16.2 3GPP2

The Third-Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2) is a collaborative effort for generating 3G specifications for providing high-speed IP-based mobile systems. It was established for developing global specifications for network evolution from ANSI/TIA/EIA-41 to 3G, and global specifications for the radio transmission technologies supported by ANSI/TIA/EIA-41. 3GPP2 is mainly supported in North America, China, Japan, and South Korea and continues to play a dominant role in bringing IP technology to these cellular markets. 3GPP2 was born out of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) initiative for providing high-speed data over the wireless network.

Although discussions did take place between ETSI and the ANSI-41 community to consolidate collaboration efforts for 3G, in the end it was deemed appropriate to establish 3GPP2 as a parallel partnership project. However, ETSI (3GPP Secretariat) is an observer in 3GPP2, and TIA (3GPP2 Secretariat) is an observer in 3GPP. In addition, the groups collaborated through seminars to address interworking of the CN and radio access technologies between these two projects. These bridges have helped to foster openness, cooperation, and goodwill among the participants of each project.

3GPP2 is a collaborative agreement between telecommunications standards development organizations (SDOs), which are called organizational partners (OPs). The five officially recognized OPs are: ARIB, CWTS, TIA, TTA, and TTC. 3GPP2 requires that a participating individual member company be affiliated with at least one of the OPs. 3GPP2 has market representation partners (MRPs) such as CDMA Development Group (CDG), and IPv6 Forum. They provide guidance to 3GPP2 so the specifications meet the market requirements for services, features, and functionalities.

The functional organization of 3GPP2 (Figure 16-2) consists of a steering committee (SC), which manages the overall work process and adopting the technical specifications. The SC is composed of OPs and MRPs. The work of producing technical specifications is done by five TSGs. The TSGs meet, on average, ten times a year to produce technical specifications and reports . Each of the TSGs is comprised of representatives from the individual member companies. TSG-A deals with the access to network interface specifications (e.g., A interface). It also covers Abis and BSC to BTS interface specifications. TSG-C specifies cdma2000 air interface specifications. It also covers base station performance, channel codec, and conformance test specifications. Together, TSG-A and TSG-C are responsible for the radio access networks based on cdma2000. TSG-N specifies Layer 3 protocols for mobility management, call control, and other CN protocols and functionalities. It also covers wireless intelligent network (WIN) services. TSG-P works on wireless packet data interworking. It is responsible for data services and applications. TSG-S is responsible for the services and systems aspects, including the overall architecture, security, and OA&M aspects. TSG-S is responsible for defining the high-level requirements and network architectures required to support the future wireless Internet.

Figure 16-2. Organizational chart for 3GPP2.

3GPP2 has also achieved a lot in solving technical issues for bringing IP to the cellular users. TSG-P, along with the other TSGs, is active in pursuing an all-IP network for cdma2000 users. There are still open issues and work items that need to be completed. Some of the issues and work items are common with 3GPP (e.g., high-speed downlink data enhancements). The 3GPP2 all-IP network architecture model uses IETF-defined protocols, so necessary collaboration between these two standards bodies is necessary for timely delivery of the solutions. 3GPP2 still needs to support IPv6, to offer the benefits of IPv6 (e.g., more address space). The 3GPP2 wireless data network uses mobile IP for mobility; any delay in mobile IPv6 work is also going to delay support of IPv6 in the network. Development of cdma2000 single-carrier evolution for data and voice (1x-EV-DV) is still in progress. This work is highly desired for high-speed downlink packet access. Support for end-to-end QoS is also another open work item. 3GPP2 also needs to work on support of IP broadcast and multicast services. This may involve modifications in the air interface functions and protocols. Currently, there is no IP transport in the cdma2000 RAN. IP transport in the RAN is also another initiative toward all IP. 3GPP2 needs to provide support for IP multimedia applications, such as video streaming and video conferencing. In summary, there are plenty of tasks that need to be accomplished. 3GPP2 is going to serve as a platform for all the cdma2000-based operators to finish those tasks. The market is dynamic and the applications are evolving, and this may change the priority of tasks in the journey toward all IP.