Section: 4.7.3.1 Backhaul transport
Content: The IAB-DU's IP traffic is routed over the wireless backhaul via the BAP sublayer. The BAP sublayer is specified in TS 38.340[ NR; Backhaul Adaptation Protocol (BAP) specification ]  [31]. In downstream direction, upper layer packets are encapsulated by the BAP sublayer at the IAB-donor-DU and de-encapsulated at the destination IAB-node. In upstream direction, upper layer packets are encapsulated at the IAB-node and de-encapsulated at the IAB-donor-DU. IAB-specific transport between IAB-donor-CU and IAB-donor-DU is specified in TS 38.401[ NG-RAN; Architecture description ]  [4]. On the BAP sublayer, packets are routed based on the BAP routing ID, which is carried in the BAP header. The BAP header is added to the packet when it arrives from upper layers, and the BAP header is stripped off when the packet has reached its destination node. The selection of the packet's BAP routing ID is configured by the IAB-donor-CU. The BAP routing ID consists of BAP address and BAP path ID, where the BAP address indicates the destination node of the packet on the BAP sublayer, and the BAP path ID indicates the routing path the packet should follow to this destination. For the purpose of routing, each IAB-node and IAB-donor-DU is further configured with a designated BAP address. On each hop of the packet's path, the IAB-node inspects the packet's BAP address in the BAP routing ID carried in the BAP header to determine if the packet has reached its destination, i.e., matches the IAB-node's BAP address. In case the packet has not reached the destination, the IAB-node determines the next hop backhaul link, referred to as egress link, based on the BAP routing ID carried in the BAP header and a routing configuration it received from the IAB-donor-CU. For each packet, the IAB-node further determines the egress BH RLC channel on the designated egress link. For packets arriving from upper layers, the designated egress BH RLC channel is configured by the IAB-donor-CU, and it is based on upper layer traffic specifiers. Since each BH RLC channel is configured with QoS information or priority level, BH-RLC-channel selection facilitates traffic-specific prioritization and QoS enforcement on the BH. For F1-U traffic, it is possible to map each GTP-U tunnel to a dedicated BH RLC channel or to aggregate multiple GTP-U tunnels into one common BH RLC channel. For traffic other than F1-U traffic, it is possible to map UE-associated F1AP messages, non-UE-associated F1AP messages and non-F1 traffic onto the same or separate BH RLC channels. When packets are routed from one BH link to another, the egress BH RLC channel on the egress BH link is determined based on the mapping configuration between ingress BH RLC channels and egress BH RLC channels provided by the IAB-donor-CU.