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This paper analyzes the impact of the evolution of mobile broadband networks from 4G architectures toward 5G on mission critical push-to-talk (MCPTT) key performance indicators (KPIs). This paper focuses on how the deployment of MCPTT over these architectures affects the service quality. We carry out a comprehensive analysis of the call flows and the contribution of each network segment to the service KPIs defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). A long-term evolution (LTE) architecture will be considered as the baseline scenario; from there on, different core network proposals are evaluated: the LTE multi-access edge computing (MEC) and 5G. We analyze how these strategies for data and control plane distribution affect the service, identifying current performance bottlenecks and exploring latency reduction techniques. Throughout this paper, we show that the current implementation of the MCPTT service according to the standards defined by the 3GPP remains a key challenge in terms of the KPI compliance. Still, the evolution toward 5G architectures, particularly those leveraging the MEC, further improves the KPIs of the MCPTT service, especially the KPI 3 (mouth-to-ear latency) since the services are deployed closer to the end users. These results strengthen the commitment to mobile broadband networks for the deployment of mission critical communications.

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While the support of Mission Critical (MC) communications on commercial cellular networks has already been incorporated in the latest releases of Long Term Evolution (LTE), it is expected that the network slicing feature of Fifth Generation (5G) systems will further boost the provision of these services thanks to the possibility of creating customized and isolated network slices adapted to the specific requirements of MC communications. At the Radio Access Network (RAN), the realization of a network slice requires to specify how the pool of available radio resources is split between the different slices in accordance with their service requirements. In this context, this paper addresses the use of RAN slicing for provisioning MC services taking as a reference the emergency scenario defined by the 5G ESSENCE project. It is characterized by different stages associated to the occurrence of an incident and its evolution, thus involving different communication needs. For each stage, an estimation of the capacity requirements to be granted to the MC RAN slice is provided. Then, the architecture of the project is discussed, focusing on the components that enable the RAN slicing management to properly support MC services.