LTE Network Architecture and Protocols

This chapter is an introductionchapter that describes the overall architecture and procedures of LTE systems which are related to the core topics of the book. It explains the evolutions of 3GPP standards from Release 99 to Release 10 and beyond. The radio interface and access mode techniques in 3GPP systems are discussed with an emphasis on LTE radio interfaces. Moreover, it describes the LTE network architecture: evolved packet system (EPS), evolved packet core (EPC), evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E‐UTRAN) and LTE user equipment. In addition, all EPS interfaces and protocol stacks are summarized, with examples and figures. The chapter concludes with an overview of the EPS procedures: registration and attach, quality of service (QoS), EPS security functions, EPS idle and active states, EPS network topology for mobility procedures and end‐to‐end EPS identifiers.