Design and implementation of a generic 5G user plane function development framework

Abstract

In 5G, the requirement of transmission latency is stricter than that in 4G. To enhance transmission efficiency, a user plane function (UPF) with a specific packet processing mechanism is necessary. However, UPF must communicate with the session management function (SMF), which will send the packet processing rules to UPF. Those rules will substantially occupy UPF storage. Moreover, customizing a UPF needs to reconstruct N3, N4, N6, and N9 interfaces, which takes much time for developers. To this end, we propose the user plane function development framework (UPFDF), which modularizes the functions in the UPF, supporting customization to connect different types of packet processing mechanisms. With UPFDF, we address the UPF capacity problem and improve the flexibility of the system.