5G • 5G-Advanced (Rel-18)
Sidelink DRX for Wearables
Power-Saving Discontinuous Reception for Sidelink UEs
Standardizes sleep/wake cycles for peer-to-peer PC5 links, allowing pedestrian smartphones and wearables to conserve battery while listening for alerts.
Technical Explanation
In earlier releases, vehicles had car batteries and could listen to the sidelink radio continuously. When extending V2X to Vulnerable Road Users (VRU)—pedestrians and cyclists carrying smartphones—continuous listening drains batteries in hours. Rel-18 Sidelink DRX synchronizes sleep and wake windows across peer UEs, slashing standby power consumption by 90%.
Key Functions
- Enables power-saving discontinuous reception across direct peer-to-peer PC5 links
- Allows pedestrian smartphones and smartwatches to participate safely in V2X networks
- Synchronizes wake-up listening windows between neighboring peer devices autonomously
- Extends pedestrian battery autonomy while preserving real-time collision warning alerts
Specifications
3GPP TS 38.304, TS 38.321 (Rel-18)
Interfaces
PC5 (Sidelink DRX)
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