3GPP provided the specifications of 5G in Release 15. Releases 16 and 17 provided improvements to the system performance and supported the integration of new scenarios for verticals. The upcoming Release 18 will define “5G Advanced,” a milestone towards 6G. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will be new key components of 5G Advanced. They got already introduced in Release 17 for network automation, but are expected to play a more prominent role for network and service management as well as orchestration in real- and non-real-time. It is expected that AI/ML will boost the performance in all layers of the network, particularly in the orchestration of the emerging technologies of the mobile core and Radio Access Network (RAN).  New services, such as Extended Reality (XR), will be considered together with the improvements of the 5G system.  Efforts will be also spent on improving further other existing services and features, such as network slicing, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAV), Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC), Non-Public Networks (NPN), Multicast and Broadcast Service (MBS), enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB); and Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) integration.

Scope of Contributions

This Special Issue (SI) is intended to provide tutorial information and original research articles to the IEEE Communications Standards Magazine readers on 5G Advanced. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Enhancements to UAV with system and service aspects
• 5G System Support for AI/ML based services
• Architecture enhancements for XR and media services
• MEC Enhancements
• Enhanced support for non-public networks
• Technological enablers for network automation
• Enhancements for non-terrestrial networks and satellite access
• Privacy and security enhancements for 5G Advanced
• Network slicing enhancements
• NR coverage and mobility enhancements
• AI/ML for new generation RAN and O-RAN
• AI/ML and closed loop automation in 5G advanced core
• Life cycle management of AI/ML
• Network exposure capabilities towards verticals
• Distribute ledge technology for the 5G Advanced
• Enhanced security towards zero trust
• Power saving enhancements
• Enhancements for enhanced Mobile Broadband
• Enhanced support for Industrial IoT and Digital Twin

Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts should conform to the standard format as indicated in the Information for Authors section of the Paper Submission Guidelines. All manuscripts to be considered for publication must be submitted by the deadline through Manuscript Central. Select “December 2022/5G Advanced” from the drop-down menu of Topic/Series titles.

Important Dates

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 31 May 2022
Decision Notification: 31 October 2022
Final Manuscript Due: 15 November 2022
Publication Date: December 2022

Guest Editors

Andreas Kunz
Lenovo/Motorola Mobility

Tarik Taleb
University of Oulu

George Alexandropoulos
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Konstantinos Samdanis
Nokia

JaeSeung Song
Sejong University