European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has launched a new Industry Specification Group (ISG) to define alternatives to the TCP/IP protocol stack for 5G networks.
Developed in the late 1970s and widely adopted in the 1980s, TCP/IP remains the foundational suite of internet protocols specifying how data is packetized, addressed, transmitted, routed, and received. While TCP/IP enabled global connectivity, its original design reflects the constraints and use cases of several decades ago.
As 5G deployments accelerate, ETSI is investigating modern protocol designs that better match contemporary requirements for performance, security, and efficiency than the relatively old TCP/IP stack.
Kevin Smith, Vice-Chair of ISG NIN, explains:
“The IP stack and OSI layer model have undeniably enabled global connectivity – but since they originated in the 1970s, their design reflects the demands and capabilities of that era. Reassessing the fundamental design principles of network protocols offers the opportunity to deliver performance, security, and efficiency gains for 5G access networks and use cases, and may be achieved with simplification rather than expensive add-ons.”
Limitations of TCP/IP in mobile environments have been recognized for some time. By 2015, mobile operators had identified the need to add features such as mobility management, enhanced security, and quality-of-service mechanisms to a protocol set that was not originally designed for them. Those additions increased complexity, cost, latency, and power consumption.
Two of the main benefits promised by 5G—significantly lower latency and reduced power consumption—can be further improved by rethinking the underlying network protocols. A modern alternative to TCP/IP could better enable new 5G use cases that demand deterministic performance and energy efficiency.
ETSI previously formed an ISG in 2015 to explore next-generation protocols. That effort identified candidate approaches that preserved compatibility with existing and emerging internet technologies while dramatically reducing header sizes, per-packet processing overhead, and latency.
The newly launched Non-IP Networking (NIN) ISG is an evolution of that earlier group, now focused specifically on identifying and maturing protocols well suited to 5G environments.
John Grant, Chair of ISG NIN, says:
“Finding new protocols for the internet more suitable to the 5G era was essential. Big data and mission-critical systems such as industrial control, intelligent vehicles, and remote medicine cannot be addressed optimally with current TCP/IP-based networking.”
NIN’s initial work is expected to target private mobile networks—examples include factory automation and other industrial deployments—before broader adoption in public networks. The roadmap foresees integration both within the core network and, over time, end-to-end implementations that may include radio access elements.
The group will soon publish a report outlining the shortcomings of TCP/IP for certain 5G use cases and describing how proposed alternatives would overcome those limitations. That report will also propose a framework for evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of candidate protocols through testing and performance measurements.
(Photo by Rana Sawalha on Unsplash)
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