White Papers

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15 | Whitepaper – Exploring Computing Platforms for Radio Access
Networks
Figure 16: 5G NR control plane functionality
The user plane software components are distributed across the network elements as shown in
Figure 17. An example of a data transaction flow is provided. To reduce latency contribution
from the network, the two elements in the ePC (namely S-GW and P-GW) have been reduced
to one element in the 5G CN (called UPF). This reduces the amount of time the packet needs
to traverse the stack and thus the overall end-to-end system latency.
Figure 17: 5G NR user plane functionality.
4.4 5G Edge Service Network Architecture
Since the 5G CN has partitioned the control plane and user plane functionality, the network can
be re-architected to address latency sensitive applications. Much like Figure 9, Figure 18
separates the user plane from the 5G CN to allow placement of these functions closer to the
edge of the network, also referred to as Edge Cloud. As previously mentioned, and as
described in an ETSI whitepaper,
10
this architecture supports emerging mobile edge computing
applications.
PHY
MAC
RLC
PDCP
UE
MM
PHY
MAC
RLC
PDCP
RRC
L1
L2
IP
SCTP
N2-C
L1
L2
IP
SCTP
N2-C
RRC
MM
AMF
gNB
NAS Signaling
Air Interface
Control Plane
N2
Uu
SDAP SDAP
PHY
MAC
RLC
PDCP
UE
App
PHY
MAC
RLC
PDCP
L1
L2
IP
UDP
GTP-U
L1
L2
IP
UDP
GTP-U
IP
UPFgNB
Air Interface
User Plane
N3
Uu
UDP/
TCP
L1
L2
IP
UDP
GTP-U
L1
L2
IP
App
UDP/
TCP
Server
Application
N6
SDAP
SDAP