SAE and the Evolved Packet Core

Chapter 10 EPS network entities and interfaces

In this chapter we will describe in more detail the different network entities, interfaces, protocols and procedures used in EPS. This chapter can be used as a reference for readers wanting to see more details than preceding chapters. Before jumping into the actual descriptions however, it is useful to take a look at what we actual mean by a network entity, an interface, a protocol and a procedure.

A network entity in EPS is what sometimes called a ‘logical entity’. This means that in the 3GPP standard it is a logically separate entity with a well-defined functionality. There are also well-defined interfaces between different network entities. This does not, however, imply that actual physical ...