Bearers Questions

There were a couple of good questions on the LTE University forum page recently. I thought it would be good to
address those questions. The first question was: are default bearers created on a per UE or a per PDN (Packet Data
Network) basis? Default bearers are created on a per PDN basis. So if a UE is connecting to two PDNs it will
need to establish two default bearers. The best example that I can come up with for why a subscriber may want to
connect to multiple PDNs is if subscriber wants to connect to an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network and the
Internet. The first default bearer will be established during the Attach process when the UE first powers up and the
second will be done using Activate default EPS bearer context request procedure. When the second default bearer is
established will be dependent on the service and the UE.
The second question is, exactly how many TFTs can be used per UE in a P-GW? There are a number of ways to take
this question. One way to interpret this question is to ask how many active bearers a UE can have? Another way to
interpret this question is to ask what the number of TFTs that a P-GW can support per UE? Let's look at both
interpretations of the question. From the LTE specs, the maximum number of bearers that a UE can establish is
11 (as much as I would love to put a Spinal Tap reference in at this point, I will restrain myself). The maximum of 11 is
based on a parameter called the EPS bearer identity size. It is four bits in length with five values reserved. The
number of TFTs that will be required for a UE is based on the number of default and dedicated bearers. There will
need to be a TFT for every dedicated bearer. That could be a maximum number of TFTs of 10 (assuming one
default bearer and 10 dedicated bearers). That seems an unlikely scenario. More than likely there will be a few
default bearers and each of those default bearers will also have a dedicated bearer or two, depending on the
scenario.

I hope these help to understand how the EPS bearers are established. If you have a question, try the LTE University
forum

Hi Chris,
For UE initiated dedicated bearer activation, how does interaction with PCRF happens? My assumption was that,
PDN gateway after receiving Bearer Resource command (BRC) from SGW, should trigger PCRF with Credit
control request (CCR). Upon successful Credit control answer CCA), Create bearer request is triggered
towards SGW, which in turn goes towards MME, ENB.
Create Bearer response towards PDN gateway should contain the EPS Bearer ID for the dedicated bearer (apart
from Linked EBS bearer id). After receiving Create bearer response at PDN gateway, whether there should be
another interaction with PCRF to exchange the received EBS bearer id, is this required at first place? If so, what
message should be used for this? Again CCR?

In TS 23.203 (Figure 7.4), it has been mentioned that Provisional ACK (message number 15) should be sent to PCRF
upon completion of IP CAN session signalling (in this case Create bearer response). Whether this should be done
only based on event trigger received from PCRF in the earlier credit control answer?
If this provisional ACK is not requested by PCRF, then is the EPS Bearer ID (created by MME for dedicated bearer)
not required for the PCRF?
Could you please provide your views/comments?

Thanks,
kumar

Chris
11 Jun 2012 11:01 PM
Hello Kumar,
You are correct. My understanding is that the UE initiated dedicated bearer will trigger the P-GW to send a CCR
to the PCRF. I can't comment more as I have not seen a UE initiated dedicated bearer used in practice, but that is
my understanding.