Qualcomm: The invention of these key technologies has driven the expansion of 5G!

Today, we are in the process of rapidly expanding our 5G global footprint. To date, more than 70 mobile operators around the world have deployed commercial 5G services, and we expect many more to be available by the end of this year.

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5G NR Release 15 - Building the 5G Foundation

Our vision for 5G is a unified connectivity fabric that supports a wide range of devices, services, spectrum, and deployments. To achieve this goal, we contributed core inventions to the first 5G standard, 3GPP Release 15, which lays the technical foundation for future 5G evolution.

Key inventions in the 3GPP 5G NR 15 standard

Before we get into Release 16, let me first give a few examples of why our Release 15 inventions are so important to realizing the full potential of 5G. For example, the flexible slot-based framework opens the door to efficient multiplexing of different 5G services (i.e., enhanced mobile broadband, mission-critical services, and massive IoT). Flexible OFDM digital technology allows the same 5G NR design to scale to different and new frequency bands (i.e., from sub-1 GHz to 60+ GHz), and mobile mmWave dramatically expands the network capacity required for 5G to scale and achieve extreme speeds. To better illustrate the importance of these Release 15 inventions to 5G systems, we can use the following transportation system analogy.

5G NR R15 Technology Analogy

5G NR Release 16 — Driving 5G Expansion

Today, 3GPP reached another important milestone - the completion of Release 16 specifications, marking the beginning of a new chapter in the evolution of 5G. Release 16 is a joint effort to further enhance the 5G technology foundation (i.e. coverage, mobility, power, reliability, etc.) and expand the scope of 5G to new applications, spectrum, and vertical industries. This is an ambitious set of technical projects, but let me distill them into six key invention areas, not in any order, that are core to the continued development of 5G.

Six key Release 16 inventions that build on 4G and 5G NR

Invention 1: Unlicensed Spectrum

Expanding 5G to operate in all spectrum types and bands is a key aspect of our 5G vision, which will not only result in greater capacity but also more flexible deployment. At Qualcomm, we have been pioneering cellular technology in the unlicensed spectrum space for nearly a decade. Release 16 adds support for unlicensed spectrum for 5G NR (NR-U), which includes two operating modes: License Assisted Access (LAA) and a standalone deployment option that does not require any licensed spectrum.

LAA mode allows mobile operators to leverage unlicensed spectrum to increase 5G bandwidth on top of what they already do with LTE LAA. Standalone NR-U mode does not require licensed spectrum, bringing 5G benefits to a wider ecosystem including mobile operators, service providers, wireless ISPs, and 5G dedicated network operators. In addition, NR-U can also be used to deploy 5G in the new 6 GHz band. Looking ahead, NR-U will serve as the foundation for future spectrum innovations, such as supporting the unlicensed 60 GHz band for Release 17.

5G NR-U supports two operating modes and many deployment scenarios

Invention 2: Advanced power saving and mobility

As most 5G mobile devices are battery powered, the power efficiency envelope must be pushed further. In Release 16, we have developed a number of new system power saving features, including (i) a new wake-up signal (WUS) that minimizes control signaling monitoring in low power modes, (ii) a simplified random access procedure (RACH), which also has wider benefits, and (iii) low power carrier aggregation control, which effectively powers down secondary carriers when they are not in use.

Mobility is another vector we have been working hard to further enhance in Release 16. For example, device-driven conditional handover, early measurement reporting, and dual-connectivity MCG (Master Cell Group) failure recovery can reduce handover interruption time (close to 0ms handover) to further improve device mobility performance.

Use Release 16 WUS to reduce device power consumption

Invention 3: High-precision positioning

Accurate device positioning is a key factor for many vertical applications such as public safety and indoor navigation. The advantage of cellular-based positioning is that it complements existing GNSS systems and works well both outdoors and indoors. Qualcomm has long been a pioneer in positioning technology, and the innovations that enable positioning in Release 16 continue to evolve. Release 16 supports multi-/single-cell and device-based positioning, defining new positioning reference signals (PRS) used by various 5G positioning technologies such as round-trip time (RTT), angle of arrival/departure (AoA/AoD), and time difference of arrival (TDOA). Round-trip time (RTT)-based positioning eliminates the requirement for strict network timing synchronization across nodes (which is required by traditional technologies such as TDOA) and provides additional flexibility for network deployment and maintenance. These technologies are designed to meet the initial 5G requirements of 3 meters and 10 meters for indoor and outdoor use cases, respectively. In Release 17, precise indoor positioning capabilities will bring sub-meter accuracy to industrial IoT use cases.

5G positioning technology could open the door to new use cases

Invention 4: Sidechains

Another key invention area of ​​Release 16 is the NR-based sidelink for Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X). In the tradition of the fundamentally safe Release 14/15 C-V2X, Release 16 continues with significant improvements to the sidelink, supporting advanced applications such as coordinated driving and sensor sharing. It brings multiple improvements in the form of higher throughput, lower latency, distance-based reliable multicast, distributed synchronization, and unified QoS control, which is expected to enhance autonomous and semi-autonomous driving in terms of efficiency and safety. The NR-based sidelink in Release 16 is another foundational technology that can be used for a variety of other future applications, such as public safety communications and commercial applications.

Sidelink with reliable multicast enables advanced 5G V2X applications

Invention 5: Mission-Critical Design

5G NR in Release 16 adds a range of new features that improve 5G system capabilities for mission-critical use cases, such as Industry 4.0 factory automation. One goal of 5G NR is to meet more stringent reliability requirements (i.e., up to 99.9999%) while maintaining millisecond latency. Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) is one of the key technology enablers, which utilizes multiple transmit and receive points (multi-TRP) to create spatial diversity with redundant communication paths. In addition, Qualcomm's Release 16 inventions further improve service multiplexing, allowing mission-critical and mobile broadband traffic to coexist more efficiently in a common 5G NR framework, and support enhanced features such as logical channel prioritization and downlink and uplink preemption.

CoMP with multiple TRPs enables ultra-reliable and low-latency communications

Invention 6: New deployment model

To meet the vision of 5G supporting diverse deployments, Release 16 introduces several new features that expand the scope of 5G. Expanded support for non-public networks (NPNs) will help accelerate the deployment of 5G private networks, such as industrial IoT and enterprise networks. Time-sensitive networking (TSN) allows 5G networks to provide services with strict synchronization and latency requirements that are critical for many industrial IoT applications, such as machine control.

New interference measurement and mitigation techniques (such as RIM/CLI) enable robust deployments and lay the foundation for future dynamic TDD operations (base-to-base and mobile-to-mobile interference). Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) allows mmWave base stations to be used as both wireless access and backhaul, eliminating the need for new fiber deployments when densifying the network. Finally, Release 16 also supports eMTC and NB-IoT deployed in 5G spectrum and managed by the 5G core network to deliver 5G massive IoT services.

Integrated access and backhaul for more cost-effective mmWave deployments

Future Development

3GPP Release 16 is the conclusion, but our work in driving the evolution of 5G technology to fully realize the potential of the latest G does not stop there. We are already working with the mobile ecosystem on Release 17 projects and are working on advanced technologies for Release 18 and beyond. I am very excited about Qualcomm's 5G future. There is a lot of 5G innovation underway, which will drive continued breakthroughs this decade and beyond.