In continuation of our series, let’s discuss a little on network architecture.

The entire 5G system is

divided into three main parts:

➢ 5G Core network: It provides connectivity to the Internet and application servers

➢ 5G Access network: It can be a 3GPP next generation Radio access network(NG-RAN) or a non
3GPP AN.
➢ UE : In layman terms Mobile

Let’s discuss a little on them one by one.

Access Network: NG-RAN can have multiple implementations from deployment perspective. Based on
the requirement, we can choose whatever implementation close fit to our requirement. Few options
are:

✓ Standalone NR base station

✓ Standalone LTE Base-station upgraded to allow connection to the 5G core network
✓ Non-standalone base station using NR as the anchor and LTE as an extension
✓ Non-standalone Base-station using LTE as anchor and NR as an extension

You might be wondering now what is standalone and non-standalone architecture. Let’s first see the
difference between these SA and NSA mode.

NSA Mode: In NSA mode, which stands for non-standalone architecture, this mode will leverage the
existing 4G deployments. Only data plane will be from 5G(Hence, no overloading of EPC(Evolved Packet
core--- This is core network of LTE) with 5G signaling). The pictorial representation is illustrated in Fig.1

Fig.1 NSA mode architecture example

Now, you might be wondering what is control and data plane, I’ll be discussing about these planes in
next article, but for time being, I'll tell you little detail so that you get a fair idea on it.

➢ Control Plane: It carries signaling traffic. Control plane contains the data regarding the
management of the network (e.g. username, password, authentication key, billing etc.)
 ➢ Data Plane or User Plane: It carries the network user traffic. It contains the data regarding the
content send/received by the user (e.g. text message, voice, photo, videos, website etc.)

SA Mode: Full fledged completely independent 5G.(self sufficient) .SA scheme is that the 5G base station
is directly connected to the 5G core network and the control signaling doesn’t depend upon 4G network
at all.

Fig.2 SA mode architecture example

5G deployment options:

Below are the 3 options families comes under SA mode deployment:

♦ Option1
♦ Option 2
♦ Option 5

NSA mode deployment option:

In the initial deployment phase of 5G, NSA option 3 for ENDC (E-UTRAN NR dual connectivity) has been
implemented. In this option, LTE is used as the control plane anchor for NR, and both LTE and NR are
used for data plane traffic. In the next article, we will discuss about option 3,3a and 3x mode of
implementation.