PDCP – Packet Data Convergence Protocol
(PDCP) is part of the Radio Protocol Stack in the UMTS/LTE/5G air interface on top of the RLC layer. PDCP provides the following functions to the RRC and user plane upper layers:
- transfer of user plane data;
- transfer of control plane data;
- header compression;
- ciphering;
- integrity protection.
Header Compression is vital in decreasing the amount of data carried over the air interface and to increase transmission efficiency. During header compression, the user-plane data packets’ IP headers are compressed as part of the LTE layer 2 protocols by the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) sublayer.
