Content for  TS 38.401  Word version:  18.3.0

This mechanism allows to perform the retransmission of the PDCP PDUs that are not delivered by a gNB-DU (gNB-DU1) because the corresponding radio links toward the UE are subject to outage. When such outage occurs, the gNB-DU affected by outage informs the gNB-CU of such event. The gNB-CU can switch transmission of data traffic, as well as perform retransmission of undelivered PDCP PDUs, from the gNB-DU affected by outage to other available gNB-DUs (e.g. gNB-DU2 in Figure 8.3.1-1) with a well-functioning radio link toward the UE. The mechanism is also applicable in EN-DC and MR-DC with 5GC, refer to TS 37.340.

The mechanism is shown in Figure 8.3.1-1 and targets the multi-connectivity scenario, where a UE is served by multiple data radio bearers established at least on two gNB-DUs, and it includes the following steps: