RRC_INACTIVE and RNA (RAN Notification Area)

The INACTIVE State Deep Dive

RRC_INACTIVE is designed for IoT efficiency and bursty traffic patterns. When the gNB suspends the RRC connection, the UE's context (security, bearer configuration) is stored at the anchor gNB. The NAS connection to the AMF remains alive, so the UE does not need to re-register when it resumes. The anchor gNB can page the UE within a configured set of cells using RAN-level paging, which is faster than core-level paging because it does not involve the AMF.