ALLPCB
For decades, Qualcomm has contributed to wireless innovations. 5G Advanced aims to extend 5G capabilities and provide groundwork for future 6G research. This article summarizes several key technologies Qualcomm submitted for 3GPP Release 18 that advance 5G Advanced and help prepare for future wireless generations.
Release 18's first standards artifacts, including ASN.1, are expected to be completed in June.
Overview of Qualcomm's Release 18 contributions
Release 18 introduces enhancements aimed at improving device experience, increasing network efficiency, and supporting new system capabilities. The following sections summarize five principal invention areas included in Qualcomm's submissions for Release 18.
Invention Area 1: Enhanced uplink
A major focus in Release 18 is improving uplink performance from devices to the network. Uplink capability and reliability are constrained by a device's uplink link budget, which depends on transmit power and propagation loss on the transmission path. Addressing uplink limitations has been central to 5G Advanced development. Qualcomm's Release 18 contributions include features to improve uplink MIMO performance for extended coverage and mobility, uplink transmit (Tx) switching, and dynamic power aggregation within carrier aggregation (CA).
Invention Area 2: Broadband evolution
Release 18 adds system enhancements that increase capacity and peak throughput while introducing new functions for operators and users. Continued MIMO evolution is a key area, enabling a single device to support more transmission streams for both mobile and fixed wireless access. Mobility management has been significantly optimized to provide a smoother user experience during handover. Other broadband-oriented improvements include dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS), carrier aggregation, precise positioning, and multi-SIM support.
Invention Area 3: IoT performance and extension
Release 18 includes new 5G system features to support a wide range of IoT applications, targeting broader adoption of 5G connections. Key items include support for enhanced reduced capability (RedCap) devices and small data transmissions, and study of low-power wake receivers (LP-WUR). Since many IoT services benefit from improved positioning, Release 18 adds optimizations for devices operating on narrower bandwidths, such as 20 MHz, and for direct communication positioning. For higher-performance IoT, the contributions address enhanced drone communications and further optimizations for extended reality (XR) use cases.
Invention Area 4: Efficient system design
Release 18 advances operational efficiency, flexible deployment, and spectrum utilization. New network energy-saving techniques aim to reduce operating cost. For deployment efficiency, the toolbox is expanded to cost-effectively extend coverage, with support for network-controlled relays (NCR), mobile integrated access and backhaul, advanced direct communication operation (including direct communication relays and NR-U direct communication), and enhancements for non-terrestrial networks (NTN). In spectrum efficiency, Release 18 explores sub-band full duplex designs with a focus on interference cancellation techniques that enable full duplex communications. Broadcast and multicast functionality is also improved to efficiently deliver data to multiple devices simultaneously.
Invention Area 5: Wireless AI foundation
AI and wireless are increasingly combined to address complex problems such as non-linear channel optimization. Release 18 begins evaluations of AI models and frameworks that can be integrated into end-to-end wireless systems. This work lays the groundwork for future Release 19 and Release 20 studies and for research into AI-native 6G platforms. Early investigations cover use cases such as mobility optimization, and air interface use cases including channel feedback, beam management, and positioning.
Release 18 builds on existing 4G and 5G radio foundations to introduce these enhancements.
Looking ahead
With Release 18 nearing completion, work on Release 19 projects is starting. Qualcomm continues to submit technical contributions and participate in standardization activities to advance 5G Advanced and related research topics.
