5G Non-Standalone Networks
The initial trials for 5G networks started as early as 2018, and by 2019, many tier-one operators already had some presence of 5G in their networks. Therefore, the race among service providers to introduce a 5G presence was substantial. The 3GPP standards body already anticipated this; hence specifications were written to enable an architecture that would ensure faster rollouts of 5G. This provision was in the form of 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) networks.
In this chapter, we will dig into the details of what an NSA network really means and ask, how is an NSA network designed? What are the various technical aspects of this architecture and what are the various types of NSA networks?
In this chapter, we’re going to cover the following main topics:
- Overview of NSA networks
- Types of NSA networks
- A deep dive into NSA networks
- 5G NSA – option 3 call flows
- Advantages and shortcomings
