VOLTE

Learning Objectives
1. VoLTE general Architecture
2.IMS Registration flow
3. VoLTE Call Flow
4.QCI in LTE
5. SIP Messages
6.Delay & Network Latency
7. Invite
8.Questions
1.1 EUTRAN Architecture With IMS

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1.2 IMS Architecture and elements

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 1.3 IMS Architecture and elements
Call Session Control Function (CSCF)
Several roles of SIP servers or proxies, collectively called Call Session Control Function (CSCF), are
used to process SIP signaling packets in the IMS.

• Proxy CSCF (P-CSCF)

• Serving CSCF (S-CSCF)
• Interrogating CSCF (I-CSCF)

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 1.4 Proxy CSCF (P-CSCF)

A Proxy-CSCF (P-CSCF) is a SIP proxy that is the first point of contact for the IMS terminal. It can be
located either in the visited network (in full IMS networks) or in the home network (when the visited
network is not IMS compliant yet). Some networks may use a Session Border Controller (SBC) for this
function. The P-CSCF is at its core a specialized SBC for the User–network interface which not only
protects the network, but also the IMS terminal.

• It is assigned to an IMS terminal before registration, and does not change for the duration of the
registration.
• It sits on the path of all signaling, It inspects the signaling and ensures that the IMS terminals do
not misbehave (e.g. change normal signaling routes, disobey home network's routing policy).
• It provides subscriber authentication.
• It can compress and decompress SIP messages.
• It also generates charging records.

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 1.5 Interrogating CSCF (I-CSCF)
An Interrogating-CSCF (I-CSCF) is another SIP function located at the edge of an administrative
domain. Its IP address is published in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the domain (using NAPTR
 and SRV type of DNS records), so that remote servers can find it, and use it as a forwarding point
(e.g., registering) for SIP packets to this domain

• it queries the HSS to retrieve the address of the S-CSCF and assign it to a user performing SIP
registration
• it also forwards SIP request or response to the S-CSCF
• Up to Release 6 it can also be used to hide the internal network from the outside world (encrypting
parts of the SIP message), in which case it's called a Topology Hiding Inter-network Gateway (THIG).
From Release 7 onwards this "entry point" function is removed from the I-CSCF and is now part of
the Interconnection Border Control Function (IBCF).

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 1.5 Serving CSCF (S-CSCF)
A Serving-CSCF (S-CSCF) is the central node of the signaling plane. It is a SIP server, but performs
session control too. It is always located in the home network.

• it handles SIP registrations.

• it sits on the path of all signaling messages of the locally registered users, and can inspect every
message
• it decides to which application server(s) the SIP message will be forwarded, in order to provide
their services
• it provides routing services.
• it enforces the policy of the network operator
• there can be multiple S-CSCFs in the network for load distribution and high availability reasons. It's
the HSS that assigns the S-CSCF to a user, when it's queried by the I-CSCF. There are multiple
options for this purpose, including a mandatory/optional capabilities to be matched between
subscribers and S-CSCFs.

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2.1 IMS Registration

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2.2 IMS Registration

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 3.1 VoLTE Call Flow (Outgoing Call)

UE(MO) EUTRAN / IMS UE(MT)

Idle start Idle start

Setup start Dialing Start

INVITE
Call start
Service request

Rrc Connection Reqeust

Rrc Connection setup

Rrc connection setup complete

Security Mode Command

Security Mode Complete

Rrc connection reconfiguration

Rrc connection reconfig. comp

100 Trying Paging

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 3.2 VoLTE Call Flow (Incoming Call)

UE(MO) EUTRAN / IMS UE(MT)

Paging

Service request

Rrc Connection Reqeust

Rrc Connection setup

Rrc connection setup complete

Security Mode Command

Security Mode Complete

Rrc Connection reconfiguration

Rrc Connection reconfig. comp

INVITE
Setup start
180 Ring

180 Ring Transmit Pick up

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 3.3 VoLTE Call Flow (Outgoing/Incoming Call)

UE(MO) EUTRAN / IMS UE(MT)

200 OK
Pick Up
200 OK for INVITE

ACK
ACK

Rrc Connection reconfig.

Rrc Connection reconfig.
Dedicated bearer context req(QCI1)
Dedicated bearer context req(QCI1)
Rrc Connection reconfig. Comp.
Rrc Connection reconfig. Comp.
Dedicated bearer context accept
Dedicated bearer context accept
Ulinformation Transfer
Ulinformation Transfer

Traffic start Traffic start

RTP(Voice or Video)

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 4 QCI in LTE
QCI stands for QoS Class Identifier. This is a special indentifier defining the quality of packet
communication provided by LTE. The QoS concept as used in LTE networks is class-based,
where each bearer type is assigned one QoS Class Identifier (QCI) by the network.
5.1 SIP Messages

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 5.2 SIP Messages
Trace SIP messages to judge call events in VoLTE call connection – XCAL
(Data Collection Tool)

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 6 The definition of Delay & Network Latency

RF RF

Voice Digital Digital Voice

data Traveling data
Processing Processing
Network
(encoding/ (encoding/
decoding) decoding)

Network Latency

M2E Delay
Total Delay

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7 Details of Invite
8 Questions