Glossary
PDU (Protocol Data Unit) in 3GPP: meaning and where it is specified
At a glance
- Term
- PDU
- Stands for
- Protocol Data Unit
- Defined in
- 3GPP TR 21.905 V19.2.0, clause 4
- Used in
- TS 25.415, TS 36.323, TS 48.016
In plain words
PDU means Protocol Data Unit, as defined in 3GPP TR 21.905. TS 25.415 says: "This field indicates the PDU type that shall be used (in both directions) for transferring user data." TS 48.016 covers the general structure of a PDU, and TS 36.323 includes a clause titled PDCP Data PDU.
Source: 3GPP TS 25.415 V19.0.0, clause 6.6.3.28. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/25_series/25.415/25415-j00.zip
Sources
- 3GPP TR 21.905 V19.2.0, clause 4. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/21_series/21.905/21905-j20.zip
- 3GPP TS 25.415 V19.0.0, clause 6.6.3.28. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/25_series/25.415/25415-j00.zip
- 3GPP TS 48.016 V17.0.0, clause 9.1. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/48_series/48.016/48016-h00.zip
- 3GPP TS 36.323 V15.7.0, clause 6.1.1. © 3GPP Organizational Partners (ARIB, ATIS, CCSA, ETSI, TSDSI, TTA, TTC). Official text: https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/36_series/36.323/36323-f70.zip
How this page was made
The facts box comes straight from the 3GPP TDoc list and specification archive as indexed by 3GPP Scout. An AI model (GPT-6 Luna) wrote the paragraph and named the source of each sentence. Code checked every quote word for word against the stored source text and every number against the cited source. A second AI model from another company (Claude Opus 5.5) reviewed the paragraph against the same sources. The 3GPP documents themselves govern.