3GPP Release 15 Overview

CO N T EN T S

5G KPIs and 3GPP’s Timeline

Release 15 Detailed Overview

Looking Forward: Release 16 Study Items and Trends

2 3GPP Release 15 Overview

3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) members meet regularly to collaborate and create
cellular communications standards. Currently, 3GPP is defining standards for 5G. Different
groups, each with a specific focus area, make up 3GPP. Figure 1 shows an overview of the
structure. It focuses on the lower layers, the physical (PHY) layer as defined by RAN1, the
MAC layer as defined by RAN2, and, in some cases, the PHY layer test as defined by RAN4.

Project Coordination Group (PCG)

TSG GERAN TSG RAN TSG CT Core Network TSG SA Service and
GSM EDGE Radio Access Network and Terminals Systems Aspects
Radio Access Network
RAN WG1 CT WG1 SA WG1
GERAN WG1 Radio Layer 1 spec MM/CC/SM (lu) Services
Radio Aspects
RAN WG2 CT WG3 SA WG2
GERAN WG2 Radio Layer 2 spec Interworking With External Architecture
Protocol Aspects Radio Layer 3 RR spec Networks
SA WG3
GERAN WG3 RAN WG3 CT WG4 Security
Terminal Testing lub spec, lur spec, lu spec MAP/GTP/BCH/SS
UTRAN O&M requirements SA WG4
CT WG6 Codec
RAN WG4 Smart Card Application
Radio Performance Aspects SA WG5
Protocol Aspects Telecom Management
GERAN WG3
RAN WG5 SA WG6
Terminal Testing
Mobile Terminal Mission-Critical Applicatons
GERAN WG1 Conformance Testing
Radio Aspects
RAN WG6
GERAN WG2 GSM EDGE
Protocol Aspects Radio Access Network

Figure 1. 3GPP Structure Overview From 3gpp.org

5G KPIs and 3GPP’s Timeline

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has put forth some requirements for 5G that
focus on fulfilling three key performance indicators (KPIs):
■■
>10 Gb/s peak data rates for the enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB)
■■
>1 M/km2 connections for massive machine-type communications (MMTC)
■■
<1 ms latency for ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC).

The table below provides an overview of specific technical requirements laid out as the 2020
minimum requirements.

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Metric Requirement Comments

Peak Data Rate DL: 20 Gb/s Single eMBB mobile in ideal scenarios
UL: 10 Gb/s assuming all resources utilized
Peak Spectral Efficiency DL: 30 b/s/Hz (assuming 8 streams) Single eMBB mobile in ideal scenarios
UL: 15 b/s/Hz (assuming 4 streams) assuming all resources utilized
User Experienced Data Rate DL: 100 Mb/s 5% CDF of the eMBB user throughput
UL: 50 Mb/s
Area Traffic Capacity Indoor hotspot DL: 10 Mb/s/m2 eMBB

User Plane Latency eMBB: 4 ms Single user for small IP packets, for both DL
URLLC: 1 ms and UL (eMBB and URLLC)
Control Plane Latency 20 ms (encouraged to consider 10 ms) Transition from Idle to Active (eMBB and
URLLC)
Connection Density 1M devices per km2 For mMTC

Reliability 99.9999% success prob. 32 L2 bytes within 1 ms at cell edge

Bandwidth >100 MHz; up to 1 GHz in > 6 GHz Carrier aggregation allowed

Table 1. IMT-2020 Minimum Requirements (Source: DRAFT NEW REPORT ITU-R M.[IMT-2020.TECH PERF REQ], “Minimum
requirements related to technical performance for IMT-2020 radio interface(s),” Document 5/40-E, 22 February 2017)

3GPP has a specified release timeline, shown in Figure 2, to ensure that the regular cadence
of releases between 4G and 5G continues and that the standard is delivered on time. The
schedule for Release 15 has been accelerated since the timeline was initially released, but
Release 16 is still planned for 2020 to align with the ITU.

5G NR TIMELINE

■■
Overall timeline had been agreed at RAN#75 in March 2017
■■
This time plan still holds
■■
RAN#77 took some key measures to ensure timeline is met
Release 15
Release 16

2016 2017 2018

Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

5G Initial Study 5G Release 15 Non-Standalone ASN.1

5G Release 15 (incl.Standalone) ASN.1

5G Evolution Studies for Release 16 5G Release 16

Figure 2. 3GPP Timeline (Source: 3GPP)

Release 15 was concluded at the June 2018 RAN plenary meeting. However, some issues
still need to be treated and solutions need to be formalized. A late drop is scheduled
in December 2018 to discuss New Radio to New Radio (NR-NR) dual connectivity
(DC). Specifically, options 4 and 7 for DC are planned to be treated. Figure 3 shows
Illustrations for these two options.

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4 3GPP Release 15 Overview

4. Non-Standalone/”NR Assisted,” 4a. Non-Standalone/”NR Assisted,”

NGCN Connected NGCN Connected

EPC NextGen Core EPC NextGen Core

1A-LIKE

LTE NR LTE NR

7. Non-Standalone/”LTE Assisted,” 7a. Non-Standalone/”LTE Assisted,”

NGCN Connected NGCN Connected

EPC NextGen Core EPC NextGen Core

1A-LIKE

LTE NR LTE NR

Figure 3. NR-NR DC Options 4 and 7 (Source: RP-161266, Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile)

Release 15 Detailed Overview

Defining an entire new standard for 5G is a large undertaking. 3GPP has split the 5G
standard into two releases: Release 15, which corresponds to NR Phase 1, and Release 16,
which corresponds to NR Phase 2. In NR Phase 1, there are common elements between
LTE and NR, such as both using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM).
However, there are also differences as summarized in Table 2.

LTE NR
Up to 6 GHz, ~28 GHz, ~39 GHz, other
Frequency of Operation Up to 6 GHz
mmWave bands (Upto 52 GHz)
Max: 100 MHz (at <6 GHz)
Carrier Bandwidth Max: 20 MHz
Max: 1 GHz (at >6 GHz)
Carrier Aggregation Up to 32 Up to 16
Analog Beamforming (dynamic) Not Supported Supported
Digital Beamforming Up to 8 Layers Up to 12 Layers
Data: Turbo Coding Data: LDPC Coding
Channel Coding
Control: Convolutional Coding Control: Polar Coding
Subcarrier Spacing 15 kHz 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz
Self-Contained Subframe Not Supported Can Be Implemented
Spectrum Occupancy 90% of Channel BW Up to 98% of Channel BW

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Table 2. Key Differences Between LTE and NR

To truly implement the full version of NR, a massive amount of new hardware must be
deployed. To continue using existing hardware, a phased approach has been proposed.
There is a non-standalone (NSA) version that will use the LTE core and a standalone (SA)
version that will use an NR core and be completely independent of the LTE core network.
To keep straight which devices can communicate with each other, new terminology has been
introduced:
■■
LTE eNB—Device that can connect to the EPC or the current LTE core network
■■
eLTE eNB—Evolution of the LTE eNB that can connect to the EPC and NextGen core
■■
gNB —5G NR equivalent of the LTE eNB
■■
NG—Interface between the NextGen core and the gNB
■■
NG2—Control plane interface between core network and RAN (S1-C in LTE)
■■
NG3—User plane interface between the core network and RAN (S1-U in LTE)

Keeping this terminology in mind, the three diagrams from 3GPP TR 38.804 (draft v0.4)
shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5 illustrate various deployment scenarios for 5G NR.

EPC NextGen Core NextGen Core

CP+UP UP CP+UP UP

LTE eNB NR gNB eLTE eNB eLTE eNB NR gNB

CP+UP CP+UP

1. Data flow aggregation across 1. eLTE eNB connected 2. Data flow aggregation across
LTE eNB and NR gNB via EPC to NextGen Core eLTE eNB and NR gNB via NextGen Core

Figure 4. NSA Deployments With LTE eNB as Master (left) and Evolution to Add NextGen Core (right)

NextGen Core NextGen Core NextGen Core

CP+UP UP CP+UP UP

NR gNB NR gNB eLTE eNB NR gNB NR gNB

CP+UP CP+UP

1. NR gNB connected 2. Data flow aggregation across 3. Data flow aggregation across
to NextGen Core NR gNB and eLTE eNB via NextGen Core NR gNBs via NextGen Core

Figure 5. Phased Evolution to Add SA Operation

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Figure 4 shows in the left diagram a setup where a secondary cell NSA operation of the NR
gNBs connects to the LTE EPC. The image on the right shows a scenario where the NextGen
core is added. The eLTE eNB acts as the master. The NR gNBs are in NSA mode with a
defined path for data flow between the eLTE eNB and the NR gNB with the NextGen core
as the master. Figure 5 shows an alternative deployment scenario with a phased evolution
to add standalone operation. All the deployment types can operate simultaneously as this
phased approach is enacted. The exact timing and phasing of the new deployments depend
on individual network providers.

For NSA operation, there needs to be a coordinated frequency plan between LTE and NR
for dual connectivity. Table 3 shows how various LTE bands correspond to proposed NR
frequency ranges.
LTE Band
1 2 3 5 7 8 19 20 21 25 26 28 39 41 66
3.3 GHz–
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
4.2 GHz
4.4 G Hz–
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
4.99 GHz
24.25 GHz–
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
NR 29.5 GHz
Freq. 31.8 GHz–
Range YES YES YES YES
33.4 GHz
37 GHz–
YES
40 GHz
Band 7 YES YES YES

Band 28 YES YES YES

Band 41 YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

Table 3. Release 15 LTE-NR Band Combinations (Source: RP-170847, RP-170826, R4-1702504 [DCM])

There is convergence around particular bands for NR, but the frequencies are still not firmly
set, especially for mmWave. From the RAN4 meeting held in May 2018, Table 4 shows the
proposed operating bands. Of note, band n261 has been added and, more interestingly, band
n259, defined in the old versions as 31.8 GHz–33.4 GHz TDD, has been removed. This band
was originally called out as a band for study, but CEPT removed it for consideration for 5G in
November 2017.

Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL)

operating band
BS transmit/receive
NR Operating Band Duplex Mode
UE transmit/receive
FUL_low–FUL_high
FDL_low–FDL_high
n257 26,500 MHz–29,500 MHz TDD

n258 24,250 MHz–27,500 MHz TDD

n260 37,000 MHz–40,000 MHz TDD

n261 27,500 MHz–28,350 MHz TDD

Table 4. NR Operating Bands in FR2 (Source: 38.104, R4-1806932)

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Other bands, such as 24.25 GHz–29.5 GHz, are being actively studied for use in 5G NR.
This is being tracked and actively updated as a part of Technical Report 38.815. The below
frequency chart, taken from that report, provides a good visual overview of the frequencies
of interest in various locations.

27.5 28.35
USA

24.25 27.5
Europe

South 26.5 29.5

Korea
27.5 29.5
Japan

24.75 27.5
China

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 GHz

Figure 6. 5G NR mmWave Frequencies by Region (Source: TR 38.815)

The numerology for NR is designed to function in both the sub-6 GHz bands as well as
mmWave bands. This is achieved by creating multiple numerologies formed by scaling a basic
subcarrier spacing (SCS) by integer N where 15 kHz is the baseline SCS and N is a power of
2. The numerology is selected independently of the frequency band, with possible SCS of
15 kHz to 480 kHz.

Subcarrier Spacing (SCS)

Symbol Duration

Cyclic Prefix Duration

What is
Numerology?
Slot Duration/Size

Subframe Duration/Size

Frame Duration/Size

Figure 7. Numerology Components

Not all SCS options are being proposed for all frequencies. For sub 6 GHz, only 15 kHz,
30 kHz, and 60 kHz are to be used. Above 6 GHz, there is no decision yet. The candidate
SCSs are 60 kHz, 120 kHz, and 240 kHz with 480 kHz marked for future study. The feasibility
of each of these will be studied based on phase noise models, channel bandwidth, fast
Fourier transform (FFT) size, and which service they are to support (eMBB, URLLC, or
mMTC). These SCSs are not applicable to all bands and are applicable to common/dedicated
data channels. Table 5 summarizes these combinations.

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R4-170xxxx 2 GHz 2.5 GHz 3.5 GHz 6 GHz 24 GHz 43.5 GHz 52.3 GHz
Qualcomm (1797 15k, 30k, 60k 120k, 240k
15k
30k
Nokia (0724) 60k
120k
240k
Ericsson (1166) 15k, 30k, 60k 60k, 120k, 240k, 480 (*)
Huawei (1314) 15k, 30k, 60k
Intel (2031) 15k, 30k, 60k 60k, 120k

Table 5. Feasible Subcarrier Spacing by Band and Company (Source: R4-1702374 [Docomo, Samsung])

Some parts of the numerology are flexible, like the SCS, while others are fixed. The subframe
duration is fixed to 1 ms and the frame length is 10 ms. Given subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz*
2n, each symbol length, including the CP, of 15 kHz equals the sum of the corresponding 2n
symbols of the SCS. The first OFDM symbol in 0.5 m is longer by 16 Ts (assuming 15 kHz and
FFT size of 2,048) compared to other OFDM symbols. 16 Ts is used for the CP for the first
symbol. NR supports an extended CP.

For NR, a slot is defined as 7 or 14 OFDM symbols for subcarriers up to 60 kHz and 14
OFDM symbols for subcarrier spacing higher than 60 kHz. A slot can contain all downlink, all
uplink, or at least one downlink part and at least one uplink part. Data transmission can span
multiple slots. Figure 8 shows an example numerology in a slot that uses mixed numerology
in both frequency domain and time domain.
0.5 ms 0.5 ms

SCS=30 kHz

SCS={30,15} kHz

DL UL DL UL

Figure 8. Example of Numerology in a Slot (Source: Fujitsu, R1-166676)

The NR modulation and waveforms have some commonalities with LTE but aim to have
much higher spectral efficiency. NR supports QPSK, 16 QAM, and 256 QAM with the same
constellation mapping as LTE. An OFDM-based waveform is support. At least up to 40 GHz,
CP-OFDM waveform supports spectral utilization of Y greater than that of LTE, where Y=90%
for LTE. Y as a percent is defined as transmission bandwidth configuration divided by channel
bandwidth* 100%. The proposed Y, for example is 98 percent. For uplink only, DFT-S-OFDM-
based waveforms are also supported, but they are limited to single stream transmissions.
Both CP-OFDM- and DFT-S-OFDM-based waveforms are mandatory for user equipment (UE).

NR defines physical resource block (PRB) where the number of subcarriers per PRB is the same
for all numerologies. The number of subcarriers per PRB is N=12. Below is a diagram of this.

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7 Symbols (example)

Freq 12x15 kHz

DL RB
: RB SC

12x30 kHz
Resurce block
DL RB

DL x N RB subcarriers

SC subcarriers
symb SC
resurce elements

SC

N RB
Resurce Element (k,l)

N RB
12x60 kHz

Time k=0
l=0
l=N -1

Figure 9. Resource Blocks in NR (Source: Nokia, R1-167260)

An area that has not yet been solidified for NR is the maximum channel bandwidth. RAN1
agreed to a maximum channel bandwidth of 400 MHz in Release 15, but the following are
listed for further study:

• Sub 6 GHz: 100 MHz –200 MHz range

• Above 6 GHz: 100 MHz–1 GHz range

• Possibility to support maximum channel bandwidth with carrier aggregation

Carrier aggregation allows for the use of spectrum that is larger than the maximum channel
bandwidth. This is of particular interest for mmWave where there are 800 MHz- and
1.2 GHz-wide channels available for use. Table 6 shows the companies proposing maximum
channel bandwidths across different frequencies.

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R4-170xxxx 2 GHz 2.5 GHz 3.5 GHz 6 GHz 24 GHz 43.5 GHz 52.3 GHz
Qualcomm (1797 100 M 400 M
20 M
50 M
Nokia (0724) 100 M
200 M
400 M
Samsung (1075) 200 M 1G
MediaTek (1824) 200 M 1G
Intel (2031) 100 M 400 M

Table 6. Proposed Maximum Channel Bandwidth by Company (Source: R4-1702374 [Docomo, Samsung])

Multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) operation is a key component of NR. The gNB has
two TXRUs per polarization, which are connected to cross polarized Tx antenna panels.
The gNB selects one analog beam on each antenna panel polarization for the downlink
data transmission (that is, MIMO transmission). The UE should be able to measure
multiple Tx beams swept on different time units on each panel polarization and then select
one Tx beam that is determined to be the “best” beam on each.

Figure 10. Working of Analog Beam Based on MIMO Operation (Source: R1-1705351)

Synchronization in NR is defined by synchronization signal (SS) blocks, bursts, and burst sets.
The NR-PSS, NR-SSS, and/or the NR-PBCH signal are transmitted within an SS block. One or
multiple SS blocks compose an SS burst. One or multiple SS bursts further compose an SS
burst set. From the UE perspective, the SS burst set transmission is periodic. This concept is
best described visually. Figure 11 shows the makeup of an SS burst and Figure 12 shows the
SS burst set structure.

PBCH PSS SSS PBCH

Figure 11. Components of an SS Burst (Source: Qualcomm, R1-1700784)

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SS Burst Period
For example, 5 ms

SS Burst 1 SS Burst 2 SS Burst M SS Burst 1

1 ... N 1 ... N ... 1 ... N 1 ... N

SS Burst Set k
For example,. 80 ms

Figure 12. Illustration of SS Burst Set Structure (Source: Ericsson, R1-1700294)

Finally, to complete Release 15, the channel coding for NR has been decided and it differs
from LTE for both the data and the control channels. LTE uses turbo coding for the data
channel and NR uses LDPC coding. For the Downlink Control Information (DCI) control
channel, LTE uses convolution coding and NR uses polar coding. These coding techniques are
defined for the eMBB use case. It is possible that different coding techniques may be used in
the other NR use cases in the future.

Channel coding techniques for NR should support info block size K flexibility and codeword
size flexibility. Rate matching like puncturing and/or repetition supports 1-bit granularity
in codeword size. The channel coding technique for data channels of NR supports both
incremental redundancy (IR) and chase (C). For very small block lengths where repetition/
block coding is used, it may be preferred to use combining (CC) HARQ.

Looking Forward: Release 16 Study Items and Trends

Work for Release 16 has already begun and some trends are emerging. There is increasing
support of vertical industries such as non-terrestrial networks (NTN), vehicle to everything
(V2X), public safety, and Industrial Internet of Things (IoT). For NTN, NR Release 15 will need
to be modified to support satellite communications, specifically at mmWave bands. For V2X,
further study is proposed for dynamic support for sidelink (PC5) as well as access network
(Uu) interfaces. New evaluation methodology is being defined for V2X use cases including
vehicle platooning, advanced driving to enable semi-automated or fully automated driving,
and remote driving. Other trends and open study items include unlicensed access (NR-U),
enhanced MIMO studies (in particular >6 GHz), integrated access and backhaul (IAB), and
non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) waveforms. Other applications and study items
will surely emerge as work for Release 16 continues. The 2020 goal for finalization of 5G is
ambitious given the amount of effort still required to make Release 16 successful. But, if the
pace stays at the rate it was for Release 15, it is an achievable goal.

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