5G Architecture

The AMF (Access and mobility Management Function) performs most of the
functions that the MME (Mobility Management Entity) performs in a 4G
network.
• Terminates the RAN CP (Cyclic-Prefix ) interface (N2)
• NAS (Non-Access Stratum ) signaling
• NAS ciphering and integrity protection
• Mobility Management (MM) layer NAS termination
• Session Management (SM) layer NAS forwarding
• Authenticates UE
• Manages the security context
• Registration management.
• Connection management.
• Reachability management.
• Mobility Management.
• Apply mobility related policies from PCF (Policy Control Function) (e.g.
mobility restrictions)
• SMF — Session Management Function
• The SMF performs the session management functions that are
handled by the 4G MME, SGW (Serving Gateway )-C, and PGW
(Packet Gateway ) -C.
• Allocates IP addresses to UEs
• NAS signaling for session management (SM)
• Sends QoS and policy information to RAN via the AMF
• Downlink data notification
• Select and control UPF for traffic routing. The UPF selection
function enables Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) by selecting a UPF
close to the edge of the network.
• Acts as the interface for all communication related to offered user
plane services. SMF determines how the policy and charging for
these services is applied.
• Lawful intercept — control plane
• UPF — User Plane Function
• The UPF is essentially a fusion of the data plane parts of the
SGW (Serving Gateway) and PGW (PDN (Packet data
network) Gateway) . In the context of the CUPS architecture:
• EPC SGW-U + EPC PGW-U → 5G UPF
• The UPF performs the following functions:
• Packet routing and forwarding
• Packet inspection and QoS handling. The UPF may
optionally integrate a Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) for
packet inspection and classification. The following figure
shows the classification and QoS handling at the UPF
• The User Plane Function (UPF) is a fundamental component of a
3GPP (The 3rd Generation Partnership Project is a standards
organization which develops protocols for mobile telephony) 5G core
infrastructure system architecture. The UPF represents the data plane
evolution of a Control and User Plane Separation (CUPS) strategy, first
introduced as an extension to existing Evolved Packet Cores (EPCs) by
the 3GPP in their Release 14 specifications. CUPS decouples Packet
Gateway (PGW) control and user plane functions, enabling the data
forwarding component (PGW-U) to be decentralized. This allows
packet processing and traffic aggregation to be performed closer to the
network edge, increasing bandwidth efficiencies while reducing
network. The PGW’s handling signaling traffic (PGW-C) remain in the
core, northbound of the Mobility Management Entity (MME).