BNG User Plane Steering for Control Plane Load Relief
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing demand for user sessions and bandwidth in broadband network gateway (BNG) devices leads to excessive processing load on the control plane (CP), affecting communication performance.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a user plane steering function entity (USF) to dynamically schedule end users, reducing the processing load on the CP by offloading tasks through a communication interface with the CP, using a data model with object, operation, and operation attribute fields to align message content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the control plane (CP) handles all user scheduling and authentication tasks in a broadband network gateway (BNG) device, then comprehensive user management is achieved, but the processing load on the CP becomes excessively heavy, affecting communication performance
Solution Approach 1:
The BNG device is divided into two functional planes: the control plane (CP) for authentication and policy management, and the user plane steering function entity (USF) for user scheduling and connection management. This segmentation allows the CP to offload scheduling tasks to the USF, reducing its processing load while maintaining comprehensive user management capabilities through coordinated operation of both planes
Solution Approach 2:
The user plane steering function entity (USF) acts as an intermediary between the control plane and user connections. The USF receives scheduling requests from the CP, determines target user planes, and manages user connections accordingly. This intermediary role enables the CP to maintain authoritative control over user management while delegating time-sensitive scheduling operations to the USF, thereby improving communication performance
2Adaptability or versatility
If the BNG device supports increasing quantities of user sessions and higher user access bandwidth, then service capacity is improved, but the processing load on the control plane increases excessively
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the BNG device into control plane and user plane steering function entities, the system can support increasing user sessions and bandwidth requirements without proportionally increasing control plane complexity. The USF handles the complexity of user connection management and scheduling, allowing the CP to maintain simpler authentication and policy functions even as service capacity grows
Solution Approach 2:
The USF dynamically determines target user planes for user connections based on current network conditions and load. This dynamic scheduling capability allows the BNG device to adapt to varying service capacities and user demands without requiring the control plane to maintain complex real-time scheduling logic, thereby managing device complexity effectively while supporting growth in service capacity
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of this application provide a communication method and a related device. In the method, a control plane (CP) sends a first message to a user plane steering function (USF). The first message includes end user information, and indicates the USF to schedule an end user based on the end user information. Then, the CP determines, based on an identifier of a target UP carried in a first request message sent by the USF, to schedule the end user to the target UP. Thus, a scheduling policy of the end user is determined via the USF. The CP further processes a connection between the end user and the target UP based on the identifier of the target UP.