At present, 3GPP’s SA2 has defined 7 key technologies for edge computing. For sessions and traffic grooming, uplink classifiers or multi-homing methods are used, and business continuity alternatives are sSC1 to SSC3; the choice of user plane is basically the core The network chooses UPF to divert user traffic to the local network. The mobility of UE is similar to the method in LADN, which belongs to inheritance; for application function (AF), we can think of it as deployed on the edge platform. APP and AF can affect traffic diversion and user plane selection.
However, there are currently no clear requirements and definitions for quality of service and billing, as well as content related to authentication and legal interception, and need to be further tracked in future standardization progress.
In the future R15 version, the main planned contents are:
Local routing. The 5G core network chooses UPF to offload user traffic to the local network (already given in the 5G TS);
Traffic steering. The 5G core network chooses to route traffic to applications in the local data network;
③ Session and service continuity to support UE and AF mobility (SSC2/SSC3); LoRa gateway
4. User plane selection and re-selection; 5. Opening of network capabilities;
Service quality and billing. PCF provides service quality control and billing rules, and performs service quality and billing for traffic that is diverted to the local area;
⑦Contents of local data network.
In addition, the impact of AF on traffic routing and the standardization content related to network capability opening are omitted here. Please refer to Sections 5.20 and 5.6.5 of protocol 23.501 respectively. In addition, the detailed process of network capability opening can be referred to 23.502 Sections 5.3~5.4. Figure 18 also shows the standardization progress of MEC since 2016. The main standardization content is concentrated in the SA2 part.
3.63 Shortcomings in GPP standardization
As an important international organization in the field of communications, 3GPP has the largest international influence and participation. 3GPP has now noticed the strong vitality of edge computing and has regarded edge computing as one of the important directions for the evolution of network architecture. However, due to the It is an organization that is more focused on standardizing network architecture. Therefore, there is no separate item for edge computing in the 3GPP standards.
The support of edge computing functions is also mainly reflected in user plane reselection, billing, capability opening, etc. These contents are also scattered in standardized contents such as SA2, SA5, SA6 or RAN, which are relatively scattered and poorly integrated. At present, The focus of 3GPP is on the discussion of 5G network architecture, air interface technology, and physical layer technology. There is still relatively little discussion on edge computing, so it cannot provide more reference content. Although 3GPP has a high influence, Currently, 3GPP does not have
Given the reference architecture of edge computing, the industry has not yet unified in edge computing, and the development of the edge computing industry has also been subject to certain constraints.