- The study: TR 26.870, Study on Media Aspects for 6G System (3GPP SA4, Release 20).
- Status: a draft, V0.6.1. Of its findings, only those on AI traffic characteristics are written so far.
- 5G-MAG's part: the traffic of AI media services, measured with the 6G AI Traffic Characterization Testbed.
What the study covers
TR 26.870 studies media-related aspects for 6G mobile networks, to improve existing services and support new ones. It aims to meet the 6G system requirements developed in TR 22.870 and captured by TS 22.270, in alignment with the SA2 architecture study, TR 23.801-01.
Its work is organised in seven work topics. The consolidated findings are collected per topic.
| Work topic | Covers | Findings |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Media Delivery Architecture | The media delivery architecture; multi-component media services | To be completed |
| 2. 6G media | 2D video codecs; media traffic characteristics; AI services and formats; end-to-end service quality | Initial findings on AI traffic characteristics; the rest to be completed |
| 3. Media aspects related to SA2 topics | AI for 6G; integrated sensing and communication | To be completed |
| 4. Media for ubiquitous access | To be completed | |
| 5. Trusted and private communication for media | Trusted real-time media communication; preservation and verification; multimodal and multi-source association | To be completed |
| 6. Software and asset management | To be completed | |
| 7. Real-time communication system enhancements | No findings clause yet |
AI traffic characteristics
Traffic characteristics of media services are relevant to the design of 6G radio and service architectures. For AI media services, the study obtains them itself, with a framework in its annexes: a testbed that makes the measurements, test scenarios, network profiles and metrics, and the methodology with its results.
The study records five initial findings: AI traffic is uplink heavy in some scenarios; it is bursty; round-trip delay determines responsiveness; traffic varies within one application; and some traffic is structured in tokens. The findings are to be updated as more measurement results become available.
The testbed
What it measures and how, and how to run it.
Results
The measurements behind each finding.
5G-MAG inputs to 6G
Contributions to the 3GPP 6G workshops.
Sources for this page
- At a glance: TR 26.870 V0.6.1, cover; clause 7 (clauses 7.2 to 7.7 carry only editor's notes).
- What the study covers: TR 26.870 V0.6.1, clause 1; work topics and their sub-clauses from clause 6; findings from clauses 7.1 to 7.7.
- AI traffic characteristics: TR 26.870 V0.6.1, clause 6.3.3.1 and clause 7.1, with its editor's note.