4 E1 signalling bearer

37.4823GPPE1 signalling transportRelease 17TS

4.1 Function and protocol stack

E1 signalling bearer provides the following functions:

– Provision of reliable transfer of E1AP message over E1 interface.

– Provision of networking and routing function

– Provision of redundancy in the signalling network

– Support for flow control and congestion control

The protocol stack for E1 Signalling Bearer is shown in figure 4.1-1 and details on each protocol are described in the following sections.

Figure 4.1-1: E1 signalling bearer protocol stack

The Transport Network Layer is based on IP transport, comprising SCTP on top of IP.