PDU Set-Based QoS Handling in 3GPP: Release 18 Overview and Future Directions

3GPP Release 18 introduced a framework for Protocol Data Unit (PDU) Set based QoS handling of Extended Reality (XR) media. The framework enables application awareness in the 5G System and allows the Radio Access Network to apply QoS handling based on PDU Set information. The aim is to optimize the delivery of multimodal bitstreams typical of XR services. This paper provides an overview of the PDU Set framework in 3GPP Release 18 and discusses potential developments in future releases.