In December 2016, I first wrote an article introducing five wireless inventions that defined 5G new air ports (5G NR). Looking back now feels like yesterday. At that time, 5G had not yet been deployed, but since then we have continued to rapidly expand our global 5G layout. In July 2020, the second version of the 5G standard, Release 16, was frozen, and as of that time, over 70 mobile operators worldwide had already deployed commercial 5G services.

5G NR Release 15- Establishing the Foundation of 5G

Qualcomm's 5G vision is to create a unified connectivity architecture that supports diverse terminals, services, spectrum, and deployment methods. To achieve this goal, we have contributed numerous key inventions to the first 5G standard 3GPP Release 15, laying the technical foundation for the evolution of 5G over the next decade.

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Key Inventions Contributed by Qualcomm to the 3GPP 5G NR Release 15 Standard

Before discussing Release 16, let me first give a few examples to explain why Qualcomm's invention of Release 15 is so important for realizing the full potential of 5G. For example, a flexible framework based on time slots creates conditions for efficient reuse of different 5G services, including enhanced mobile broadband, mission critical services, and massive IoT. The flexible OFDM subcarrier bandwidth supports the same 5G NR design to be extended to different new spectral bands (from below 1GHz to above 60GHz), and mobile millimeter waves significantly increase network capacity to meet the needs of 5G expansion, making extreme speed possible. To better demonstrate the core role of these Release 15 inventions in 5G systems, we use the transportation system shown in the following diagram as an analogy.

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5G NR Release 15 Technology Analogy
 
Note:
Flexible slot based framework: a flexible framework based on time slots
Flexible road framework: a flexible transportation framework
 
5G NR Release 16- Driving 5G Expansion
In July 2020, 3GPP achieved another important milestone - completing the Release 16 specification, opening a new chapter in the evolution of 5G. Release 16 is a collaborative effort in the industry, which further enhances the foundation of 5G technology (coverage, mobility, efficiency, and reliability, etc.) and extends 5G to new use cases, frequency bands, and vertical industries. Release 16 includes a series of grand technological projects, which are distilled into six key invention areas that are crucial for the continuous evolution of 5G (in no particular order) in this article.
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Release 16 Key Inventions in Six Major Fields, Expanding and Enhancing 4G and 5G NR Foundations
 
Invention Field # 1: Unlicensed Spectrum
Expanding 5G to all spectrum types and frequency bands is one of the key focuses of Qualcomm's 5G vision, which not only brings greater capacity but also enables more flexible deployment. In the past decade, Qualcomm has been leading the development of licensed spectrum cellular technology. Release 16 has added support for 5G NR Unlicensed Spectrum (NR-U), which includes two operating modes: License Assisted Access (LAA) and independent deployment without the need for any licensed spectrum. The LAA mode supports mobile operators to use unlicensed spectrum to increase 5G bandwidth on the basis of LTE LAA. The independent NR-U model does not require licensed spectrum, so that a wider ecosystem benefits from 5G, including mobile operators, service providers, wireless Internet service providers (ISPs) and 5G enterprise private network operators. In addition, NR-U also supports the deployment of 5G in the new 6GHz frequency band. Looking ahead, NR-U will become the foundation of future spectrum innovation, such as the support for the 60GHz unlicensed frequency band in Release 17.