1. Introduction & scope Release-17 was intended as the first major consolidation/evolution step after Rel-16: adding new vertical and architectural capability without a full redesign. Release-17 contains both PHY-centric items (RAN1) and higher layer/procedural items (RAN2, RAN3), plus RF/test requirement updates (RAN4) and conformance/OAM items (RAN5). This article focuses on the RAN WGs (RAN1–RAN5) and practical implementation details drawn from the 3GPP work items and tech