3GPP RAN Plenary Update

Presented by: Wanshi Chen, 3GPP RAN For: ETSI Webinar

Plenary Chair

05.05.2021
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Outline
Short Bio of Wanshi Chen
3GPP RAN Rel-17 Status
3GPP RAN meeting planning for Rel-17 and Rel-18
3GPP RAN Rel-18 planning
Rel-18 workshop planning
Post Rel-18 workshop planning
High-level considerations for Rel-18 package
Q&A

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Short Bio of Wanshi Chen
• Wanshi Chen is currently 3GPP TSG RAN Plenary
Chair appointed in April 2021
• Previously, TSG RAN1 Chair from August 2017 to May 2021,
and TSG RAN1 Vice Chair from August 2013 to August 17

• Wanshi Chen has over 20 years of experience in

telecommunications in leading telecom companies
• The highest degree that Wanshi Chen holds is a
Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the +1 858 366 3080
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, wanshic@qti.qualcomm.com
USA San Diego, CA, USA

• An avid Marathon runner, with a personal best time

of 2hrs 54mins
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3GPP RAN Rel-17 Status
2021 2022

Key Timelines for 3GPP RAN Rel-17 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3

Rel-17 RAN1 freeze: December’2021

Rel-17 stage 3 freeze: March’2022
Rel-17 Rel-17 stage-3
RAN1 freeze
Rel-17 ASN.1 freeze: June’2022 freeze Rel-17 ASN.1
freeze Rel-17 RAN4
performance
Rel-17 RAN performance completion: September’2022 completion

Careful planning and management are crucial in handling the challenges in completing
Rel-17 in time
Challenges primarily due to cancellations of physical meetings throughout the entire 2021 for all RAN
WGs
To alleviate the impact:
Two e-meetings are planned for RAN1 in 4Q’2021; two e-meetings are already planned for all RAN WGs in 1Q’2022 (in
case of potential cancellation of physical meetings); Additional planning for 2Q’2022 is to be discussed later
Important to carefully monitor Rel-17 progress and take actions when necessary

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 RAN Meeting Planning for Rel-17/Rel-18
Planned as E-meeting,
Planned as E-meetings but TBC in June TBD (f2f or E-meeting)

June July August September October November December January February March
2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2021 2022 2022 2022

14-18 21-25 28-2 5-9 12-16 19-23 26-30 2-6 9-13 16-20 23-27 30-3 6-10 13-17 20-24 27-1 4-8 11-15 18-22 25-29 1-5 8-12 15-19 22-26 29-3 6-10 13-17 20-24 03-07 10-14 17-21 24-28 31-04 07-11 14-18 21-25 28-04 07-11 14-18 21-25

TSG WG TSG WG WG TSG WG WG TSG

RAN1-E RAN1E INACTIVE RAN1E Rel-17 RAN1 RAN1

R I I I (5+2) (2+5) I RAN1 freeze I (5+2) I T
T E N N N N N N S
S L A T A A A A A G
RAN2-E C C RAN2-E C RAN2 C RAN2
G C S C
T T T (5+2) T
1 T G T #
I I T I I
I I
# 8 V V S V 9
V RAN3-E RAN3-E V V RAN3 RAN3
9 # E E E G E (5+3) E 5
E
2 W 9
E S P 3 P P P # P P
RAN4-E Rel-17
E E E RAN4-E E 9 E RAN4 E RAN4
E stage-3
R R R (5+2) R
R R 4 freeze
G I I I I E I I
T O RAN5-E O O RAN5-E O O O RAN5
D D D D D D
W
Rel18 s Rel18
Rel18 Rel18 Rel18 Rel-18 Rel-18
Email RAN1/2/3/4 RAN4 RAN4
Email consolida Email
Discussion tion package Email package
Prep Prep
Q&A approval Prep approval

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Rel-18 Workshop Planning 1/2
To be separately managed from RAN#92-e
Agenda, email threads, etc.
Rel-18 workshop submissions (very preliminary)
1 New WI/SI proposals for Rel-18 NR
NOTE: Within each sub-agenda below, when necessary, multiple contributions (e.g., organized on a per topic basis) per
company are encouraged to allow better structuring of email discussion before the Rel-18 workshop and GTW
management during the Rel-18 workshop.

1.1 eMBB-driven Functional Evolution

1.2 Non-eMBB-driven Functional Evolution

1.3 Cross-Functionalities for both eMBB and Non-eMBB Evolution

Before the workshop, email discussion from June 14 (Monday) to June 24 (Thursday)
Only Q&A type email discussion
To help better understand proposals from companies

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Rel-18 Workshop Planning 2/2
Potential Theme: “Rel-18 Workshop: 5G-Advanced”
To be further discussed & refined
A 5-day workshop: Monday – Friday (June 28th – July 2nd)
Detailed GTW time TBD (most likely UTC 12:00 – 15:00, 3 hours/day)
The workshop is to be organized into two phases
Phase 1: Presentation and Q&A
Each contribution has a total of [12-15?] minutes including presentation and Q&A
Strict time budget management is necessary
Details in selecting a set of contributions for presentation are TBD
Phase 2: Summary
Aim for an endorsed list of topics for subsequent email discussion

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Post Rel-18 Workshop High-Level Planning
Email discussion between [August 30th – September 3rd]
Aim for converged high-level description for a list of topics

RAN#93-e (September 2021)

Further consolidation of Rel-18 proposals

Email discussion between [October 18th – 27th]

Refinement of WI/SI description, including detailed scope and cross-item check
RAN#94 (December 2021)
Rel-18 package approval including finalized WI and SI structures
The package approval may include some RAN4-led items (w/o dependence on RAN4 Rel-17 finalization)

Email discussion between [February 7th – 11th]

For additional RAN4-led proposals
RAN#95 (March 2022)
Approval of the rest of the RAN4 core work package for Rel-18
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High-Level Considerations on Rel-18 Package
Rel-18 package is expected to be
Balanced, by considering
eMBB evolution, non-eMBB evolution and cross-functionalities for eMBB/non-eMBB, and
Immediate (short-term) commercial needs and longer term commercial needs
Rooted to true commercial interests
Avoiding 3GPP from disconnecting from commercial realities, and
Quickly reacting to urging commercial needs
Reasonably loaded
All newly RAN1/2/3 projects are expected to have estimated RAN4 impact
Consider reserving [10-15%?] WG capacity in approving the Rel-18 package in December 2021
The reserved capacity may be used for i) additional new Rel-18 items in a later date; ii) addressing immediate &
critical needs from commercial deployments when necessary; iii) more flexibility for RAN WG chairs in
managing and delivering RAN-approved projects successfully
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 Questions/
Comments?

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