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.
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,
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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
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Improve the efficiency considering
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RAN4 reduces the redundant and unnecessary work for big CRs, draft CRs and/or TPs, if any
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The following rules will be investigated and defined if necessary
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Investigate whether the workflow can be improved under the condition that quality can be guaranteed.
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Develop rules or guidelines covering the process of not for block approval.
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Develop the necessary tools to reduce RAN4's workloads if feasible
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Improve the quality considering
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RAN4 improves the procedures for cross-checking to avoid conflict between big CR/CRs across basket WIs and other WIs
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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
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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
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Study of similarity and dependency of RF requirements for different features on the same band combination
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Study the methodology to simplify RF requirement specifications for
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MSD requirements in TS 38.101-1 and TS 38.101-3, e.g., reducing the test configurations with different bandwidth combinations
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For Delta_TIB and Delta_RIB requirements, investigate and define the framework of the general principle or requirements with band-combination specific exceptions
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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.