F1 interface

Anushree PS, Lead Engineer-I @ Fubeus

F1 is the interface that connects a gNB CU to the gNB DU. This interface is a part of CU-DU split
gNB Architecture. The control plane of the F1-C allows signaling between CU & DU while the user
plane of the F1-U allows the transfer of application data.

CU-CP

Fronthaul
DU

Radio Site

CU-UP

Control Plane User Plane

F1-C F1-U

F1-AP User Plane Protocol Radio

3GPP TS 38.473 3GPP TS 38.425 Network
Layer

GTP-U
SCTP UDP
IP IP Transport
Layer
Data Link Layer Data Link Layer
PHY Layer PHY layer

Figure: Protocol Stacks for F1 Interface

Characteristics of F1 Interface

 F1 interface is an Open interface which means we can have vendor interoperability.

 Signaling and data information can be exchanged between the endpoints.
 F1 is a point-to-point interface between the endpoints, which means a point-to-point
logical interface.
 Control and user plane separation is supported and also separates the radio network layer
and the transport network layer.
 It allows the transfer of UE-associated information and non-UE-associated information.
 One gNB-CU and a set of gNB-DUs form a logical gNB node
 gNB-CU can also be separated into the control plane and user plane.

F1 Application Protocol(F1AP) Procedures

Interface management UE Context Management Procedures

Procedures UE Context Setup
F1 Setup UE Context Modification(gNB-CU initiated)
Reset UE Context Modification Required (gNB-DU initiated)
Error Indication UE Context Release
gNB-DU Configuration Update UE Context Release Request
gNB-CU Configuration Update UE Inactivity Notification
gNB-DU Resource Coordination Notify
gNB-DU

Warning message transfer Procedures RRC Message Transfer Procedure

Write –replace warning Initial UL RRC Message Transfer
PWS cancel DL RRC message transfer
PWS restart indication UL RRC message transfer
PWS failure indication

System Information Procedures Paging Procedures

System Information Delivery Paging
Control Plane functionalities:

F1 Setup:
This procedure creates a logical F1 connection between CU-CP and DU. SCTP connection must
have been established prior to initiation of F1 setup procedure. DU is responsible for initiating
this procedure and the CU-CP returns the F1 setup response. Information regarding DU identity
and the set of cells supported by the DU is sent to the CU-CP using F1 Setup Request. The identity
of DU cells that need to be activated is indicated via F1 Setup response.

Reset:
Either CU-CP or DU can initiate the reset procedure. All F1AP UE contexts, or a specific subset of
F1 AP UE contexts can be reset using this procedure. This will not cause the F1 interface itself to
reset. The DU will release all resources on the F1 interface and all relevant radio resources when
the CU-CP initiates reset. When DU initiates the reset, all relevant resources on the F1 interface
are released by the CU-CP.

Error Indication:
The CU-CP or DU can initiate this procedure, to report that an error is detected within an
incoming F1AP message. This is used when the error cannot be reported using the failure
message of respective signaling procedure.

gNB-DU Configuration Update:

DU uses this message to update regarding its set of supported cells to the CU-CP. It can inform
about new cells to be added, modification of existing cells or delete existing cells. In return, the
CU-CP sends a DU Configuration Update Acknowledge message.

gNB-CU Configuration Update:

The CU uses this procedure to provide DU with update information regarding which cells need to
be activated/deactivated. The PCI of the cells that need to be activated is specified by the CU.
There is a GNB-CU Configuration Update message (initiated by CU)/ GNB-CU Configuration
Update Acknowledge message (response from DU to CU) handshake in this procedure.

gNB-DU Resource Coordination:

This procedure comes into picture when a gNB and an ng-eNB is sharing a spectrum with
overlapping coverage areas. The F1 AP procedure is used to relay the XnAP messages between
the CU and DU. The XnAP: E-UTRA – NR Cell Resource Coordination Request message is
encapsulated in F1AP: GNB-DU Resource Coordination Request message and XnAP message is
encapsulated in F1AP response.
gNB-DU Status Indication:
The DU uses this procedure to indicate the CU that it is overloaded by simply including a Flag.

Initial UL RRC Message Transfer:

Just as the name indicates, it forwards the uplink RRC messages from the DU to CU-CP e.g. RRC
Setup Request message which belongs to the CCCH. This procedure is also used to inform CU-CP
of the C-RNTI allocated by the DU and the CellGroupConfig parameter structure containing
information regarding PHY, MAC and RLC layer configurations for the new connections.
Additionally, this procedure is also used to establish UE associated connection across the F1
interface by providing the CU-CP with ‘gNB-DU UE F1AP Identity’. This can be used to address UE
associated connection during subsequent message transfer. A corresponding ‘gNB-CU UE F1AP
Identity’ will be provided by the CU-CP within the first DL RRC Message Transfer.

DL RRC Message Transfer:

This procedure transfers the downlink RRC messages from the CU-CP to the DU. The CU-CP
generates the RRC messages and processes them within the PDCP layer and are transferred to
the DU as PDCP PDU. This message can instruct the DU to apply SRB duplication by including a
flag thereby improving reliability by transmitting same RRC messages using multiple carriers.

UL RRC Message Transfer:

The uplink RRC messages from DU is transferred to CU using this procedure. The RRC messages
from the UE is received across the DU, processed at its Physical, MAC and RLC layers and then
transferred to CU as PDCP PDU.

UE Context Setup:
This procedure is always initiated by the CU-CP and includes UE Context Setup Request/ UE
Context Setup Response handshake. In case of initial connection setup, F1AP: UE Context Setup
request comes after the NG-C: Initial UE Context Setup Request from the AMF. This procedure
can be used to configure a set of SRB & DRB and also used during incoming handover procedure
to create new UE context at the target DU.

UE Context Modification:
CU-CP makes use of the UE Context Modification procedure to update the configuration provided
during Initial UE Context Setup. This message can also be used to instruct the DU to sop or restart
the transmission towards UE.

UE Context Release:
This procedure is used by the CU-CP to release the UE context by using the UE Context Release
Command/UE Context Release Complete handshake. The DU can request the CU to initiate the
procedure by sending UE Context Release Request message.
UE Inactivity Notification:
The inactivity status of a UE is reported by DU using this procedure. Each individual DRB’s status
will be indicated as ‘Active’ or ‘Not Active’.

Notify:
This procedure is used by DU in case of GBR QoS flows with Notification Control Enabled to inform
CU-CP when a DRB is not satisfying the Guaranteed Flow Bit Rate (GFBR). The DU also uses this
procedure to inform Cu if GFBR is subsequently fulfilled again.

System Information Delivery:

This procedure is used to provide DU with a list of ‘Other System Information’ (OSI) which has to
be broadcast by a specific cell. The UE triggers the System Information Delivery Procedure by
requesting for OSI (SIB2 to SIB9).

Write-Replace Warning:
It is used by CU to initiate or overwrite the warning messages in a Public Warning System(PWS).
It has Write-Replace Warning Request/Write-Replace Warning Response handshake between
the CU-CP and DU. The request message has the PWS System Information to be broadcast. The
PWS Cancel message can be used if you need to stop broadcasting the information. The DU can
make use of the PWS Failure Indication procedure to provide a list of cells to the CU where PWS
transmission has failed.

Paging:
This procedure is used by the CU-CP when requesting DU to page a specific UE. The paging
message contains the UE identity using which the paging frame can be calculated. A RAN UE
Paging Identity (I-RNTI) or a Core Network UE Paging Identity (S-TMSI) is also a part of the paging
message.The DU is also provided with the paging DRX cycle length, the paging priority and the
list of cells which are required to transmit the paging message

User Plane Functionality:

The user plane of the F1-U transfers application data between CU-UP and DU using GTP-U
tunnels. Each DRB will have a tunnel set up and these tunnels are identified by using their TEID.
The user plane protocol which runs above the GTP-U layer provides various control mechanisms
associated with the transfer of downlink data. These control mechanisms include flow control,
packet loss detection and successful delivery reporting. The frame formats used by the user plane
 protocol is referred as PDU Type 0 which is sent by the CU, whereas PDU Type 1 is sent by the
DU.

F1-U
DU CU-UP
Fronthaul
PDU Type 0
Radio Site
PDU Type 1

PDU Type 0:
The CU-UP uses PDU Type 0 to add a sequence number to each downlink data packet. This
sequence number can be used by DU to detect lost packets. The CU-CP uses PDU Type 0 to
provide various discard instructions. If the DU reports Radio link outage then the CU-UP may
attempt re-transmission from the PDCP layer using a second DU. If the second DU reports
successful delivery of the PDCP PDU, the CU-UP instructs the original DU to discard the
successfully delivered packets to avoid unnecessary transmission.

PDU Type 1:
The DU uses PDU Type 1 to report any lost packets and also to control the rate at which downlink
data is sent by the CU. That means, it provides flow control mechanism to avoid the over filling
of buffers within the DU. The sequence number of the highest successfully delivered PDCP PDU,
the desired buffer level and the desired data rate are signaled by the DU. The desired data rate
is specified in bytes per second. The CU makes use of these information elements to decide the
quantity of data to forward towards the DU. The DU can also use PDU Type 1 to indicate ‘Radio
Link Outage’ or ‘Radio Link Resume’.

3GPP References: TS 38.470, TS 38.471, TS 38.472, TS 38.473, TS 38.474, TS 38.425