The first official release of 3GPP TR 21.918: “Release 18 Description; Summary of Rel-18 Work Items” has been published. It’s the first official version of 5G-Advanced. Quoting from the report: These improvements consist both in enhancements of concepts/Features introduced in the previous Releases and in the introduction of new topics.The following list is from the v1.0.0 table of contents to make it easier to find the list of topics. If it interests you, download the latest version technical report from the directory here.5 Satellite / Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN)5.1 General aspects5.1.1 User plane: “5G system with satellite backhaul” 5.1.2 Discontinuous coverage: “Satellite access Phase 2”5.1.3 Radio: “NR NTN enhancements”5.1.4 Charging and Management aspects of Satelite5.2 Specific aspects5.2.1 IoT (Internet of Things) NTN enhancements5.2.2 Guidelines for Extra-territorial 5G Systems5.2.3 5G system with satellite access to Support Control and/or Video Surveillance5.2.4 Introduction of the satellite L-/S-band for NR5.2.5 Other band-related aspects of satellite6 Internet of Things (IoT), Machine-Type Communication (MTC)6.1 Personal IoT and Residential networks6.2 Enhanced support of Reduced Capability (RedCap) NR devices6.3 NR RedCap UE with long eDRX for RRC_INACTIVE State6.4 Application layer support for Personal IoT Network6.5 5G Timing Resiliency System6.6 Mobile Terminated-Small Data Transmission (MT-SDT) for NR6.7 Adding new NR FDD bands for RedCap in Rel-186.8 Signal level Enhanced Network Selection6.9 IoT NTN enhancements7 Energy Efficiency (EE)7.1 Enhancements of EE for 5G Phase 27.2 Network energy savings for NR7.3 Smart Energy and Infrastructure8 Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAV), UAS, UAM8.1 Architecture for UAV and UAM Phase 28.2 Architecture for UAS Applications, Phase 28.3 NR support for UAV8.4 Enhanced LTE Support for UAV9 Sidelink, Proximity, Location and Positioning9.1 5GC LoCation Services – Phase 39.2 Expanded and improved NR positioning9.3 NR sidelink evolution9.4 NR sidelink relay enhancements9.5 Proximity-based Services in 5GS Phase 29.6 Ranging-based Service and sidelink positioning9.7 Mobile Terminated-Small Data Transmission (MT-SDT) for NR9.8 5G-enabled fused location service capability exposure10 Verticals, Industries, Factories, Northbound API10.1 Low Power High Accuracy Positioning for industrial IoT scenarios10.2 Application enablement aspects for subscriber-aware northbound API access10.3 Smart Energy and Infrastructure10.4 Generic group management, exposure and communication enhancements10.5 Service Enabler Architecture Layer for Verticals Phase 310.6 SEAL data delivery enabler for vertical applications10.7 Rel-18 Enhancements of 3GPP Northbound and Application Layer interfaces and APIs10.8 Charging Aspects of B2B10.9 NRF API enhancements to avoid signalling and storing of redundant data10.10 GBA_U Based APIs10.11 Other aspects11 Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML)11.1 AI/ML model transfer in 5GS11.2 AI/ML for NG-RAN11.3 AI/ML management & charging11.4 NEF Charging enhancement to support AI/ML in 5GS12 Multicast and Broadcast Services (MBS)12.1 5G MBS Phase 212.2 Enhancements of NR MBS12.3 UE pre-configuration for 5MBS12.4 Other MBS aspects13 Network Slicing13.1 Network Slicing Phase 313.2 Enhancement of NSAC for maximum number of UEs with at least one PDU session/PDN connection13.3 Enhancement of Network Slicing UICC application for network slice-specific authentication and authorization13.4 Charging Aspects of Network Slicing Phase 213.5 Charging Aspects for NSSAA13.6 Charging enhancement for Network Slice based wholesale in roaming13.7 Network Slice Capability Exposure for Application Layer Enablement13.8 Other slice aspects14 eXtended, Augmented and Virtual Reality (XR, AR, VR), immersive14.1 XR (eXtended Reality) enhancements for NR14.2 Media Capabilities for Augmented Reality14.3 Real-time Transport Protocol Configurations14.4 Immersive Audio for Split Rendering Scenarios (ISAR)14.5 Immersive Real-time Communication for WebRTC14.6 IMS-based AR Conversational Services14.7 Split Rendering Media Service Enabler14.8 Extended Reality and Media service (XRM)14.9 Other XR/AR/VR items15 Mission Critical and emergencies15.1 Enhanced Mission Critical Push-to-talk architecture phase 415.2 Gateway UE function for Mission Critical Communication15.3 Mission Critical Services over 5MBS15.4 Mission Critical Services over 5GProSe15.5 Mission Critical ad hoc group Communications15.6 Other Mission Critical aspects16 Transportations (Railways, V2X, aerial)16.1 MBS support for V2X services16.2 Air-to-ground network for NR16.4 Interconnection and Migration Aspects for Railways16.5 Application layer support for V2X services; Phase 316.6 Enhanced NR support for high speed train scenario in frequency range 2 (FR2)17 User Plane traffic and services17.1 Enhanced Multiparty RTT17.2 5G-Advanced media profiles for messaging services17.3 Charging Aspects of IMS Data Channel17.4 Evolution of IMS Multimedia Telephony Service17.5 Access Traffic Steering, Switch and Splitting support in the 5G system architecture; Phase 317.6 UPF enhancement for Exposure and SBA17.7 Tactile and multi-modality communication services17.8 UE Testing Phase 217.9 5G Media Streaming Protocols Phase 217.10 EVS Codec Extension for Immersive Voice and Audio Services17.11 Other User Plane traffic and services items18 Edge computing18.1 Edge Computing Phase 218.2 Architecture for enabling Edge Applications Phase 218.3 Edge Application Standards in 3GPP and alignment with External Organizations19 Non-Public Networks19.1 Non-Public Networks Phase 219.2 5G Networks Providing Access to Localized Services19.3 Non-Public Networks Phase 220 AM and UE Policy20.1 5G AM Policy20.2 Enhancement of 5G UE Policy20.3 Dynamically Changing AM Policies in the 5GC Phase 220.4 Spending Limits for AM and UE Policies in the 5GC20.5 Rel-18 Enhancements of UE Policy21 Service-based items21.1 Enhancements on Service-based support for SMS in 5GC21.2 Service based management architecture21.3 Automated certificate management in SBA21.4 Security Aspects of the 5G Service Based Architecture Phase 221.5 Service Based Interface Protocol Improvements Release 1822 Security-centric aspects22.1 IETF DTLS protocol profile for AKMA and GBA22.2 IETF OSCORE protocol profiles for GBA and AKMA22.3 Home network triggered primary authentication22.4 AKMA phase 222.5 5G Security Assurance Specification (SCAS) for the Policy Control Function (PCF)22.6 Security aspects on User Consent for 3GPP services Phase 222.7 SCAS for split-gNB product classes22.8 Security Assurance Specification for AKMA Anchor Function Function (AAnF)22.9 Other security-centric items23 NR-only items23.1 Not band-centric23.1.1 NR network-controlled repeaters23.1.2 Enhancement of MIMO OTA requirement for NR UEs23.1.3 NR MIMO evolution for downlink and uplink23.1.4 Further NR mobility enhancements23.1.5 In-Device Co-existence (IDC) enhancements for NR and MR-DC23.1.6 Even Further RRM enhancement for NR and MR-DC23.1.7 Dual Transmission Reception (TxRx) Multi-SIM for NR23.1.8 NR support for dedicated spectrum less than 5MHz for FR123.1.9 Enhancement of NR Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS)23.1.10 Multi-carrier enhancements for NR23.1.11 NR RF requirements enhancement for frequency range 2 (FR2), Phase 323.1.12 Requirement for NR frequency range 2 (FR2) multi-Rx chain DL reception23.1.13 Support of intra-band non-collocated EN-DC/NR-CA deployment23.1.14 Further enhancements on NR and MR-DC measurement gaps and measurements without gaps23.1.15 Further RF requirements enhancement for NR and EN-DC in frequency range 1 (FR1)23.1.16 Other non-band related items23.2 Band-centric23.2.1 Enhancements of NR shared spectrum bands23.2.2 Addition of FDD NR bands using the uplink from n28 and the downlink of n75 and n7623.2.3 Complete the specification support for BandWidth Part operation without restriction in NR23.2.4 Other NR band related topics24 LTE-only items24.1 High Power UE (Power Class 2) for LTE FDD Band 1424.2 Other LTE-only items25 NR and LTE items25.1 4Rx handheld UE for low NR bands (<1GHz) and/or 3Tx for NR inter-band UL Carrier Aggregation (CA) and EN-DC25.2 Enhancement of UE TRP and TRS requirements and test methodologies for FR1 (NR SA and EN-DC)25.3 Other items26 Network automation26.1 Enablers for Network Automation for 5G phase 326.2 Enhancement of Network Automation Enablers27 Other aspects27.1 Support for Wireless and Wireline Convergence Phase 227.2 Secondary DN Authentication and authorization in EPC IWK cases27.3 Mobile IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) for NR27.4 Further NR coverage enhancements27.5 NR demodulation performance evolution27.6 NR channel raster enhancement27.7 BS/UE EMC enhancements for NR and LTE27.8 Enhancement on NR QoE management and optimizations for diverse services27.9 Additional NRM features phase 227.10 Further enhancement of data collection for SON (Self-Organising Networks)/MDT (Minimization of Drive Tests) in NR and EN-DC27.11 Self-Configuration of RAN Network Entities27.12 Enhancement of Shared Data ID and Handling27.13 Message Service within the 5G system Phase 227.14 Security Assurance Specification (SCAS) Phase 227.15 Vehicle-Mounted Relays27.16 SECAM and SCAS for 3GPP virtualized network products27.17 SECAM and SCAS for 3GPP virtualized network products27.18 MPS for Supplementary Services27.19 Rel-18 enhancements of session management policy control27.20 Seamless UE context recovery27.21 Extensions to the TSC Framework to support DetNet27.22 Multiple location report for MT-LR Immediate Location Request for regulatory services27.23 Enhancement of Application Detection Event Exposure27.24 General Support of IPv6 Prefix Delegation in 5GS27.25 5G Timing Resiliency System27.26 MPS when access to EPC/5GC is WLAN27.27 Data Integrity in 5GS27.28 Security Enhancement on RRCResumeRequest Message Protection28 Administration, Operation, Maintenance and Charging-centric Features28.1 Introduction28.2 Intent driven Management Service for Mobile Network phase 228.3 Management of cloud-native Virtualized Network Functions28.4 Management of Trace/MDT phase 228.5 Security Assurance Specification for Management Function (MnF)28.6 5G performance measurements and KPIs phase 328.7 Access control for management service28.8 Management Aspects related to NWDAF28.9 Management Aspect of 5GLAN28.10 Charging Aspects of TSN28.11 CHF Distributed Availability28.12 Management Data Analytics phase 228.12 5G System Enabler for Service Function Chaining28.13 Other Management-centric items29 Other Rel-18 Topics