Evaluation of constellation shaping for the 6G radio interface

Determine whether geometric and probabilistic constellation shaping should be supported in the 6G radio interface, following the deferral of its evaluation to the September 2026 3GPP plenary meeting.

Background

The 6G radio-interface study had produced an agreed LDPC BG3 channel-coding baseline by June 2026, but the applicability and benefits of geometric and probabilistic constellation shaping had not yet been resolved. The authors explicitly identify the evaluation as remaining open and note that it was deferred to a subsequent plenary meeting. The unresolved decision concerns whether these shaping techniques should form part of the standardized 6G physical-layer design.

References

For channel coding, RAN agreed{A} to support a low-density parity-check base graph 3 (LDPC BG3) subject to applicability conditions, while the evaluation of geometric and probabilistic constellation shaping was deferred to the September 2026 plenary and so remains open{P}.

— 6G as It Is Actually Being Built: Insights from Early 3GPP Standardization  (2610.05694 - Tu et al., 5 Oct 2026) in Section 3, “The 6G Radio Interface”