There are a few new terminology that must be defined in the 5G era. The 5G network is more sophisticated and complicated than the 4G network. “5G dual connectivity” is one such concept that has to be defined. The earlier 4G network was not without flaws. As a result, 5G has a lot of work to do. To address the issue of 4G coverage and capacity, the new generation network introduces “5G dual connectivity.” The smartphone’s 5G dual connection allows it to connect to two base stations at the same time. These two base stations might be a 4G and a 5G base station. They might, however, be two 5G base stations. As a result, they are also known as MR-DC (Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity) or NR-DC.
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The architecture appears to be simple. There are, however, a few concerns with it. Is there a connection between these two base stations, both primary and secondary? Can dual connectivity coexist with carrier aggregation? What base station is the control plane connected to? How do I divide user plane data? Are there any specifications for the core network? There are several questions that must be answered.
To begin with, while these two base stations service users, they do have primary and secondary points of contact. There is a high-status Master Node (or MN Node). There is also a Secondary Node (SN Node) with a low status. The major node is also the Master Node. When a smartphone requires a 5G connection, it connects to the principal node first. The secondary node is then added. The master or major node is also known as the “anchor point,” and it interacts with the core network’s control plane.
MCG VS SCG
They support numerous carriers internally for carrier aggregation, regardless of whether they are the primary or secondary node. Once the internal carrier is aggregated, it is similar to grouping numerous carriers into a group for the master node. This group is known as the Master Cell Group (MCG). Similarly, many cells inside the secondary node are referred to as Secondary Cell Groups (SCGs).
The principal cell is also known as a Pcell in MCG, as it is in common carrier aggregation. Furthermore, the secondary cell is known as a Scell. The principal cell in the SCG is known as a PSCell (Primary Secondary cell). The surviving conventional secondary cells are still referred to as SCells (secondary cells). The main cell is unquestionably significant, whether it is an MCG or a SCG. As a result, PCell and PSCell are referred to jointly as Special Cells (spCell for short).
The MCG bearer is the data carrier that connects the mobile phone to the master node. Similarly, the SCG bearer is the data carrier between the mobile phone and the secondary node. A split bearer is one that has a bearer with both the primary and secondary nodes at the same time. This signifies that the data has been separated at a certain node. The base station connects to both the smartphone and the core network at the same time. This automatically means that the field of view is substantially greater than that of a smartphone. When a smartphone gets data, it recognizes the node from whence it originated.
As previously stated, the smartphone may connect to both a 4G and a 5G network at the same time. However, distinguishing whether the connection is a 4G or a 5G core network is difficult. Furthermore, distinguishing whether the base station is a 4G or a 5G base station is a difficult process. We may utilize the non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA) networks to try to explain this. We’ll look at how the NSA architecture’s option 3x and the SA architecture’s option 2 achieve 5G dual connection.
Option 3x is effectively 5G dual connection between a 4G and a 5G base station. This is also referred to as EN-DC. The core network employs 4G EPC, with the 4G base station serving as the primary node. This is the control plane’s anchor point. The secondary node in this scenario is the 5G base station. The secondary node also serves as the user plane’s distribution control point.
Option 3x can only use 4G without offloading for voice services. If the 5G base station does not undertake offloading, this creates the MN-terminated MCG bearer; for data services, it is the SN-terminated SCG bearer.
NR-DC refers to the implementation of 5G dual connection on Option 2. Dual connection is provided by the 5G base station and the 5G base station. The core network employs 5GC, and one 5G base station operates in the Sub6G frequency spectrum as the primary node and offload control point. As a secondary node, the other 5G base station use the millimeter wave frequency spectrum. With the advancement of 5G deployment, more operators are opting for this option for 5G dual connectivity, which is based on mid-band 3.5GHz or 2.6GHz independent networking (option 2) and then superimposing millimeter waves using NR-DC to obtain ultra-high uplink and downlink speeds.
A large portion of the information in this article is technical information that the ordinary smartphone user will not comprehend. The simple line is that 5G dual connection allows a smartphone to connect to two base stations at the same time. This ensures that the smartphone is always connected to the internet. Data from any of the networks can be used.
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