Revised 5G Release 17 Timeline Approved

Technical Specification Groups (TSG) within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) that unites telecommunications standard development organizations have jointly approved a revised 5G Release 17 timeline.  The new schedule reflects a Stage 2 Functional Freeze in June 2021, a Stage 3 Protocol Freeze in March 2022, and a Protocol Coding Freeze (and associated OpenAPI) in June 2022.  This decision pushes out the timeline for 5G adoption in the most demanding industrial applications given the need for component availability prior to introduction of industrial end devices.

Revised 5G Release 17 Features Important to Industrial Applications

Release 17 is important for industrial applications due to availability of several core incremental features, including ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) at less than 10 ms for mission-critical communications, improved RAN network slicing, MIMO, support for multi-SIM devices for LTE/NR, and ability to use in private networks.  Other anticipated features include coverage and positioning enhancements, new frequency ranges, and enhanced support of private networks, unmanned aerial systems (drones), and edge computing.  Availability of 5G NR (New Radio) Light for reduced capacity devices also promises to lower the 5G price and footprint.

But industrial suppliers are still awaiting availability of components that meet the previous 5G Release 15 specification, which was released in December 2018.  Release 16, which introduced important industrial functionality such as low latency, high density connections, TSN support, and use in private networks, was approved in June of this year.  As these timelines reveal, the implications of these timelines include delays in industrial 5G product availability that will consequently push out rollouts and adoption for several years to come.

Further information on the market forecast for industrial 5G adoption is available in ARC’s recently released Industrial Cellular Router Global Market Research Study.  Further information on ARC’s coverage of the industrial IoT edge is available here.