Yota PCRF

Product Description
Product version: 3.5.2
Document version: 2.8
Status: development

Yota 2013

Revision History
Date
09.03.2011

Version
1.0

Author
Evgenia Martynyuk

01.06.2011

1.1

Evgenia Martynyuk

06.06.2011
28.07.2011
17.08.2011
29.08.2011
17.10.2011

1.1
1.2
1.2
1.3
2.1

Evgenia
Evgenia
Evgenia
Evgenia
Evgenia

19.01.2012

2.2

Evgenia Martynyuk

04.03.2012

2.3

Evgenia Martynyuk

13.07.2012

2.4

Evgenia Martynyuk

21.08.2012

2.5

Evgenia Martynyuk

29.10.2012

2.6

Evgenia Martynyuk

31.01.2013

2.7

Evgenia Martynyuk

02.04.2013

2.8

Evgenia Martynyuk

Yota 2013

Martynyuk
Martynyuk
Martynyuk
Martynyuk
Martynyuk

Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description

Revision
Document created
Integration with 3G CDMA2000 was added.
Figures review and update
Geographical distribution was added
Yota PCRF architecture update
Integration with LTE network figure was changed
Functional and Redundancy figures were changed
Supported product version changed to 2.5
Supported product version changed to 3.0,
"Yota PCRF Architecture" and "Feature
Description" chapters update
Supported product version changed to 3.1,
"Yota PCRF Architecture" and "Network
Integration" chapters updated
Supported product version changed to 3.2,
"Yota PCRF Architecture" chapter updated
Supported product version changed to 3.3
Supported product version changed to 3.4. "Yota
PCRF Architecture" chapter updated
Supported product version changed to 3.5.1.
"Yota PCRF Architecture" and "Integration"
chapters updated
Supported product version changed to 3.5.2.

Table of Contents
About the document .................................................................................................. 5
Formatting conventions .......................................................................................... 5
Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ 5
Introduction .............................................................................................................. 8
Yota PCRF Architecture .............................................................................................. 9
Yota PCRF System Functional Components ..................................................................10
Geographical Distribution ..........................................................................................10
PCRF Node Components ............................................................................................11
PCRF Core ...........................................................................................................12
PCRF Database .....................................................................................................12
Diameter Interfaces ..............................................................................................12
HTTP Interfaces ....................................................................................................13
Administration Tools .............................................................................................15
EDR Writer ..........................................................................................................15
Watchdog ............................................................................................................16
BackUp ...............................................................................................................16
Monitoring ...........................................................................................................16
DDF Node Components .............................................................................................17
DDF ....................................................................................................................17
Propagator ...........................................................................................................18
PCRF Database .....................................................................................................18
Diameter Interfaces ..............................................................................................18
HTTP Interfaces ....................................................................................................19
MiniCRM ..............................................................................................................20
Administration Tools .............................................................................................20
Watchdog ............................................................................................................20
BackUp ...............................................................................................................20
Monitoring and Statics ...........................................................................................22
Cluster Architecture ..................................................................................................23
Integration ............................................................................................................... 24
Network Integration ..................................................................................................25
LTE .....................................................................................................................25
WiMAX ................................................................................................................25
3G UTMS .............................................................................................................26
3G CDMA2000 ......................................................................................................27
IMS.....................................................................................................................28
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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description
Convergence ........................................................................................................29
Integration with IT Infrastructure ...............................................................................30
Billing .................................................................................................................30
Self-care .............................................................................................................30
OSS ....................................................................................................................30
PLM/Product Catalog .............................................................................................30
Connection Manager .............................................................................................31
Feature Description .................................................................................................. 32
Policy Control in General ...........................................................................................33
Usage-based Policy Control ........................................................................................33
Personalized Services ................................................................................................33
Time-based Policy Control .........................................................................................34
Location-based Policy Control .....................................................................................34
Policy Control Based on Device Type ...........................................................................35
Parental Control .......................................................................................................35
Shared Quota ...........................................................................................................35
Congestion Management ...........................................................................................36
Notifications and Promotions ......................................................................................37

Yota 2013

About the document

About the document

The purpose of this document is to provide general overview of Yota PCRF system and describe
architecture and functions in term of product structure, integration with networks and features.

Formatting conventions
The following conventions are used in the document:
Item

Convention

Document titles

Title caps, italic

Command on menus
and buttons
System components

Title caps, in quotation

marks
Bold, capitalization as in a
user interface
Default, capitalization

General emphasis

Italic

Chapter titles

Example
See "Yota PCRF 3.4 Periodic Tasks
Description"
See Chapter 2, "PCRF System Processes"
Click Add button
PCRF Core
Reference to another chapter of the same
document is made as a cross reference in
the following format

Abbreviations
Abbreviation

Meaning

3GPP

3rd Generation Partnership Project

AAA

Authentication Authorization Accounting

AF

Application Function

ASN-GW

Access Service Network Gateway

BS

Base Station

BSC

Base Station Controller

CLI

Command Line Interface

CRM

Customer Relationship Management

CSP

Communications Service Provider

DDF

Data Distribution Function

DPI

Deep Packet Inspection

eGGSN

enhanced GGSN

eNB

E-UTRAN NodeB

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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description
FTP

File Transfer Protocol

GGSN

Gateway GPRS Service Node

GPRS

General Packet Radio Service

HLR

Home Location Register

HSS

Home Subscriber Server

IMS

IP Multimedia Subsystem

IMSI

International Mobile Subscriber Identity

LTE

3GPP Long Term Evolution

MME

Mobility Management Entity

MS

Mobile Station

O&M

Operations and Maintenance

OSS/BSS
(B/OSS)

Operation Support System/Business Support System

P2P

Peer to Peer

PC

Personal Computer

PCC

Policy and Charging Control

PCEF

Policy and Charging Enforcement Function

PCRF

Policy and Charging Rules Function

P-CSCF

Proxy Call Session Control Function

PDN-GW (PGW)

Public Data Network Gateway

PDSN/HA

Packet Data Serving Node / Home Agent

PLM

Product Lifecycle Management

QoS

Quality of Service

SCTP

Stream Control Transmission Protocol

SGSN

Serving GPRS Support Node

Yota 2013

About the document

S-GW

Serving Gateway

SMS

Short Message Service

SOAP

Simple Object Access Protocol

SPR

Subscriber Profile Repository

TCP

Transmission Control Protocol

USSD

Unstructured Supplementary Service Data

UMTS

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description

Introduction
In the era of packet communication technologies and a rapidly growing demand for bandwidth
and data transfer volumes intelligent control over quality of services (QoS) provided to
subscribers plays a major role.
In telecommunication networks dynamic control over QoS policies is performed by PCRF (Policy
and Charging Rules Function), which is supplied with SPR (Subscriber Profile Repository).
Yota PCRF is a standard compliant policy management solution that enables operator to
dynamically control network elements with real-time policies based on service, subscriber or
usage context.
Yota PCRF allows making policy decisions based on:

Subscriber profile and enabled services

Subscriber application and protocol (Skype, P2P)

Content type (Video, MP3)

Subscriber device (Mobile, iPad, TV, PC)

Subscriber location (home, roaming, specific cell)

Date and time

Accumulated usage (per month, week, day, hour)

Cell congestion

Any combination of the above and other parameters

Yota PCRF gives operators the flexibility to quickly respond to competitor tactics, new devices,
applications and changing consumer data habits.
Yota PCRF gives service providers valuable abilities like:

Dynamic online control over subscribers services

Protection of key revenue-generating services

Optimized and maintained network utilization

New business models and new revenue streams

A better understanding of subscriber behavior

At the same time Yota PCRF provides subscribers with the following benefits:

Improved QoE (Quality of Experience)

True personalization

Real-time interaction with the network

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1
Yota PCRF Architecture
Yota PCRF System Functional Components
Geographical Distribution
PCRF Node Components
DDF Node Components
Cluster Architecture

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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description
This chapter describes the high-level architecture of Yota PCRF product.

Yota PCRF System Functional Components

Yota PCRF system consists of two main elements:

PCRF. This element carries all policy selection logic and also incorporates SPR functionality.

DDF. This element is required for geographically distributed configuration.

These elements are described in the sections below.

Geographical Distribution
Yota PCRF supports installation in multiple regions. The component that provides geographical
distribution is DDF (Data Distribution Function).
DDF has the following major functions:

Carries out a single entry point for BSS. BSS sends commands only to DDF. DDF then
forwards these commands to Yota PCRF clusters.

Performs subscriber profiles migration from one regional PCRF cluster to another.

The scheme of geographically-distributed configuration is shown in the figure below:

Figure 1. Geographical distribution

BSS
HTTP

DDF
HTTP,
Diameter (I0,I1)

PCRF
DB

HTTP,
Diameter (I0,I1)

HTTP,
Diameter (I0,I1)

PCRF

PCRF

SPR
PCRF
DB

PCEF
PCEF
City A

Yota 2013

PCRF
SPR
PCRF
DB

PCEF
PCEF
City B

SPR
PCRF
DB

PCEF
PCEF
City C

10

PCRF Node Components

PCRF Node Components

PCRF cluster carries all policy selection logic and also incorporates SPR functionality.
The functional architecture of a PCRF node is illustrated on the figure below:
Figure 2. Functional architecture of PCRF node with integrated SPR
BSS

CRM

DDF

I0, I1 (Diameter)
DDF O&M
Console

Administrator

PCRF O&M
Console

CLI

Monitoring
Center

HTTP

MiniCRM

Subscriber
Session Info
Interface

GRAPI

Administration Tools

SPR
Configuration
Interface

Subscriber
Management
Interface

SNMP,
HTTP

Monitoring

HTTP Interfaces

In-memory DB
System
Logging

BackUp
PCRF
DB

PCRF Core
EDR
Writer

Watchdog
Policy Engine

PCRF
Node

Gx

Gxx

Cluster
watchdog

Diameter Interfaces
Rx

S9

I0, I1

Secondary
PCRF Node
PCEF

BBERF

AF

Visited
PCRF

Arrows direction shows the information flow between components.

PCRF consists of the following key components:

PCRF Core

PCRF Database

Diameter Interfaces

HTTP Interfaces

Administration Tools

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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description

PCRF Core
PCRF Core contains Policy Engine, which implements the logic of policy decision for subscriber
access, based on different criteria. The input is SPR information (subscription information,
subscriber location), session information, accumulated usage, used quota or roaming
conditions. The output is the chosen policy, which defines access of a subscriber to network
resources and levels of QoS.
Policy Engine has embedded script processor which is based on Lua scripting language. Script
processor can operate with PCRF functions and attributes, and build any combination of
attributes and conditions for policy decision. This enables virtually unlimited flexibility in
configuration of rules in PCRF.

PCRF Database
In-memory PCRF database contains:

SPR information

Session information

Other service information

SPR Information
This is information about:

Subscribers (such as subscriber identity, his profile). These subscribers are attached to the
Network in the region that is served by the local PCRF.

Subscription (services and quotas)

Accumulated usage of a service

SPR information on local PCRF cluster is only part of total Operator subscriber database. Each
PCRF cluster has its own SPR information.

Session Information
This service information contains network session context and information of all Diameter
interfaces: Gx, Rx, S9, etc

Diameter Interfaces
Diameter interfaces allows PCRF node to communicate with PCEF, AF, secondary cluster node
and DDF. Yota PCRF supports Diameter message transfer over TCP or SCTP transport protocol.
Several DPIs and/or PCEFs (e.g., PDN-GW, GGSN) can be connected to PCRF in cluster or
standalone mode.
The following Diameter Gx dialects are supported:

Default Gx (3GPP TS 29.212 Rel 8,9)

Vendor-specific dialects

Yota PCRF has successfully passed IOT with all vendors mentioned below:

Huawei

Cisco

Procera

Samsung

Sandvine

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PCRF Node Components

The following Rx interface specifications are supported:

3GPP TS 29.214 Rel 8,9

The following Gxx interface specification is supported:

3GPP TS 29.212 Release 9

The following S9 roaming specification is supported:

3GPP TS 29.215 Release 8,9

PCRF clusters communicate with DDF cluster via I0 and I1 interfaces which are based on
Diameter.

Information
For more information about Diameter interfaces, please refer to the "Yota PCRF 3.5.2
Diameter Interfaces".

HTTP Interfaces
The following HTTP interfaces are available for external systems:

Subscriber Management Interface

SPR Configuration Interface

Subscriber Session Information Interface

Generic Request API

Request format is HTTP REST. Answer format is JSON over HTTP.

Subscriber Management Interface

This interface is used for provisioning of subscription information to local PCRF database and
allows managing subscriber profile, services, and accumulators.
The interface supports the following command types:

Commands for subscriber profile management (add\delete\update\get subscriber

information, etc.)

Commands for services management (add\delete services to\from a subscriber, update

service information, get all subscribers services, etc.)

Commands for usage accumulator management (add\delete\update\get accumulator

information, etc.)
Information
For more information about the interface, please refer to the "Yota PCRF 3.5.2 Subscriber
Management Interface".

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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description

SPR Configuration Interface

This interface is used for managing SPR dictionaries.
Information in the following dictionaries can be changed:

Service dictionary. Contains information about all services that can be assigned to a
subscriber.

Threshold Scheme dictionary. Contains information about all threshold schemes that are
used in Yota PCRF.

Accumulator dictionary. Contains information about all accumulators that are used in
Yota PCRF.

Attribute dictionary. Contains information about all supplementary attributes that can be
added to a specified service or subscriber.

The interface supports the following operations:

add dictionary information

delete dictionary information

update dictionary information

get dictionary information, etc.

Information
For more information about the interface, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.5.2 SPR
Configuration Interface".

Subscriber Session Information Interface

The interface is used for obtaining information from active Gx session context. Such
information includes session ID, subscriber ID, and other parameters.
Information
For more information about the interface, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.5.2 Subscriber
Session Information Interface".

Generic Request API (GRAPI)

Generic Request API (GRAPI) gives operators a flexible ability to customize processing logic on
PCRF side. GRAPI doesnt require any integration features development.
Using GRAPI operator can perform operations on:

services

subscriber and service attributes

session information

any other information, available for PCRF

GRAPI involves launching a custom Lua script, which contains processing logic, to a PCRF node
by HTTP request.
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PCRF Node Components

Information
For more information about the interface, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.5.2 Generic Request
API".

Administration Tools
PCRF O&M Console
PCRF O&M Console is one of the main administration tools. It allows configuring, maintaining,
monitoring of the PCRF system.
This Web Interface:

allows an operator to make flexible configuration of a PCRF cluster.

allows process and session browsing, which occur in the system, connections generating,
dynamic routes creating, and other operations.

enables fault management, overload management, and shows counters statistics.

The PCRF O&M Console is available at:

http://<pcrf_host>

CLI
This component is optional and is used for performing simple administration tasks like adding,
updating, or deleting subscriber profile or service information.

Mass Operation Utility

Mass Operation Utility performs mass operations with subscriber profile information. The utility
takes subscriber ID (and other additional parameters if there are any) from subscriber list file
and sends management commands (HTTP-requests), which were specified in a file, to DDF or
PCRF node to modify subscriber profile information.

Information
For more information about the utility, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.5.2 Mass Operation
Utility Description".

EDR Writer
EDR Writer (Event Data Records Writer) generates files with information about all events that
lead to a QoS policy or rules set change. EDR files contain all policy change history for each
subscriber that makes subscriber support easier. This information can be loaded into external
BI systems for further analysis.
EDR file includes:

Cause of event and time stamp

PCRF node information

Subscriber information
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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description

Policy and rule information

Session information

Roaming information
Information
For more information about EDR files, please refer to "Yota PCRF 3.5.2 EDR Generation".

Watchdog
This component manages active processes in the system. If a process is down or doesnt
respond the Watchdog will restart it.

BackUp
This component is optional and performs full backup of the information (such as subscriber
profiles, session information, configuration files, server settings, etc.), which is stored in PCRF
database. Full backup of the database is performed every 3 hours.
Information
For more information about backup and restore procedures, please refer to "Yota PCRF
3.5.2 Backup and Recovery".

Monitoring
This component is optional and serves for monitoring of system status, including subcomponents, load level and performance.

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DDF Node Components

DDF Node Components

DDF cluster is used for forwarding of provisioning interface commands from BSS to Yota PCRF
clusters.
The functional architecture of DDF node is illustrated on the figure below:
Figure 3. Functional architecture of DDF node

BSS

CRM

Monitoring
Center

Administrator

HTTP

HTTP

MiniCRM

Subscriber
Session Info
Interface

GRAPI

HTTP

Subscriber
Management
Interface

SPR
Configuration
Interface

DDF Info
Interface

Interfaces

DDF O&M
Console

CLI

Statistics

Monitoring

Administration Tools

Proxy

In-memory DB
BackUp

PCRF
DB

System
Logging

Watchdog

Propagator

DDF

HTTP

HTTP

I0, I1

PCRF
Clusters

Cluster
watchdog

Diameter Interfaces

DDF
Node

Secondary DDF
Node

DDF consists of the following key components:

Data Distribution Function (DDF)

Propagator

PCRF Database

Diameter Interfaces

HTTP Interfaces

miniCRM

Administration Tools

DDF
Performs subscriber profiles migration from one regional PCRF cluster to another.

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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description

Propagator
This component propagates SPR configuration commands to regional PCRF clusters.

PCRF Database
DDF database has the same structure as PCRF database on a PCRF node and contains:

SPR information

Session information

PCRF database on DDF is used as:

1. Storage of SPR configuration (ServiceInfo dictionary, AccumInfo, SchemeInfo, etc.)
2. Temporary storage of a subscriber profile while it is migrated from old PCRF database to
new PCRF database and when a new subscriber is created.
When SPR configuration commands are received, they are processed locally and then are
propagated to all regional PCRF clusters.
PCRF database on DDF is not used as a permanent storage for all Operator subscriber
database.
Subscriber profiles are stored on DDF only when:

DDF performs a subscriber profile migration from one PCRF database to another.
The complete transaction is divided into two parts. At first, DDF requests profile from an
old PCRF cluster database and stores it in own database. Then DDF adds profile to a new
PCRF cluster database and removes it from PCRF database on DDF.

BSS sends a command to create new subscriber, to whom DDF doesnt have routing
information.
In this case DDF creates a profile in its own PCRF database. The subscriber profile
information will be migrated to a home PCRF cluster right after the first attach to the
network of this subscriber.

When subscriber profile is added to PCRF database on DDF during migration and if a profile
with the same Subscriber Id already exists in the database, then an old DDF database record
should be removed and a new one created.
Session information is required only for interaction with regional PCRF clusters.

Diameter Interfaces
DDF communicate with PCRF clusters via I0 and I1 interfaces which are based on Diameter.

Information
For more information Diameter Interfaces, please refer to the "Yota PCRF 3.5.2 Diameter
Interfaces".

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DDF Node Components

HTTP Interfaces
The following interfaces are available for external systems on DDF node:

SPR Configuration Interface

DDF Information Interface

Subscriber Management interface

Subscriber Session Information Interface

Generic Request API

SPR Configuration Interface

SPR configuration commands, which are sent from BSS to DDF, are processed on DDF first and
then are propagated to all regional PCRF clusters.
See more details about the interface in "SPR Configuration Interface" section of PCRF node
description.

DDF Information Interface

This interface is used to request subscriber home PCRF address by subscriber ID or session IP.
Information
For more information about the interface, please refer to the "Yota PCRF 3.5.2 DDF
Information Interface".

Subscriber Management Interface

Subscriber Management Interface commands are routed to home PCRF cluster after validation
on DDF.
See more details about the interface in "Subscriber Management Interface" section of PCRF
node description.

Subscriber Session Information interface

Subscriber Session Information Interface commands are routed to home PCRF cluster after
validation on DDF.
See more details about the interface in "Subscriber Session Information Interface" section of
PCRF node description.

Generic Request API

GRAPI commands are routed to home PCRF cluster after validation on DDF.
See more details about the interface in "Generic Request API (GRAPI)" section of PCRF node
description.

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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description

MiniCRM
miniCRM is a centralized interface, which is used to obtain subscriber profiles and session
information by subscriber ID or session IP.
The following information is available via miniCRM:

Subscriber location

Subscriber Mapping Status (mapping type: normal or temporary)

Full subscriber information from SPR (services, attributes, accumulators, accumulators

schemes, services attributes)

Session information (session ID, base station ID, QoS policy, region, etc.)

MiniCRM can be embedded to different external CRM systems.

Administration Tools
To provide full Operations & Maintenance function Yota PCRF system has the following main
administration tools:

DDF O&M Console

Command Line Interface (CLI)

DDF O&M Console

DDF O&M console is used for configuration, administration and maintenance of all Yota PCRF
system clusters.
The DDF O&M Console is available at:
http://<pcrf_host>

CLI
CLI on DDF node is optional and has the same functions as PCRF The PCRF O&M Console is
available at:
http://<pcrf_host>
CLI.

Watchdog
This component manages active processes in the system. If a process is down or doesnt
respond the Watchdog will restart it.

BackUp
This component is optional and performs backup of DDF databases information (subscriber
profiles, session information, server settings, etc.). Full backup is performed every 3 hours.
Information
For more information about backup and restore procedures, please refer to "Yota PCRF
3.5.2 Backup and Recovery".

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DDF Node Components

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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description

Monitoring and Statics

This is optional component, which serves for monitoring of system status, including subcomponents, load level and performance.
Built-in statistics collection provides values of various counters, such as number of requests,
processing errors and so on.

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Cluster Architecture

Cluster Architecture
In standard configuration PCRF cluster includes two nodes. Each node is a server with installed
required sofrware.
PCRF cluster supports Active/Hot-standby architecture.
PCRF cluster nodes process requests in Active/Hot-standby mode. Session and SPR information
is replicated between nodes. If primary cluster node is unavailable, the second one takes over
all workloads and handles sessions, which were created on the unavailable node.
Figure 4. Redundancy
BSS

Master link

DDF
DDF

Slave link

HTTP

HTTP
PCRF Cluster
HTTP
Interfaces

HTTP
Interfaces

Secondary
Node

Primary
Node

DB replication

PCRF
DB

PCRF
DB

Policy Engine

Policy Engine

Cluster
watchdog

Diameter
Interfaces

Gx

Gx

Diameter
Interfaces

Gx

PCEF

Gx

PCEF
PCEF Cluster

Active/Active mode is also possible.

DDF cluster also supports Active/Hot-standby architecture. But on the secondary node
Propagator components is stopped.

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2
Integration
Network Integration
Integration with IT Infrastructure

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24

Network Integration
This chapter describes Yota PCRF integration with different networks and integration with IT
infrastructure.

Network Integration
LTE
A high-level view of Yota PCRF integration with LTE network is shown in the figure below:
Figure 5. Integration with LTE network

Internet

Services
eNB

Content

Video

P-GW

MME

S-GW

PCEF

DPI

Gx
Gxx

PCRF
Yota PCRF can be integrated with S-GW or P-GW. In GTP-based network Yota PCRF is
integrated with P-GW via Gx interface. In PMIP-based network Yota PCRF is also integrated
with S-GW via Gxx interface.
Integration with Gx-enabled external DPI is available as well.

WiMAX
A high-level view of Yota PCRF integration with WiMAX network is shown in the figure below:
Figure 6. Integration with WiMAX network
Internet
ASN-GW

DPI

PCEF

Services
Content

BS

Video

Gx

MS

AAA

PCRF

For QoS management in WiMAX networks, Yota PCRF is integrated with DPI via Gx interface.
In some cases it is needed to get traffic between AAA and ASN-GW to detect a device identifier.
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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description

3G UTMS
If the 3G network has an enhanced GGSN (eGGSN) component, which includes PCEF function,
Yota PCRF integrates with the eGGSN via Gx interface. See Figure 7.1.
Figure 7.1. Integration with 3G UTMS network (eGGSN)

BSC

Internet

eGGSN

SGSN

Services

PCEF

Content

Video

Gx

PCRF
If the 3G network has GGSN without Gx support and external DPI with built-in PCEF, Yota
PCRF can be integrated with DPI via Gx interface. To identify subscribers Yota PCRF integrates
with the GGSN. See figure 7.2.
Figure 7.2. Integration with 3G UTMS network (GGSN)

BSC

Internet

SGSN

GGSN

DPI
PCEF

Services
Content

Video

Gx

PCRF

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Network Integration

3G CDMA2000
If the 3G CDMA 2000 network doesnt have an independent DPI component and PCEF function
is included in the PDSN\HA, Yota PCRF integrates with the PDSN\HA via Gx interface. See
Figure 8.1.
Figure 8.1. Integration with 3G CDMA2000 network (without independent DPI)

Internet

Services

PDSN/HA

Content

BSC

Video

Gx

PCRF
If the 3G CDMA 2000 network has an independent DPI component, which includes PCEF
function, Yota PCRF integrates with the DPI via Gx interface. To identify subscribers Yota PCRF
integrates with the PDSN\HA. See Figure 8.2.
Figure 8.2. Integration with 3G CDMA2000 network (independent DPI)
Internet

PDSN/HA

DPI

PCEF

Services
Content

BSC

Video

Gx

PCRF

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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description

IMS
A high-level view of Yota PCRF integration with IMS is shown in the figure below:
Figure 9. Integration with IMS

IMS
P-CSCF

Rx
PCRF

AF

Gx

LTE

Rx
Rx
AF

Yota PCRF is integrated with the IMS P-CSCF (Proxy Call Session Control Function) via Rx
interface and with LTE network via Gx interface.
IMS P-CSCF component manages QoS and authorizes the usage of specific bearer services
(services that allow transmission of information signals between network interfaces) in relation
to IMS-based services.

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Network Integration

Convergence
Yota PCRF is a network-agnostic solution. It supports LTE, WiMAX, 3G and is capable of
controlling policies of different networks and enables operators to build a centralized policy
control solution across all operators networks. This network convergence concept is illustrated
in figure below:
Figure 10. Convergence

IMS
AF

AF
Qo
S

re q

ue

Qo

st

eq
Sr

ue

st

l i cy
Po

LTE

n
Co

l
tro

Policy Control

PCRF
Po
lic

yC

on

tro
l

3G

WiMAX
Yota PCRF receives QoS requests from different services via different interaction interfaces and
applies policies based on subscribers/network/session information.
Yota PCRF can implement policy control functions over transport networks as well as receive
notifications and QoS requests from IMS and AF via Rx and in compliance with this information
dynamically manage policies over transport networks.

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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description

Integration with IT Infrastructure

In order to bring more value and policy features like Turbo Button in Connection Manager,
parental control, and intelligent reaction on subscriber QoS change like notifications and promo
offerings, Yota PCRF can be integrated with different BSS and IT components.
The scheme of integration with BSS components can be displayed the following way:
Figure 11. Integration with IT infrastructure

Connection
Manager
- Notifications
- Subscriber status
- Quota / Usage

Provisioning

Billing

Self-care
- Subscriber status
- Quota / Usage

PCRF

OSS

Cell load
information

QoS Tariffs

PLM

Billing
Yota PCRF integration with Billing allows subscribers to centralize policies and billing functions
in a multi-service/multi-network environment and have access to consolidated subscriber
information.

Self-care
Yota PCRF integration with self-care allows subscribers to see online status of their services.
Online status includes information about a subscribers remaining quota, either in terms of
time or volume.

OSS
Yota PCRF integration with OSS enables service providers to detect network congestion periods
and during these periods provide services with QoS based on subscriber data plans.

PLM/Product Catalog
Today, policy is a parameter of the same level of service as a price. Operator offers should
have both price and QoS configured in the same place.
Yota PCRF integration with PLM/Product Catalog rapidly decreases time required for configuring
new tariffs by service provider staff, thus reducing Time-to-Market for new marketing offers.

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Integration with IT Infrastructure

Connection Manager
The best way to interact with mobile broadband subscribers is via the Connection Manager
instead of SMS, USSD, and other communication channels commonly used by service providers.
Yota PCRF integration with Connection Manager enables service providers to notify, make
promotions, and interact with subscribers via the Connection Manager which is always at hand.

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3
Feature Description
Policy Control in General
Usage-based Policy Control
Personalized Services
Time-based Policy Control
Location-based policy control
Policy Control Based on Device Type
Parental Control
Shared Quota
Congestion Management
Notifications and Promotion

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Policy Control in General

This chapter gives a brief description of basic Yota PCRF features.

Policy Control in General

The growing popularity of rich media, interactive applications, and convergent devices are
driving exponential increases in data usage. Per user megabyte consumption is multiplying at
an accelerated pace in almost every part of the world. But data revenue growth is far behind
traffic growth and costs of increasing network capacity.
The future success of service providers greatly depends upon their ability to create new
revenue streams. Service providers are now faced with several strategic questions like how to
profit from data growth, how best to manage limited network resources.
The answers to these questions can be found in Policy Control.
Policy Control enables operator to dynamically control network elements with real-time policies
based on service, subscriber, or usage context. The policies include information about
bandwidth, charging, consumption and other network parameters for a subscribers entire data
session or for one or more particular applications.
With Policy Control, service providers are enabled to adjust and segment their offerings
around: data volumes, time-of-day conditions, application type, URL / domain, protocol,
location, content categories, and etc
This ability transforms IP networks from best-effort dumb pipes to smartly managed
environments ensuring a high level of service, based on network, application, and subscriber
awareness.

Usage-based Policy Control

Many operators are faced with a situation in which a small number of heavy users are
consuming large volumes of network capacity leading to network congestion. In this
environment, service providers must ensure network costs do not outstrip revenue growth
while meeting the data usage needs of all subscribers.
With Yota PCRF service providers can ensure optimal experience for all subscribers by
dynamically managing subscriber usage and network resources in real-time. Operators can
enforce usage-based policies and manage network congestion while increasing the value of
their networks.
With Yota PCRF operator can configure and assign usage limits to individual subscribers,
monitor limits in real-time, and apply a specific policy when subscribers usage exceeds their
quota. A variety of actions can be taken whenever a subscriber exceeds his usage limit, such
as disallowing certain usage or reducing connection speed during peak hours.
In order to help subscribers by preventing bill shock, operators give subscribers an opportunity
to track their data usage utilizing online reports and/or an automatic alert notification.

Personalized Services
One size never fits all. Some subscribers only use instant messaging programs (e.g., ICQ) or
do internet browsing to access social networks. They dont need high speed, but want to
always be on-line. Others download lots of movies and music from the Internet using P2P
services and high speed is important to them. And there also are subscribers who use their
USB dongles for business purposes. They need to be online even on the go. It is critical for
them to have guaranteed quality.

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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description
Service providers need the ability to segment their subscribers by offering choices of different
data plans and prices, based on speed of access, data volume limits, exclusion of certain
application and devices.
With Yota PCRF operator can offer targeted services, which will fit subscribers needs, and
assign quality for each service according to the subscribers preferences. By controlling the
quality of services in real-time operators make the traffic usage fairer and prevent network
congestion.

Time-based Policy Control

Yota PCRF is comprehensive tool for creation of time-based policies, which can be configured
by the service provider or subscriber himself via the self-care portal.
With Yota PCRF an operator can offer the following policies based on time:

Service validity period

Time of a day or/and days of a week policies

Service validity period - PCRF controls the validity period which was set for each particular
service. If the service validity time comes to an end, PCRF takes an action like bandwidth
reducing or blocking broadband access. It can be used for parental controls when parents set
limited Internet access time for their children.
Time of a day/ days of a week - Operator can offer broadband access only during weekends
and holidays or during non-congestion periods for lower prices.

Location-based Policy Control

Modern mobile technologies give subscribers an opportunity to have access to the Internet
from almost anywhere. But typically, people only require high speed connections in limited
locations.
With Location-based Policy Control, operators can offer subscribers control of the quality of
their services based on the location. Subscribers can configure one or several favorite zones
via the self-care portal and enjoy hyper speed Internet within these zones. Outside favorite
zones subscribers still can have Internet but with lower speed.
Yota PCRF monitors subscriber location and enforces an action when his location changes.
After applying a particular policy and adjusting subscriber bandwidth each time he enters or
leaves one of his favorite zones PCRF informs the subscriber about the QoS change as long as
the subscriber is online while entering or leaving a favorite zone.
Another example of location-based policy control is bill shock prevention.
Roaming is the best opportunity to have connectivity all over the world. Yota PCRF can protect
subscribers from bill shock by allowing them to block certain services during roaming,
configure cut-off mechanisms once a subscribers usage reaches a certain limit. In addition
operators can configure usage thresholds which trigger notification to be sent to a subscriber.
Location-based policy control helps Operators to:

Optimize network usage

Control quality of service based on subscribers location and their favorite zones

Location-based policy control helps Subscribers to:

Have connectivity all over the world and prevent roaming surprises

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Policy Control Based on Device Type

Policy Control Based on Device Type

There are a lot of devices which can give access to the Internet nowadays. But different
devices have different requirements to QoS. For example, a small mobile phone doesnt need
high bandwidth because download speed in this case will depend on the mobile phone technical
abilities. On the contrary, subscriber with a notebook requires high bandwidth for work with
video streaming, P2P, and other heavy services. Another issue is that with today's mobile
networks, which can provide high speed broadband access to the Internet, users can use their
mobile device as a modem. When ordinary subscribers can use tethering to access simple
services such as e-mail, some advanced users will use it for work with bandwidth consuming
applications.
Yota PCRF enables service providers to:

Give required bandwidth to a specified type of devices

Enforce traffic optimization and congestion management

Define a list of blocked devices or a list of blocked applications for specific devices

Manage devices and their usage to make sure that the subscriber uses his device in
accordance with a service plan

Implementation of network restrictions management can protect subscribers from extra

charges, protect networks from congestion, and prevent unauthorized heavy traffic.

Parental Control
With internet access now becoming standard on mobile devices, parents want the peace of
their mind knowing that their children are safe when using their phone or PC and that
excessive usage can be prevented. For example, parents dont want their children to visit
specific sites and use the Internet more than 3 hours a day. Via the self-care portal, parents
can configure the list of sites which can be visited by their children, the time period when the
Internet can be used, and the parent can specify the maximum duration of daily Internet
usage.
Yota PCRF allows the abilities to:

Apply gating according to the rules, configured by a subscriber

Redirect a child to a special page each time he tries to access a site that was not approved
by his parents

Enforce full blocking of the Internet for children when their usage reaches daily limit

With the Parental Control feature, subscribers can make flexible configurations of the list of
web sites which can be visited with their subscription in self-care. These business rules then
are automatically applied and controlled in the network.

Shared Quota
Beyond increasing volumes, the growth of mobile data has also increased the number of
subscriptions per customer. Many companies provide their employees with mobile broadband
devices and many families may have several of them. Sometimes buying broadband access for
every device can be rather troublesome because a subscriber will have to monitor each of his
accounts and top-up pre-paid balance in time.
Yota PCRF provides advanced subscriber profile structure, where different subscriptions of an
individual or different individuals in an organization or a family, can be connected to each other.

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Yota PCRF 3.5.2

Product Description
For example, all data traffic from all devices can be countered against a common capacity limit,
and a number of subscribers can share capacity.
With Yota PCRF companies can get corporate plans, which have cheaper prices per one device,
and can centralize broadband access and charging management.
With Yota PCRF a family can unite each of family members accounts; it will help to manage
family traffic consumption, overcome thresholds and facilitate charging.
The ability to offer such services to subscribers will become increasingly important as more
and more devices start using mobile data connections.

Congestion Management
With the Congestion Management feature Yota PCRF can control cell load and apply specific
policies to particular subscriber categories when congestion threshold is reached.
Cell load awareness begins with mapping active subscribers to the cell in which they have
active data sessions. Mapping is followed by measuring the cell in terms of the number of
active subscribers in the cell and in terms of the total bandwidth being used by those
subscribers. Once a pre-configured congestion threshold has been crossed, a specific policy
may be applied selectively per subscriber or for everyone in the cell until new measurements
indicate that the triggering condition has subsided.
Figure 12. Congestion Management Scheme

4. A
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p
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6. R
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for a moves
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ffec
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su b
r
scri ules
bers

5. Congestion
relief

Network

1. Congestion
notification

Cell load information

2. Requests profiles of
affected subscribers

PCRF

3. Sends profiles of
affected subscribers

SPR

The following scenario can be implemented for Congestion Management cases:

1. OSS radio network analyzer detects that a particular cell is overloaded. PCRF is notified
about cell congestion and then analyzes existing sessions and detects affected subscribers.
2. PCRF requests profiles of the affected subscribers from SPR.
3. SPR retrieves requested profiles and sends them to PCRF; PCRF analyzes the profiles and
checks for a VIP status of the subscribers.
4. For non-VIP subscribers the level of service is downgraded.

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Notifications and Promotions

5. When cell load level becomes normal, radio network analyzer notifies PCRF about subsiding
and PCRF removes previously provisioned rules.

Notifications and Promotions

Notifications ensure that subscribers are always informed about reaching thresholds, quota
exhaustion, roaming charges, location changes, and etc In-session redirection is one of the
most efficient ways to guarantee that a subscriber receives a notification, enabling a subscriber
to associate their usage with the offer being made in real-time. For mobile broadband
subscriber another suitable way of informing is through the Connection Manager.
Yota PCRF can trigger notifications based on real-time events or conditions such as current
location, current session, usage intensity, etc by providing an outlet to promote new plans,
features, or products.

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