13 How to follow this area yourself

13.1 The one thing to know before you search

3GPP documents are filed against a work item acronym, not against a subject. Searching for "Ambient IoT" finds the documents that happen to say it.

Searching for the acronym finds the documents that belong to the work. That is a different and much better list, and it is how all 10771 documents behind this course were counted ^[1].

So the first thing you need is the acronyms.

13.2 The names to search for

All 37 rows the register holds are below, umbrella rows and sibling parts included, because a search will return them whether you expected them or not ^[2].

Acronym	What it is	Release	Group	Documents
FS_Ambient_IoT_RAN FS_Ambient_IoT_RAN	RAN feasibility study	Rel-18	RAN	177
FS_AmbientIoT FS_AmbientIoT	the founding SA1 study	Rel-19	SA1	1379
FS_AmbientIoT FS_AmbientIoT	the SA2 architecture study	Rel-19	SA2	1379
AmbientIoT AmbientIoT	SA1 normative work	Rel-19	SA1	201
AmbientIoT AmbientIoT	the second row of the same name	Rel-19	—	201
FS_Ambient_IoT_solutions FS_Ambient_IoT_solutions	RAN solutions study	Rel-19	RAN1	2357
FS_Ambient_IoT_Sec FS_Ambient_IoT_Sec	SA3 security study	Rel-19	SA3	726
Ambient_IoT_Solutions Ambient_IoT_Solutions	RAN normative, umbrella	Rel-19	—	341
Ambient_IoT_Solutions-Core Ambient_IoT_Solutions-Core	RAN normative, core	Rel-19	RAN1	1234
Ambient_IoT_Solutions-Perf Ambient_IoT_Solutions-Perf	RAN normative, performance	Rel-19	RAN4	78
AmbientIoT-ARC AmbientIoT-ARC	SA2 architecture, normative	Rel-19	SA2	695
AmbientIoT-SEC AmbientIoT-SEC	SA3 security, normative	Rel-19	SA3	434
AmbientIoT-CH AmbientIoT-CH	charging	Rel-19	SA5	15
AmbientIoT-CT AmbientIoT-CT	CT protocols, umbrella	Rel-19	—	959
AmbientIoT-CT AmbientIoT-CT	CT protocols, CT1 part	Rel-19	CT1	959
AmbientIoT-CT AmbientIoT-CT	CT protocols, CT3 part	Rel-19	CT3	959
AmbientIoT-CT AmbientIoT-CT	CT protocols, CT4 part	Rel-19	CT4	959
Ambient_IoT_Solutions_plus_CT1_SA3-ConTest Ambient_IoT_Solutions_plus_CT1_SA3-ConTest	conformance testing	Rel-19	RAN5	65
FS_AmbientIoT_Ph2_ARC FS_AmbientIoT_Ph2_ARC	phase 2 architecture study	Rel-20	SA2	324
FS_AmbientIoT_Ph2_APP FS_AmbientIoT_Ph2_APP	phase 2 application study	Rel-20	SA6	178
FS_AIoT_SEC_Ph2 FS_AIoT_SEC_Ph2	phase 2 security study	Rel-20	SA3	239
FS_Ambient_IoT_Outdoor_Active FS_Ambient_IoT_Outdoor_Active	outdoor active devices study	Rel-20	RAN1	353
FS_AmbientIoT_Ph2_CH FS_AmbientIoT_Ph2_CH	phase 2 charging study	Rel-20	SA5	0
Ambient_IoT_Solutions_Ph2 Ambient_IoT_Solutions_Ph2	phase 2 RAN, umbrella	Rel-20	—	167
Ambient_IoT_Solutions_Ph2-Core Ambient_IoT_Solutions_Ph2-Core	phase 2 RAN, core	Rel-20	RAN1	534
Ambient_IoT_Solutions_Ph2-Perf Ambient_IoT_Solutions_Ph2-Perf	phase 2 RAN, performance	Rel-20	RAN4	1
AmbientIoT_Ph2-ARC AmbientIoT_Ph2-ARC	phase 2 architecture	Rel-20	SA2	280
AmbientIoT_Ph2-APP AmbientIoT_Ph2-APP	phase 2 application enablement	Rel-20	SA6	74
AmbientIoT_Ph2-OAM AmbientIoT_Ph2-OAM	phase 2 management	Rel-20	SA5	15
AmbientIoT_Ph2-SEC AmbientIoT_Ph2-SEC	phase 2 security	Rel-20	SA3	0
AmbientIoT_Ph2 AmbientIoT_Ph2	phase 2 CT, umbrella	Rel-20	—	0
AmbientIoT_Ph2-CT AmbientIoT_Ph2-CT	phase 2 CT, second umbrella	Rel-20	—	40
AmbientIoT_Ph2-CT AmbientIoT_Ph2-CT	phase 2 CT, CT1 part	Rel-20	CT1	40
AmbientIoT_Ph2-CT AmbientIoT_Ph2-CT	phase 2 CT, CT3 part	Rel-20	CT3	40
AmbientIoT_Ph2-CT AmbientIoT_Ph2-CT	phase 2 CT, CT4 part	Rel-20	CT4	40
AmbientIoT_Ph2-CT AmbientIoT_Ph2-CT	phase 2 CT, CT6 part	Rel-20	CT6	40
AmbientIoT_Ph2_APP-CT AmbientIoT_Ph2_APP-CT	phase 2 CT application work	Rel-20	CT3	0

13.3 The documents that decided things

Each of these is the paper a plenary approved. Open one and you get the scope, the objectives, the affected specifications and the group that owns it — which is more useful, when you are starting, than any specification.

Document	What it did	Meeting
SP-220085 SP-220085	opened the whole area	SP-95-e
RP-232404 RP-232404	opened the RAN feasibility study	RP-101
SP-231403 SP-231403	started SA1 normative work	SP-102
SP-240969 SP-240969	started the architecture study	SP-104
RP-240826 RP-240826	started the RAN solutions study	RP-103
SP-240506 SP-240506	started the security study	SP-103
SP-250377 SP-250377	started architecture normative work	SP-107
SP-250369 SP-250369	started charging	SP-107
CP-252196 CP-252196	started the CT protocol work	CP-109
RP-252105 RP-252105	started the RAN normative work	RP-109
SP-251196 SP-251196	revised the security work item	SP-109
SP-250834 SP-250834	opened phase 2 architecture study	SP-108
SP-250870 SP-250870	opened the application enablement study	SP-108
SP-251246 SP-251246	opened the phase 2 security study	SP-109
RP-252894 RP-252894	opened phase 2 RAN work	RP-109
RP-253381 RP-253381	opened conformance testing	RP-110
RP-253394 RP-253394	opened the outdoor active-device study	RP-110
SP-260296 SP-260296	opened phase 2 architecture normative work	SP-111
SP-260311 SP-260311	opened phase 2 management	SP-111
SP-260315 SP-260315	opened phase 2 application enablement	SP-111
CP-261030 CP-261030	opened phase 2 CT protocol work	CP-112
CP-261295 CP-261295	opened phase 2 CT application work	CP-112
SP-260665 SP-260665	opened phase 2 security normative work	SP-112
SP-260656 SP-260656	opened the phase 2 charging study	SP-112

The prefix tells you which plenary approved it: SP- for SA, RP- for RAN, CP- for CT.

A number beginning S2-, S3-, C1- or R1- is a working group document, not a plenary one — the four letters in this register are of that kind S2-2605244 S2-2605226 S3-262519 S3-262517.

13.4 The folders

Every group entry in the register carries the address of that group's document folder on 3gpp.org, along with its first and last Ambient IoT meeting:

RAN1 RAN2 RAN3 RAN4 RAN5 RAN SA1 SA2 SA3 SA5 SA6 SA CT1 CT3 CT4 CT6 CT.

Those meeting numbers are the useful part. If you want SA2's Ambient IoT argument, you want meetings between S2-160-Ad Hoc-e and S2-175, not the whole folder SA2.

13.5 The order to do it in

• O1. Read one work item description. Start with SP-220085 for the whole area, or with the description of whichever group you care about SP-220085.

• O2. Read the study report of that part. TR 22.840 for requirements, TR 38.769 for radio, TR 23.700-13 for architecture, TR 33.713 for security TR 22.840 TR 38.769 TR 23.700-13 TR 33.713.

• O3. Then read the specification. TS 22.369, TS 38.291 and TS 38.391, TS 23.369, TS 33.369 TS 22.369 TS 38.291 TS 38.391 TS 23.369 TS 33.369.

• O4. Then the stage 3 for the piece you care about. TS 24.369 for the device conversation, TS 29.569 and TS 29.369 for the core services TS 24.369 TS 29.569 TS 29.369.

• O5. Only then go to the meeting documents, searching by acronym, and only for the question you could not answer from the four above.

13.6 Where this school stops

This course carries no specification text and no meeting document. What it carries is the map: which acronym, which document number, which folder, which group, and in what order.

Everything past that point is on 3gpp.org, and every entry in the register links to it. What the record cannot answer at all — however long you read — is What the record cannot tell you.