The desire to support services1 within networks using IP technology has resulted in a number of architectural solutions being worked on in numerous standardization bodies and forums; these solutions are either specific to a particular type of access network or are limited to a particular category of services (e.g. voice over IP or conversational services), or do not provide sufficient details on the control plane.
NOTE 1 – The word "service" in this context is not meant necessarily to represent an ITU‑T-defined service.
A standardized architectural model for a control plane that is independent of, yet takes account of, various access mechanisms (e.g. various forms of DSL, mobility air interfaces, traditional local loop technologies, etc.) is needed.
A standard reference model for the control plane is required to identify a set of physical interfaces for which interoperability between telecommunication networks and between equipment from different suppliers is required; fixed/mobile core network convergence is an important objective because it complements the "access independence" requirements.
As the ITU‑T has developed the standards for PSTN/ISDN and Packet-based public networks, including services and control protocols, this question plans to develop the signalling and protocol architectures for the emerging telecommunication network.
Cooperation with the ITU‑T study groups and with other standards development organizations (SDOs) is required to gather any relevant information from these organizations and avoid duplication of effort.
The control plane is the set of functionalities required to control network attachment procedures (including mobility management and authentication), to control session establishment and release, to control bearer resources (including quality of service control), to interact with services and applications and to interact with legacy networks.
Recommendations in force for which the Question is responsible: Q.3030, Q.3040.
Question
Study items to be considered include, but are not limited to:
What enhancements to the signalling and control architecture are required to model the control plane of emerging telecommunication networks, taking into account multimedia services (conversational and non-conversational) and all types of wireline and wireless public access networks over which these services may be delivered?
What signalling and control architecture and entities are required to assure security of signalling and control?
What enhancements to the signalling and control architecture are required to support services and/or applications of public interest such as emergency call handling, number portability, privacy, etc.?
What enhancements to existing recommendations are required to provide energy savings directly or indirectly in information and communication technologies or in other industries? What enhancements to developing or new recommendations are required to provide such energy savings?
What enhancements to the signalling and control protocol architecture are required to support the Internet of things (IoT), machine-to-machine (M2M) communication services and/or applications?
Coordination of the signalling and protocol development of the emerging telecommunication networks in cooperation with the ITU‑T study groups and with other standards development organizations (SDOs).
Tasks
Tasks include, but are not limited to:
Determine the requirements that the generic, access-technology-independent telecommunication network signalling control protocol architecture is intended to support. It is anticipated that these requirements will need to be periodically refined to reflecting the evolution of telecommunications and computer communication technologies taking into consideration the signalling control protocol architectures available from ITU‑T and other SDOs.
Identify modifications and enhancements to the signalling control protocol architecture that will enable the architecture to meet the requirements of the emerging network architecture (including IoT, M2M, cloud computing, future networks, etc.).
Identify a set of physical interfaces for which interoperability between different network equipment is desirable and for which detailed signalling requirements need to be studied and control protocols need to be standardized.
Study the application of generic signalling control protocol architecture to a range of wireline, optical and wireless access network technologies e.g. DSL, PON, W-CDMA, etc.
Identify security requirements in support of the overall security framework.
Define interworking with legacy systems.
Study specific signalling control protocol architectures such as peer-to-peer architectures.
Ensure communication and cooperation amongst study groups and forums related to signalling and protocol development for emerging networks.
Relationships
Recommendations
Questions
Study groups
SG 13 on architecture of the existing and emerging networks
SG 15 on transport
SG 16 on multimedia services and coding
SG 17 on security framework
Standardization bodies
Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Standardization Program (ASTAP), Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), CCSA, ETSI
IETF, IEEEW3C, 3GPP, Broadband Forum
