TY - JOUR
T1 - Control-plane protocol interactions in cellular networks
AU - Tu, Guan Hua
AU - Li, Yuanjie
AU - Peng, Chunyi
AU - Li, Chi-Yu
AU - Wang, Hongyi
AU - Lu, Songwu
PY - 2015/2/25
Y1 - 2015/2/25
N2 - Control-plane protocols are complex in cellular networks. They communicate with one another along three dimensions of cross layers, cross (circuit-switched and packet-switched) domains, and cross (3G and 4G) systems. In this work, we propose signaling diagnosis tools and uncover six instances of problematic interactions. Such control-plane issues span both design defects in the 3GPP standards and operational slips by carriers. They are more damaging than data-plane failures. In the worst-case scenario, users may be out of service in 4G, or get stuck in 3G. We deduce root causes, propose solutions, and summarize learned lessons.
AB - Control-plane protocols are complex in cellular networks. They communicate with one another along three dimensions of cross layers, cross (circuit-switched and packet-switched) domains, and cross (3G and 4G) systems. In this work, we propose signaling diagnosis tools and uncover six instances of problematic interactions. Such control-plane issues span both design defects in the 3GPP standards and operational slips by carriers. They are more damaging than data-plane failures. In the worst-case scenario, users may be out of service in 4G, or get stuck in 3G. We deduce root causes, propose solutions, and summarize learned lessons.
KW - Cellular networks
KW - Control-plane
KW - Protocol verification
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84924410666&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/2619239.2626302
DO - 10.1145/2619239.2626302
M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:84924410666
SN - 0146-4833
VL - 44
SP - 223
EP - 234
JO - Computer Communication Review
JF - Computer Communication Review
IS - 4
T2 - ACM SIGCOMM 2014 Conference
Y2 - 17 August 2014 through 22 August 2014
ER -