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ATM Basics

Chapter 3
This chapter is designed to provide the student with a short
description of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode).
OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this chapter the student will be able to:
Understand the main advantages of ATM
Explain the basic ATM concepts such as ATM Cells and
ATM Adaptation Layer
State the service classes standardised by the ATM Forum
and the ITU
State the principles of ATM switching
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3 ATM Basics
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3 ATM Basics
Table of Contents
Topic Page
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................35
THE DESIGN OF THE ATM CELL ......................................................36
BASIC FUNCTIONS ............................................................................37
LABELLED MULTIPLEXING...............................................................37
THE PRINCIPLE OF ATM SWITCHING..............................................38
CLASSIFICATION OF SERVICES ......................................................39
AAL-ATM ADAPTATION LAYER................................................................................. 40
AAL 1 ........................................................................................................................... 41
AAL 2 ........................................................................................................................... 42
AAL 5 ........................................................................................................................... 43
ATM NETWORK INTERFACES ..........................................................44
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INTRODUCTION
Future telecommunications networks must be able to offer
todays range of services as well as services with new features
e.g. high bit rates (more than 2 Mbit/s). The requirements of
modern networking involve:
Handling multiple types of traffic and
Reliability and flexibility of the communications links
Voice, video and data traffic all have individual characteristics.
These multiple types of traffic make very different demands on
the communications channel and these demands can sometimes
be completely opposed to each other.
The biggest problem is that transmissions occur at statistically
random intervals. Take voice for example. The generation of
voice is asynchronous, (a speaker may speak anytime).
However, the transmission of voice must be synchronous (once
the message starts, it must flow continuously as it is spoken)
So what is to be done if one wants to combine data, voice and
video on the same links? The solution is to use fixed and
relatively short packets. This way the delays produced by each
packet is short and probably fixed; so, if voice and video traffic
can be assured priority handling, they can be mixed with data
without diminishing any reception quality. ATM can be used as
it is a transmission technology that uses fixed-size packets
called cells. A cell is a 53 byte packet with 5 bytes of header/
descriptor and 48 bytes of payload, or user traffic -- voice, data,
or video.
In the WCDMA Experimental System, ATM links are used
between the BTS and the RNC for the multiplexing of many
users onto the same line.
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THE DESIGN OF THE ATM CELL
The cornerstone of ATM is the cell. The information flow, with
different and varying bit rates, is uniformly organised into cells
which consist of a cell header of five octets and a user part of 48
octets; 53 octets in all. ATM is a packet mode technique, but the
delay in the network can be kept to a minimum because the cells
have a fixed length. See Figure 3-1.
Payload Header
48 bytes 5 bytes
53 bytes
Error control of the header
Address
Figure 3-1 ATM cell
The cell header is divided into different fields. The most
important one is the address field, which in the form of a
logical channel number (Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) and
Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI)) identifies the circuit and
provides a unique link address between two network nodes. See
Figure 3-2.
VCI
Payload
type
id.
VCI VPI
Cell
loss
prio.
Virtual Channel
Identifier (VCI)
Header Error
Control (HEC)
Header Error
Control (HEC)
Payload Header
Virtual Path
Identifier (VPI)
Figure 3-2 The contents of an ATM cell header
The PTI (Payload Type Identifier) specifies whether the cell
contains user information or information to be used by the
network itself for Operation and Maintenance, for example.
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CLP (Cell Loss Priority) specifies the priority level of the cell
(out of two possible levels) if there is not enough space for all
cells. HEC (Header Error Control) contains a check value,
which is used by nodes in the network and at the receiving end
to detect any distortion of the header (bit error).
BASIC FUNCTIONS
ATM may well be the first transfer mode capable of handling all
services, which means that it must be possible to transport voice
traffic as well as data and video information in cells with a fixed
length of 53 bytes. The intensity of cells that belong to a specific
circuit depends on the instantaneous need of bandwidth.
LABELLED MULTIPLEXING
An ATM network consists of ATM nodes and links. A constant
stream of ATM cells that carry information for the
corresponding services is transferred in each link. Unused space
in the cell stream consists of empty cells or idle cells. See Figure
3-3 below.
channel
1
channel
5
channel
1
empty
cell
channel
1
channel
7
channel
1
channel
2
Cell
Figure 3-3 Labelled multiplexing
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THE PRINCIPLE OF ATM SWITCHING
In an ATM switch, ATM cells are transported from an incoming
logical channel to one or more outgoing logical channels. A
logical channel is indicated by a combination of two identities:
1. The number of the physical link
2. The identity of the channel on the physical link. The
identity of the channel is made up of the Virtual Path
Identifier (VPI) and the Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI)
Switching of cells through an ATM node requires a tie between
the identities of incoming and outgoing logical channels. Two
transport functions that are needed in the ATM switch are
described below; they are also compared with the corresponding
functions in a circuit -mode switch. The first function can be
compared to the change of Time Slot (TS) numbers in circuit-
mode switch. This is the function that transfers a voice sample
from an incoming TS to an outgoing TS.
In an ATM network, the identities of the different logical
channels correspond to the TSs. The identity is composed of two
values in two different fields in the header of the cell, i.e. the
VPI and VCI. They have the same task as the TS in a circuit-
switched system; that is, to identify each individual connection
on each physical link between two nodes. In the Figure 3-4
below, the digits in the cell header specify the channel identity
(VPI and VCI).
ATM
payload A 2
payload B 7
payload B 14
payload A 18
1
2
3
4
Figure 3-4 The principle of ATM switching
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The second function can be compared to the function for space
switching in a circuit-mode switch. This is illustrated in Figure
3-4. The principle of ATM switching is switching payload A
and B from one physical input to another.
CLASSIFICATION OF SERVICES
The ITU-T has standardised a protocol reference model, which
shows similarities with the OSI model. The three lowest layers
in the protocol reference model are:
Layer 1 - the physical layer;
Layer 2 - the ATM layer; and
Layer 3 -the AAL layer.
To enable transfer of both data and isochronous services, the
information must be adapted to the network in different ways.
ATM has been divided into four service classes (A, B, C and D)
on the basis of three parameters. Four protocols (AAL 1, AAL
2, AAL 3/4 and AAL 5) are defined for each one of the classes.
See Figure 3-5. Note that AAL is not part of the cell header.
Figure 3-5 ATM adaptation layers and classes
The following three parameters are used for classification:
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Isochronous or asynchronous services
Constant or variable bit rate
Connection-oriented or connectionless transfer
Figure 3-6 shows how the information flow corresponding to
different services is segmented and packed into the
information field of different ATM cells, in order to be
multiplexed into one common cell flow with a larger bandwidth.
This process, which is one of the tasks of the AAL layer, may
take place in a terminal adapter, for instance. Correspondingly,
the information flow is demultiplexed and unpacked in
another customer adapter. In the packing of services, voice and
video are always given top priority since these services are the
most sensitive to delays.
Constant
bit rate
Data
bursts
Variable
bit rate
Segmentation Addressing Multiplexing
Cell buffers
Figure 3-6 Segmentation and multiplexing of different broadband services
AAL-ATM ADAPTATION LAYER
While the cells are docile little workers carrying information in
their payload bit-times, some will get lost due to noise or
equipment failure, others due to congestion. Therefore, various
types of traffic generators with their different requirements have
to carefully prepare or 'adapt' their messages for travel over the
ATM network. This is done in each case by a piece of software
or firmware called AAL (ATM Adaptation Layer).
The AAL consists of a number of different protocols, each of
which is specialised in the support of services found in the four
service classes A, B, C and D. There are five types of
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adaptation layer services, designated AAL1, AAL 2, etc. The
AAL is subdivided into two sublayers: the Convergence
Sublayer (CS) and the Segmentation and Reassemble (SAR)
sublayer. The CS assures the necessary error control and
sequencing as well as the sizing of information. The SAR then
chops the CS message into the 48-byte payload packets and
attaches them to the five-byte header. After the preparation
stage, the message is delivered to the segmentation layer, where
the cells are created and sent. At the receive side the cells go
through the reassemble layer and are passed to AAL1, 2, 3, 4, or
5 for the recreation of the original message. This message is
then delivered to the video monitor, the voice receiver or the
data process expecting it.
AAL 1
The purpose of AAL 1 is the realisation of circuit-switched
connections with constant bit rate and minimal delay. In other
words, AAL 1 supports class A services i.e. voice and video
traffic. Since voice traffic is error tolerant, no CRC (Cyclic
Redundancy Control), i.e. error control, is required. However,
what is important in the case of voice transmission is that cells
are received in the exact sequence in which they were sent, and
that they arrive at a constant rate. AAL1 assures sequence
numbers.
User information, delivered to AAL 1 at a constant bit rate, is
placed in a Segmentation and Reassemble Protocol Data Unit
(SAR-PDU) that is made up of 48 octets. The information is
subdivided into packets containing 47 octets and a one-octet
SAR header. The packets are then forwarded to the ATM layer,
where they will fill out the cells information field. See Figure
3-7.
Payload, 47 bytes (376 bits) Header, 5 bytes
SNP SN
4 4
SN, Sequence Number, 3 bits are used
to detect loss of cells
SNP, Sequence Number Protection
Figure 3-7 AAL 1 Segmentation And Reassembly sublayer Protocol Data Unit
(SAR PDU)
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AAL 2
The purpose of AAL 2 is the realisation of isochronous
connections with variable bit rates and minimal delay. In other
words, AAL 2 supports class B services.
One important application of AAL 2 is the transfer of low-bit-
rate-coded voice with silence removal. Low-bit-rate coding is
frequently used in corporate and cellular networks.
When 64 kbit/s PCM coding and AAL 1 are employed, the cell-
assembly delay (the time it takes to fill a cell), is slightly more
than 6 ms. In ATM systems when conveying low-bit-rate-coded
voice, each cell must be used for many voice circuits in order to
limit this delay (which, without silence removal, would be about
48 ms for one 8 kbit/s voice circuit).
In order to distinguish the separate voice circuits in a cell, a
three-byte packet header is used for each circuit.
Header, 5 bytes
LI CID
8
CID, Channel Identity
LI, Length Indicator
UUI, User-to-user Indicator
HEC, Header Error Control
Payload Payload Payload
UUI HEC
8
STF
6 5 5
STF, Start Field
Figure 3-8 AAL 2 segmentation and reassemble sublayer protocol data unit
The receiving AAL 2 function contains an input buffer that
smoothes out delay variations caused by silence removal, it also
ensures that coded voice is sent to the decoder at an even pace.
The mixing of packets in a cell requires more overheads but it
also offers the benefits of efficient statistical multiplexing,
provided the number of circuits is large preferably at least 50.
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When only a few compressed voice circuits are available, data
circuits can be added to obtain the desired statistical
multiplexing and short cell-assembly delay.
Up to 256 voice circuits can be transferred in a T1 PCM system
(1.5 Mbit/s). This is ten times as efficient as the capacity
achieved by using 64 kbit/s PCM coding and circuit-switched
connections.
AAL 5
AAL 5 was specified when AAL 3/4 had been found to be too
complex for certain services. One disadvantage of the AAL 3/4
protocol is its relatively large overhead and the resulting low
efficiency. For that reason, designers developed AAL 5, which
is less complex but provides more reliable bit-error checking. Its
simplicity and efficiency have led to AAL 5 being named the
Simple and Efficient Adaptation Layer (SEAL).
User Information
8 bytes
CRC
UU, User-to-user indicator
CPI, Common Part Indicator
L, Length
CRC, Cyclic Redundancy Check
8
Payload (1-65535 bytes)
L CPI UU
8 16 32
Pay-load Type (PT) AAU=0 or 1
1 0 0
Padding
Figure 3-9 AAL 5, variable bit rate
AAL 5 is used for frame relay, LAN emulation and signalling. It
is limited to the handling of message mode without the use of
any retransmission mechanisms. AAL 5 defines a CS-PDU
(Convergence Sublayer Protocol Data Unit) which
communicates with the SAR function. Like AAL 3/4, the CS-
PDU information field can consist of a maximum of 65,532
octets. The CS-PDU which has a trailer of eight octets
(including information for error detection and error handling) is
filled by the padding (PAD) field with up to 47 octets so that a
multiple of 48 is achieved.
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ATM NETWORK INTERFACES
The access interface is referred to as the User Network Interface
(UNI), and the interface between network nodes is referred to as
the Network Node Interface (NNI). In the case of Private
networks, (P-NNI) denotes the interface between nodes or
between different private networks. See Figure 3-10.
ATM
NNI
Public UNI
Private UNI
Other Operator
UNI: User to Network Interface
NNI: Node to Network Interface
Private ATM network
ATM
NT1
NT2
UNI
Figure 3-10 ATM network interfaces
Figure 3-11 shows the User to Network Interface (UNI).
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Information field, 48 bytes (384 bits) Header, 5 bytes
Ch n
VPI VCI PTI CLP HEC
8 16 3 1 8
GFC, Generic Flow Control
VPI, Virtual Path Identifier
VCI, Virtual Channel Identifier
PTI, Payload Type Identifier
CLP, Cell Loss Priority
HEC, Header Error Control
GFC
4
Figure 3-11 The ATM-cell, User-Network Interface
Figure 3-12 shows the NNI interface. The VP is extended to 12
bits for the NNI interface (8 in the UNI). This means that there
can be 4096 "routes" and each route can have 65535 channels
(16 bit VCI).
Information field, 48 bytes (384 bits) Header, 5 bytes
VPI VCI PTI CLP HEC
12 16 3 1 8
VPI, Virtual Path Identifier
VCI, Virtual Channel Identifier
PTI, Payload Type Identifier
CLP, Cell Loss Priority
HEC, Header Error Control
Ch n
Figure 3-12 The ATM-cell, Network-Node Interface
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