Enhanced network slicing and power saving tests for 5G new radio

Anritsu Corporation has launched the first enhanced Network Slicing and User Equipment (UE) power saving Protocol Conformance Tests for 5G New Radio (NR) Standalone (SA) verified on the 5G NR Mobile Device Test Platform ME7834NR powered by the Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System, the world’s first Release 16 modem-RF system.

Network Slicing is a crucial 5G NR feature that allows support of specific use cases on a network slice, a set of network resources dynamically configured for the purpose. 3GPP Release 16 offers support for interworking from EPC to 5GC for network slices and presents authentication and authorisation controls.

Power saving for UE is another area where 3GPP Release 16 has defined several new features such as Wake up signal, Adaptive MIMO Layer reduction, Enhanced Cross-slot scheduling, and Relaxed radio resource management measurement.

“3GPP Release 16 which is described as the next stage for 5G NR enables new use cases and monetisation opportunities for vertical industry segments,” said Shinya Ajiro, general manager of Mobile Solutions Division at Anritsu Corporation. “We are proud that our collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. enables us to help the industry to implement and test the new features quickly”.

3GPP defines the conformance tests in TS 38.523-1 corresponding to core requirements in TS 38.331and have been submitted to 3GPP RAN WG5 by Anritsu. These tests will also be submitted to GCF CAG, and PTCRB PVG for approval in the upcoming meetings.