Description
A Requirement Enhancement (RE) is a fundamental document type in the 3GPP standards development process. It is not a network function or protocol, but a procedural artifact used to formally define and justify new technical requirements or modifications to existing ones. An RE document is the output of a 3GPP Technical Specification Group (TSG) or Working Group (WG) after studying a new service, feature, or system aspect. It serves as the bridge between high-level service concepts and the detailed technical specifications that implement them.
The RE creation process typically begins with a Study Item (SI) or a feature proposal within a group like SA1 (Services) or RAN1 (Radio Layer 1). The group analyzes the proposed concept, its feasibility, and its impact on the system. The RE document captures the consensus on what needs to be standardized. It includes a detailed description of the requirements, such as functional capabilities, performance targets (e.g., latency, reliability, data rate), security aspects, and impacts on existing network entities and interfaces. The RE will reference specific use cases and scenarios that motivate the requirements.
Once approved by the relevant TSG, the RE is assigned to the appropriate specification groups (e.g., SA2 for architecture, SA3 for security, RAN groups for radio aspects) as a work item. These groups then develop or modify the normative Technical Specifications (TS) and Technical Reports (TR) to fulfill the mandated requirements. The RE document itself, often published as a Technical Report (e.g., TR 22.804 for a study on enhanced V2X), remains as a permanent record of the agreed-upon objectives and constraints. This process ensures that the development of complex specifications is driven by clear, agreed-upon needs, maintaining focus and traceability throughout the standardization lifecycle.
Purpose & Motivation
The RE process exists to provide structure, clarity, and traceability to the evolution of the 3GPP system. Mobile communication standards are immensely complex, involving hundreds of specifications. Without a formal mechanism to define and agree on *what* needs to be built before defining *how* to build it, the standardization process could become chaotic and inefficient. The RE serves as the formal contractual agreement among 3GPP members on the scope and goals of a new feature.
Historically, as 3GPP systems evolved from basic voice (3G) to broadband data (4G) and now to a platform for diverse industries (5G), the number of proposed features exploded. The RE process addresses the limitations of ad-hoc feature development by forcing a rigorous requirements phase. It ensures that all aspects—service requirements, security, regulatory needs, and network impacts—are considered holistically before detailed protocol design begins. This mitigates the risk of developing specifications that are technically sound but do not meet actual market or regulatory needs, or that create unforeseen conflicts with other system parts. It is a cornerstone of 3GPP's successful, collaborative, and multi-vendor standardization model.
Classification
Detected Changes Across Releases
from 3GPP Change RequestsSpecific changes extracted from the „Change history“ tables of 3GPP specifications (504 CRs across 5 releases). Complements the general historical overview above with the evidence-based evolution of this function.
Studied in Rel-5, normative work from Rel-15.
In Release 15, the Requirement Enhancement (RE) function introduced new performance and demodulation requirements for several key physical layer procedures, including SPUCCH, subslot-PUSCH, and sTTI. It also expanded co-location and co-existence test requirements to cover New Radio (NR) alongside existing E-UTRA bands. Furthermore, the release finalized and corrected specific requirements for NB-IoT TDD operation and enhanced base station receiver requirements for advanced features like 1024QAM and eFeMTC.
- Performance requirements for SPUCCH TS 36.104CR4799
- Performance requirements for subslot-PUSCH TS 36.104CR4800
- Addition of NR bands to E-UTRA co-location blocking requirements TS 36.104CR4801
- Introduction of BS demodulation requirements for eFeMTC (TS36.104) TS 36.104CR4805
- CR on BS requirements for DL 1024QAM in TS 36.141 TS 36.141CR1130
- Addition of NR co-location and co-existence test requirements TS 36.141CR1184
+ 47 more changes
In Release 16, the Requirement Enhancement (RE) function introduced new performance and co-existence requirements, including specific demodulation and performance requirements for enhanced High-Speed Train (HST) scenarios for both PUSCH and PRACH. It also added new co-existence requirements for operation in Band n48 and for NR-U (NR in Unlicensed spectrum), alongside the introduction of performance requirements for NPUSCH format 1 multi-TB interleaved transmission and for the n96 band.
- CR to 36.104: Introduction of co-existence requirements with Band n48 TS 36.104CR4857
- CR to TS 36.104: Introduction of PUSCH performance requirements for enhanced HST scenario TS 36.104CR4883
- CR to TS 36.104: Introduction of PRACH performance requirements for enhanced HST scenario TS 36.104CR4884
- CR: Introduce NPUSCH format 1 performance requirements for multi-TB interleaved transmission. TS 36.104CR4909
- CR to 36.104: Introduction of NR-U co-existence requirements TS 36.104CR4911
- CR: Addition of NPUSCH format1 performance requirements for multi-TB interleaved transmission in TS 36.104 TS 36.104CR4915
+ 96 more changes
In Release 17, the Requirement Enhancement (RE) function introduced new coexistence and performance requirements for specific frequency bands and technologies. This included new requirements for bands such as n24, n100, and the licensed band 6425-7125MHz, as well as for NB-IoT base stations. The release also added requirements for High Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS), Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) enhancements, and coverage enhancements for NR.
- CR to 36.104: Inroduction of n24 requirements TS 36.104CR4927
- CR to TS36.104 the introduction of coexistence requirements of licensed band 6425-7125MHz TS 36.104CR4958
- Big CR for TS 36.104 for Rel-17 NB-IoT BS performance requirements TS 36.104CR4960
- CR to 36.141: Introduction of n24 requirements TS 36.141CR1295
- CR to 36.141 on introduction of n102 co-existence requirements TS 36.141CR1327
- CR to TS36.141 the introduction of coexistence requirements of licensed band 6425-7125MHz TS 36.141CR1336
+ 86 more changes
In Release 18, the RE function introduced new demodulation and RF performance requirements for several advanced deployment scenarios. These enhancements specifically targeted Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) for IoT and NR, NR Air-to-Ground (ATG) communications, and NR Mobile Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) nodes. The release also defined new requirements for operation in channel bandwidths of less than 5 MHz in FR1 and for specific physical channels like the PRACH for High-Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) systems.
- Big CR to TS36.102: Introduction of IoT-NTN UE demodulation requirements TS 36.102CR0008
- Big CR to TS 36.108 for IoT over NTN SAN demodulation requirements introduction TS 36.108CR0006
- Big CR for 38.104 on 4Tx PUSCH demodulation requirements TS 38.104CR0537
- CR for TS 38.104 on adding RF requirements for ATG BS TS 38.104CR0543
- (NR_ATG-Perf) BigCR to TS 38.104 Introduction of demodulation performance requirements for NR ATG BS TS 38.104CR0565
- (NR_ATG-Core) CR for TS 38.104 on adding RF requirements for ATG BS TS 38.104CR0566
+ 177 more changes
In Release 19, the Requirement Enhancement (RE) function introduced new demodulation performance requirements for 5G broadcast over Geostationary Satellite Orbit (GSO) and for IoT-NTN Phase 3, including requirements for the Subscriber Access Node (SAN). It also established new BS RF requirements for Subband Full Duplex (SBFD)-capable base stations and for operation in the U6GHz band, alongside enhancements for network energy savings and NR mobility.
- (LTE_band_5G_bcast_GSO-Perf) CR on adding UE demodulation requirements for 5G broadcast over GSO TS 36.102CR0122
- Big CR on 36.108 for Rel-19 IoT-NTN Phase 3 demodulation requirements TS 36.108CR0047
- Big CR: Introduction of SAN demodulation requirements for IoT-NTN Phase 3 TS 36.181CR0035
- CR to TS 37.145-2 OTA test reduction for out-of-band blocking requirement TS 37.145CR0411
- CR to TS 38.104 for introduction of U6GHz EEIRP core requirement TS 38.104CR0694
- CR to TS38.104 to introduce BS RF requirement for SBFD-capable BS TS 38.104CR0729
+ 68 more changes
Explore further
Broader topics and technologies where RE plays a role.
Defining Specifications
3GPP specifications that define or reference RE, with the latest known release. Sourced from the 3GPP document catalog — see methodology.
| Specification | Title | Release |
|---|---|---|
| TR 21.905 vj00 | 3GPP Technical Terms and Definitions | Rel-19 |
| TR 22.804 vg30 | 5G Automation in Vertical Domains Study | Rel-16 |
| TS 23.048 v1400 | Secured Packets for UICC Remote Management | Rel-5 |
| TS 36.101 vj30 | LTE UE Radio Transmission & Reception Requirements | Rel-19 |
| TS 36.102 vj10 | E-UTRA UE Satellite Access RF Requirements | Rel-19 |
| TS 36.104 vj10 | Base Station (BS) radio transmission and reception | Rel-19 |
| TS 36.108 vj10 | Satellite Access Node RF Requirements | Rel-19 |
| TS 36.116 vj00 | E-UTRA Relay RF Requirements | Rel-19 |
| TS 36.117 vj00 | E-UTRA Relay RF Test Methods & Requirements | Rel-19 |
| TS 36.141 vj00 | E-UTRA BS Conformance Testing | Rel-19 |
| TS 36.181 vj30 | E-UTRA RF Test Methods for Satellite Access Node | Rel-19 |
| TS 36.213 vj10 | LTE Physical Layer Procedures | Rel-19 |
| TS 36.216 vj00 | LTE Relay Node Physical Layer | Rel-19 |
| TS 36.521 vj00 | E-UTRA UE Conformance ICS Proforma | Rel-19 |
| TS 36.855 vd00 | E-UTRA Positioning Enhancements Study | Rel-13 |
| TS 36.863 vc00 | CRS Interference Mitigation for Homogeneous Networks | Rel-12 |
| TS 36.878 vd00 | LTE Performance Enhancements for High Speed Scenarios | Rel-13 |
| TS 36.884 vd10 | MMSE-IRC Receiver Performance for LTE BS | Rel-13 |
| TS 36.894 vd00 | Study on LTE Measurement Gap Enhancement | Rel-13 |
| TS 37.105 vj10 | AAS Base Station Transmission & Reception Requirements | Rel-19 |
| TS 37.145 vj10 | AAS Base Station Conducted Conformance Testing | Rel-19 |
| TS 37.842 vd30 | BS RF Requirements for Active Antenna Systems | Rel-13 |
| TR 37.843 vf70 | AAS BS Radiated RF Requirement Background | Rel-15 |
| TS 38.101 vj31 | NR User Equipment Radio Transmissions | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.104 vj20 | NR Base Station RF Requirements | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.108 vj20 | NTN NR Satellite Access Node RF Requirements | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.174 vj10 | NR Integrated Access and Backhaul Radio Spec | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.176 vj20 | IAB Conformance Testing Specification | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.181 vj10 | NR Satellite Access Node RF Testing | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.191 vj00 | NR Ambient IoT RF Characteristics | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.213 vj10 | NR Physical Layer Control Procedures | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.521 vj20 | NR Physical Layer UE Conformance Testing | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.551 vi30 | User Equipment (UE) Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Over-the-Air (OTA) performance | Rel-18 |
| TS 38.741 vj00 | NTN L-/S-band for NR Technical Specification | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.755 vj10 | NR FR1 DL Fragmented Carriers Study | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.774 vj00 | Rel-19 LP-WUS/WUR RF Requirements TR | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.793 vj00 | Simultaneous Rx/Tx Band Combinations TR | Rel-19 |
| TS 38.817 | 3GPP TR 38.817 | Rel-5 |
| TR 38.839 vh00 | Simultaneous Rx/Tx band combinations | Rel-17 |
| TS 38.863 vj10 | NR NTN RF and Co-existence Spec | Rel-19 |
| TR 38.878 vi40 | Technical Report on Advanced Receiver for MU-MIMO | Rel-18 |
| TR 38.881 vi00 | Technical Report on Lower MSD for Inter-band CA/EN-DC/DC | Rel-18 |
| TR 38.889 vg00 | NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum study | Rel-16 |
| TR 38.894 vi00 | Technical Report | Rel-18 |
| TR 38.912 vj00 | Study on New Radio Access Technology | Rel-19 |
| TR 45.926 vj00 | GERAN BTS Energy Saving Study | Rel-19 |