3GPP "TSG Highlights" from Plenary #16
Long, boring, Standards Stuff
3GPP has providrd the following concise summary of the decisions and actions of the most recent 3GPP Technical Specification Group meetings in June 2002 on Marcos Island, Florida, USA.
In the previous plenary Release 5 was partially frozen and in these meetings which attracted some 300 delegates froze the remaining Release 5 list of features. These include Phase 1 of IMS – the IP Multimedia System. The meetings also looked forward to Release 6 issues such as network sharing and DRM.
3GPP has five TSGs:
- CN (Core Network)
- RAN (Radio Access Network)
- T (Terminals)
- SA (Services and Systems Aspects)
- GERAN (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network)
This summary reports on the first four of these, as GERAN meetings take place separately from the other TSGs. GERAN information will be added shortly.
What's a Release?
Within 3GPP, a Release is a full set of technical specifications (and supporting documents) that define a mobile system. A mobile system can be constructed based on the set of all specifications that comprise a given Release. And a specific Release differs from the previous Release by having added functionality introduced as a result of ongoing standardization work.
In order to permit an effective project management of the work, the task is made up of Work Items, each usually resulting in a specification or some other document. Three levels of Work Items are recognised. The top level is a Feature: each feature can be considered as an optional extra, which can be added or not to a system as a function of market demand. Normally a feature embodies an improved service to the customer and/or increased revenue generation potential to the supplier.
The next level of Work Item a Building Block, several of which make up a Feature. Building Blocks are composed of the lowest level, Work Tasks. TSG Highlights will mostly just refer to Features.
Release '99 was frozen at the end of 1999, Release 4 was frozen in March 2000, and Release 5 is "functionally frozen" (i.e. the functionality defined by the specifications included in this Release is frozen) during the first half of 2002. Release 6 is expected to be functionally frozen around the middle of 2003.
What's in Release 5?
Like the previous Releases, there are several hundred specifications in Release 5. The best thing to do is to take a look at specification 21.103 v5.0.0 (or later) or, if you want more complete detail, the current 3GPP workplan:
3gpp.org
What's in Release 6? What's the schedule? What follows that?
Several features have already been identified for inclusion in Release 6, which is currently scheduled for mid-2003, and there are even some thoughts for beyond Release 6. The workplan and specification 21.104 (when it becomes available) will providethe details.
TSG-T (Terminals)
TSG-T has completed its Release 5 work at its recent meeting (June 2002). Work on testing always follows the main specification task, and this is so for User Equipment (UE) testing, which is ongoing for Release '99 and Release 4 (see the "Testing" section below).
TSG-T's work on the Multimedia Message Service (MMS) Release 5 is completed. The MM7 (MMS relay/server - Value Added Service Provider) interface was finished at the recent meeting. The stage 3 specification of MM1 (MMS relay/server - MMS user agent) interface will be developed by the WAP Forum. Key items resolved for MMS Release 5 include address resolution/MNP, MM4 enhancements, MM7 stage 2, persistent storage, USIM aspects, MMS charging, header mapping, detection of duplicate messages, terminal capability negotiation on MM1 (permitting the contend supplied to a terminal to be varied according to its capabilities), and addressing on MM1.
TSG asked its working group T2 to include the handling of MMS data on the USIM into their MMS Release 4 specification to avoid data inconsistency between MMS data stored on the USIM and on the UE. To have the parameters stored in the USIM from “day one” will make the service user friendly and improve interoperability.
TSG-T had started discussing and proposing possible work areas for MMS Release 6 and has involved TSG-SA WG1 who will specify the service requirements.
One company reported that there might be a need for harmonization with 3GPP2 regarding MMS. This will be further investigated.
Changes were approved to the Mobile Execution Environment (MexE) specification to make it more readable. A long debate took place on criteria for new MExE classmarks and on the general future of MExE given that so far there are no MExE products on the market. The discussion will be continued in Working Group T2. The proposed new work item on MExE binary code execution feasibility study was postponed.
Some clean-up was necessary for Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) Release 5 which is considered to be completed now. EMS Release 5 brings several enhancements to the Short Message Service (SMS) like extended colour pictures, extended animations, Vector Graphics, and Polyphonic Sound.
A new work item for the test specification for the SIM API (Application Programming Interface) for Release 5 was approved.
The specification describing the characteristics of the ISIM Application (ISIM, the Subscriber Identity Module for the IP Multimedia System), TS 31.103 was approved as part of Release 5.
The specification on secured packet structure for (U)SIM toolkit applications, TS 31.115 Release 6 was approved.
The specification on the remote Application Protocol Data Unit (APDU) structure for (U)SIM Toolkit applications, TS 31.116 Release 6 was approved.
Working Group T3 chairman Klaus Vedder announced that he intends to step down at the coming meeting.
Testing
The funding restrictions which had been identified at the March meeting have been solved in principle.
At the March meeting TSG-T had decided to update the UE test cases to the March 2002 version of the Release '99 core specifications aiming to have the test cases ready by October 2002, and that TSG-T will in future always aim to base test specifications on the latest version of the core specifications. For VP1 (Verified Package 1) the estimation shows the November 2002 timeframe. With the current resources, the overall delivery schedule seems critical. TSG-T Working Group T1 will evaluate how to reach the targets requested by TSG-T.
TSG-T requested its working group T1 to update all prose versions to the June 2002 versions of the core specifications by the next TSG-T meeting. It was clarified that this can only be achieved with sufficient resources assigned to do the work.
Companies were asked to keep their experts available in the Mobile Competence Centre task 160 which is producing the Testing and Test Control Notation (TTCN). The TTCN drafting for the 2G to 3G handover was announced to start soon.
A new work item was approved on ‘Testing of Extended Robust Header Compression (RoHC)’.
TSG-SA (Services & Systems Aspects)
The main target of the 16th plenary meeting of TSG SA (SA#16) was to freeze the technical content of the third version of UMTS, the version known as "Release 5". The close cooperation between all TSGs allowed this goal to be achieved and resulted in a precise understanding of those features which will compose Release 5.
After several revisions to include all comments from all TSGs, the final content of Release 5 was provided in SP-020409. The major enhancements introduced in Release 5 are:
- High Speed Downlink Packet Access, which will enable a considerable increase of the bitrates for the transmission between the network and the terminal
- Numerous independent improvements in the Access Network, such as the Separation of resource reservation from radio link activation and Efficiency Optimisation for Iur Neighbouring cell reporting
- The first phase of the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), whose aim is to provide an efficient handling of multimedia communications. IMS will make extensive use of protocols defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force, IETF, greatly facilitating convergence between fixed and mobile networks. This first phase contains all basic operational aspects, but aspects like standardized interworking with existing networks will be defined in the second phase, planned for Release 6 in 2003;
- New sets of enhancements are provided to existing features such as Streaming, OSA, CAMEL, MExE, Location Services, and multimedia messaging;
A much improved sound quality will be available thanks to the Wideband Adaptive Multirate feature
- Global Text Telephony (similar to real time chat on the mobile phone) was completed this year but declared Release Independent, enabling implementations to very early Releases.
Two open questions, to be answered at next plenary, are whether CAMEL will already be applicable to IMS in Release 5, and how far can work be progressed on sharing the access network infrastructure between different operators.
The other important task of SA#16, more classical, was to monitor the work progress across all TSGs on their ongoing items. Among these main ongoing activities of 3GPP, we can note:
- Integration of WLAN access into UMTS
- Introduction of multimedia broadcast and multicast.
- Continued enhancement of the access network in general and the radio interface in particular.
- Investigation of all the possibilities for sharing network infrastructure between operators.
- Introducing the handling of Digital Rights.
- Enabling Speech Recognition and Speech Enabled Services.
Apart from these new services, most of the existing ones will see further improvement, in particular the Location Services, OSA, emergency calls, and of course the IMS, whose second phase will e.g. include the handling of identity portability, a fully specified interworking with circuit-switched and external IP (v4 and v6) networks, and an improved use of the Radio Interface.
TSG-RAN (Radio Access Network)
Release 5 and Beyond
Many of the RAN Release 5 work items (WI) were approved at the March 2002 meeting. However, all existing WIs and study items (SI) were reviewed at the June 2002 meeting, including the planned finalisation dates. The following WIs were completed:
- WI "TDD (Time Division Duplex) Base Station Classification"
- WI "Base Station Classification for 1.28 Mcps TDD option"
- PDCP RFC 3095 context relocation (as part of WI "Radio access bearer support enhancement")
- WI "Support of Site Selection Diversity Transmission in UTRAN"
- SI "Introduction of Direct transport bearers between SRNC and Node B" (no WI approved as a result of closing the SI)
The following WIs were close to completion and will be finalised at TSG-RAN #17 (September 2002) and kept in Release 5:
- WI "High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) - RF Radio Transmission/ Reception, System Performance Requirements and Conformance Testing"
- WI "Shared Network support in connected Mode"
New approved WIs and SIs [leading WG and planned finalisation date between square brackets]:
- SI "Enhancements to OTDOA Positioning using advanced blanking methods" [WG2, RAN#19]
- SI "OFDM analysis for UTRAN evolution" [WG1, RAN#20]
Change Requests related to GERAN were approved in principle, but need to be endorsed by the 3GPP Project Control Group (PCG) as part of a review of the relation between GERAN and RAN working groups.
A Technical Report on Radio Access Bearer (RAB) scenarios would be created to handle streaming and real-time applications.
Release '99 and Release 4
RAN considered a contribution concerning the identification of the true capabilities of early Release '99 mobiles, by including certain data in the capability information that the terminal send to the network. Three main proposals were identified:
1. Nothing to be done but reserving bits in the capabilities for potential use in the future.
2. Use of 1 bit meaning full type certification.
3. Use of IMEISV (International Mobile station Equipment Identity and Software Version Number).
Several variants were also identified for each of these main solutions. An e-mail discussion was agreed to take place to resolve this issue for the next plenary meeting.
Release 4 protocols backwards compatibility was discussed and a detailed proposal will be prepared for the September plenary meeting.
Recognising the need to minimise the number of unnecessary changes to Release '99 and Release 4, RAN developed guidelines as to what Change Requests relevant to these releases would be acceptable to future plenary meetings.
TSG-CN (Core Network)
IMS work in CN has been completed except for documented open issues. All planned CN IMS specifications except for 23.278 and 29.278 (associated with CAMEL for IMS) are now under change control and functionally frozen. CAMEL for IMS will remain in Release 5 as long as the work is completed by the CN plenary in September.
At the time of the June meeting there were still outstanding Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) dependencies for which the RFC numbers were awaited. These were promised by June 14, at which date the Mobile Competence Centre would incorporate the available RFC numbers in the relevant specifications. Any not available at that date would have to be introduced by Change Requests at subsequent CN working group meetings.
CN work related to the Adaptive Multirate Wideband codec and Service Change and UDI Fallback (SCUDIF) was completed.
No intermediate version of 23.163 (IMS<->CS interworking) will be produced: this moves to Release 6, on the understanding that proprietary interworking is not precluded in Release 5.
Network sharing: Basic Sharing (connected mode) was not completed but will remain in Release 5 as long as it is completed by the September meeting. Protocol work for the Ze (Key Distribution for MAP) was moved to Release 6.
Release -6 work Items were initiated for:
- Bearer Independent Architecture in the Packet Switched (PS) Domain
Interworking of Circuit Switched (CS) user plane between 3GPP and external PLMN/PSTN/ISDN
- Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS)
An approach proposed by working group CN4 to handling IPv4/IPv6 interworking was agreed, with a strengthened warning to not use IPv6 addresses in pre-Release 5 General Packet Radio Service (GPRS).
The results from the OHG IP CN Harmonization Workshop were discussed and a CN position was generated. This proposes joint participation in each other's meetings as the preferred mechanism for effective collaboration between 3GPP and 3GPP2. This position can be found in NP-020304.
The ITU-T Coordination Ad-Hoc group produced a recommendation on how the Standards Development Organizations should respond to a request from the ITU-T's Special Study Group "IMT-2000 and beyond" regarding 3G Release 4 core network references. This recommendation is in NP-020322.
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3gpp.org
Highlights from Previous Plenary here:
Message 17361814
- Eric - |
