My 3GPP definition notes
| Word | Meaning | Reference | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acceptable Cell | A cell that satisfies certain conditions as specified in TS 38.304 § 4.5 | 38.304 | |
| Camped on a cell | UE has completed the cell selection/reselection process and has chosen a cell. The UE monitors system information and (in most cases) paging information. | 38.304 | |
| Camped on any cell | UE is in idle mode and has completed the cell selection/reselection process and has chosen a cell irrespective of PLMN identity. | 38.304 | |
| Closed Access Group Identifier | Identifier of a CAG within a PLMN. | 38.304 | |
| CAG cell | A cell broadcasting at least one Closed Access Group Identifier. | 38.304 | |
| Cell | The cell is an area of radio coverage identified by a Base station identification as defined in TS 23.003. | 23.002 | |
| Location Area (LA) | The Location Area (LA) is defined as an area in which a mobile station may move freely without updating the VLR. A location area includes one or several GERAN/UTRAN cells. | 23.002 | |
| Location register | To enable communication to a mobile station the network must know where this mobile station is located. This information is stored in a function named location register.
The location register is handled by the following entities.
The Home Location Register (HLR) is the location register to which a mobile subscriber is assigned for record purposes such as subscriber information. For EPS, the HLR functionality is provided via HSS.
The Visitor Location Register (VLR) is the location register for Circuit Switched (CS) services, other than the HLR, used by an MSC to retrieve information for, e.g. handling of calls to or from a roaming mobile station currently located in its area.
The location register function in the SGSN stores subscription information and location information for Packet Switched (PS) services for each subscriber registered in the SGSN. The SGSN is needed only in a PLMN which supports PS Domain with GERAN or UTRAN access.
The location register function in the GGSN stores subscriber information and routeing information (needed to tunnel packet data traffic destined for a GPRS MS to the SGSN where the MS is registered) for each subscriber for which the GGSN has at least one PDP context active. The GGSN is needed only in a PLMN which supports GPRS with GERAN or UTRAN access.
The location register function in the MME stores subscription information and location information for Packet Switched (PS) services for each subscriber registered in the MME for EPS.
The location register function in the PDN GW stores subscriber information and routeing information (needed to tunnel packet data traffic destined for an EPS UE to the Serving GW, where the UE is registered in the MME, in the SGSN or in the 3GPP AAA server in case of non-3GPP access) for each subscriber for which the PDN GW has at least one PDN connection active. |
23.002 | |
| MME Area | The MME area is the part of the network served by an MME. An MME area consists of one or several Tracking Areas. All cells served by an eNodeB are included in an MME Area. There is no one to one relationship between an MME Area and an MSC/VLR area. Multiple MMEs may have the same MME Area as described in clause "Pool-area". MME Areas may overlap each other. | 23.002 | |
| PLMN Selection | A UE based procedure, whereby candidate PLMNs are chosen, one at a time, for attempted registration. | 22.011 | |
| Radio Resource Control (RRC) | Radio Resource Control protocol for the radio interface between UE and NG-RAN. | 38.331 | |
| Registration Area | (NAS) registration area is an area in which the UE may roam without a need to perform location registration, which is a NAS procedure. | 38.304 | |
| Routing Area (RA) | The Routing Area (RA) is defined as an area in which a mobile station, in certain operation modes, may move freely without updating the SGSN. A routing area includes one or several GERAN/UTRAN cells. A RA is always contained within a location area. | 23.002 | |
| Service area | The service area is defined as an area in which a mobile subscriber can be reached by another (mobile or fixed) subscriber without the subscriber's knowledge of the actual location of the mobile station within the area. A service area may consist of several PLMNs. One service area may consist of one country, be a part of a country or include several countries. The location registration system associated with each service area must thus contain a list of all mobile stations located within that service area. | 23.002 | |
| Serving cell | The cell on which the UE is camped. | 38.304 | |
| Sidelink | UE to UE interface for vehicle to everything (V2X) sidelink communication defined in TS 23.287. | 38.304 | |
| Strongest cell | The cell on a particular frequency that is considered strongest according to the layer 1 cell search procedure (TS 38.213, TS 38.215). | 38.304 | |
| Suitable Cell | This is a cell on which a UE may camp. For NR cell, the criteria are defined in clause 4.5, for E-UTRA cell in TS 36.304. | 38.304 | |
| Tracking Area (TA) | E-UTRAN utilises Tracking Areas (TA) for UE access control, location registration, paging and mobility management. The TA is independent of Location Areas (LA) and Routing Areas (RA). A TA comprises one or more E-UTRA cells Service requirements for E-UTRAN are specified in 3GPP TS 22.278. A Tracking Area (TA) includes one or several E-UTRAN cells. The network allocates a list with one or more TAs to the UE . In certain operation modes, the UE may move freely in all TAs of the list without updating the MME. | 22.011 & 23.002 |