LTE Identification I: UE and ME Identifiers

August 20, 2013 | By Netmanias (tech@netmanias.com)

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SUMMARY

The LTE Security technical document consists of three companion documents (LTE Identification I, II and III). As the first document for LTE Identification, this document (Part I, LTE Identification I) classifies LTE identifications into different groups, and describes two of these groups, i.e., User Equipment Identifiers (UE IDs) and Mobile Equipment identifiers (ME IDs). First, UE IDs such as IMSI, GUTI, S-TMSI, IP address and C-RNTI are explained and then UE IDs identified over the S1-MME and X2 interfaces are discussed. Then, ME IDs such as IMEI and IMEISV are explained. Finally features of UE and ME IDs are briefly summarized.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Classification of LTE Identification
3. Identifiers for User Equipment (UEI IDs)
4. Identifiers for Mobile Equipement (ME IDs)

5. Closing and References

1. Introduction

In LTE network, different IDs are used to identify each entity depending on their relationship with other IDs just like different names and titles are used to refer to a person - a name (e.g. James), or a title at work (e.g. Manager James, James from Netmanias, James from Google, etc.) or at home (e.g. son, dad, uncle, etc.) - in human network. Understanding these IDs as well as the EPS entities defined in [1] is essential to understand LTE technologies.

We have previously discussed the LTE network architecture, our first topic in LTE area. Now we will cover LTE identification, our second topic in the area, in a series of three companion documents. This document is the first of the series and will focus on user equipment (UE) IDs. The second and third documents will specifically cover network equipment (NE) IDs and EPS sessions/bearers, respectively.

This document is organized as follows.

In Chapter 2, LTE identification is classified into different groups.

In Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, UE IDs and ME IDs are described respectively based on the classification.

In Chapter 5, the overall features of the UE and ME IDs are briefly summarized.

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Pankaj Samal 2014-08-12 04:30:53

Hi Netmanias Team,

Please have a look for a corection on the summary part at the top of this document.

"ME IDs such as IMSI and IMSISV are explained"

I think it should be : IMEI and IMEISV.

Netmanias 2014-08-12 12:14:37

Hi Pankaj,

Thank you for noticing the typo.

We have fixed some typos regarding to IMEI (IMSI -> IMEI) and posted the updated file.
Thanks again for your kind comment.

Saurabh Thukral 2014-09-09 20:22:47

Dear Author,

The presentation of the information related to LTE is excellent. Please accept my kudos.

Would like to point out a small error:

refer Fig 5. explaining dynamic IP address allocation. the message arrow between MME and P-GW indicates there is an interface between the two nodes. In fact, there is no such interface. The message Create Bearer request is sent by MME to S-GW which relays to P-GW.

Please correct.

Reza 2016-09-04 21:32:14

Dear netmanias team,

Thanks for your illustrative article.

Just a comment on fig. 9. Isn't it better to have UCCI(or SIM card) in the figure instead of USIM? Because ME and USIM are not from the same category. ME is a device and USIM is an application. But UCCI can be cansidered to be a device as ME since it is an integrated circuit securely incorporating IMSI and runs USIM.

Thanks

Yernat Saduakas 2017-04-04 13:53:59

Hi, in Summary maybe LTE identification

Dhanuja elizabeth 2018-09-27 17:05:03

Hi,

Could you please explain how eNB UE S1AP ID and MME UE S1AP ID are being generated, whether it is randomly generated or have a specific algorithm for its generation.

vaibhav 2019-11-30 02:01:49

We are eagerly waiting for such documents on 5G. Any Plans ??

Obadiah Arusei 2019-12-03 01:03:19

Great doc here! I loved the simplicity and preciseness here. you can include ISIM in the UE definition and maybe higlight the difference between USIM and ISIM (and maybe SIM for legacy systems lovers)

Kudos!!

Guillermo Rafael Martinez Ramacciotti 2020-01-10 04:21:27

Hi, one basic question perhaps, is eNB UE S1AP ID and MME UE S1AP ID changed (renewed) every time the UE goes to Idle, for example, after Inactivity Timer is expired?

Many thanks in advaced!

Br,

Guillermo

Mitchell Wu 2020-11-30 10:39:56

Excellent job! It is brief and clear to the point. I like the diagrams -very intuitive with necessary info. The attach request diagram is still much valid for5G if replacing IMSI with 5G identifiers SUCI ( encrypted SUPI) or GUTI . 5G does not allow the IMSI to be transported with clear-text between UE and gNB

Mitchell Wu 2020-11-30 10:40:44

Vishwanath SV 2022-02-07 12:11:34

Hi Netmanias Team,

The doc provided are really good and informative.

Do you have any similar docs and explaination for 5G core also.

If yes, please provide the link here.

Thanks alot.

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