Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity for 5G Small Cells Interworking
José F. Monserrat, Faiza Bouchmal, David Martín‐Sacristán, Óscar Carrasco
Abstract
Dual connectivity was a scheme initially designed in Release 12 of the 3GPP LTE specifications to accommodate a user's interconnection with two cells at the same time, preferably in heterogeneous deployment scenarios. However, the desired non-standalone deployment of 5G technology has given new impetus to the concept of dual connectivity by extending its use to multiple radio technologies, and in particular, for connecting 5G cells to a 4G core network. This article analyzes in depth the Release 15 standard regarding dual connectivity and shows the possibilities that the use of small cell gateways acting as controllers can bring to the simplification of signaling procedures with forward and backward compatibility.