High-level components
Multiple components come together to bring up a 5G network. In this section, we will learn about the high-level components that are a must in creating and operating a 5G network. 5G provides a lot of flexibility in the design of the network – we will also discuss the options as we go over each high-level component.
The access network
The access network comprises mobile base stations (gNB), which may be split up further functionally and physically into the following components – a Centralized Unit (CU), a Distributed Unit (DU), and a Radio Unit (RU). When there is a functional and physical split of various components of a base station, it is called a distributed architecture, simply because a single function of a gNB is now distributed among other smaller components.
This split is very useful to support lower-latency use cases and helps serve mobile edge computing use cases. Let us go over the components one by one:
- In the CU, the...
