Study item on 5G NR in unlicensed spectrum could support enterprise and industrial IoT, and other deployment models
When the 3GPP convened in Croatia for a March session, in addition to approving an accelerated plan to include a non-standalone version of the 5G NR spec in Release 15, the industry group also adopted a new study item dedicated to 5G NR deployments in unlicensed spectrum. The study item contemplates both License Assisted Access (LAA), which uses an anchor tenant in licensed spectrum to add capacity through unlicensed spectrum, as well as standalone deployments in unlicensed spectrum.
To learn more about the accelerated timeline, here’s a piece contributed to our Reader Forum section by Qualcomm VP of Technical Standards Lorenzo Casaccia, and here’s reporting based on a conversation with Michael Thelander, president and founder of Signals Research Group.
Qualcomm is leading the new study item, which is the first time 3GPP has focused on cellular that operates only in unlicensed spectrum, and includes unlicensed bands up to 60 GHz; the study work will be ongoing until early 2018.
In a recent blog post, Rasmus Hellberg, Qualcomm senior director of technical marketing, called the move a “big deal” because it could potentially open up 5G services to new players and support new deployment models. “It’s because 5G NR will proliferate around the world more broadly and more rapidly if all spectrum types can be used, especially unlicensed spectrum,” Hellberg wrote. “Doing so will allow 5G to support more uses and deployments models so that many more entities will be able to enjoy the benefits of 5G in a much broader 5G ecosystem. Using unlicensed spectrum on a stand-alone basis enables a wider variety of new deployment scenarios, such as local area networks in dense deployments, so-called private IoT networks for enterprises or industrial IoT (explicitly called out in the project descriptions in 3GPP), neighborhood networks, and neutral host deployments (where one deployment serves multiple operators).”
Hellberg wrote that private IoT could enable digital transformation in verticals including manufacturing, shipping, mining, distribution logistics and smart buildings. He also said access to unlicensed spectrum will further embolden carrier aggregation by operators.
