How to read 3GPP Specs

Hello guys ,


I am figuring out a way where I can post out some thoughts of mine for quick refrence . To start with allow me to publish this LTE releated specfication reading mechanism.

Many a times for freshers and even for the experienced guys it becomes difficult to figure out how to actually read a 3GPP Techinal Specification (TS) . Before reading the specs you should understand what is the nomenclature of the specs.

All 3GPP Techinical Specifications start with keywrd TS and have a specification number consisting of 4 or 5 digits.
The first two digits define the series i.e 23 series , 29 series etc followed by a dot(.) and further digits. After the decimal there could be 2 digits or three digits . The 2 decimal digits are for the series ranging between 01 to 13 and the 3 digit decimal number is for the series ranging between 21 to 55.
Eg: TS 09.02 or TS 23.401

The "version" is comprised of three fields:
1.major
2.technical
3. editorial
and each has a numeric value, starting with zero. The fields are separated with dots, and the version number shows major, technical and editorial fields respectively from left to right. Thus a spec whose major field is 4, whose technical field is 7 and whose editorial field is 1 would be shown as version 4.7.1.

The major version field reflects the stage of the spec:

0 = immature draft
1 = draft which is at least 60% complete and has been presented / will shortly be presented to the responsible TSG for information
2 = draft which is at least 80% complete and has been presented / will shortly be presented to the responsible TSG for approval
3 or greater = spec which has been approved by the responsible TSG and is under change control.

The technical version field is incremented each time a technical change is made to the spec as a result of the drafting process (major version <= 2) or as a result of the incorporation of one or more approved Change Requests (major version > 2).

The editorial version field is incremented each time a non-technical change is made to the spec, for example to correct trivial typographical errors