In the

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...

(UMTS) and

3GPP Long Term Evolution In telecommunications, long-term evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices and data terminals, based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA standards. It improves on those standards' capacity and speed by usi ...

(LTE), user equipment (UE) is any device used directly by an end-user to communicate. It can be a hand-held telephone, a

laptop computer A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

equipped with a

mobile broadband Mobile broadband is the marketing term for Wireless broadband, wireless Internet access via mobile networks. Access to the network can be made through a portable modem, wireless modem, or a Tablet computer, tablet/smartphone (possibly Tetherin ...

adapter, or any other device. It connects to the base station

Node B {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) Node B is the telecommunications node in particular mobile communication networks, namely those that adhere to the UMTS standard. The Node B provides the connection between mobile phones ( UEs) ...

/eNodeB as specified in the

ETSI The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization in the field of information and communications. ETSI supports the development and testing of global technical standard ...

125/136-series and 3GPP 25/36-series of specifications. It roughly corresponds to the

mobile station A mobile station (MS) comprises all user equipment and computer software, software needed for communication with a Cellular network, mobile network. The term refers to the global system connected to the mobile network, i.e. a mobile phone or mob ...

(MS) in

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

systems. The

radio interface The air interface, or access mode, is the communication link between the two stations in mobile or wireless communication. The air interface involves both the physical and data link layers (layer 1 and 2) of the OSI model for a connection. Physi ...

between the UE and the Node B is called ''Uu''.

Functionality

UE handles the following tasks towards the

core network A backbone or core network is a part of a computer network which interconnects networks, providing a path for the exchange of information between different LANs or subnetworks. A backbone can tie together diverse networks in the same buildin ...

: *

Mobility management Mobility management is one of the major functions of a GSM or a UMTS network that allows mobile phones to work. The aim of mobility management is to track where the subscribers are, allowing calls, SMS and other mobile phone services to be deli ...

Call control In telephony, call control refers to the software within a telephone switch that supplies its central function. Call control decodes addressing information and routes telephone calls from one end point to another. It also creates the features that c ...

* Session management * Identity management The corresponding protocols are transmitted transparently via a Node B, that is, Node B does not change, use or understand the information. These protocols are also referred to as ''

Non Access Stratum Non-access stratum (NAS) is a functional layer in the NR, LTE, UMTS and GSM wireless telecom protocol stacks between the core network and user equipment. This layer is used to manage the establishment of communication sessions and for maintain ...

'' protocols. The UE is a device which initiates all the calls and it is the terminal device in a network.

References

External links

3GPP 25-series of specifications

UMTS Mobile telecommunications standards 3GPP standards {{telecomm-stub