DoT-TSDSI micro workshop series on ‘Advancing 5G Towards 6G’

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) unites seven telecommunications standard development organizations (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC), known as “Organizational Partners” providing their members with a stable environment to produce the Reports and Specifications that define 3GPP technologies.

3GPP develops specifications which cover cellular telecommunications technologies, including radio access, core network and service capabilities, which provide a complete system description for mobile telecommunications. The 3GPP specifications also provide hooks for non-radio access to the core network, and for interworking with non-3GPP networks.

The 3GPP technologies are constantly evolving through Generations of commercial cellular/mobile systems. With LTE and 5G work, 3GPP has become the focal point for the vast majority of mobile systems beyond 3G. Although these Generations have become an adequate descriptor for the type of network under discussion, real progress on 3GPP standards is measured by the milestones achieved in particular Releases. New features are ’functionality frozen’ and are ready for implementation when a Release is completed.

3GPP works on a number of Releases in parallel, starting future work well in advance of the completion of the current Release. 3GPP is currently working on Release-18 and has initiated work on Release-19. Release-19 is part of the “5G-Advanced” specification set and is tactically important because it is expected to provide insights into requirements and use cases for Release-20 and also lay the foundation for future 6G.

TSDSI members have been participating in 3GPP meetings and contributing to development of specifications for 5G and beyond. TSDSI is now steering technical activities in the areas of Beyond 5G and application verticals. Dissemination of information on the 3GPP Release 19 technical work will help facilitate channelizing pre-standards research and harmonizing standards development activities in India.

A joint micro-workshop series on ‘Advancing 5G towards 6G’ is being organized by DoT and TSDSI, with the purpose of disseminating information about 3GPP technology areas and timelines related to Release 19, mobilize Indian Ecosystem to contribute to Release 19 ongoing studies and identify and propose any new study to be undertaken as Release 19. Each workshop, to be held online, will walk through select 3GPP study items, provide timelines and describe how to contribute.

CT Bureau