PDP Context vs.

EPS Bearer – A Battle of the Data Session Setups

LTE has been designed to support packet services in a more efficient manor than UMTS. The key service, from a
wireless data network perspective, is the establishment of the data session that will be used by the mobile device
for data services. In UMTS and GPRS, the key to establishing a data session is the Packet Data Protocol (PDP)
Context establishment procedure. In LTE, the procedure has been changed to an Evolved Packet System (EPS)
Bearer Setup. Let’s take a look at the differences.

In a UMTS network the data session is established with a PDP Context Activation procedure. But, before the
PDP context can be established the UE must do an Attach procedure. The Attach procedure is used to alert the
SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node) that the UE has powered up. The problem is that there isn’t anything the
UE can do after an Attach without requesting a PDP Context. To be fair, after an Attach the UE is available to
receive a SMS or a Network Initiated PDP Context. The problem is that we don’t do SMS over the packet network
and we don’t do Network Initiated PDP Context in practice.

After the Attach procedure is completed the UE will then do a Primary PDP Context that will establish the data
session and allocate an IP address to the UE. This PDP Context will have a QoS associated with it based on the
needs in the request. If the UE needs to have multiple data sessions, due to various Quality of Service (QoS), the
UE will do a Secondary PDP Context activation. For the sake of completeness, it is important to note that there
are other reasons to establishing subsequent PDP Context beyond QoS, but that is a good place to start.

In a LTE based system, there are two types of data session setups. The first is called a Default EPS Bearer. The
second is the Dedicated EPS Bearer. The first is established as part of the Attach procedure. The Default EPS
Bearer will only support a nominal QoS, but that should be sufficient for application signaling. When the UE
needs to establish a service a Dedicated EPS Bearer will be established. This will have the QoS requirements
needed for the service.

As way of comparison, the LTE Attach/Default EPS Bearer will be equivalent to the UMTS Attach and then doing
a Primary PDP Context establishment procedure. The Secondary PDP Context Activation is similar to the
Dedicated EPS Bearer Setup procedure. So, there is a variation of a theme here, but not a significant difference.

If we were to look at the key parameters in these messages, we would see that both the UMTS procedures and
the LTE procedures still use parameters like an Access Point Name (APN), IP address type, and QoS
parameters. Therefore, the only real difference between the two types of procedures is that there has been an
optimization in LTE that reduces the number of signaling messages that need to be sent over the air.

What is IP-CAN session?

This term is coined from Services Network point of view. Services Network (typically IMS based services) only
looks for IP connectivity to a device (in present case a mobile device). This IP connectivity may be achieved by
the mobile using one of the many access technologies such as - WiFi, LTE, UMTS, WiMAX etc. Based on from
which access technology is used to reach the services network, IP-CAN session through that access technology
is achieved.

Hence from UE point of view, when the UE attaches to the access network and establishes a default bearer(in
case of LTE) or Primary PDP Context (in case of 3G/2G), it acquires an IP address and is now able to access the
services network. This will be the point in time when an IP-CAN session is established with the services network.

Hope that helps !!!

What is IP-CAN Session in LTE?Can single UE can have multiple IP-CAN Sessions?

An IP-CAN session basically referred to as a connection by UE with a particular APN. Yes, a UE can
have multiple IP-CAN session with different APN. Yes it is possible. UE can have multiple PDN
connection with same APN also. UE can request an IP-CAN session with only ipv4 address and
similarity it can again request a ipv6 session with same APN. UE has EPS bearer established from
UE to PGW, and of course UE can have multiple EPS bearers established with the same APN. . A
user can have 2 Gx session for 1 user only in case of multiple pdn connection. Like 1st one where UE
is given IPv4 address and in the next one UE requests IPv6 address

Can a UE in LTE network have more than 1 IP-CAN

session ?
If you look at the definition of IP-CAN in section 3.1 of 29.212., the wording implies that multiple sessions can be
supported, with multiple bearers per session. Since UEs can connect to multiple IP networks (different APNs) at
the same time, they would naturally have multiple IP-CANs active as a result.

A UE can have one or more IP-CAN session (or PDN Connection) on one or more PGW.

Per IP-CAN session it will receive an IP Address, and a Gx Session will be open between the PCEF and the
PCRF to receive the relevant PCC rules.

1) As one PGW (PCEF) can connect with more than 1 PDN, I guess multiple IP-CAN sessions are possible even
via single PGW (PCEF).

http://lteuniversity.com/ask_the_expert/f/59/t/3065.aspx

Can a LTE UE have multiple IP addresses at a time?

Yes, an LTE UE can have multiple IPs.

The UE can access multiple PGW/APNs in the same EPC core network and the UE will be allocated
one IP per APN at the time of attach itself.

-> UE will be allowed to create one default bearer per PGW/APN.

-> For example in the case of VoLTE User there can be at least two APNs (two IPs), one for normal
internet access and the other one for IMS access.

How are an EPS bearer and an EPS session different?

A session refers to user traffic (an IP flow) while a bearer refers to a path that user traffic (IP flows)
uses when passing an LTE transport network (between UE and P-GW). In other words, an EPS bearer
is a pipe that carries session(s), and hence more than one session can use the same EPS bearer.

Both the session and bearer are related to user traffic delivery, but in different ways: Sessions are
about WHO uses WHAT service while bearers are about HOW user traffic is delivered in the LTE
network. Bearers only care about “how to deliver user traffic to its destination?”, and not about “who
uses what service?”. This is why, when user traffic is delivered through bearers, user IP addresses are
not shown, and only the information about the pipe that carries the user traffic, such as DRB ID or
GTP tunnel (i.e. S1 or S5 bearer) IP address, is shown.

But, once arrived at P-GW (or UE), different sessions carried by the bearer are identified and
processed individually.

What's the difference between the EPS sessions and IP flows?

In my understanding,
- EPS session = PDN connection
- An EPS session can have single or multiple EPS bearers
- EPS bearer is transmission path between UE and P-GW to deliver user traffic (IP flows) with
specficied QoS
- An EPS bearer can have single or multiple IP flows

Flow Based Charging in LTE

We first explain why the FBC (Flow based charging) was standardized in R6. In UMTS R5, charging for
packet-switched service domain (i.e., GPRS) is simply based on the volume of packet data associated
with their Packet Data Protocol (PDP) contexts [3GP05a]. In GPRS, a mobile user can activate more
than one PDP context. The first activated PDP context and the subsequent PDP contexts are referred
to as the primary PDP context and the secondary PDP contexts, respectively. The primary and the
secondary PDP contexts share the same PDP context information except for the QoS profiles. When
an IMS
service is delivered through a GPRS bearer session, the operator needs to charge the IMS signaling
message and IMS media data separately. The existing solution for R5 activates two PDP contexts.
The IMS signaling is transported via the primary PDP context and the IMS media packets are
delivered via the secondary PDP context. In this case, the operator charges the transferred data for
IMS signaling and IMS media via two PDP contexts with different tariff plans. Typically, the IMS
signaling is free of charge, and the IMS media data is charged by the connection time or the volume
of GPRS data packets. However, as the number of simultaneous service sessions increase, the
aforementioned charging solution is not effective because many PDP contexts should be activated to
handle multiple service types, which consume extra network resources. This issue is resolved by the
FBC in UMTS R6 to be described in this chapter. Another problem of the R5 solution is that it relies
on the PDP context mechanism that is only defined in the UMTS/GPRS network. This solution cannot
accommodate other radio access technologies such as WLAN andWiMAX [Wimax].
On the other hand, besides enhancing the functionality of GGSN, UMTS R6 FBC solution also
supports other gateway nodes, such as the Packet Data Gateway (PDG) for WLAN [3GP06a]. The FBC
utilizes the concept of the service data flow specified by the IP packet filters, where the filters are a
part of a charging rule. The service data flows distinguish the transferred packets within the same
bearer session. Therefore, without the PDPcontext mechanism, the PDG of theWLAN can also use
the specified IP filters to classify different types of service flows. In this chapter, we use the GPRS
bearer session (with the PDP context mechanism) as an example to show how FBC works.

Does LTE support bearer level charging or application level ?

Usually in LTE network Flow-based-Charging is supported.
Charging can be done at bearer level or at service level. Each bearer can have multiple Service data
flows. Each SDF can having same or different Rating group. If SDFs in a bearer has same rating
group, then charging can be done at bearer level. If rating group for SDFs in a bearer are different,
then charging is done per SDF/ service level.

Every SDF can have different Rating-Group and Service-Id combination and based on that charging
can happen. Now if a bearer has different SDF with different Rating-Groups then their charging will
differ. However if a bearer has same Rating Group across different bearer then in turn the charging
would be bearer based.

What is the relation between SDF and TFT at PGW/PCEF ?

TFT stands for "Traffic flow template" and SDF stands for "Service data flow". At PGW/PCEF, each
bearer has its own (Qos) requirements like ARP, QCI, bitrate.And each bearer can carry data of many
applications.
One bearer has one TFT and multiple packet filters. But packet filter are in the order like.
Bearer 1 has packet filter 1 and packet filter 2.
Then bearer 2 will have packet filter 3.
When a packet receives at PGW. PGW cross checks this packet with all the packet filters with the
evaluation order. when a particular packet filter matched then it pick the TFT and data send through
the bearer to which TFT is associated.
Each packet filter is a SDF.
TFT (Traffic Flow template) is a filter or a template that is used to guide different packet Flows
belonging to a particular service (SDFs) to be flowing through different EPS bearers using proper
QoS.
In other words, A TFT maps/helps/guides SDFs to use the proper EPS bearers as a part QoS
treatment.

Which AVP in the Credit control answer message carry TFT or SDF filter information
?

I will split the answer into two parts

1. If we see TFT-Packet-Filter-Information AVP
TFT-Packet-Filter-Information ::= < AVP Header: 1013 >
[ Precedence ]
[ TFT-Filter ]
[ ToS-Traffic-Class ]
[ Security-Parameter-Index ]
[ Flow-Label ]
[ Flow-Direction ]
*[ AVP ] Major AVP is TFT-Filter and Precedence. As we know TFT-Filter AVP it contains the flow
filter for one TFT packet filter. Which basically contains Source IP Address, Destination IP
Address,Source and Destination Port,Protocol Type,Direction, Action.
The Precedence AVP is used within the TFT-Packet-Filter-Information AVP to indicate the evaluation
precedence of the Traffic Mapping Information filters as received from the UE.

2. Within the Charging Rule Definition AVP, the Precedence AVP determines the order, in which
service data flow templates consisting of service data flow filters are applied at service data
flow detection at the PCEF. For PCC rules with an application detection filter, the Precedence AVP
only determines which PCC rule is applicable for the detected application for the enforcement of QoS,
for charging control, for reporting of application start and stop and for usage monitoring. A PCC rule
with the Precedence AVP with lower value shall be applied before a PCC rule with the Precedence
AVP with higher value.
So in CCA message from PCRF we will get the Charging-Rule-Install AVP which contains Charging-
Rule-Definition AVP and it has Precedence AVP which will determine the service data flow(SDF) filter
that needs to be applied at service data flow detection or TFT-Filter precedence evaluation.

In CCA when SDF comes in charging rule install it comes under Flow-Information AVP. It has Flow-
Description, SPI, Flow-Direction.
Basically the information about SDF is carried out in Charging-Rule-Definition.

//In downlink direction, SDF packets filters evaluates incoming IP packets against required EPS QoS
to achieve end to end the quality of service while traffic flow template (TFT) IP packet filters are used
to find out the relevant EPS bearer (QCI specific) is best suited for the selected IP packets.