Feature Description
The mobile network operators form roaming partnerships to provide seamless services to their subscribers in geographies beyond their network reach. Operator network boundaries are designated by public land mobile networks (PLMN). The home network for a subscriber is called an HPLMN and the visited network, which renders the mobile service is termed as the VPLMN.
The VPLMN provides access network services and packet routing to the packet core, whereas the HPLMN provides data network access to the subscriber. This feature enables the UPF to support the flavor of routing that is termed as the Home Routed (HR) roaming.
Visited UPF (vUPF) supports the following functionalities:
-
Handle the dummy PDRs with associated FAR action as buffer
-
Buffer the incoming packets before rule matching
-
Handle the QoS and FAR updates from the SMF for debuffering of packets
-
Send the buffered packets after matching with the PDR
-
Send vUPF traffic over Fast Path
-
Send N9 interface GTP-U tunnel
-
LI support
-
MonSub CLI command and PCAP file support
vUPF and Home UPF (hUPF) support the following functionalities:
-
QoS flow Based Charging (QBC) on the UPF
-
Source Interface Type IE in PDR indicates the 3GPP Interface Type in UPF
-
Selection of the GTP-U service by receiving 3GPP Interface Type received in PDI IE of create PDR.
-
Subscriber Params IE indicates the roaming status in UPF