One of the nice things of the 5G Core Network architecture is that it allows the concealment, i.e .the encryption of the user’s identifier. While in previous network generations, this ID is referred to as the IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity), it has been renamed to SUPI (Subscription Permanent Identity) in 5G. Under normal circumstances, … Continue reading 5G – The SIM Card and the SUCI
And while I’m already writing about recent personal roaming firsts, I should also mention that I saw my first personal 5G use while roaming in Austria in May 2021.
At the moment, 5G networks in Europe are typically based on the Non-Standalone Architecture (NSA). This means that the LTE radio network and the LTE core network is used as the anchor for a connection, and 5G is added as a speed-booster when available. In the future, however, network operators will also roll out 5G … Continue reading How To Choose Between 5G SA and NSA
In the previous post on the topic I wrote about the three eras of telecom infrastructure hardware. As we are now entering the third area, there are not only whitepapers written about how everything from the radio network to the mobile core can be but into containers, but there are also demo videos of such … Continue reading An ‘Everything in Containers’ LTE and 5G Demo
Last year I wrote about a 5G Americas whitepaper that describes how 3GPP has standardized the 5G core in a way that lends itself for cloud based implementation. In short, that means that control plane functions are split into microservices, deployed on bare metal clusters in containers and managed with Kubernetes. So far the theory. … Continue reading The Cloud Based 5GC – From Theory To Practice
When 3GPP set out to define the 5G core network (5GC), it used all the latest and greatest web technologies to radically reshape core network architecture. One tiny part of this is the use of HTTP/2 for signaling between functions. This made me wonder just how on the Internet today, web browsers and servers decide … Continue reading HTTP/2 in the 5G Core – How Does that Work In the Web Today?
After the both good and bad performance of my Lenovo X250 and Ubuntu 20.04 over a 2.5GbE link to my workstation, I couldn’t just leave the topic but had to further investigate how I could potentially improve throughput when using Ubuntu’s Nautilus file manager to transfer files to and from the workstation. And again, some … Continue reading 2.5GbE Performance Revisited – Workstation Power At Home – Part 9
I’m quite amazed I am already into part 8 in this series of exploring the limits of using a headless workstation as a ‘power booster’ next to my notebook. The next thing I have taken a closer look at is the connection between the notebook and the workstation, a 1 Gbit/s Ethernet link. That’s good … Continue reading 2.5GbE Network Performance – Workstation Power at Home – Part 8
It’s a bit of a strange headline perhaps but my recent blog posts on working with a headless workstation that supplies extra CPU muscle to my working setup has a lot to do with the envisaged 5G evolution of wireless networks and services. Let me explain…
When LTE was launched a decade ago a clear cut was made from GSM security when it came to SIM cards and authentication. As far as I remember, LTE was the first system in which mutual authentication between network and devices became mandatory. Fortunately, by the time LTE came around the corner, most subscribers already … Continue reading Are New SIM Cards Required for 5G SA?