Key 3GPP Specifications

The 50 most important 3GPP specifications, selected based on how frequently they are referenced by other documents.

Methodology: Ranking is derived from citation analysis — how often each specification is referenced by other 3GPP documents. Specifications with a paired LTE/NR counterpart (e.g. TS 38.331 / TS 36.331) are flagged with an Evolution badge, indicating AI-generated cross-release analysis is available.

Filter by series:All 22 23 29 33 36 38

#1TS 23.5015G System Architecture

TS5GC420 citations

#2TS 23.502Procedures for the 5G System

TS5GC398 citations

#3TS 38.331NR Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification

TS5G NR385 citationsEvolution

#4TS 36.331E-UTRA Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification

TSLTE371 citationsEvolution

#5TS 38.300NR and NG-RAN Overall Description

TS5G NR360 citationsEvolution

#6TS 36.300E-UTRA and E-UTRAN Overall Description

TSLTE349 citationsEvolution

#7TS 38.213NR Physical Layer Procedures for Control

TS5G NR338 citationsEvolution

#8TS 38.211NR Physical Channels and Modulation

TS5G NR327 citationsEvolution

#9TS 36.213E-UTRA Physical Layer Procedures

TSLTE316 citationsEvolution

#10TS 36.211E-UTRA Physical Channels and Modulation

TSLTE305 citationsEvolution

#11TS 38.321NR Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol Specification

TS5G NR298 citationsEvolution

#12TS 36.321E-UTRA Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol Specification

TSLTE291 citationsEvolution

#13TS 38.322NR Radio Link Control (RLC) Protocol Specification

TS5G NR284 citationsEvolution

#14TS 36.322E-UTRA Radio Link Control (RLC) Protocol Specification

TSLTE277 citationsEvolution

#15TS 38.323NR Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) Specification

TS5G NR270 citationsEvolution

#16TS 36.323E-UTRA Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) Specification

TSLTE263 citationsEvolution

#17TS 38.401NG-RAN Architecture Description

TS5G NR256 citations

#18TS 38.413NG Application Protocol (NGAP)

TS5G NR249 citationsEvolution

#19TS 36.413S1 Application Protocol (S1AP)

TSLTE242 citationsEvolution

#20TS 38.423Xn Application Protocol (XnAP)

TS5G NR235 citationsEvolution

#21TS 36.423X2 Application Protocol (X2AP)

TSLTE228 citationsEvolution

#22TS 38.470F1 General Aspects and Principles

TS5G NR221 citations

#23TS 38.473F1 Application Protocol (F1AP)

TS5G NR214 citations

#24TS 38.133NR Requirements for Support of Radio Resource Management

TS5G NR207 citationsEvolution

#25TS 36.133E-UTRA Requirements for Support of Radio Resource Management

TSLTE200 citationsEvolution

#26TS 38.104NR Base Station (BS) Radio Transmission and Reception

TS5G NR194 citationsEvolution

#27TS 36.104E-UTRA Base Station (BS) Radio Transmission and Reception

TSLTE188 citationsEvolution

#28TS 38.101-1NR User Equipment (UE) Radio Transmission and Reception, Part 1 (FR1)

TS5G NR182 citations

#29TS 36.101E-UTRA User Equipment (UE) Radio Transmission and Reception

TSLTE176 citations

#30TS 23.401General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Enhancements for E-UTRAN Access

TSEPC170 citations

#31TS 33.501Security Architecture and Procedures for 5G System

TSSecurity164 citations

#32TS 33.4013GPP System Architecture Evolution (SAE): Security Architecture

TSSecurity158 citations

#33TS 38.214NR Physical Layer Procedures for Data

TS5G NR152 citationsEvolution

#34TS 36.214E-UTRA Physical Layer Measurements

TSLTE146 citationsEvolution

#35TS 38.215NR Physical Layer Measurements

TS5G NR140 citations

#36TS 37.340Multi-connectivity; Overall Description

TS5G NR134 citations

#37TS 38.201NR Physical Layer; General Description

TS5G NR128 citationsEvolution

#38TS 36.201E-UTRA Physical Layer; General Description

TSLTE122 citationsEvolution

#39TS 38.202NR Physical Layer Services Provided by the Physical Layer

TS5G NR116 citations

#40TS 38.212NR Multiplexing and Channel Coding

TS5G NR110 citationsEvolution

#41TS 36.212E-UTRA Multiplexing and Channel Coding

TSLTE105 citationsEvolution

#42TS 38.304NR User Equipment (UE) Procedures in Idle Mode and RRC Inactive State

TS5G NR100 citationsEvolution

#43TS 36.304E-UTRA User Equipment (UE) Procedures in Idle Mode

TSLTE95 citationsEvolution

#44TS 38.306NR User Equipment (UE) Radio Access Capabilities

TS5G NR90 citationsEvolution

#45TS 36.306E-UTRA User Equipment (UE) Radio Access Capabilities

TSLTE85 citationsEvolution

#46TS 38.101-2NR User Equipment (UE) Radio Transmission and Reception, Part 2 (FR2)

TS5G NR80 citations

#47TS 38.420Xn General Aspects and Principles

TS5G NR75 citations

#48TS 38.410NG General Aspects and Principles

TS5G NR70 citations

#49TS 23.503Policy and Charging Control Framework for the 5G System

TS5GC65 citations

#50TS 29.244Interface between the Control Plane and the User Plane Nodes

TS5GC60 citations

50

Key Specifications

10,409

Total Citations

6

Series Covered

32

With Evolution Data