User Plane Function Distribution and Local Break-Out

• UPF Distribution/Shunting capability -- distributing User Plane Functions in appropriate Data Center Facilities on qualified compute hardware for routing the traffic to desired applications and network/processing functions/applications.
• Local Break-Out (LBO) – Examples: video traffic offload, low latency services, roaming optimization.

The UPF Distribution use case distinguishes between two scenarios:

• UPF Interconnection. The UPF/SPGW-U is located in the MNO network and needs to be interconnected on the N6/SGi interface to 3PE and/or PCE/PCC.
• UPF Placement. The MNO wants to instantiate a UPF/SPGW-U in a location that is different from their network (e.g. Customer Premises, 3rd Party Data Center)

UPF Interconnection Scenario

Assumptions:

• MNO hosts UPF/SPGW-U in their network.
• MNO provisions all UPF functions.
• MNO may request UPF Interconnection for Sgi/N6 interface in a required Metro to 3PE/PCE via APIs (on P2)
• Bare Metal Orchestration Provider and Interconnect Provider expose Data Center Location / Metro to PCEI Enabler via APIs (on P3 and P4)
• 3PE and PCE providers expose Data Center Location / Metro to PCEI Enabler via APIs (on P5 and P8/P7)
• PCEI Enabler may request Bare Metal Orchestration for Distributed UPF via APIs (on P3)
• PCEI Enabler may request Interconnect for MNO UPF (L2/L3) via APIs (on P4)
• PCEI Enabler may request PCC/PCE and/or 3PE Controller to instantiate workload instances for LBO processing via APIs (on P8/P5)

UPF Interconnection (N6/SGi) Call Flow Sketch

Notes:

• Does not include interconnect to 3PE/PCE/PCC - to be added
• Does not include 3PE HW Or chestartion - to be added

UPF Placement Scenario

Assumptions:

• MNO supports CUPS (5G NSA) and/or UPF (5G SA).
• MNO can request UPF Location / Metro and 3PE/PCE Location / Metro via APIs (on P2)
• Bare Metal Orchestration Provider and Interconnect Provider expose Data Center Location / Metro to PCEI Enabler via APIs (on P3 and P4)
• 3PE and PCE providers expose Data Center Location / Metro to PCEI Enabler via APIs (on P5 and P8/P7)
• PCEI Enabler can request Bare Metal Orchestration for Distributed UPF via APIs (on P3)
• PCEI Enabler can request Interconnect for Distributed UPF (L2/L3) via APIs (on P4)
• PCEI Enabler may provision UPF connectivity and LBO configuration (based on the UPF provisioning model) over P2’ using appropriate protocols
• PCEI Enabler may request PCC/PCE and/or 3PE Controller to instantiate workload instances for LBO processing via APIs (on P8/P5)

UPF Location Selection

Call Flow Sketch

API Structure

To be added

UPF  Interconnect Selection

UPF Hardware Selection / Orchestration

UPF Configuration Orchestration - Local Break-Out

3PE/PCE Workload Instance Distribution

To be added

Location Services

• Location Services -- location of a specific UE, or identification of UEs within a geographical area, facilitation of server-side application workload distribution based on UE and infrastructure resource location.

Assumptions:

• MNO provides a Location Service (LS) compliant with OMA Zonal Presence API (OMA-TS-REST_NetAPI_ZonalPresence)
• MNO may expose the Location Service via the Network Exposure Function (NEF)
• A Public Cloud Edge (PCE) instance is associated with a Zone (collection of Access Points such as small cells) provided by an MNO
• A 3rd-Party Edge (3PE) instance is associated with a Zone (collection of Access Points such as small cells) provided by an MNO
• An application/workload in the PCE requires Location Information (e.g. coordinates of the Access Point) for the UE/subscriber
• An application/workload in the 3PE requires Location Information (e.g. coordinates of the Access Point) for the UE/subscriber
• PCEI Enabler facilitates Zonal Presence API Request/Response routing between PCE and the MNO LS and between the 3PE and the MNO LS