What is E-UTRA

Mobile communication systems were initially designed to carry voice traffic with limited support for packet and messaging services. The constant increase in demand for packet traffic evolved the mobile networks to ultimately become data pipes with support for mobility. While the mobile applications changed dramatically over time, the fundamental principles for mobile service delivery remain the same to a large extend in every network generation. These principles are important to form the investigative context and identify the sources of network evidence with the highest probative value. This chapter details the mobile service delivery fundamentals together with the key features implemented in each mobile network generation. In practice, the sources of mobile network evidence belong to network segments from different generations; therefore, the fundamentals are necessary to establish an effective forensics plan and maximize the investigative outcome.