What Is 5G-Advanced? Releases 18 to 20 Without the Branding
5G-Advanced is a release name, not a generation: the same NR and 5G Core, extended from Release 18 with AI/ML, energy saving, new mobility and device classes. What each release carries and why it is 6G's proving ground.
3GPP adopted the name 5G-Advanced in 2021 for Release 18 onward. It marks a change of emphasis, not of system: the radio is still NR, the core is still the 5G Core, and a Release 17 device still works on a Release 18 network.
What changed is what the releases are for. Releases 15 to 17 built out the 5G feature set. From Release 18 the work turns to making that system cheaper to run, smarter to operate, and able to serve new device classes.
Release 18: the first 5G-Advanced release
AI/ML for the air interface. A study of three use cases — CSI feedback, beam management and positioning — including the problem of a model split between device and network.
Network energy saving. Letting cells and carriers reduce transmission when load allows, targeting the largest operating cost in the RAN.
L1/L2-triggered mobility. Cell changes driven by lower-layer measurements instead of full RRC handover, cutting interruption time.
eRedCap. A further-reduced capability tier below RedCap, for wearables and sensors.
Network-controlled repeaters, which amplify with beam and timing control from the gNB instead of blindly.
Alongside these: XR enhancements, NTN improvements, uplink coverage work, and a study of subband full duplex — transmitting and receiving in different parts of the same TDD carrier at the same time.
Releases 19 and 20
Release 19 takes AI/ML from study to specification for beam management and positioning, and adds a low-power wake-up signal so idle devices can sleep deeper. Ambient IoT — battery-less devices that harvest energy — is studied for the first time.
Release 20 completes the 5G-Advanced programme and runs the 6G study in parallel, feeding the first normative 6G work in Release 21.
What it means on a live network
Network-side features deploy fast. Energy saving is mostly gNB software and needs little from devices, so it can arrive on an existing network with an upgrade.
Device-dependent features deploy at device speed. Wake-up signals, eRedCap and two-sided AI/ML all need UE support, so their real availability tracks handset and module penetration — years, not a software release.
Check both sides before planning around a feature. The release number tells you what is specified, not what is usable.
Why it matters for 6G
Nearly every idea labelled 6G is being de-risked here first: learned models in the air interface, sensing, energy as a managed quantity, satellite integration. What will actually change in 6G follows those threads forward.
The mental model
5G-Advanced is a release name. Same NR, same 5G Core, backwards compatible.
Release 18 opened the programme: AI/ML study, energy saving, L1/L2-triggered mobility, eRedCap, repeaters.
Network-side features arrive with software; device-side ones arrive with devices.
It is 6G's proving ground. What matures here gets architected properly in Release 21.
Further reading
- 3GPP TR 38.843 — Study on AI/ML for NR air interface
- 3GPP TS 38.300 — NR and NG-RAN overall description, updated per release
- 3GPP release descriptions for Releases 18 and 19 — the per-feature summaries
- AI-RAN explained and NR beam management
Practise this on 5G6GTech
Our companion site turns these topics into flashcards and quizzes.
- Drill 5G concepts with the flashcard deck (opens on 5G6GTech in a new tab)
700 standards-aligned 5G concepts on a spaced-repetition schedule, covering RAN, the core and service-based architecture, the physical layer and 5G-Advanced.
- Test yourself in the 5G practice quiz (opens on 5G6GTech in a new tab)
Timed multiple-choice questions across the same 5G domains, with explanations for each answer.
Related Articles
Non-Terrestrial Networks: 3GPP Satellites, Delay Budgets, and Direct-to-Device
How 3GPP adapted NR for satellites: LEO/MEO/GEO trade-offs, the timing advance and HARQ changes long delays forced, transparent versus regenerative payloads, and what direct-to-device really delivers.
5G RedCap: Filling the Gap Between NB-IoT and Full 5G
What RedCap actually reduces — bandwidth, antennas, duplex and processing — which devices it targets, and how it compares to LTE Cat-1, eMTC and NB-IoT.
5G NR Architecture: Nodes, Interfaces and the Protocol Stack on One Page
The whole NG-RAN picture before the detail: the three domains, the interfaces between them, what each protocol layer is responsible for, and exactly where each one terminates once the gNB is split.
What Is 5G? The System Behind the Label
Strip away the marketing and 5G is two specified systems — NR and the 5G Core — built by 3GPP against ITU-R's IMT-2020 requirements. What those requirements were, what shipped, and where the releases stand.