5G Core Network – a Short Overview

Posted on 5th June 2017 by Marcin Dryjanski

The 5G System (5GS) will have three main components as defined below:

1. 5G Access Network (5G-AN)

2. 5G Core Network (5GC)

3. Use Equipment (UE)

This blog is dedicated to describing the main components of the 5G Core Network as defined by the
ongoing efforts at 3GPP SA [1].
The 5G system is being designed to support data connectivity and services which would enable
deployment, by the industry, using new techniques such as Network Function Virtualization and Software
Defined Networking. The need for these new techniques rises due to the various different profiles of data
services that need to be supported by the 5G network. So far mobile networks had been designed keeping
the average smartphone user in the center but with 5G this is changing as with the boom of data
connectivity various use cases having completely different data requirements have come up and the
network operator needs to satisfy all these requirements as efficiently as possible.
Having such requirements in mind the 3GPP has kept the basic idea of having a flat architecture where
the Control Plane (CP) functions are separated from the User Plane (UP) in order to make them scaling
independent allowing operators to use this functional split for dimensioning, deploying and adapting the
network to their needs easily. Another central idea in the design of 5G has been to minimize
dependencies between the Access Network (AN) and the Core Network (CN) with a converged access-
agnostic core network with a common AN – CN interface which integrates different 3GPP and non-3GPP
access types.
Network Functions
In order to facilitate the enablement of different data services and requirements the elements of the 5GC,
also called Network Functions, have been further simplified with most of them being software based so
that they could be adapted according to need. The 5G System architecture consists of the following
network functions (NF) majority of which constitute the 5GC:
– Authentication Server Function (AUSF)
– Core Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF)
– Data network (DN), e.g. operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services
– Structured Data Storage network function (SDSF)
– Unstructured Data Storage network function (UDSF)
– Network Exposure Function (NEF)
– NF Repository Function (NRF)
– Policy Control function (PCF)
– Session Management Function (SMF)
– Unified Data Management (UDM)
– User plane Function (UPF)
– Application Function (AF)
– User Equipment (UE)
– (Radio) Access Network ((R)AN)
The modularity of the network functions also opens up the possibility to enable another new and efficient
feature i.e. Network Slicing.
The interaction between network functions in the current form is envisaged in the following two ways as
per [1]:

1. The first method is the service-based representation in which one network function (e.g. AMF) within
the Control Plane allows other network functions, which have been authorised, to access its services.
This representation also includes point-to-point reference points between the NFs where necessary
(see figure 1).
 Figure 1: 5G System Service-based architecture [1]

2. On the other hand is the reference point representation which focuses on the interactions between
pairs of network functions defined by point-to-point reference point (e.g. N7) between any two network
functions (e.g. SMF and PCF). This kind of representation is used when some interaction exists
between any two network functions (see figure 2).

Figure 2: Non-Roaming 5G System Architecture in reference point representation [1]

Summary
With the development of 5G speeding up1, we can see a clearer picture of what the future generation
wireless network would like to be able to achieve. The 5G core network aims to be flexible enough to
adapt and satisfy the needs for Gbps seeking smartphone users as well as low latency seeking critical
services along with low speed IoT devices. It is also being designed to be more open and modular than
its predecessor allowing the different entities inside the core network to interact with each other without
any preconditions and allowing to define procedures for this interaction. And this would be achieved with
the help of new techniques like Network Function Virtualization, Network Slicing, and Software Defined
Networking2 etc.

References
[1] 3GPP TS 23.501 V0.4.0 (2017-04)

¹ The evolution to 5G and the progress so far has been discussed in the following post: 3GPP Release-
15: Further LTE Enhancements and 5G Normative Work Kick-off
² Read about the key technologies creating all the buzz around 5G in our blog post: 5G Trends

5G, Mobile Networks 3GPP, 5G, Architecture, Control Plane, Design, Network Evolution, Network
Slicing, NextGen, RAN, SDN, Towards 5G

MARCIN DRYJANSKI
Marcin Dryjanski received his M.Sc. degree in telecommunications from the Poznan
University of Technology in Poland in June 2008. During the past 8 years, Marcin
has served as R&D Engineer, Lead Researcher, R&D Consultant, Technical Trainer
and Technical Leader. He has been providing expert level courses in the area of
LTE/LTE-Advanced for leading mobile operators and vendors. Marcin provides
consulting services to business projects in the area of 5G related topics. In addition
to that, Marcin was a workpackage leader in EU-funded research projects aiming at
radio interface design for 5G including FP-7 5GNOW and FP-7 SOLDER. He co-
authored a number of research papers targeting 5G radio interface design. To
contact Marcin please write to: marcin.dryjanski@grandmetric.com
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