Page 16 - 3GPP_Highlights_Issue_5_WEB

TECHNICAL HIGHLIGHTS

UE DATA COLLECTION

REPORTING AND EXPOSURE

By Richard Bradbury,

BBC Research & Development

In Release 17, 3GPP has defined a new Reference architecture for UE data
reference architecture for collecting UE data collection, reporting and exposure
and exposing it to downstream consumers.
As well as supporting generic UE data, such
as service experience, the abstract building To support the collection of data from UEs, SA2’s architecture
envisages an Application Function that receives data reports
blocks are intended to be reusable in any from a Data Collection Client via conventional data plane
number of different data domains, the first PDU Sessions and exposes events to the NWDAF using the
Naf_EventExposure service-based interface defined by SA2 and
of which is 5G Media Streaming. specified by CT3 in TS 29.517. Recognising its domain expertise
in media-related metrics, SA2 turned to SA4 for help in
In TS 23.501 and TS 23.288, SA2 has defined a Network Data
Analytics Function (NWDAF) which analyses data collected defining the Data Collection AF and the related architecture
for UE data collection, reporting and exposure.
from Network Functions and UEs in the 5G System, and
publishes the results to subscribing data analytics consumers. This is documented by SA4 in TS 26.531 and is summarised in
Network Functions supporting the data analytics architecture the figure below. Detailed procedures for provisioning
implement an event exposure service-based API. The NWDAF the Data Collection AF and reporting UE data to it, as well
subscribes to uniquely identified events published by Network as definitions of the corresponding service-based interfaces,
Functions in order to acquire the data that it then goes on to are specified by SA4 in the companion TS 26.532.
analyse and expose to its subscribers. These may, in turn, use the
analysed data to modify the operation and/or configuration of
the 5G System, potentially in real time. In this way, a closed loop
can be formed to continuously optimise a 5G System.

Data Collection Network Any NF
Direct UE data AF Event NWDAF Data Analytics (Data analytics
Data Collection Client reporting (Event producer) exposure (Event consumer) exposure consumer)

UE Figure 1
As well as supporting the (currently small) repertoire of generic UE-related events defined by SA2, SA4 decided to expand the
scope of the UE data collection, reporting and exposure system in two different directions, as highlighted by the second figure:
1. It was recognised that Application Server (AS) instances 2. It was recognised that third party Application Service
can be an additional source of UE data. Application logs Providers (ASPs) are valid consumers of UE events from
contain valuable data about UE activity that can be analysed the Data Collection AF in addition to the NWDAF. An ASP’s
to extract patterns and trends. Event Consumer AF may wish to perform its own analysis of
UE data in order to optimise its applications.

Data Collection Network Any NF
Direct UE data AF Event NWDAF Data Analytics (Data analytics
Data Collection Client reporting (Event producer) exposure (Event consumer) exposure consumer)

UE Event Figure 2
UE data reporting exposure Application Service
Provider
AS
(Data Collection Event
Client) Consumer AF
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