Abstract
The transition from the dedicated Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) to a Service-Based Interface (SBI) for the control of User Plane Functions (UPFs) in 5G Core Network presents a significant opportunity to enhance its flexibility, scalability, and interoperability. This work investigates the viability and efficiency of switching from PFCP to SBI for UPF control. We implement the interface within the Open5GCore toolkit to demonstrate its integration within a 5G environment and conduct a comprehensive evaluation comparing its efficiency and performance with the existing PFCP-based interface. The evaluation focuses on protocol efficiency and performance under various network loads. The evaluation results show that the new SBI control interface performs on par with or better than PFCP, especially in scenarios with increasing User Equipments and operations per second. This work demonstrates that a service-based interface for UPF control is a viable alternative to the existing PFCP-based interface.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
3GPP. Interface between the control plane and the user plane nodes. 3GPP Technical Specification, 29.244(17.5.0) (2022)
3GPP. Network function repository services. 3GPP Technical Specification, 29.510(17.6.0) (2022)
3GPP. System architecture for the 5g system. 3GPP Technical Specification, 23.501(17.5.0) (2022)
3GPP. Study on UPF enhancement for exposure and SBA. 3GPP Technical Report, 23.700-62(18.0.0) (2023)
Amponis, G., et al.: Threatening the 5G core via PFCP dos attacks: the case of blocking UAV communications. EURASIP J. Wirel. Commun. Netw. 2022(1), 124 (2022)
Chakraborty, P., Corici, M., Magedanz, T.: System failure prediction within software 5G core networks using time series forecasting. In: 2021 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops), pp. 1–7 (2021)
Fraunhofer FOKUS. Open5GCore – 5G core network for research, testbeds and trials. https://www.open5gcore.org/. Accessed 22 Apr 2024
Gupta, A., Jha, R.: A survey of 5G network: architecture and emerging technologies. IEEE Access 3, 1206–1232 (2015)
MacDavid, R., et al.: A P4-based 5G user plane function. In: Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM Symposium on SDN Research (SOSR), pp. 162–168 (2021)
Navarro-Ortiz, J., Romero-Díaz, P., Sendra, S., Ameigeiras, P., Ramos-Muñoz, J., López-Soler, J.: A survey on 5G usage scenarios and traffic models. IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutor. 22, 905–929 (2020)
Shahen Shah, A.F.M.: A survey from 1G to 5G including the advent of 6G: architectures, multiple access techniques, and emerging technologies. In: 2022 IEEE 12th Annual Computing and Communication Workshop and Conference (CCWC), pp. 1117–1123 (2022)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2025 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
John, J., Buhr, H., Corici, M., Magedanz, T. (2025). Design and Evaluation of a Service-Based Interface for the Control of 5G User Plane Functions. In: Arai, K. (eds) Advances in Information and Communication. FICC 2025. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 1283. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-84457-7_30
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-84457-7_30
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-84456-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-84457-7
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)