[TBD]Learning from 3gpp mobile specs

BBUs

and baseband units. It is renamed as eNB in 4G and gNB in 5G.

MCPA

multi-carrier power amplifier

MPCA

Power channel allocation

CoMP

downlink coordinated multi-point

SON

self-organizing networks

KPIs

key performance indicators

QoE

quality of experience

HAAC

Hungarian Algorithm Assisted Clustering

SCMA

Sparse code multiple access

MOS

mean opinion score

Mobile data offloading

If a user requests content by a specific URL, while there is a cached content with the same URL address in the middle-box, the content is directly returned without fetching from a remote server. Refer http://mosaic-lab.org/uploads/papers/4e5732b2-eaed-48b0-9eda-08b810bd8022.pdf

RACH

Random access channel

Sleepy cell

When RACH is not working properly we effectively have a sleepy cell with no transmission activity taking place.

MEC

Mobile edge computing. In 5G, data unit is the edge.

WSN

Wireless sensor network (WSN) refers to spatially dispersed and dedicated sensors that monitor and record the physical conditions of the environment and forward the collected data to a central location.

CSI

Channel state information. This information describes how a signal propagates from the transmitter to the receiver and represents the combined effect of, for example, scattering, fading, and power decay with distance.

ADR

Average difference ratio

EAP

The authentication procedure in 3GPP 5G security has been designed as a framework to support the extensible authentication protocol (EAP)

Since it doesn’t need IP, so it is useful to authenticate the device before IP allocation

PLMN

Public Land Mobile Network

An operator (for example, Airtel) can have multiple PLMN. Refer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Network_Codes_in_ITU_region_4xx_(Asia)#India_-_IN_-_405 for many Airtel PLMN

PLMN code/ID

PLMN is identified by a globally unique PLMN code, which consists of a MCC (Mobile Country Code) and MNC (Mobile Network Code).

Serving PLMN and Home PLMN

When source NF and target NF are located in different PLMNs, the source NF is said to be in the "Serving PLMN", and the target NF (and the NRF where such NF is registered) is said to be in the "Home PLMN"

IPX

Intermediate Internetwork Packet Exchange

CP signaling

Control plane signalling

RBS

Rogue Base Station

NAI

Network Access Identifier. Refer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Access_Identifier

• 1. The NAI is used when roaming, to identify the user.

  2. To assist in the routing of the authentication request to the user's authentication server.

VSS

Visitor subscriber server

Serving network

Network with which UE(mobile) is connected. It can be home network or roaming network

SEAF

SECURITY ANCHOR FUNCTION

SA3

3GPP Security Working Group https://www.3gpp.org/news-events/1975-sec_5g

RAN resource

Random Access Network resource examples are bandwidth, eNB memory resource

CU-CP

Central Unit-Control Plane.. In 5G, gNB should eb closer due to high frequency. So, E-UTRAN is increased with more nodes

PCE

Path Computation Element

Control aspect

Actions taken to mitigate an attack are considered the control aspect.

5g network slicing

5G network slicing is a network architecture that enables the multiplexing of virtualized and independent logical networks on the same physical network infrastructure. It also supports multi-vendor and multi-tenant network models over a shared infrastructure.

PCRF

Policy and charging rule function. It configures P-GW (GW connecting to internet)

Fronthaul

Between UE and eNB

Backhaul

Behind eNB to LTE core network

Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN)

Its another name for 5G similar to LTE for 4G

MNOs

Mobile network operators

IMS

IP Multimedia Subsystem

E-UTRAN

Evolved Terrestrial Radio Access Network (Ref: http://ecee.colorado.edu/~ecen4242/LTE/e_utran.html)

SEG

Security gateway. It is not widely used due to slowness caused by IPsec tunnelling

NFVI

Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure

IMS

IP Multimedia

COTS

Commercial Off The Shelf

SOAR

Security Orchestration, Analytics And Response

3gpp

This is a standard body which has made 2G, 3G, 4G specifications. 5G is under progress

DU

Distributed unit (https://youtu.be/DeTASrRYalE?t=1513)

CU

Central unit (https://youtu.be/DeTASrRYalE?t=1513)

NE

Network Elements (eNB, S-GW, P-GW, MME, HSS etc.. verify)

N3IWF

Non 3gpp Inter working function (https://youtu.be/DeTASrRYalE?t=1513)

eNB

evolved NodeB. 4G radio node (Tower). Reliance Jio bought Samsung eNB

gNB

5g radio node(Tower)

Base stations

Same as eNB

SBA

Service based architecture

mMTC

Massive Machine Type Communication

eMBB

Enhanced Mobile Broadband

URLLC

Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication

SS7 attack

SS7 attacks are mobile cyber attacks that exploit security vulnerabilities in the SS7 protocol to compromise and intercept voice and SMS

UDM

User data management. 3gpp brought HSS functionality of 4G here.

Unified data management (https://youtu.be/DeTASrRYalE?t=1513)

UDR

Unified data repository (https://youtu.be/DeTASrRYalE?t=1513)

MME

Mobility Management Entity. Refer https://www.rcrwireless.com/20140509/diameter-signaling-controller-dsc/lte-mme-epc

HSS

Home subscriber server. Refer https://alepotech.medium.com/home-subscriber-server-hss-82470d3f332

UP

User plane

UPF

User plane function. The User Plane Function (UPF) is one of the network functions (NFs) of the 5G core network (5GC). TheThe UPF is responsible for packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, QoS handling, and external PDU session for interconnecting Data Network (DN), in the 5G architecture.

UE

User equipment. For example mobile handset

RRC

Radio resource control

5GC

5G Core Network

CHF

Charging Function

NF

Network Function.

NRF

The Network Function (NF) Repository Function (NRF) is the network entity in the 5G Core Network (5GC) supporting the following functionality:

• - Maintains the NF profile of available NF instances and their supported services;

• - Allows other NF instances to subscribe to, and get notified about, the registration in NRF of new NF instances of a given type;

• - Supports service discovery function. It receives NF Discovery Requests from NF instances, and provides the information of the available NF instances fulfilling certain criteria (e.g., supporting a given service).

Scenario

NRF with SCP

• • NRF can communicate to another NRF via SCP as well (below example)

S-NRF -> S-SEPP H-SEPP -> NRF

NF subscribe to other PLMN

• • When UE connects to roaming network, then it sends IMSI to gNodeB. gNodeB forwards it to AMF for authentication. AMF connects to AUSF in different PLMN using NRF in its own PLMN. When first UE roaming comes, then at that time, NRF on the PLMN of AMF subscribes to corresponding AUSF in home PLMN

Use of proxy

Proxy will subscribe on behalf of NF consumer in same/different PLMN since not all NF will have callback URI

Nnrf_NFDiscovery

• • The Nnrf_NFDiscovery service allows a NF or SCP Instance to discover other NF Instances with the potential services they offer, by querying the local NRF.

  • The Nnrf_NFDiscovery service also allows to a SCP discover other SCP instances.

  • The SCP is treated by the Nnrf_NFDiscovery service in the same way as NFs.

NF consumer flow for subscription

• • NF consumer will do the POST request on NFListRetrieval and mention the filter based on criteria

  • NRF gives the list of resource URIs(NF instances URI) matching this criteria

  • NF consumer looks at specific NF instance by calling NFProfileRetrieval API

  • NF consumer subscribe for change notification about selected resource URI using NFStatusSubscribe

NRF also acts as auth server. So, a client perform oauth using NRF before accessing NF. For. authentication, openID connect is used.

5G standalone and non-standalone

Non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA) are two 5G tracks that communication service providers can opt for when transitioning from 4G to the next-generation mobile technology.

Under NSA operation – meaning, 5G networks will be aided by existing 4G infrastructure. So service providers who want to be first to offer 5G speeds will start with NSA and, once 5G coverage is established, implement standalone 5G.

5G security services

AMF

Access and Mobility function.

Its security function. Is like MME of 4G

Unified access agnostic authentication

?? Refer https://youtu.be/DeTASrRYalE?t=1227

EPS

Evolved packet system(Refer below diagram which complete is told as EPS)