Investigation on Interworking Architecture of 4G/5G Network Based on Software Defined Network

Abstract

The cost of deploying a large-scale 5G network in a short time is too high for operators. Moreover, a large number of network devices deployed in the LTE era are still in operation, and it is impossible to complete the replacement of devices in a short time. The interworking between the newly deployed 5G network and the existing 4G network is particularly important. The 5G network is the inheritance and development of the 4G network, and the improvement of network elements into network functions is more obvious in the 5GC and EPC of the 5G core network. With the development of software-defined network SDN technology and network function virtualization NVF technology, the formulation of 5G core network standards is more perfect, which separates the control plane from the data plane, makes the network framework flexible, and increases the network expansion ability. This paper continues to discuss the deep application of SDN paradigm in 5G core network, and continues to reduce the coupling between network functions. This research mechanism can also be applied to SDN paradigm and 4G core network EPC. According to the application of the above SDN paradigm, this paper discusses the possibility of interworking between 4G networks and 5G networks with different core networks, and discusses a network interworking architecture.