Protocol Environment

Abstract

Protocols actually implement the signaling and data exchange within a mobile network. As has been shown in preceding chapters, for the new system many new interfaces had to be introduced or enhanced. In order to carry all necessary information flows across them in a reliable and efficient manner, 3GPP's protocol designers were challenged with a huge amount of work.

In this chapter we walk through the protocols of major importance, and for each of them explain these basics:

- general concept and usage,

- protocol structure,

- protocol message structure,

- overview of supported protocol messages, plus one or two illustrative examples, and

- if felt useful, single, selected message parameters.

It is by far not feasible and also not desirable to aim for completeness with respect to the last two items in this list. The interested reader should instead consult the cited sources of information.