Sidelink Mode 2 Operations in Unlicensed Bands: Design Challenges and Potential Approaches

Abstract

Sidelink is a 3GPP-standardized technology that provides direct UE-to-UE communication links, originally intended to operate in licensed 5G spectrum. However, due to the recent availability of large swaths of unlicensed bands (notably 6 GHz), 3GPP has initiated studies to support sidelink operation in such unlicensed spectrum. This paper discusses potential new use cases for sidelink, identifies challenges for adapting sidelink to these new unlicensed bands and user scenarios, and outlines potential approaches that are currently being considered in the design of sidelink to operate in the unlicensed bands.