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5G NR: gNB, UPF and the Service-Based Core

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5G NR: control plane and user plane are separate by design

5G's core architectural principle is CUPS — Control and User Plane Separation. The control plane (AMF, SMF) handles signaling: registration, authentication, session setup. The user plane (UPF) handles the actual data packets — and can be deployed anywhere in the network, including at the edge, independently of where the control plane runs.

This separation enables network slicing (multiple virtual networks on one physical infrastructure), MEC (Mobile Edge Computing — UPF co-located with the gNB for sub-millisecond latency), and cloud-native scaling of control functions without touching the data path.

Packets in motion — click to inspect:

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