5G SA Essential CUPS Technology Realized on NSA Equipment
Integrated acceptance of 5G SA standards through SW upgrade
KT announced on the 14th that it has developed 5G NSA (Non-Standalone) core equipment that applies 'CUPS (Control & User Plane Separation) technology' for the first time in Korea together with Samsung Electronics and Cisco, and completed construction on a commercial network.

CUPS technology is a standard technology defined in 3GPP international standards that allows devices responsible for signal processing and devices responsible for user traffic processing to be built and expanded independently.

The 5G core network built by KT this time is the result of collaboration with 5G core equipment manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and Cisco from the design stage based on such technological capabilities, and is significant in that it applied CUPS technology, which is essential for future SA-based 5G commercial networks, from the NSA stage.

5G NSA core equipment using CUPS technology can separate signal processing and user traffic processing, making it easy to build a future 5G edge communication center by applying so-called edge computing technology that places traffic processing devices at customer contact points. It is expected that this will enable smooth provision of high-quality, ultra-low latency services such as autonomous driving, AR, and VR.

In addition, KT has developed a technology that will allow the core equipment it recently built to accommodate the 5G SA (Standalone) standard with just a software upgrade in the future. The technology includes ▲standard CUPS architecture technology ▲ultra-low latency edge computing (Mobile Edge Computing, MEC) ▲network function modularization and remote service automatic configuration virtualization ▲ultra-high-speed traffic processing architecture, and once 5G SA standardization is complete, it will be possible to transition to SA without introducing new core equipment.

3GPP's 5G international standard is defined as evolving from NSA, a technology that uses 5G and LTE in combination, to SA technology that provides services solely through 5G. In general, the transition from NSA to SA requires the development and introduction of equipment that satisfies SA service requirements.

“KT is preparing to provide customers with high-quality, ultra-low-latency 5G services by applying CUPS technology,” said Lee Soo-gil, managing director of KT’s network research and technology support team. “The 5G NSA equipment built this time will be capable of providing SA services in the future, so customers will be able to receive continuously improved services.”