I used to think that, once I’ve learned…till a certain reasonable point, the IPsec protocol, how hard could another tunneling protocol be? Well…rules to remember:

1. Never say “how hard can it be”

2. Never think about eGTP as “just another tunneling protocol”

Why? Because there are A LOT of acronyms and because there is A LOT of logic behind the protocol, the messaging scheme and the entities involved.

First of all, in order to be able to take a look anytime at the acronyms themselves, along with a short explanation of their meaning and a nicely reference to the most appropriate Technical Spec that describes the term in question, I use this:

LTE – A Pocket Dictionary of Acronyms

Also, the Tech-Invite.com has a very nice list of the 3GPP TSs, classifying them by feature:

So far, I am constantly using the TS 23.xxx series, where the functions and different behaviors and scenarios are described in detail, with cool message exchange diagrams and funky references for every term.

For my PhD paper I am using the TS 33.xxx series, which describe the security aspects of the SAE/EPS implementation.

All the TSs, per releases and per versions could be found at:

http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/

My general feeling so far about these TSs is that RFCs are waaaay prettier now

Tags: passion, SAE, techie