UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) is a collective term for the network and equipment that connects mobile handsets to the public telephone network or the Internet. It contains the base stations, which are called

Node B {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) Node B is the telecommunications node for mobile communication networks, namely those that adhere to the UMTS standard. The Node B provides the connection between mobile phones (User equipme ...

's and

Radio Network Controller The Radio Network Controller (RNC) is a governing element in the UMTS radio access network (UTRAN) and is responsible for controlling the Node Bs that are connected to it. The RNC carries out radio resource management, some of the mobility managem ...

s (RNCs) which make up the

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a 3G mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. UMTS uses wideband code-division multiple access (W-CDMA) radio access technology to offer greater spectral efficiency ...

(UMTS) radio access network. This communications network, commonly referred to as 3G (for 3rd Generation Wireless Mobile Communication Technology), can carry many traffic types from real-time Circuit Switched to IP based

Packet Switched In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping data into short messages in fixed format, i.e. '' packets,'' that are transmitted over a digital network. Packets consist of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used b ...

. The UTRAN allows connectivity between the UE (user equipment) and the

core network A backbone or core network is a part of a computer network which interconnects networks, providing a path for the exchange of information between different LANs or subnetworks. A backbone can tie together diverse networks in the same buildi ...

. The RNC provides control functionalities for one or more Node Bs. A Node B and an RNC can be the same device, although typical implementations have a separate RNC that is located in a central office serving multiple Node Bs. Despite the fact that they do not have to be physically separated, there is a logical interface between them known as the Iub. The RNC and its corresponding Node Bs are called the Radio Network Subsystem (RNS). There can be more than one RNS present in a UTRAN. There are four interfaces connecting the UTRAN internally or externally to other functional entities: Iu, Uu, Iub and Iur.UTRAN overall description (Release 11)
by 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network, December 2012 The Iu interface is an external interface that connects the RNC to the Core Network (CN). The Uu is also external, connecting Node B with the User Equipment (UE). The Iub is an internal interface connecting the RNC with Node B. And at last, there is the Iur interface, which is an internal interface most of the time but can exceptionally be an external interface too for some network architectures. The Iur connects two RNCs with each other.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network Code division multiple access UMTS

See also

References