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Videos and written explainers on how 6G-RUPA works and why.
Video series
6G-RUPA: one layer for every network
The general introduction. Why today's user plane is a special case of a general pattern, how each layer is tuned to its scope, why state follows the network instead of its users, and how a network built this way can keep evolving.
Inside a national operator
How much forwarding state a national 5G core holds, and what 6G-RUPA needs for the same network.
What happens when you move
Handovers inside one operator and across operators, without rebuilding the session.
Satellites in orbit
A satellite layer with its own addressing and routing policies, joined to terrestrial networks.
The prototype on real machines
6G-RUPA running on Linux, driven by an unmodified 5G core.
Written explainers
Follow a ping through the layers
One ping, box by box, first inside one operator and then across two. In each box the packet climbs only as far as the first envelope that isn't addressed to it, and that's the one layer the box relays in.
5G already has layers. It just can't change their policies
Read as layers, the 5G user plane already has the shape 6G-RUPA builds on. Two things hold it back: a protocol split at the base station, and data transfer policies fixed by the standards.
Why the 5G core needs more memory for every new user
A 5G UPF keeps tunnel and forwarding state for every session it serves, so its tables grow with the number of users. 6G-RUPA forwards on addresses that name base stations instead, and the table stops caring how many phones sit behind them.
Understanding Network Slicing from the UPF Perspective
A practical explanation of what 3GPP network slicing changes (and what it does not) when you look at the user plane and the UPF.