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Monday, 23 October 2017

5G Architecture Options for Deployments?

I have blogged earlier about the multiple 5G Architecture options that are available (see Deutsche Telekom's presentation & 3G4G video). So I have been wondering what options will be deployed in real networks and when.
The 3GPP webinar highlighted that Option-3 would be the initial focus, followed by Option 2.


Last year AT&T had proposed the following 4 approaches as in the picture above. Recall that Option 1 is the current LTE radio connected to EPC.

ZTE favours Deployment option 2 as can be seen in the slide above

Huawei is favoring Option 3, followed by Option 7 or 2 (& 5)

Going back to the original KDDI presentation, they prefer Option 3, followed by Option 7.

If you are an operator, vendor, analyst, researcher, or anyone with an opinion, what options do you prefer?

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6 comments:

  1. ksec23 October 2017 at 18:35

    Sorry for possibly a dump question, but What exactly is 5G NR?

    We know there will be multiple frequencies, so it isn't like 4G where it is mostly bound to the traditional sub Ghz and 2.6Ghz, but with mmWave, 3.5Ghz, 5Ghz etc.
    But NR talks about OFDM, which is already being used in LTE. So what is New in 5G OFDM? Likely something new in the mmWave, but how about existing frequency?

    I see lots of mention of TDD in 5G presentation, are we still going to be kept with two 5G system like 4G, where one camp is TDD the other is FDD?

    Another question unrelated to 5G, about Small Cell. From a high level overview, how is Small Cell ( may be with LAA ) different from a WiFi Router ( In Size, in Power usage, etc ) with 4G uplink as enchor point? If they are similar, why aren't widely deployed?

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  2. Zahid Ghadialy23 October 2017 at 19:08

    >>5G NR
    Good question. I will do a post (or maybe a video)

    >>how is Small Cell ( may be with LAA ) different from a WiFi Router ( In Size, in Power usage, etc ) with 4G uplink as enchor point? If they are similar, why aren't widely deployed?

    Good question. I have a few pointers in my Small Cells Blog but I will add it to the video I am planning to create on this topic, soon. Youtube channel here.

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  3. Unknown24 October 2017 at 22:11

    Very informative. Would you please comment on "the future directions for the next-generation networks and standardization".

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  4. Zahid Ghadialy26 October 2017 at 07:59

    Dimitrios, depends on what you mean by next-generation networks. 5G is the next-gen mobile network and I have various posts on the direction and standardiation if you follow the 5G tag.

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  5. Toni Branco7 February 2018 at 12:49

    Hello,
    First thanks for your amazing work on this blog, it's really a treasure.
    I have a dumb question about the new 5G Core network, aka NGCN.
    Will it be :
    1) created from scratch with new (virtualized) nodes supporting the new functions (AMF, SMF etc) - My guess
    or
    2) Can existing nodes (MME, SGW, PGW etc) be upgraded ?

    In other words, will MNOs build the 5G NGCN aside and have (during a limited period) both cores running in parallel ?

    Thanks for your feedback!

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  6. Zahid Ghadialy7 February 2018 at 13:23

    Hi Toni, its a good question. Since this, I have created a tutorial on NGCN and Architecture. You can go through them via the 5G section on 3G4G page here.

    With regards to Q2, you may want to check out CUPS, before you jump on 5G - Control and User Plane Separation of EPC nodes (CUPS) in 3GPP Release-14

    Let me know how you get on.

    ReplyDelete