Intelligent Strategies for Overload Detection & Handling for 5G Network

With an aggressive deployment of 5G mobile networks worldwide, improved operational efficiency and customer experience are some of the important goals of network operators. An emerging micro-services-based, cloud-native design provides an opportunity to build a flexible and elastic network architecture. From an operational efficiency and availability perspective, overload control of core network functions is a key and a unique design consideration depending upon the end-to-end 5G solution. We have studied a specific case of Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) scaling and presented how it can be used in other 5G core network areas. The goal of this paper is to discuss different reasons and types of overload conditions that can happen within the 5G core network, as well as discuss the overload detection, control, and prevention mechanism. The paper also presents the core network design options studied and discovered during real-world deployment experience at various service provider networks. A fine-tuning of core network functions is expected to ensure optimal performance of overload scenarios.