VIAVI Solutions

Application Note

VIAVI

TeraVM-vRAN
Cellular IoT Module

2G to 5G Wireless Core Test Solutions

Overview
Cellular IoT (CIoT) devices provide an additional challenge for wireless networks. Despite the fact each IoT device
generates relatively small amounts of data; their numbers are set to increase exponentially, stressing signalling
nodes, such as the MME like never before. Couple this explosion with the EPS Optimization modifications on theControl Plane and Bearer Plane, data delivery options for IP and non-IP and deployment of new service nodes, IoTEmulation at scale is a must for testing new applications such as Smart Cites and MEC servers for Mission-CriticalFirst Responder telemetry data.
As a key component of the VIAVI Solutions RANtoCore™ end-to-end IoT test platform, the TeraVM-vRAN CIoT test
module emulates millions of IoT devices that support NB-IOT and CAT-M1 with options for IP, Non-IP and SMS
delivery for testing of traditional EPC and cutting edge C-SGN and SCEF nodes. TeraVM-vRAN offers a variety oftraffic models that allows the standards-based EPS Optimizations where a UE can attach without a PDN connection
or deliver data over NAS or conventional LTE bearers. Create a test with a mix of NB-IOT, CAT-M1 and mobilebroadband data UEs to determine the bottlenecks, protect mission critical services and help plan for the next
wireless core upgrade.
S6aAdditional
NAS Procedure

IP/Non-IP
Traffic

Data Over NAS

T6a

MME

S11-C

HSS

S11-U

SGW

S6t

SCEF

New NW
EntityS5/S8

PGW

S11-U newInterface

The VIAVI RANtoCore™ platform offers end toend testing from Radio Access to Edge to Core.

SGIUse Cases
Validating EPC MME and S11-U to handle millions of IoT sessions
Emulate millions of CIoT devices that communicate with the backend IoT server with IP based application data.
3GPP EPS Optimizations are designed to transfer traffic over NAS signalling messages. However, this shifts theworkload to the MME. TeraVM-vRAN enables load test of S11-U and the MME with real-world NAS traffic acrossthe MME->SGW->PGW nodes, with millions of IoT Devices, where each Attach Request carries the required CIoT
Optimization field. PDN Connectivity is piggybacked in attach requests and user-defined options exist for IPv4 or
IPv6 and a used-defined APN. Once PDN connectivity is established and a UE receives the IP address, the user canconfigure how the UE generates application IP traffic via the NAS –ESM Data Transport message. Both UL and DL
traffic is supported.
PDN Type = IPv4/v6 | APN name for PDN
UE

C-IOT Optimization CapabilityMME

HSS

SGW/PGW

Attach Request (PDN Connectivity Request)
Authentication Procedure
Create Session Request
Create Session Response
S11-U Tunnel

Attach Accept(IP)Attach Complete(IP)NAS-ESM Data Transport(IP Data)

Verifying Seamless transition between states for millions of IoT devices
Like the previous use-case, CIoT optimization of UE idle-connected state transition is supported by TeraVM-vRAN.
Transition between idle to connected state is optimised using a new Service Request Procedure called Control
Plane Service Procedure. Users can configure timers to control a percentage of CIOT devices to/from idle toconnected states. This procedure is specially designed to send a small amount of up-link data with Control Plane
Service Request, without waiting for data bearer setup. UEs either continue in connected state or go idle andare configured to send or receive traffic using ESM-Data Transport message after successful state transition.
TeraVM-vRAN generates various distributions of Control Plane Service Requests from millions of UEs.
ESM Data transport message can be encrypted by TeraVM-vRAN.
May Contain ESM DataUE

Integrity Protected

SGW/PGW

MME

NAS Control Plane Service Request(ESM Data Transport)
GTP Modify Bearer Request
GTP Modify Bearer Response
Service Accept
NAS-ESM Data Transport(Non-IP Data)
NAS-ESM Data Transport(Non-IP Data)

2 TeraVM-vRAN Cellular IoT ModuleS11-U TunnelTesting ability to route Non-IP IoT traffic to proprietary nodes at scale
In CIoT Optimization for NB-IoT/CAT-M1, there is provision for UEs to send Non-IP data without PDN connectivity.
TeraVM-vRAN will have the option for no IP allocation to UE during an Attach procedure. UE sessions will bemaintained by MME and a new network node, SCEF, routes Non-IP traffic to proprietary nodes. In this case, TeraVM
emulated user data is transferred over the NAS message.
PDN Type = Non-IP
UEC-IOT Optimization CapabilityMMEHSSSGW/PGW

Attach Request (PDN Connectivity Request)
Authentication Procedure
Create SCEF Connection Request
Create SCEF Connection Response

Attach Accept(Non-IP)
Attach Complete(Non-IP)
NAS-ESM Data Transport(Non-IP Data)
NAS-ESM Data Transport(Non-IP Data)

Non-IP traffic over NAS and SGi interfaces
In CIoT Optimization, there is additional provision for the UE to send Non-IP data with PDN connectivity. In thisuse case, data is transferred over the NAS message to MME and then it is forwarded to the SGW through a newinterface called S11-U. Thereafter, the PGW sends non-IP traffic to proprietary nodes.
PDN Type = IPv4/v6 | APN name for PDN
UE

C-IOT Optimization Capability

MMEHSS

SGW/PGW

Attach Request (PDN Connectivity Request)
Authentication Procedure
Create Session Request
Create Session Response
Attach Accept(Non-IP)

S11-U Tunnel

Attach Complete(Non-IP)
NAS-ESM Data Transport(Non-IP Data)

Benefitsy Part of end-to-end RANtoCore™ validation solution:Works in conjunction with TM500 to test eNB and/or emulates millions of UEs and thousands of eNBs totest the core.
y Flexibility to operate in standalone mode or as part ofan end to end solution.
y Massive IoT Scalabilityy Exceptional Price-Performance
3 TeraVM-vRAN Cellular IoT Moduley Prevent CapEx wastage through shared licenses acrossuser-community.
y Future Proof Core Network Designy Test edge to core for IoT,C-SGN or Network Slicing
y Cover 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G traffic scenarios from asingle platformy Automation: supports Orchestration and third
party/in-house automation tools

FeaturesSupported Interfaces

y Emulate over 16M IoT Devices with 180,000 TPS

y S1-MMEy Generate repeatable, reliable traffic patterns withdifferent flavours of IoT devices

y S6t
y S11-Uy DMix of NB-IoT and non-IoT application traffic

y T6ay Rich set of traffic Metrics

y T6b

y Fully Virtual – Runs in Lab, datacentre or cloud.
Supports OpenstackStandardsy Compare and contrast Control Plane andUser Plane Optimizations

y 3GPP TS 24.301

Control Plane Optimizationy UE Attach without PDN connection for non IP traffic

y 3GPP TS 36.413

y 3GPP TS 23.401

y Control Plane Service Request

System Specificationsy Support for small data transfer over NAS
y Extended Discontinuous Reception (eDRX) Supportfor Sleeping Nodesy Power Saving Mode (PSM) in UE

y GPP TR 23.720

y 4 Intel CPU v4 (or higher) and 128GB Memoryper Virtualy Machiney ESXi 5.5+ or KVM Ubuntu 16.04.03 LTS
y Scales with multiple Virtual Machines

User Plane Optimizationy Data over S11-U Support

Licensingy Data over S11-U Support

TeraVM-vRAN requires an addition license for IoT support
with options for 200, 200,000 or 1M IoT Devices with
400, 40,000 or 4M bearers respectively. Order Codes:

y Non-IP PDN Support (NIDD)
y Connection Suspend procedurey TVM-vRAN-CIoT-200

Node Emulationy TVM-vRAN-CIoT-200K

y IoT End Points

y TVM-vRAN-CIoT-1M

y eNodeBy C-SGN

TeraVM-vRAN is an application emulation and security
performance solution, delivering comprehensive test
coverage for application services, wired and wirelessnetworks. TeraVM is offered as a virtualized solution
enabling the flexibility to run anywhere - lab, datacenterand the cloud, with consistent performance coverage,
ensuring that highly optimized networks and services
can be delivered with minimal risk.

y HSS
y SCEFy SMSCy IoT Server

Visit viavisolutions.com/wirelessvalidation for moredetails on TeraVM-vRAN Mobile Core validation.

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Product specifications and descriptions in thisdocument are subject to change without notice.
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