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Sendil Kumar
ITU-R develops recommendation for every generation of the IMT specification that meets the requirement set by ITU-R. We have been commonly using the terms like 3G,4G and 5G, whose corresponding ITU names are IMT2000, IMT-Adv and IMT-2020. I am fortunate to witness the stages and the process of IMT2020 at ITU-R in the Working Party 5D meetings. One of the important milestone; among various stages before ITU-R developes a IMT2020 recommendation document is the final submission of candidate technologies that meet the technical performance requirements (M.2410) set by ITU-R was the recent meeting WP5D#32 at Brazil 9-17 July 2019.
The current development cycle is for IMT-2020 (5G) specifications that will address the Framework and overall objectives IMT for 2020 and beyond (See M.2083). The vision document describes the three usage scenarios that IMT-2020 technology will address. These usage scenarios are enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), Ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC) and Massive machine type communications (mMTC).
A well known depiction of the three USAGE scenarios defined by ITU-R is showing in the figure.
As per the requirements any proponent who intends to submit a technology developed by them to be recommended by ITU-R as IMT2020 specification needs to undergo a well-definded process.
The technology proponents need to self evaluate their technology (using simulation, analysis etc) for various test environments (system configurations). About 13 technical performances requirements need to be met, the proponents need to submit this self-evaluation report along with few other templates that describes various aspects of their technology (e.g Modulations, MIMO features, spectrum bands, bandwidths, mobility , inter-operability with other IMT systems). The candidate technologies which completes this submission clears STEP 3 of the ITU-R.
The LTE Rel-9 developed during that time could not meet the IMT-Advanced requirements and 3GPP had to include significant features and improvements to develop LTE-Advanced (Rel.10) to fullfill the ITU-R requiements.
This time, 3GPP did significant preparation for the IMT2020, 5G related work in 3GPP. ITU-R had new resolutions (WRC’15) to identify new spectrum bands in the mmwave bands (>24.25GHz) during the WRC’19 and hence support of the mmwave bands became an essential component in the evaluation of the IMT2020 technology. 3GPP had started studying on radio-access technology with focus on the higher frequency ranges and channel (carrier) bandwidth of the order of 100MHz and 400MHz (See TR38.801, TR38.802) [Must read Ericsson:Designing for the future: the 5G NR physical layer].
During the final submission of IMT-Advanced ( Oct 2009), there were six submission to WP5D. All the six submissions completed STEP 3 and had met the requirements of IMT-Advanced. Each of the six submission were either based on 3GPP (LTE-Advanced) or IEEE (802.16 - WiMAX). The proponents of the submissions were Japan, TTA, 3GPP ( Partners ), China, TTA and IEEE. The 3GPP based submissions were technically identical and were combined into a single recommendation, where as the IEEE (WiMAX) became the another recommendation. ITU-R published this recommendation of IMT-Advanced technology as M.2012 and is being periodically revised with new releases of the technology. These revisions of the recommendations are mainted to be technically consistent.
During the initial submission for IMT-2020 candidate technologies, ITU-R WP5D received inputs from 3GPP, Korea, China, ETSI-DECT Forum and TSDSI. During the developments, it was informed by Korea and China that their candidate technologies are identical to 3GPP specifications. ETSI-DECT Forum had developed their specifications based on enhancements to the DECT specifications with objectives to meet the requirements of URLLC and mMTC scenaros. TSDSI had informed to WP5D that it will be based on 3GPP NR with additional changes to 3GPP specifications.
During last date (1st July 2019) for the submissions of contributions to WP5D#32 Brazil, a new candidate technology was received by ITU-R from Nufront Technology ( a private company from China). WP5D#32 meeting now has six candidate technology submissions -
At end of the WP5D#32 meeting, three of the six submissions were determined to have the successfully met the requirements of IMT2020 with their final submissions being complete. The meeting determined that the submission is “_complete“_ as per the report of ITU-R M.2411 and cleared STEP 3 of the IMT2020 process.
The following observations regarding their final submissions were acknowledged :
This submission from Proponent China is determined to have satisfactorily fulfilled Section 4.3 for the self-evaluation.
“It is noted that the development of the candidate radio interface technology is technically identical to 5G NR and NB-IOT [LTE-Rel15] submitted from 3GPP. The self‑evaluation results are identical to Chinese companies’ contributions to 3GPP on NR and NB-IoT technologies.” From Doc. 5D/1268.
This submission from Proponent Korea is determined to have satisfactorily fulfilled section 4.3 for the self-evaluation.
“The Republic of Korea provides the final submission of a candidate RIT of IMT-2020 in accordance with the latest 3GPP New Radio (NR) Technical Specifications (Release 15 and 16)” from Document 5D/1233.
For the remaining three submissions ETSI & DECT Forum, TSDSI and NuFront technologies, this WP5D#32 meeting could not yet determine whether the submissions were “complete” as per ITU-R M.2411. A wayforward [22] was agreed towards finalization of this determination [of completion]. This will be addressed in the 33rd meeting of WP5D (Dec 2019).
All the three proponents received an one-time exceptional extension to submit their submissions by 10th Sept 2019. These submissions will be reviewed in the WP5D#33 meeting for the finalization of determination.
Given that the final submissions of those which are complete is available (3GPP, China and Korea) and the remaining three (DECT, TSDSI and NUFRONT) would be available by 10th Sept 2019. The Independent evaluation groups (IEG) will be able to understand and assess the technical features of these candidate technologies. Indepedent evaluations groups can decide to select any of these candidate technology submission(s) for evaluation, assess if they meet the ITU-R technical performance requirements. The IEG will submit their evaluation report as well as can share additional insight about these technologies which will help the development of the final recommendation of all candidate technologies (after clearing STEP 3).
The submission documents of the candidate technologies, acknowledgement and the technical observations made during the meeting on the submissions will be available here (public access).
List of IMT.2020 (public access) Documents
[13] Acknowledgement of candidate SRIT submission from 3GPP proponent under Step 3 of the IMT-2020 process and WP5D Technical Observations-3GPP
[14] Acknowledgement of candidate RIT submission from 3GPP proponent Step 3 of the IMT-2020 process
[15] Acknowledgement of candidate RIT submission from China (People’s Republic of) under Step 3 of the IMT-2020 process and WP5D Technical Observations-China)
[16] Acknowledgement of candidate RIT submission from Korea (Republic of) under Step 3 of the IMT-2020 process and WP5D Technical Observations-Korea
[17] Acknowledgement of candidate SRIT submission from ETSI (TC DECT) and DECT Forum under Step 3 of the IMT-2020 process WP5D Technical Observations-DECT
[18] Acknowledgement of candidate RIT submission from Nufront under Step 3 of the IMT-2020 process WP5D Technical Observations -NuFront
[19] Acknowledgement of candidate RIT submission from TSDSI under Step 3 of the IMT- 2020 process WP5D Technical Observations -TSDSI
