Introduction of Protocol Stacks & NAS Protocols

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Protocol Stack
There are two types of Protocol Stack: Control Plane & User Plane
In the C-plane, the NAS functional block is used for network attachment, authentication,
setting up bearers, and mobility management. All NAS messages are ciphered and
integrity protected by the MMEand UE. The radio resource control (RRC) layer in
the eNB makes handover decisions based on neighbor cell measurements reported by
the UE, performs paging of the users over the air interface, broadcasts system
information, controls UE measurement and reporting functions such as the
periodicity of channel quality indicator (CQI) reports and further allocates cell-level
temporary identifiers to active users. It also executes transfer of UE context from the
serving eNB to the target eNB during handover and performs integrity protection of
RRC messages. The RRC layer is responsible for setting up and maintenance of radio
bearers.
In the U-plane, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer is responsible for
compressing or decompressing the headers of user-plane IP packets using robust
header compression (RoHC) to enable efficient use of air interface resources . The
radio link control (RLC) layer is used to format and transport traffic between the UE
and the eNB .

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Control Plane Protocol Stack

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User Plane Protocol Stack

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NAS Protocols
The NAS PROTOCOLS are

EMM

ESM

EMM(EPS MOBILITY MANAGEMENT)

The EMM protocol is responsible for handling the UE mobility within the system. It
includes functions for attaching to and detaching from the network.

performing location updating in between. This is called Tracking Area

Updating(TAU), and it happens in idle mode. Note that the handovers in connected
mode are handled by the lower layer protocols.

Authentication and protecting the UE identity, i.e. allocating the temporary identity
GUTI to the UE are also part of the EMM layer, as well as the control of NAS layer
security functions, encryption and integrity protection.

ESM(EPS session management)

This protocol may be used to handle the bearer management between the UE and
MME, and it is used in addition for E-UTRAN bearer management procedures.

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Radio Interface Protocols

Radio Resource Control (RRC): This protocol is in control of the radio

resource usage. It manages UEs signalling and data connections, and includes
functions for handover.

Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP): The main functions of PDCP are
IP header compression (UP), encryption and integrity protection (CP only).

Radio Link Control (RLC): The RLC protocol is responsible for segmenting
and concatenation of the PDCP-PDUs for radio interface transmission. It also
performs error correction with the Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) method.

Medium Access Control (MAC): The MAC layer is responsible for scheduling the data
according to priorities, and multiplexing data to Layer 1 transport blocks. The MAC
layer also provides error correction with Hybrid ARQ.

Physical Layer (PHY): This is the Layer 1 of LTE-Uu radio interface that takes care of
DS-CDMA Layer functions.

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Radio Interface Protocols

The S1 interface connects the E-UTRAN to the EPC, and involves the following
protocols:

S1 Application Protocol (S1AP): S1AP handles the UEs CP and UP connections between
the E-UTRAN and EPC, including participating in the handover when EPC is involved.

SCTP/IP signalling transport: The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) and
Internet Protocol (IP) represent standard IP transport suitable for signalling messages.
SCTP provides the reliable transport and sequenced delivery functions.

In the EPC, there are two alternative protocols for the S5/S8 interface. The following
protocols are involved, when GTP is used in S5/S8:

GPRS Tunneling Protocol, Control Plane (GTP-C): It manages the UP connections in

the EPC. This includes signalling the QoS and other parameters. If GTP is used in the
S5/S8 interface it also manages the GTP-U tunnels. GTP-C also performs the mobility
management functions within the EPC, e.g. when the GTP-U tunnels of a UE need to
be switched from one node to the other.

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Radio Interface Protocols

UDP/IP transport. The Unit Data Protocol (UDP) and IP are used as the standard and basic
IP transport. UDP is used instead of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) because the
higher layers already provide reliable transport with error recovery and re-transmission. IP
packets in EPC may be transported on top of a variety of L2 and L1 technologies. Ethernet
and ATM are some examples.

The following protocols are used, when S5/S8 is based on PMIP:

Proxy Mobile IP (PMIP): PMIP is the alternative protocol for the S5/S8 interface. It takes
care of mobility management, but does not include bearer management functions as such.
All traffic belonging to a UEs connection to a particular PDN is handled together.

IP: PMIP runs directly on top of IP, and it is used as the standard IP transport.

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Radio Protocol Stack Overview

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Terminology

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