00:00Hi, in the last session, we understand the need of 5G technology and its advancements
00:05and we also talked about the variety of use cases which are planned to serve by 5G technology.
00:11Now in this session, we will be briefly talking about the 5G systems and control plane and
00:16user plane and curves in 5G.
00:19Ok, so before reaching to 5G, we should see that how 3G and 4G systems first look like
00:25and then we will compare that in brief with the 5G systems.
00:29So this is how the 3G systems look like.
00:323G systems have three main sections.
00:35The user equipment or UE like smartphones and modems.
00:39The radio access network or RAN which is also known as UTRAN.
00:46This is responsible for wireless access through the components like NodeB and the RNC, radio
00:52network controllers.
00:53And the last section is core network which consists of different functions like storage
00:59of subscriber data, security, policy management, mobility management, etc.
01:04Well, I am not going deep on these components at the moment.
01:08This is just a brief section.
01:10Now the 4G system, this also looks similar like we have user equipment, one radio access
01:16network which is called E-UTRAN in 4G and it includes E-NodeB and one core network,
01:22this is known as Evolved Packet Core or EPC core.
01:26This EPC or Evolved Packet Core also handles similar functions like 3G core but with little
01:33more advanced capabilities.
01:35Now continuing the trend, the 5G network also consists of user equipment, the radio access
01:40network and the core network.
01:43The 5G user equipment includes 5G enabled smartphones, laptops, tablets, modems, Internet
01:49of Things devices and even 5G routers for fixed wireless access.
01:54The 5G radio access network or 5G-RAN includes G-NodeB which supports the new radio interface
02:01called NR.
02:02In some cases, you might also see NG-NodeB which supports both NR and LTE technology.
02:10The 5G core network has the functions like storing subscriber data, mobility management,
02:15session management, etc.
02:17The defining aspect of the 5G core is that in 5G core, there is a clear separation of
02:23control plane and user plane functions and that allows more efficient and flexible network
02:29operations.
02:30The 5G core is designed with the modern software technologies including service-based architecture
02:36and network virtualization which make the network more adaptable and scalable.
02:41So as mentioned, separation of control plane and the user plane is one of the key principles
02:46of 5G architecture.
02:48So what is this control plane and user plane separation?
02:52Let's understand this with one example.
02:55Consider in some 5G use cases like massive machine type communications, there are many
03:00devices that sends small amount of data.
03:04When these devices are dominating in some network area, then there is a need to scale
03:08the control signaling infrastructure to handle them efficiently.
03:13On the other hand, we have mobile broadband devices and these devices create a large demand
03:18of user plane functions compared to the control signals because this handles more data flow.
03:24And if these devices are more common in some network, then the user plane need to be scaled
03:29up rather than the control signaling.
03:32So if there is no separation of control plane and user plane functions, we would have to
03:37scale both functions together even if only one of them needs it.
03:42And this would be an inefficient way of integration because it may create the wastage of network
03:47resources.
03:49By separating the control plane and user plane, we can scale each one based on the network's
03:54specific need.
03:56Separating control plane and user plane also helps achieving the lower latency which is
04:01crucial for 5G applications.
04:04This is the diagram of 4G system.
04:06So you can see that 4G system with the indication of control plane and user plane traffic.
04:12You can see that the control plane traffic marked in green and the user plane traffic
04:16is in orange.
04:18In the 4G system, at the top, both the serving gateway and packet gateway handles control
04:23plane and user plane functions, means it handles both of these data.
04:27But in the 5G core, at the bottom architecture, the control plane of serving gateway and packet
04:33gateway are combined together with parts of MME to form the session management function
04:38shown here as an SMF.
04:42The user plane of serving gateway and packet gateway forms the user plane functions, indicated
04:47here as UPF.
04:49This separation of control plane and user plane functions is known as CUPS, which stands
04:56for control and user plane separation.
04:58In 5G, the mobility management functions of the MME evolved into the access and mobility
05:04management functions, normally called as AMF.
05:08The HSS becomes User Data Management or UDM.
05:12And the PCRF turns into the Policy Control Functions or PCF.
05:17And all together they form the 5G core.
05:19Ok, so that's it for today.
05:21In the next session, we will be talking about 5G deployment strategies and options.
05:25So stay tuned for the updates.
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