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`About 3GPP
`About 3GPP
`The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) unites [Seven] telecommunications standard development
`organizations (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC), known as “Organizational Partners” and provides their
`members with a stable environment to produce the Reports and Specifications that define 3GPP technologies.
`
`Search
`Search
`
`3GPP Website: Search for...
`
`The project covers cellular telecommunications technologies, including radio access, core network and service
`capabilities, which provide a complete system description for mobile telecommunications.
`
`Search and download specs, docs, CRs and more from
`the 3GPP FTP Server:
`
`The 3GPP specifications also provide hooks for non-radio access to the core network,and for interworking with non-
`3GPP networks.
`
`ADVANCED FTP SEARCH
`ADVANCED FTP SEARCH
`
`3GPP specifications and studies are contribution-driven, by member companies, in Working Groups and at the
`Technical Specification Group level.
`
`The three Technical Specification Groups (TSG) in 3GPP are;
`
`More News:
`More News:
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`Radio Access Networks (RAN),
`Services & Systems Aspects (SA),
`Core Network & Terminals (CT)
`
`The Working Groups, within the TSGs, meet regularly and come together for their quarterly TSG Plenary meeting,
`where their work is presented for information, discussion and approval.
`
`The last meeting of the week of TSG Plenary meetings (see example below) is TSG SA, which also has responsibility
`for the overall coordination of the technical work and for the monitoring of its progress.
`
` Release 17 Schedule
`
` 3GPP meets IMT-2020
`
` Recorded 3GPP webinars and interviews (no
`registration needed)
`
`
`
`News Feeds
`News Feeds
`
`3GPP tweets
`
`Ex. 1008 - Sierra Wireless, Inc.
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`The 3GPP technologies from these groups are constantly evolving through Generations of commercial cellular /
`mobile systems (see table below). With LTE, LTE-Advanced, LTE Advanced Pro 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. Although this adds
`some complexity to the work of the groups, such a way of working ensures that progress is continuous & stable.
`
`Backward Compatibility
`
`The major focus for all 3GPP Releases is to make the system backwards and forwards compatible where possible, to
`ensure that the operation of user equipment is uninterrupted. A good example of this principle was the priority placed
`on backward compatibility between LTE and LTE-Advanced, so that an LTE-A terminal can work in an LTE cell and an
`LTE terminal works in the LTE-A cell.
`
`For 5G, many operators are starting with dual connectivity between LTE and 5G NR equipment - using the 'Non-
`Standalone' work completed early in Release 15. In the process of completing the early drop of 5G NR care has been
`taken to build 'forward compatibility' in to Non-Standalone NR equipment, to ensure that it will be fit for use on
`Standalone 5G NR systems.
`
`Generations of Mobile Systems
`
`
`
`
`
`Major Systems MilestonesGenerationGeneration Major Systems Milestones
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`1G
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`2G
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`3G
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`Analogue technology, from the 1980s onwards.
`
`Various technologies were deployed, Nationally or Regionally, including:
`NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), TACS (Total Access
`Communications System), A-Netz to E-Netz, Radiocom 2000, RTMI (Radio Telefono Mobile Integrato),
`JTACS (Japan Total Access Communications System) and TZ-80n (Source:wikipedia)
`
`First digital systems, deployed in the 1990s introducing voice, SMS and data services.
`The Primary 2G technologies are: GSM/GPRS & EDGE, CDMAOne, PDC, iDEN, IS-136 or D-AMPS.
`
`
`The 3G system from 3GPP is based on evolved Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) core
`networks and the radio access technologies that they support.
`
`This has allowed for the maintenance and development of GSM, with the evolution of General Packet Radio
`Service (GPRS) and Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), as well as further developments with
`the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and High Speed Packet data Access (HSPA).
`
`3G brought a global vision to the evolution of mobile networks, with the creation of the ITU's family of IMT-
`2000 systems which included EDGE, CDMA2000 1X/EVDO and UMTS-HSPA+ radio access technologies.
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`Ex. 1008 - Sierra Wireless, Inc.
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`
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`Major Systems MilestonesGenerationGeneration Major Systems Milestones
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`3G/4G
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`LTE and LTE-Advanced have crossed the “generational boundary” offering the next generation(s) of
`capabilities. With their capacity for high speed data, significant spectral efficiencies and adoption of advanced
`radio techniques, their emergence has been the basis for all new mobile systems from Release 8 onwards.
`
`It should be noted that LTE-Advanced (From Release 10) is 3GPP's ITU-R IMT-Advanced radio interface.
`LTE-Advanced is the first true 4G technology to be specified by 3GPP.
`
`LTE-Advanced Pro is the name that helps the industry describe what has been achieved with the completion
`of Release 13. LTE Pro is set to be used by other sectors, beyond telecoms, including Critical
`Communications (blue light services & other Mission Critical systems), the machine-to-machine or Internet of
`Things (IoT) sector, Transport (Rail, ITS, etc), Education and many other areas. LTE-Advanced Pro is 3GPP's
`stepping stone to 5G systems.
`
`5G
`
`5G brings another major technology step, with the creation of a 'New Radio' (NR).
`
`Unlike with 4G, where 3GPP hesitated to join the generational march onwards beyond 3G, we have
`embraced the alignment of the industry on NR and on LTE-Advanced Pro to provide 5G – from 3GPP
`Release 15 onwards.
`
`
`
` 
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`Radio Access Milestones
`
`3GPP Technical Specification Group RAN, like other TSGs, ensures that systems based on 3GPP specifications are
`capable of rapid development and deployment with the provision of global roaming of equipment.
`
`Each progressive 3GPP radio access technology aims to reduce complexity and avoid fragmentation of technologies
`on offer.
`
`Core Network Evolution
`
`GSM networks used circuit-switch telephony initially, with packet-switching added with GPRS. In the UMTS
`architecture, this dual-domain concept was kept on the core network side. Some network elements were evolved, but
`the concept remained very similar.
`
`When considering the evolution of the 3G system towards LTE, the 3GPP community decided to use IP (Internet
`Protocol) as the key protocol to transport all services. It was therefore agreed that the Evolved Packet Core (EPC)
`would not have a circuit-switched domain but that the EPC should be an evolution of the packet-switched architecture
`used in GPRS/UMTS.
`
`This decision had consequences on the architecture itself but also on the way that the services were provided.
`Traditional use of circuits to carry voice and short messages needed to be replaced by IP-based solutions in the long
`
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`term... Read more on
`the EPC at
`
`http://www.3gpp.org/The-Evolved-Packet-Core
`
` 
`
`For details of the contents of each Release, see the appropriate ’Release Description’ document (or see direct link at
`bottom of this page).
`
`Details of all 3GPP Work Items are in the 3GPP Work Plan, which provides details of the cooperation between all of
`the 3GPP groups on "Features", defined as ’new or substantially enhanced functionality which represents added value
`to the existing 3GPP system’.
`
`3GPP Scope
`
`The original scope of 3GPP (1998) was to produce Technical Specifications and Technical Reports for a 3G Mobile
`System based on evolved GSM core networks and the radio access technologies that they support (i.e., Universal
`Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) modes).
`
`The scope was subsequently amended to include the maintenance and development of the Global System for Mobile
`communication (GSM) Technical Specifications and Technical Reports including evolved radio access technologies
`(e.g. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE)).
`
`3GPP was created in December 1998 by the signing of the "The 3rd Generation Partnership Project Agreement".
`The latest 3GPP Scope and Objectives document has evolved from this original Agreement.
`
`The discussions that led to the signing of the 3GPP Agreement were recorded in a series of slides called the
`"Partnership Project Description" that describes the basic principles and ideas on which the project is based. The
`Partnership Project Description has not been maintained since its first creation but the principles of operation of the
`project still remain valid.
`
`
`
`Ex. 1008 - Sierra Wireless, Inc.
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`ABOUT RELEASES
`ABOUT RELEASES
`
`FULL MEETING CALENDAR
`FULL MEETING CALENDAR
`
`BROWSE KEYWORDS & TECH.
`BROWSE KEYWORDS & TECH.
`
`Release 18
`Release 17
`Release 16
`Release 15
`Release 14
`Release 13
`Release 12
`Release 11
`Release 10
`Release 9
`Release 8
`Release 7
`Release 6
`Release 5
`Release 4
`Release 1999
`
`Face to face meetings have been suspended for the time being.
`The calendar of replacement e-meetings is online at
`https://portal.3gpp.org/
`
`5G NR (Rel-15)
`Common API Framework (CAPIF)
`Carrier Aggregation Explained
`Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure (CVD)
`Control and User Plane Separation of EPC
`nodes (CUPS)
`DSS - Dynamic spectrum sharing
`HSPA
`LTE-Advanced
`LTE
`Open RAN
`UAS - UAV
`V2X
`...more keywords
`
`©3GPP 2021
`
`Ex. 1008 - Sierra Wireless, Inc.
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