LTE Tidbits IV

Continuation to LTE Tidbits I, II, III


There have been several questions on how RRC and EMM/ECM states are in sync. To begin with, RRC and EMM/ECM states are two seperate layers, each layer provides service to other but doesnt have authority to modify each other. eNB, acts as a relay between UE and MME, i.e it will receives RRC messages from UE and puts them in S1AP messages towards MME. This means eNB will simple pass the NAS pdu's from UE to MME without modifying them. SO at UE, there are two layers to maintain, RRC state and NAS state. We cannot have a state where there no radio bearers for dedicated bearer, but the NAS layer has the EBI for dedicated bearer.

S1AP Initial UE message holds an extereme importance. It is sent only when UE first establishes an RRC connection with eNB. This message is what makes UE move from ECM idle to connected mode.

FAQ's:-

1. In a normal TAU procedure, when MME decides to change the SGW, how does the new SGW come to know about the IP and TEID of eNB for data downlink flow and how does the eNB come to know about SGW IP and TEID?

[S] When a SGW has changed during TAU, MME will send a create session request towards the new SGW. This CSReq is for establishing the control plane.Now in CSRes the new SGW will respond with its own user plane IP and TEID that is used by eNB for uplink. This info is propagated to eNB in Initial context setup message. Now eNB will create radio bearers and once the radio bearers are created it will send downlink user plane IP and TEID in intial context setup response message to MME. This info is send to SGW in modify bearer request.

2. In Initial Attach procedure, how does the eNB comes to know about the SGW IP and TEID?
[S] Same philosophy as above applies. The trick here is radio bearers will be created only once the network has setup the EPS bearers. Once EPS bearer is created using CSReq/Res, only then then eNB creates the radio bearers and this info is sent to SGW by MME in Modify bearer req/resp

3. If OI=0 in both CSR during initial attach and S1 based HO, why does the SGW not send CSR towards the PGW in S1 based HO?

[S]CSReq is used to create EPS bearers. In S1 HO case the EPS bearers are already created, so CSReq will not be sent to PGW. BUt since the SGW has changed, PGW should be informed of new SGW, so a modify bearer request is sent to PGW.