyond: HSPA+, SAE/LTE and LTE-Advanced, provides in-depth examination of 3GPP technology standards from a technical, business and applications standpoint.

This new 2010 paper, 3GPP Mobile Broadband Innovation Path to 4G: Release 9, Release 10 and Beyond: HSPA+, LTE/SAE and LTE-Advanced, provides a thorough review of Release 9 (Rel-9) including HSPA+ and enhancements of Rel-8 LTE/EPC capabilities such as location, emergency and broadcast services, support of CS over LTE, Home NodeB/eNodeB architecture considerations (i.e. support of femtocell type applications) and IMS evolution.

Further this paper also provides detailed discussions of Release 10 (Rel-10) including the significant new technology enhancements to LTE/EPC for meeting the very aggressive IMT-Advanced requirements with LTE-Advanced which was proposed to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at its Geneva conference in October 2009.

With work for Release 9 is nearing completion, significant progress has already been made in 3GPP on work for Release 10, which includes LTE-Advanced. 3GPP has already submitted a proposal in October 2009 based on LTE-Advanced for the IMT-Advanced evaluation and certification process led by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU has defined requirements that will officially define and certify technologies as IMT-Advanced, or 4G, and is expected to evaluate submitted proposals by standards organizations for potential certification in the 2010 timeframe; certified 4G/IMT-Advanced technology specifications are projected to be published by early 2011.

The white paper, 3GPP Mobile Broadband Innovation Path to 4G: Release 9, Release 10 and Beyond: HSPA+, SAE/LTE and LTE-Advanced, was written collaboratively by members of 3G Americas and is available for free downloadon the 3G Americas website at www.3gamericas.org.

Local IP access to home based network & Internet via HNB/HeNB

3GPP specfications has specified requirements for Local IP access via femtocell access nodes ie. 3G HNB & LTE HeNB. HNB and eHNB are Customer-premises equipments (femtocell) that connect a 3GPP UE over UTRAN and EUTRAN wireless air interface respectivly to a mobile operator’s network using a broadband IP backhaul.

This is an added advantage and driver for end users to have a femtocell in home. Users would be able to access local IP devices and Internet without going through operator's network.

As per specifications Local IP Access to the home based network provides access for a directly connected (i.e. using H(e)NB radio access) IP capable UE to other IP capable devices in the home.

Further 3GPP adds that it would be possible to access Internet using local IP network also.

Traffic for local IP access is expected to not traverse the operator’s network except H(e)NB.

A logical diagram is shown below for Local IP access

A summary of requirements set by 3GPP for HNB & HeNB to support Local IP Access are as below

• Support of simultaneous access from a UE to both the operator’s core network and Local IP Access to the home based network/Internet
• Support of Local IP Access to the home based network/Internet without traversing the operator’s network except H(e)NB
• The operator or the H(e)NB Owner, within the limits set by the operator would be able to enable/disable Local IP Access to the home based network/Internet per H(e)NB.
• It would be possible to collect and make available to the operator statistics information (e.g. regular reporting of Local IP traffic volume) for each user on the use of the Local IP Access to the home based network/ Internet.
• Local IP access to home based network/ Internet would not compromise the security of the operator’s network.

Local IP access to home based network would also be possible through the H(e)NB E-UTRAN/UTRAN-interface as well however It will only be granted to UE with valid subscription.

For further readings 3GPP specification 22.220 can be referred.

Self-configuring and self-optimizing Networks in LTE

Self-configuring, self-optimizing wireless networks is not a new concept but as the mobile networks are evolving towards 4G LTE networks, introduction of self configuring and self optimizing mechanisms is needed to minimize operational efforts. A self optimizing function would increase network performance and quality reacting to dynamic processes in the network.

This would minimize the life cycle cost of running a network by eliminating manual configuration of equipment at the time of deployment, right through to dynamically optimizing radio network performance during operation. Ultimately it will reduce the unit cost and retail price of wireless data services.

As per 3GPP standards, a typical operational objective is to optimize the network according to coverage and capacity.

Providing optimal coverage requires that in the area, where LTE system is offered, users can establish and maintain connections with acceptable or default service quality, according to operator’s requirements. Coverage and capacity are linked, a trade-off between the two of them may also be a subject of optimization.

To achieve these objectives, 3GPP suggests to implement following functions

• Detection of unintended holes in the coverage (planned by the operator)
• Perform coverage optimization, including DL/UL channel coverage a
• Ability to balance the trade-off between coverage and capacity

Once solution is implemented, it would result in

• Continuous, optimized and matched UL and DL coverage
• Optimized DL and UL capacity of the system
• Balanced tradeoff between coverage and capacity
• Interference reduction
• Controlled cell edge performance
• Minimized human intervention in network management and optimization tasks
• Energy savings

More details about solution and use cases are available in 3GPP technical report "Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Self-configuring and self-optimizing network (SON) use cases and solutions".

Implementing self configuration and self optimization under multi vendor environment is challenging task. For this purpose, It is of importance that measurements and performance data of different vendors follow same standard. Especially when the interaction between self configuring/optimizing networks and O&M has to be considered.

UMTS/LTE in 800 MHz for Europe

800MHz band (also known as 790-862 MHz, channels 61 to 69 in UHF Bands IV and V) was previously used by analog broadcasting, and is particularly suitable for delivery of high-bandwidth services and indoor coverage.

UK regulator Ofcom is pushing to clear the 800MHz band of existing and previously planned users and align the upper band of the UK’s digital dividend with the spectrum being identified for release by an increasing number of other European countries. The reason behind this move is that this spectrum is likely to be particularly suitable for the provision of a new generation of mobile broadband services.

A 3GPP work item is currently under works to provide specification for "UMTS/LTE in 800 MHz for Europe" to provide support for LTE and UMTS with paired channel arrangement in the band 790-862 MHz.

Based on 3GPP work item the 790-862 MHz band is arranged as 2x30 MHz with 11 MHz duplex gap:

• FDD Uplink: 832 – 862 MHz
• FDD Downlink: 791 – 821 MHz

The tasks identified by 3GPP in this work item includes, study of UMTS/LTE in upper UHF band for a potential deployment in ITU Region 1, generate a new technical report based on study results and develop channel arrangement in line with the pending ECC decision.

The target date set by the EC for analog switch-off in EU member countries is 2012. Finland, Sweden, France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain and Denmark have already decided to release the whole of the 800 MHz band, with others likely to follow. More speed is both necessary and desirable to fully realize the benefits.

LTE Advanced: Evolution of LTE

LTE standards are in matured state now with release 8 frozen. While LTE Advanced is still under works. Often the LTE standard is seen as 4G standard which is not true. 3.9G is more acceptable for LTE. So why it is not 4G? Answer is quite simple - LTE does not fulfill all requirements of ITU 4G definition.

Brief History of LTE Advanced: The ITU has introduced the term IMT Advanced to identify mobile systems whose capabilities go beyond those of IMT 2000. The IMT Advanced systems shall provide best-in-class performance attributes such as peak and sustained data rates and corresponding spectral efficiencies, capacity, latency, overall network complexity and quality-of-service management. The new capabilities of these IMT-Advanced systems are envisaged to handle a wide range of supported data rates with target peak data rates of up to approximately 100 Mbit/s for high mobility and up to approximately 1 Gbit/s for low mobility.

In order to meet this new challenge, 3GPP widened its scope to include systems beyond 3G. LTE Advanced would fulfil the 4G requirements as set by ITU. In 2008 3GPP held workshops on IMT Advanced, where the “Requirements for Further Advancements for E-UTRA” were gathered. The resulting Technical Report 36.913 has been now published.

Let us see some requirements which differentiate LTE & LTE Advanced.

Peak data rate:

• LTE - DL: 100 Mbps, UL: 50 Mbps
• LTE Advanced - DL: 1 Gbps, UL: 500 Mbps

Transmission bandwidth:

• In comparison to LTE, LTE Advanced is wider than approximately 70 MHz in DL and 40 MHz in UL.

Latency:

• LTE - C-plane from Idle (with IP address allocated) to Connected in <100>
• LTE Advanced - C-plane from Idle (with IP address allocated) to Connected in <50>

Peak spectrum efficiency:

• LTE - DL 3 to 4 times Release 6 HSDPA , UL - 2 to 3 times Release 6 Enhanced Uplink
• LTE Advanced - DL 30 bps/Hz and UL 15 bps/Hz.

C-plane capacity:

• LTE - At least 200 users per cell should be supported in the active state for spectrum allocations up to 5 MHz.
• LTE Advanced - At least 300 active users without DRX in a 5 MHz bandwidth.

Mobility:

• LTE - Support mobility across the cellular network for various mobile speeds up to 350km/h (or perhaps even up to 500km/h depending on the frequency band).
• LTE Advanced - Same as that in LTE, System performance shall be enhanced for 0 to 10km/h

LTE Advanced would operate in spectrum allocations of different sizes including wider spectrum allocations than those of Release 8 to achieve higher performance and the target peak data rate, e.g. up to 100 MHz.

3GPP Technology Approaches for Maximizing Fragmented Spectrum Allocations

In a recently published white paper 3G Americas has offered key recommendations for utilizing non-standard spectrum bands to accommodate the growing bandwidth demands of consumers.

Whitepaper provides a overview of global spectrum allocations for 3GPP based technologies and illustrates some of the key challenges for optimal spectrum utilization when allocations differ either on a country- or region-specific basis.

While covering widely held tenets considered fundamental for sound spectrum policy it discusses current approaches to addressing fragmented spectrum challenges.

In concluding remarks 3G Americas states that that there is a significant impact of fragmented spectrum allocations on the cost and performance of mobile devices. These impacts hold true in virtually every corner of the globe.

Regulators have an important and challenging role in obtaining addition spectrum and bringing it to market to meet the demands of consumers.

3G Americas offered regulators to consider following while working on obtaining addition spectrum:

1. Spectrum should be harmonized and coordinated to the maximum extent feasible;
2. New spectrum should facilitate access by new technologies of all stripes;
3. At the same time, appropriate protections should be established for incumbent and/or adjacent service providers to protect against interference;
4. Spectrum policy should foster as far as possible the efficient use of spectrum; and
5. The rules covering the allocation, auction and deployment of spectrum should be predictable and transparent, prior to auctions.

For further reading download whitepaper.

3GPP Release 10 Features

3GPP Release 10 Features detailed in 3GPP description document "Overview of 3GPP Release 10; Summary of all Release 10 Features (Release 10)" are as following

• Network Selection for non-3GPP Access
• Registration in Densely-populated area
• Enhanced Home NodeB / eNodeB continuation of Rel-9
• IMS aspects of Architecture for Home NodeB - moved from Rel-9
• IMS Service Continuity – Inter Device Transfer enhancements (EHNB)
• GTP-based S8 chaining - moved from Rel-9
• Multi Access PDN Connectivity - moved from Rel-9
• EEA3 and EIA3 (new Encryption & Integrity EPS security algorithms)
• Study on Mobile Haptic Services
• Study on advanced requirements for IP interconnect - moved from Rel-9
• Study on Unauthenticated PS Emergency Calls - moved from Rel-9
• Study on Study on Personal Broadcast Service - moved from Rel-9
• Study on LCS support in SAE for non-3GPP accesses - moved from Rel-9
• Study on System enhancements for the use of IMS services in local breakout and optimal routing of media - moved from Rel-9
• Study on Intra Domain Connection of RAN Nodes to Multiple CN Nodes - moved from Rel-9
• Study on IMS Evolution - moved from Rel-9
• Study on enhancements to IMS border functions for IMS Interconnection of services - moved from Rel-9
• Study on Policy solutions and enhancements
• Study on IPv6 Migration
• Study on SR-VCC Enhancements