Feasibility study for transport and control separation in the PS CN domain
The scope of this Technical Report (TR) is to capture the results of a feasibility study on how to introduce a clear separation of transport and control functions in the PS CN domain, with minimum impacts on the reference logical architecture for R’00.
With this separation in view, functional elements of the PS CN domain that provide both significant control and transport functions may be decomposed into two separate functional entities: one entity taking care of the control functionality and an other entity handling the payload transport. An exact distribution of the functions currently supported by a single functional entity between new functional entities and other network entities will be defined as the result of this feasibility study, if necessary.
A standard control protocol should be used between the control and transport entities, if applicable, e.g. H.248. The required functionality, e.g. extensions to H.248 or any other protocol which may be chosen for this task, would have to be defined and standardised within 3GPP. This TR will identify and define these extensions, and extensions to other interfaces if applicable.
More generally, the aim of this TR is to identify and strive to solve all issues introduced by such evolution of the PS CN domain. At the end of the feasibility study, the remaining open issues will be reported and their importance will be assessed. An analysis of the benefits and drawbacks of separating the control and transport functions in the PS CN domain will also be performed.