An updated (looks final) version of 3GPP TR 21.917: Release 17 Description; Summary of Rel-17 Work Items was added to the archive earlier this month. It is a fantastic summary of all the Rel-17 features. Quoting the executive summary from the specs:
Release 17 is dedicated to consolidate and enhance the concepts and functionalities introduced in the previous Releases, while introducing a small number of brand new Features.
The improvements relate to all the key areas of the previous Releases: services to the industry (the "verticals"), including positioning, private network, etc.; improvements for several aspects of 5G supporting Internet of Things (IoT), both in the Core Network and in the Access Network, of proximity (direct) communications between mobiles, in particular in the context of autonomous driving (V2X), in several media aspects of the user plane related to the entertainment industry (codec, streaming, broadcasting) and also of the support of Mission Critical communications. Furthermore, a number of network functionalities have been improved, e.g. for slicing, traffic steering and Edge-computing.
The Radio interface and the Access Network have been significantly improved too (MIMO, Repeaters, 1024QAM modulation for downlink, etc.). While most of the improvements target 5G/NR radio access (or are access-agnostic), some improvements are dedicated to 4G/LTE access. Such improvements are clearly identified in the title and in the chapters where they appear.
Note: To avoid terminology such as "even further improvements of…", the successive enhancements are now referred to as "Phase n": "phase 2" refers to the first series of enhancements, "Phase 3" to the enhancements of the enhancements, etc. In this transition Release, the "Phase n" way of referring to successive enhancements has not always been used consistently nor enforced.
As for the new Features, the main new Feature of this Release is the support of satellite access, and a dedicated chapter covers this topic.
Note that the classifications, groupings and order of appearance of the Features in this document reflect a number of choices by the editor as there is no "3GPP endorsement" for classification/order. This Executive Summary has also been written by the editor and represents his view.
The following list is from the table of contents to provide you an idea and if it interests you, download the technical report here.
5.1.1SA and CT aspects
5.1.2RAN aspects
5.2NB-IoT/eMTC support for Non-Terrestrial Networks
6.1Introduction
6.2Generic functionalities, to all verticals
6.2.1Network and application enablement for verticals
6.2.1.1Enhanced Service Enabler Architecture Layer for Verticals
6.2.1.2Enhancements for Cyber-physical control Applications in Vertical domains (eCAV)
6.2.1.3Enhancements of 3GPP Northbound Interfaces and APIs
6.2.2Location and positioning
6.2.2.1RAN aspects of NR positioning enhancements
6.2.2.2Enhancement to the 5GC LoCation Services-Phase 2
6.2.3Support of Non-Public and Private Networks
6.2.3.1Enhanced support of Non-Public Networks
6.2.3.2Enhancement of Private Network support for NG-RAN
6.3Specific verticals support
6.3.1Railways
6.3.1.1Enhancements to Application Architecture for the Mobile Communication System for Railways Phase 2
6.3.1.2Enhanced NR support for high speed train scenario (NR_HST)
6.3.1.2.1NR_HST for FR1
6.3.1.2.2NR_HST for FR2
6.3.1.3NR Frequency bands for Railways
6.3.1.3.1Introduction of 900MHz NR band for Europe for Rail Mobile Radio (RMR)
6.3.1.3.2Introduction of 1900MHz NR TDD band for Europe for Rail Mobile Radio (RMR)
6.3.2Mission Critical (MC) and priority service
6.3.2.1Mission Critical Push-to-talk Phase 3
6.3.2.2Mission Critical Data Phase 3
6.3.2.3Mission Critical security Phase 2
6.3.2.4Mission Critical Services over 5GS
6.3.2.5Enhanced Mission Critical Communication Interworking with Land Mobile Radio Systems (CT aspects)
6.3.2.6Mission Critical system migration and interconnection (CT aspects)
6.2.3.7MC services support on IOPS mode of operation
6.3.2.8MCPTT in Railways
6.3.2.9Multimedia Priority Service (MPS) Phase 2
6.3.3Drone/UAS/UAV/EAV
6.3.3.1Introduction
6.3.3.2General aspects
6.3.3.2.15G Enhancement for UAVs
6.3.3.2.2Application layer support for UAS
6.3.3.3Remote Identification of UAS
6.3.4Media production, professional video and Multicast-Broadcast
6.3.4.1Communication for Critical Medical Applications
6.3.4.2Audio-Visual Service Production
6.3.4.3Multicast-Broadcast Services (MBS)
6.3.4.3.1Multicast-broadcast services in 5G
6.3.4.3.2NR multicast and broadcast services
6.3.4.3.35G multicast and broadcast services
6.3.4.3.4Security Aspects of Enhancements for 5G MBS
6.3.4.4Study on Multicast Architecture Enhancements for 5G Media Streaming
6.3.4.55G Multicast-Broadcast User Service Architecture and related 5GMS Extensions
6.3.4.6Other media and broadcast aspects
6.4Other "verticals" aspects
7.1NR small data transmissions in INACTIVE state
7.2Additional enhancements for NB-IoT and LTE-MTC
7.3Enhanced Industrial IoT and URLLC support for NR
7.4Support of Enhanced Industrial IoT (IIoT)
7.5Support of reduced capability NR devices
7.6IoT and 5G access via Satellite/Non-Terrestrial (NTN) link
7.7Charging enhancement for URLLC and CIoT
7.8Messaging in 5G
8.1Enhanced Relays for Energy eFficiency and Extensive Coverage
8.2Proximity-based Services in 5GS
8.3Sidelink/Device-to-Device (D2D)
8.3.1NR Sidelink enhancement
8.3.2NR Sidelink Relay
8.4Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X)
8.4.1Support of advanced V2X services - Phase 2
8.4.2Enhanced application layer support for V2X services
9.1Edge computing
9.1.1Enhancement of support for Edge Computing in 5G Core network
9.1.2Enabling Edge Applications
9.1.3Edge Computing Management
9.2Slicing
9.2.1Network Slicing Phase 2 (CN and AN aspects)
9.2.2Network Slice charging based on 5G Data Connectivity
9.3Access Traffic Steering, Switch and Splitting support in the 5G system architecture; Phase 2
9.4Self-Organizing (SON)/Autonomous Network
9.4.1Enhancement of data collection for SON/MDT in NR and EN-DC
9.4.2Autonomous network levels
9.4.3Enhancements of Self-Organizing Networks (SON)
9.5Minimization of service Interruption
9.6Policy and Charging Control enhancement
9.7Multi-(U)SIM
9.7.1Support for Multi-USIM Devices (System and CN aspects)
9.7.2Support for Multi-SIM Devices for LTE/NR
10Energy efficiency, power saving
10.1UE power saving enhancements for NR
10.2Enhancements on EE for 5G networks
10.3Other energy efficiency aspects
11New Radio (NR) physical layer enhancements
11.1Further enhancements on MIMO for NR
11.2MIMO Over-the-Air requirements for NR UEs
11.3Enhancements to Integrated Access and Backhaul for NR
11.4NR coverage enhancements
11.5RF requirements for NR Repeaters
11.6Introduction of DL 1024QAM for NR FR1
11.7NR Carrier Aggregation
11.7.1NR intra band Carrier Aggregation
11.7.2NR inter band Carrier Aggregation
11.8NR Dynamic Spectrum Sharing
11.9Increasing UE power high limit for CA and DC
11.10RF requirements enhancement for NR FR1
11.11RF requirements further enhancements for NR FR2
11.12NR measurement gap enhancements
11.13UE RF requirements for Transparent Tx Diversity for NR
11.14NR RRM further enhancement
11.15Further enhancement on NR demodulation performance
11.16Bandwidth combination set 4 (BCS4) for NR
11.17Other NR related activities
11.18NR new/modified bands
11.18.1Introduction of 6GHz NR licensed bands
11.18.2Extending current NR operation to 71 GHz
11.18.3Other NR new/modified bands
12.New Radio (NR) enhancements other than layer 1
12.1NR Uplink Data Compression (UDC)
12.2NR QoE management and optimizations for diverse services
13NR and LTE enhancements
13.1NR and LTE layer 1 enhancements
13.1.1High-power UE operation for fixed-wireless/vehicle-mounted use cases in LTE bands and NR bands
13.1.2UE TRP and TRS requirements and test methodologies for FR1 (NR SA and EN-DC)
13.1.3Other Dual Connectivity and Multi-RAT enhancements
13.2NR and LTE enhancements other than layer 1
13.2.1Enhanced eNB(s) architecture evolution for E-UTRAN and NG-RAN
13.2.2Further Multi-RAT Dual-Connectivity enhancements
13.2.3Further Multi-RAT Dual-Connectivity enhancements
14LTE-only enhancements
14.1LTE inter-band Carrier Aggregation
14.2LTE new/modified bands
14.2.1New bands and bandwidth allocation for 5G terrestrial broadcast - part 1
14.3Other LTE bands-related aspects
15User plane improvements
15.1Immersive Teleconferencing and Telepresence for Remote Terminals
15.28K Television over 5G
15.35G Video Codec Characteristics
15.4Handsets Featuring Non-Traditional Earpieces
15.5Extension for headset interface tests of UE
15.6Media Streaming AF Event Exposure
15.7Restoration of PDN Connections in PGW-C/SMF Set
15.8Other media and user plane aspects
16Standalone Security aspects
16.1Introduction
16.2 Authentication and key management for applications based on 3GPP credential in 5G (AKMA)
16.3AKMA TLS protocol profiles
16.4User Plane Integrity Protection for LTE
16.5Non-Seamless WLAN offload authentication in 5GS
16.6Generic Bootstrapping Architecture (GBA) into 5GC
16.7Security Assurance Specification for 5G
16.8Adapting BEST for use in 5G networks
16.9Other security aspects
17Signalling optimisations
17.1Enhancement for the 5G Control Plane Steering of Roaming for UE in Connected mode
17.2Same PCF selection for AMF and SMF
17.3Enhancement of Inter-PLMN Roaming
17.4Enhancement on the GTP-U entity restart
17.5Packet Flow Description management enhancement
17.6PAP/CHAP protocols usage in 5GS
17.7Start of Pause of Charging via User Plane
17.8Enhancement of Handover Optimization
17.9Restoration of Profiles related to UDR
17.10 IP address pool information from UDM
17.11 Dynamic management of group-based event monitoring
17.12 Dynamically Changing AM Policies in the 5GC
17.13 Other aspects
18.1Introduction
18.2Enhanced Closed loop SLS Assurance
18.3Enhancement of QoE Measurement Collection
18.4Plug and connect support for management of Network Functions
18.5Management of MDT enhancement in 5G
18.6Management Aspects of 5G Network Sharing
18.7Discovery of management services in 5G
18.8Management of the enhanced tenant concept
18.9Intent driven management service for mobile network
18.10 Improved support for NSA in the service-based management architecture
18.11 Additional Network Resource Model features
18.12 Charging for Local breakout roaming of data connectivity
18.13 File Management
18.14 Management data collection control and discovery
18.15 Other charging and management aspects
If you find them useful then please get the latest document from here.
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