Content for TR 38.846 Word version: 18.1.0

3.1 Terms 3.2 Symbols 3.3 Abbreviations
...

1 Scope p. 7

The present document is a technical report for simplification of band combination specification for NR and LTE. The purpose of this TR is to further optimize and improve the working procedure for specifying band combination. A technical report will be created to collect the rules of band combination during the timescale of Rel-18 so as to improve the efficiency of band combination specifying and the quality of specifications. The dependency and applicability for RF requirements among different features for the same spectrum combination to reduce the redundant tests will also be investigated in the TR. The valid rules and valuable guidelines for requesting and specifying band combinations in Rel-17 TR 38.862 are captured in the TR.

2 References p. 7

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

References are either specific (identified by date of publication, edition number, version number, etc.) or non-specific.
For a specific reference, subsequent revisions do not apply.
For a non-specific reference, the latest version applies. In the case of a reference to a 3GPP document (including a GSM document), a non-specific reference implicitly refers to the latest version of that document in the same Release as the present document.

[1]

TR 21.905: "Vocabulary for 3GPP Specifications".

[2]

RP-221790, "Revised SID: Study on simplification of band combination specification for NR and LTE", RAN#96.

[3]

TR 38.817-01: "General aspects for User Equipment (UE) Radio Frequency (RF) for NR".

[4]

TS 38.101-1: "NR; User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception; Part 1: Range 1 Standalone".

[5]

TS 38.101-2: "NR; User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception; Part 2: Range 2 Standalone".

[6]

TS 38.101-3: "NR; User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception; Part 3: Range 1 and Range 2 Interworking operation with other radios".

[7]

TR 38.862: "Study on band combination handling in RAN4".

[8]

RP-202832, "New WID: Introduction of bandwidth combination set 4 (BCS4) for NR", RAN#90-e.

[9]

R4-2220556, WF on triple beat rules and MSD for inter-band with 2UL with intra-band ULCA, RAN4#105.

3 Definitions of terms, symbols and abbreviations p. 7

3.1 Terms p. 7

For the purposes of the present document, the terms given in TR 21.905 and the following apply. A term defined in the present document takes precedence over the definition of the same term, if any, in TR 21.905.

Aggregated Channel Bandwidth:

The RF bandwidth in which a UE transmits and receives multiple contiguously aggregated carriers.

Carrier aggregation:

Aggregation of two or more component carriers in order to support wider transmission bandwidths.

Carrier aggregation band:

A set of one or more operating bands across which multiple carriers are aggregated with a specific set of technical requirements.

Carrier aggregation bandwidth class:

A class defined by the aggregated transmission bandwidth configuration and maximum number of component carriers supported by a UE.

Carrier aggregation configuration:

A combination of CA operating band(s) and CA bandwidth class(es) supported by a UE.

Contiguous carriers:

A set of two or more carriers configured in a spectrum block where there are no RF requirements based on co-existence for un-coordinated operation within the spectrum block.

Fallback group:

Group of carrier aggregation bandwidth classes for which it is mandatory for a UE to be able to fallback to lower order CA bandwidth class configuration. It is not mandatory for a UE to be able to fallback to lower order CA bandwidth class configuration that belong to a different fallback group.

Inter-band carrier aggregation:

Carrier aggregation of component carriers in different operating bands.

Intra-band contiguous carrier aggregation:

Contiguous carriers aggregated in the same operating band.

Intra-band non-contiguous carrier aggregation:

Non-contiguous carriers aggregated in the same operating band.

Sub-block:

This is one contiguous allocated block of spectrum for transmission and reception by the same UE. There may be multiple instances of sub-blocks within an RF bandwidth.

3.2 Symbols p. 8

For the purposes of the present document, the following symbols apply:

ΔR_IB,c

Allowed reference sensitivity relaxation due to support for inter-band CA operation, for serving cell c

ΔT_IB,c

Allowed maximum configured output power relaxation due to support for inter-band CA operation, inter-band NR-DC operation and due to support for SUL operations, for serving cell c

BW_Channel

Channel bandwidth

BW_{Channel_CA}

Aggregated channel bandwidth, expressed in MHz

NRB

Transmission bandwidth configuration, expressed in units of resource blocks

3.3 Abbreviations p. 8

For the purposes of the present document, the abbreviations given in TR 21.905 and the following apply. An abbreviation defined in the present document takes precedence over the definition of the same abbreviation, if any, in TR 21.905.

BCS

Bandwidth Combination Set

Base Station

Bandwidth

Carrier Aggregation

CA_nX-nY

Inter-band CA of component carrier(s) in one sub-block within Band nX and component carrier(s) in one sub-block within Band nY where nX and nY are the applicable NR operating bands.

Component carrier

Dual Connectivity

DownLink

E-UTRA

Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access

EN-DC

E-UTRA/NR DC

FDD

Frequency Division Duplex

IMD

Inter-modulation

LTE

Long Term Evolution

MR-DC

Multi-radio DC

MSD

Maximum Sensitivity Deduction

NE-DC

NR/E-UTRA DC

New Radio

NR-DC

NR/NR DC

Radio Frequency

Receiver

SCS

Subcarrier spacing

TDD

Time Division Duplex

Transmitter

User Equipment

UpLink

V2X

Vehicle to Everything

4 Background p. 9

At 3GPP RAN#96 meeting, a revised Rel-18 Study Item "Study on simplification of band combination specification for NR and LTE" was approved. The objectives are as follows,

Investigate and simplify the working procedure for approving documents for TS and TR to improve the efficiency to specify band combinations and the quality of specifications
Improve the efficiency considering
- RAN4 reduces the redundant and unnecessary work for big CRs, draft CRs and/or TPs, if any
- The following rules will be investigated and defined if necessary
  - Investigate whether the workflow can be improved under the condition that quality can be guaranteed.
  - Develop rules or guidelines covering the process of not for block approval.
- Develop the necessary tools to reduce RAN4's workloads if feasible
Improve the quality considering
- RAN4 improves the procedures for cross-checking to avoid conflict between big CR/CRs across basket WIs and other WIs
- RAN4 captures the agreements about the rules and guidelines including but not being limited to the outcome of the above sub-bullets in the corresponding TR

Investigate the feasibility and optimize the specification structure and reduce the test burden

Study the methodology to simplify the test efforts for a UE supporting multiple features, e.g., NR-CA, EN-DC on the same band combination
- Study of similarity and dependency of RF requirements for different features on the same band combination
Study the methodology to simplify RF requirement specifications for
- MSD requirements in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3, e.g., reducing the test configurations with different bandwidth combinations
- For Delta_TIB and Delta_RIB requirements, investigate and define the framework of the general principle or requirements with band-combination specific exceptions
- For Delta_TC,c, investigate whether it can be removed in low boundary formula for Pcmax

The target is that after the completion of the study item, the working procedure to specify the band combinations will be refined and the quality of specifications will be improved in the stage of Rel-18. A set of new guidance on band combination handling, rule collections and band combination optimization for RAN4 specifications will be approved. The feasibility to reduce the test burden of band combinations will be discussed. It is suggested that the rules related to the band combinations should be applied to the latest RAN4 specifications after the completion of the SI.