Small data applications are expected to be a large growth area, with the potential for billions of connected devices. In many cases, this type of traffic poses different service requirements compared to conventional traffic types. For an important segment of applications, the requirements on power consumption and coverage versus data rate and latency may vary. The phenomenal success of WCDMA technologies means that up to the 2020 timescale and beyond, WCDMA will be a dominant 3GPP technology with a large coverage footprint. Furthermore, WCDMA devices are already available at a cost level that is suitable for the machine oriented communication market. In order to serve the market opportunities, many operators likely need to provide enhanced support for small data applications with a coverage footprint that WCDMA can provide. The current generation of WCDMA specifications has been optimized for mobile broadband traffic. To ensure that small data applications are properly addressed, the specifications should enable requirements on coverage in challenging device locations, low device power consumption and machine type data rates to be met. This Technical Report (TR) contains the investigations performed by the TSG RAN Working Groups involved in the study of small data transmission enhancements for UMTS.

The study on small data transmissions enhancements for UMTS has as a target to investigate and provide solutions in the areas of coverage, signalling optimization, support of massive deployment of devices, and power savings taking into consideration minimizing the impact on the physical layer, legacy terminals, and networks [2].

The following documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of the present document.

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