5G Call Flows: Voice, Data, and Video

This page describes the 5G Voice Call Flow, 5G Data Call Flow, and 5G Video Call Flow. These 5G NR call flows for voice/Data/Video are based on trials and tests conducted worldwide.

Introduction

As we know, wireless cellular systems such as 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G are used for voice, data, or video transmissions and receptions between mobile and fixed users. There are two basic components in these cellular systems: mobile phones and the network (consisting of base stations and backend data connectivity components such as the core network, fiber optics, etc.).

5G has been developed according to the 3GPP standard Release 15 and beyond. It’s backward compatible with LTE and LTE-advanced Pro. 5G systems have been developed in various frequency bands to support spectrum regulations throughout the world.

A 5G system consists of three components:

• UEs (i.e., mobile phones)
• gNBs (i.e., base stations)
• CN (i.e., Core Network)

There are different deployment modes in 5G, namely non-standalone and standalone.

The non-standalone UE operates in the presence of both an LTE eNB and a 5G gNB. In this mode, the UE completes initial synchronization using the C-plane (i.e., Control Plane) of the LTE eNB and later camps on to the U-plane (User Plane) of the 5G gNB for traffic exchange.

During initial deployment in phase-I, this non-standalone mode is preferable due to the availability of existing 4G systems such as LTE and LTE-advanced. This will help in fast deployment for telcos to provide services to cellular users.

The standalone UE operates only in the presence of a 5G gNB. In this mode, the UE completes initial synchronization using the C-plane of the 5G gNB and later camps on to the U-plane of the 5G gNB for traffic exchange as well.

5G Voice Call Flow

A 5G voice call establishes circuits between the calling and called parties for voice transmission and reception over the 5G network.

There are two types of voice calls:

• Mobile Originating Call
• Mobile Terminating Call

Examples include normal voice telephony calls using 4G/5G mobile phones without using any applications.

5G Data Call Flow

A 5G data call establishes virtual circuits between the calling and called parties for data transmission and reception over the 5G network.

There are two types of Data calls:

• Mobile Originating packet switched call
• Mobile Terminating packet switched call

Examples include normal internet browsing, uploads/downloads after an internet connection has been established with the 5G network and a 5G mobile phone (i.e., UE).

5G Video Call Flow

A 5G video call establishes a connection between two mobile phones (or UEs) for video transmission and reception using a packet-switched connection.

It uses apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, GTalk, etc., over an internet connection.

News

News#1: 21 Feb. 2018: Vodafone, along with Huawei, recently completed test trials using 5G NR technology in non-standalone mode. They used the sub 6 GHz frequency spectrum and performed live data calls, live HD video calls, and voice calls from a 4G to a 5G test device. For this test, an end-to-end test network was built as per 5G NR (New Radio) RAN (Radio Access Network) and core network equipment from Huawei. They used the 3.7 GHz frequency spectrum.

News#2: Nov. 6, 2017: Australia’s leading mobile operator, Telstra, along with Ericsson, recently completed the first 5G data call using the 26 GHz mmWave frequency band. Trials in the mmWave frequency spectrum in 28 GHz and 39 GHz are taking place in countries such as the US, Korea, and Japan.

News#3: Feb. 13, 2018: Verizon recently conducted an over-the-air 5G voice call using 5G network technology from Nokia and a 3GPP NR prototype device from Qualcomm. Earlier to this, Verizon successfully completed a 5G video call between Minneapolis and Seoul with Samsung and KT.