Standardization of Extended Reality (XR) over 5G and 5G-Advanced 3GPP New Radio

TL;DR

This paper discusses the integration of Extended Reality (XR) into 5G and 5G-Advanced networks, focusing on standardization efforts within 3GPP NR and evaluating XR performance in Release 17.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive tutorial on XR support in 3GPP NR, including a case study and future enhancement proposals for better XR integration.

Findings

Performance evaluation of XR services in NR Release 17

Identification of challenges in supporting XR over 5G networks

Proposals for future NR enhancements for XR support

Abstract

Extended Reality (XR) is one of the major innovations to be introduced in 5G/5G-Advanced communication systems. A combination of augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality, supplemented by cloud gaming, revisits the way how humans interact with computers, networks, and each other. However, efficient support of XR services imposes new challenges for existing and future wireless networks. This article presents a tutorial on integrating support for the XR into the 3GPP New Radio (NR), summarizing a range of activities handled within various 3GPP Service and Systems Aspects (SA) and Radio Access Networks (RAN) groups. The article also delivers a case study evaluating the performance of different XR services in state-of-the-art NR Release 17. The paper concludes with a vision of further enhancements to better support XR in future NR releases and outlines open problems in this area.