How deep packet inspection enhances 5G
5G presents a huge leap in mobile broadband capacity, speed and latency, and brings the promise of innovative and exciting new use cases such as smart factories, connected vehicles and remote medical assistance to name a few. Part of the excitement comes from the convergence of new technologies such as big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence. These new technologies, combined with the gigabit speeds, enhanced capacity and ultra-low latency promised by 5G, are set to massively redefine cities, industries and our day-to-day living.
However, creating unprecedented experiences for end-users requires optimizing key performance levels for the three 5G service classes “enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB)”, “Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC)”, and “massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC)”.
Identification and classification of IP traffic in real-time using advanced filtering and classification technology such as ipoque's advanced deep packet inspection solution enables traffic routing to be executed seamlessly through the different service classes. This is important in the 5G architecture which manages traffic from millions of smart devices, IoT nodes and customer premises equipment (CPE). Furthermore, with DPI, optimization of each service class is enabled by continuous reallocation of resources between them and the implementation of traffic management policies that correspond to the applications delivered within each class.
DPI-empowered application awareness in 5G
Deep packet inspection becomes key in 5G – as it provides real-time network visibility and real-time application awareness from the core to the edge and across all layers and nodes within the network. While DPI has been providing IP application awareness in the core of 4G networks and their predecessors for some time, under 5G DPI’s capability extends from the core to across the entire network, supporting 5G’s new and enhanced features, namely:
- 5G service classes defined by key use cases
- 5G network slicing
- 5G vRAN
- 5G network virtualization and programmability
- 5G network edge
Our DPI software integrates seamlessly across the network, feeding crucial insights that enable intelligent traffic management. This helps network operators to maintain high levels of network performance, security and customer experience across all 5G applications and services. Likewise, it ensures high network efficiency and, in the long run, a lower cost of ownership for the network.
Achieving a successful 5G rollout
Rohde & Schwarz supports their customers to ensure that 5G lives up to its expectations of being a technology that offers more than “just” fast mobile communication. As many mobile network operators (MNOs) roll out their 5G radio networks in non-standalone (NSA) mode supporting 5G with existing 4G core infrastructure, it is important for them to differentiate between 4G and 5G applications in order to adopt 5G technologies. By using ipoque's advanced telco analytics solution R&S®INTRA, MNOs can process all the traffic in their network and make this particular distinction.
As Irina Palade, Product Manager for the Traffic Analytics product line at Rohde & Schwarz, states, “many of the proposed 5G use cases such as car-to-car communication, remote medical assistance, and real-time drone fleet management are future-facing. Therefore, MNOs are looking to identify the use cases that can be successful now.” Continuous traffic analytics and advanced correlation of traffic data are essential for identifying the changing trends and new interests that are emerging. Solutions that provide granular network insights are key to make informed decisions and drive the adoption of 5G in the most profitable way.
