‡
 

‡
 



Er. Amit Mahajan
‡  
‡ 

Þ A transfer mode in which information is organized into

cells; it is asynchronous in the sense that the recurrence
of cells containing information from an individual user
is not necessarily periodic".

Þ High-speed transfer technology for voice, video, and

data over public networks€
‡  
Þ As the speed and number of local area networks (LANs)
continue their relentless growth, increasing demand is
place on wide area packet-switching networks to support
the tremendous throughput generated by these LANs.

Þ X.25 was designed to support direct connection of

terminals and computers over long distances.

Þ X.25 packets may be of varying length,whereas ATM

packets are of fixed size.

Þ X.25, with its substantial overhead, is being recognized

as an inadequate tool for wide area networking€
‡  
‡‡

Þ ATM is normally utilized for high bandwidths of 34 Mbps
and upwards.
Þ At speeds of 2 Mbps and below, Frame Relay is more
bandwidth efficient than ATM.
Þ ATM transmits only fixed-size frames, called cells, not
variable-sized frames as frame relay do.

There are two main drivers that caused businesses migrate

from frame relay service to ATM :

1. The need for greater capacity than frame relay can handle.
2. The need to support mixed-media traffic, especially voice
and video.
Þ `oth frame relay and ATM take advantage of the
reliability and fidelity of modern digital facilities
to provide faster packet-switching than X.25.

Þ ATM is even more streamlined than frame relay in

its functionality, and can support data rates several
orders of magnitude greater than frame relay.

Þ Frame relay was developed as part of the work of

ISDN

Þ ATM was developed as part of the work on

broadband ISDN
‡   
Þ The industry offers two solutions for achieving a large integrated
network: SONET/SDH and ATM .
Þ The SONET is a globally accepted, non-proprietary standard for
broadband transmission through fiber-optic cables.
Þ It handles transmissions from 51 Mbps to 10 Gbps.
Þ SONET/SDH is a physical transport medium that occupies the two
bottom layers of OSI model.
Þ ATM is a high-speed packet switching technique suitable for LAN,
wide-area network and broadband ISDN.
Þ SONET is a physical structure, while ATM is a transmission
protocol.
Þ If the ATM protocol is used, a transport medium is still needed to
carry traffic over the network
‡  ‡   !
Þ An ATM network is made up of an ATM switch and ATM endpoints.
Þ ATM switch accepts the incoming cell from an ATM endpoint or another
ATM switch. It then reads and updates the cell header information and
quickly switches the cell to an output interface toward its destination.
Þ An ATM endpoint contains an ATM network interface adapter.
Þ Examples of ATM endpoints are workstations, routers, LAN switches, and
video coder-decoders (CODECs).

‡ "#$%&#!!‡  " '!(&!

‡ #)(*  !
Þ ‡ #(!%!!&('+ ,-is the physical connection
(wire,cable,satellite,and so on) between an end point and a
switch or between two switches
Þ ‡#)(*,('+,- transports ATM cells belonging to virtual
channels which share a common identifier, called the Virtual
Path Identifier VPI. Connects two switches.
Þ ‡#)(*'(*+-provides the transport of ATM cells
which have the same unique identifier, called the Virtual
Channel Identifier (VCI).

‡ #)(*  !

 ‡ &# *## %*

','.! (*(.#
• This layer describes the physical transmission of information through an
ATM network.
• The original design of ATM was based on SONET because high data rate of
SONET¶s carrier , the boundaries of cells can be clearly defined .
• SONET specifies the use of pointer to define the beginning of a payload.
• Types of physical media specified for ATM include shielded and unshielded
twisted-pair, coaxial cable, and fiber-optic cable, which provide cell transport
capabilities ranging from a T1 rate of 1.544Mbps to a SONET range of
622Mbps.
 '‡ (.#

• The ATM layer represents the physical interface between

the ATM Adaptation layer (AAL) and the Physical layer.
Thus, the ATM layer is responsible for relaying cells
from the AAL to the Physical layer for transmission, and
in the opposite direction from the Physical layer to the
AAL for use in an endpoint.
• When transporting cells to the Physical layer, the ATM
layer is responsible for generating the five-byte cell
header for each cell. When receiving cells from the
Physical layer, the ATM layer performs a reverse
operation, extracting the five-byte header from each cell.
‡  **'(##%(
Þ ATM transfer information in fixed-size units called cells.
Þ An ATM cell header can be one of two formats: UNI or NNI. The UNI
header is used for communication between ATM endpoints and ATM
switches in private ATM networks. The NNI header is used for
communication between ATM switches.
Þ Each cell consists of 53 octets, or bytes. The first 5 bytes contain cell-
header information, and the remaining 48 contain the payload (user
information).
‡ **(#
*!
Þ /# 
*"#*+/
-ÃThe 4-bit GFC field provides flow control at the
UNI level.The ITU-T has determined that this level of flow control is not necessary
at the NNI.
Þ #)(*,('#+,-ÃThe VPI is an 8-bit field in a UNI cell & a 12-bit
field in an NNI cell.In conjunction with the VCI, identifies the next destination of a
cell as it passes through a series of ATM switches on the way to its destination.
Þ #)(*'(*#+-ÃVCI is 16-bit field in both.
Þ ,(.*( .&+, -ÃIndicates in the first bit whether the cell contains user data or
control data. If the cell contains user data, the bit is set to 0. If it contains control
data, it is set to 1. The second bit indicates congestion (0 = no congestion, 1 =
congestion), and the third bit indicates whether the cell is the last in a series of cells
that represent a single AAL5 frame (1 = last cell for the frame).
Þ **!!,##.+,-ÃIndicates whether the cell should be discarded if it
encounters extreme congestion as it moves through the network. If the CLP bit
equals 1, the cell should be discarded in preference to cells with the CLP bit equal to
0.
Þ (#####*+-ÃCalculates checksum only on the first 4 bytes of
the header. HEC can correct a single bit error in these bytes, thereby preserving the
cell rather than discarding it.
 '‡ ‡(&((.#

Þ Was developed to enable two ATM concepts.

Þ This layer is responsible for providing an interface between higher-layer

protocols and the ATM layer.

Þ AAL maps the data stream originated by the higher-layer protocol into the
48-byte payload of ATM cells, with the header placement being assigned by
the ATM layer.

Þ In the reverse direction, the AAL receives the payload of ATM cells in 48-
byte increments from the ATM layer and maps those increments into the
format recognized by the higher-layer protocol
Þ *(!!‡!# ! are data streams with a constant bit rate, running over
established connections.
Þ *(!!!# ! are similar, but instead of being locked to a regular
data rate they send 'peaks' of data at some times, and little or none at
others. Examples include compressed video
Þ *(!!!# ! are those carrying data messages on established
connections. These are inherently variable bit-rate, as Class `.
Examples include X.25 and Frame Relay.
Þ *(!! !# !are the so called connectionless datagrams, where a
packet of data is sent into the network and contains its own destination
address. Examples include many traditional local-area networks such
as Ethernet, wide area networks and the new switched multimegabit

Class Timing Relationship `it Rate Type of Connection

A Yes Constant Connection-oriented
` Yes Variable Connection-oriented
C No Variable Connection-oriented
D No Variable Connectionless

' ‡  ‡&&* ( *(!!!

Þ In AAL1 cell payload the Sequence Number Protection (SNP) field protects
the Sequence Number (SN) field from the effect of bit errors occurring
during transmission, in effect providing a forward error detection and
correction capability.

Þ AAL1 is designated for transporting constant bit rate (C`R) data, such
as real-time voice and video traffic.

Þ First byte in the normal 48-byte cell payload is used for cell sequencing
and protection of the sequence number, limiting the actual payload to
47 bytes per AAL1-generated cell.
Þ The AAL2 was intended to support a V`R .
Þ `ut now used for low-bit-rate traffic & short frame traffic such as
audio,video or fax .ex mobile telephony.

Þ AAL3 is designed to transport delay-insensitive user data, such as Frame

Relay, X.25, or IP traffic.

Þ AAL3/4 uses four additional bytes beyond the cell header. The use of those
bytes makes 44 bytes in the cell available for transporting the actual
payload.

Þ In comparison, AAL5 uses all 48 bytes beyond the cell header to transport
the payload, providing a minimum 10% enhanced throughput in
comparison to AAL3/4.
 ‡  0 ‡  
‡  0
,

Þ ATM signalling uses the one-pass method of connection setup that is used
in all modern telecommunication networks, such as the telephone network.
Þ First, a source end system sends a setup message, which is forwarded to the first
ATM switch (ingress switch) in the network. This switch sends a call
proceeding message and invokes an ATM routing protocol. The signaling
request is propagated across the network. The exit switch (called the egress
switch) that is attached to the destination end system receives the setup
message. The egress switch forwards the setup message to the end system
across its UNI, and the ATM end system sends a connect message if the
connection is accepted. The connect message traverses back through the
network along the same path to the source end system, which sends a connect
acknowledge message back to the destination to acknowledge the connection.
Data transfer can then begin.
‡ ‡‡ 
LAN Emulation (LANE) is a standard defined by the ATM Forum that gives
to stations attached via ATM the same capabilities that they normally obtain
from legacy LANs.
The LANE protocol defines mechanisms for emulating either an IEEE 802.3
Ethernet or an 802.5 Token Ring LAN.

•The LANE protocols make an ATM network look and behave like an Ethernet or
Token Ring

•LANE requires no modifications to higher-layer protocols to enable their

operation over an ATM network.
‡%&!
Þ ‡%)*( *+-0 It is an entity in an end system that
performs data forwarding, address resolution, and registration of MAC
addresses with the LAN Emulation Server (LES). An ATM end system that
connects to multiple ELANs has one LEC per ELAN.

Þ  ÃThe LES provides a central control point for LECs to forward

registration and control information.When a station receives a frame to be
sent to another station using a physical address , LEC sends a special frame
to the LES.

Þ The server creates a virtual circuit between the source & the destination
station.The source station can now use this virtual circuit(& the
corresponding identifier) to send the frame or frames to the destination.
Þ #( (!($" ##+ -ÃMulticasting & `roadcasting
require the use of another server called the broadcast/unknown
server(`US).If a station needs to send a frame to a group of stations or to
every station,the frame first goes to the bus;this server has permanent
virtual connnection to every station.The server creates copies of the
received frame & sends a copy to a group of stations or to all
stations,simulating a multicasting or broadcasting process.The server can
also deliver a unicast frame by sending the frame to every station.In this
case the destination address is unknown.This is sometimes more efficient
then getting the connection identifier from the LES

Þ ‡%)*(1)#( ##+ -ÃThis is used for the

initial connection between the client & LANE.

Þ This server is always waiting to receive the initial contact.It has well
known ATM address that is known to every client in the system.

Þ The LECS maintains a database of LECs and the ELANs to which they
belong.
‡ 2‡

 
‹uality-of-service (‹oS) that guarantees traffic contract, traffic shaping,
and traffic policing is based on the service class , user related attributes,&
network-related attributes€
Þ #(  #(  specifies an envelope that describes the intended data
flow. When an ATM end system connects to an ATM network, it enters a
contract with the network, based on ‹oS parameters.
Þ #( !'(&1 is the use of queues to constrain data bursts, limit peak
data rate, and smooth jitters so that traffic will fit within the promised
envelope.
Þ ATM switches can use #( &* 1 to enforce the contract. The switch
can measure the actual traffic flow and compare it against the agreed-upon
traffic envelope. If the switch finds that traffic is outside of the agreed-upon
parameters, it can set the cell-loss priority (CLP) bit of the offending cells.
Setting the CLP bit makes the cell discard eligible, which means that any
switch handling the cell is allowed to drop the cell during periods of
congestion for the multimedia applications and provide overall
optimization of network resources
 # *(!! 2)(*. # ,(#(%#

It is designed for customers who need real time audio or video services. The cell
rate is constant with time. C`R applications are quite sensitive to cell-delay
constant bit rate (C`R)
variation. Examples of applications that can use C`R are telephone traffic ,
videoconferencing, and television.

This class allows users to send traffic at a rate that varies with time depending on
variable bit rate±non-real time the availability of user information.It is designed for those users who do not need
(V`R±NRT) real time services but use compression techniques to create a variable bit rate.
Multimedia e-mail is an example of V`R±NRT.

This class is similar to V`R±NRT but is designed for applications that are
variable bit rate±real time sensitive to cell-delay variation. It is designed for those users who need real time
(V`R±RT) services & use compression techniques to create a variable bit rate. Examples for
real-time V`R is interactive compressed video.

This class of ATM services provides rate-based flow control and is aimed at data
traffic such as file transfer and e-mail. Although the standard does not require the
cell transfer delay and cell-loss ratio to be guaranteed or minimized, it is desirable
for switches to minimize delay and loss as much as possible. Depending upon the
available bit rate (A`R)
state of congestion in the network, the source is required to control its rate. The
users are allowed to declare a minimum cell rate.If more network capacity is
available, this minimum rate can be exceeded.A`R is particularly suitable for
applications that are bursty.

This class is a best effort delivery service that does not guarantee anything and is
unspecified bit rate (U`R)
widely used today for TCP/IP.
!##*((#3)!
Þ The Sustained cell rate is the average cell rate over a long time
interval.The actual cell rate may be lower or higher than this value, but the
average should be equal to or less than the SCR.

Þ ,The peak cell rate defines the sender¶s maximum cell rate. The
user¶s cell rate can sometimes reach this peak,as long as the SCR is
maintained.

Þ The minimum cell rate defines the minimum cell rate acceptable to
the sender.For example,if the MCR is 50,000, the network must guarantee
that the sender can send atleast 50,000 cells per second.

Þ  The cell variation delay tolerance is a measure of the variation in

cell transmission times.For example,if the CVDT is 5 ns ,this means that
the difference between the minimum & the maximum delays in delivering
the cells should not exceed 5 ns.
"#$#*((#3)!
The network related attributes are those that define characteristics of the
network.The following are some network related attributes:

Þ The cell loss ratio defines the fraction of cells lost(or delivered so
late that they are considered lost) during transmission.For example, if the
sender sends 100 cells & one of them is lost,the CLR is
CLR = 1/100 = 10-2

Þ  The cell transfer delay is the average time needed for a cell to travel
from source to destination. The maximum CTD & the minimum CTD also
considered attributes.

Þ  The cell delay variation is the difference between CTD maximum &
the CTD minimum.

Þ The cell error ratio defines the fraction of cells delivered in error.
,#‡ 
Þ When IP works with ATM , the IP packets are segmented into fixed length cells
of ATM, transmitted through the ATM network, & then reassembled into IP
packets at the receiving end.
Þ Each entry/exit point is a router. An ATM backbone can span an entire continent
and may have tens or even hundreds of ATM switches.
Þ Most ATM backbones have a permanent virtual channel (VC) between each pair
of entry/exit points.
Þ For Æ entry points, Æ(Æ - 1) permanent VCs are needed to directly
connect Æ entry/exit points. Each router interface that connects to the
ATM network will have two addresses. The router interface will have
an IP address, as usual, and the router will have an ATM address, which
is essentially a LAN address.
Þ Consider now an IP datagram that is to be moved across the ATM
backbone To four IP routers, the backbone appears as a single logical
linkÃATM interconnects these four routers just as Ethernet can be used
to connect four routers.
Þ Let us refer to the router at which the datagram enters the ATM network
as the ³entry router´ and the router at which the datagram leaves the
network as the ³exit router.´
Þ The entry router does the following:
1. Examines the destination address of the datagram.
2. Indexes its routing table and determines the IP address of the exit
router
3. To move the datagram to the next router, the physical address of the
next-hop router must be determined.
4. IP in the entry router then passes down to the link layer (that is, ATM)
the datagram along with the ATM address of the exit router.
 ATM must now move the datagram to the ATM destination address. This task
has two subtasks:
Þ Determine the VCI for the VC that leads to the ATM destination address.
Þ Segment the datagram into cells at the sending side of the VC (that is, at the
entry router), and reassemble the cells into the original datagram at the
receiving side of the VC (that is, at the exit router).
Þ ATM uses AAL5 to provide a more efficient way to segment and reassemble a
datagram. Recall that IP in the entry router passes the datagram down to ATM
along with the ATM address of the exit router. ATM in the entry router indexes
an ATM table to determine the VCI for the VC that leads to the ATM destination
address. AAL5 then creates ATM cells out of the IP datagram:
Þ The datagram is encapsulated in a CPCS-PDU using the format in fig.
Þ The CPCS-PDU is chopped up into 48-byte chunks. Each chunk is placed in the
payload field of an ATM cell.
Þ All of the cells except for the last cell have the third bit of the PT field set to 0.

'‡‡4 (3!)!#(!!%3*,((1#(%!#%‡  **!

Þ The last cell has the bit set to 1. AAL5 then passes the cells to the ATM
layer. ATM sets the VCI and CLP fields and passes each cell to the TC
sublayer. For each cell, the TC sublayer calculates the HEC and inserts it in
the HEC field. The TC sublayer then inserts the bits of the cells into the
PMD sublayer.
Þ The ATM network then moves each cell across the network to the ATM
destination address. At each ATM switch between the ATM source and the
ATM destination, the ATM cell is processed by the ATM physical and ATM
layers, but not by the AAL layer. At each switch the VCI is typically
translated and the HEC is recalculated.
Þ When the cells arrive at the ATM destination address, they are directed to
an AAL buffer that has been put aside for the particular VC. The CPCS-
PDU is reconstructed using the AAL_indicate bit to determine which cell is
the last cell of the CPCS-PDU. Finally, the IP datagram is extracted out of
the CPCSPDU and is passed up the protocol stack to the IP layer
‡ ‡((1!
Þ Provides scalable bandwidth from a few megabits per second (Mbps) to
many gigabits per second (Gbps).

Þ Fixed-length cells enables low-cost hardware to be developed to perform

required cell switching based on the contents of the cell header, without
requiring more complex and costly software

Þ Fixed-size cells allow ATM to support quantifiable ‹oS

Þ `ecause of its asynchronous nature, ATM is more efficient than

synchronous technologies, such as TDM.

Þ Simplified Network Management.

Þ ATM is a cell-switching and multiplexing technology that combines the

benefits of circuit switching (guaranteed capacity and constant transmission
delay) with those of packet switching (flexibility and efficiency ).
‡ !(((1!

Þ Overhead of cell header (5 bytes per cell)

Þ Complex mechanisms for achieveing ‹oS
Þ Congestion may cause cell losses
Þ ATM handles data traffic smoothly, but runs into delay
problems with voice transmissions.
 
Þ ATM is a high-speed packet switching technique suitable for LAN, wide-
area network and broadband ISDN (integrated services digital network)
transmissions.
Þ The decision of when to use ATM and when to use frame relay largely
depends on the applications businesses want to run over their enterprise
networks, the amount of bandwidth they need and their performance
requirements.
Þ ATM is ideally suited for converged voice,data and video networks because
it assures quality of service.
Þ It also provides the high amounts of bandwidth that businesses are
increasingly demanding for data and other applications.
Þ Frame relay, on the other hand, continues to be a highly economical and
reliable choice, especially for medium-speed, data only applications.
Þ It provides scalable bandwidth from a few megabits per second (Mbps) to
many gigabits per second (Gbps). ATM provides no retransmissions on a
link-by-link basis€
Þ Combining the ATM & SONET offers scalability and flexibility. While
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and Synchronous Optical Network
(SONET) technologies are still emerging technologies, the combination of
the two will drastically alter future corporate LAN design


Þ Martin De Prycker, Asynchronous Transfer Mode. Solutions for `roadband ISDN
(Prentice-Hall, 1993) -19/2/09
Þ William Stallings,ISDN & `roadband ISDN with frame relay & ATM(Prentice-
Hall,1999).
Þ P.S. Neelakanta A Textbook on ATM Telecommunications, Principles and
implementation. CRC Press. 2000 IS`N 0-8493-1805-X.-22/2/09
Þ Ieeexplore.ieee.org/ieI4/5541/14857/00675184.pdf-5/3/09
Þ http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/internetworking/technology/handbook/atm.html-
15/3/09
Þ www.pcc.qub.ac.uk/tec/courses/network/ATM/ATM-15/3/09
Þ www.npac.syr.edu/users/mahesh/homepage/atm_tutorial/-15/3/09
Þ www.mhhe.com/frouzen/Dcn4Sie-18/3/09
Þ http://www.atmforum.com for ATM standards document-28/3/09
Þ Ginsburg, David. ATM: Solutions for Enterprise Internetworking. `oston: Addison-
Wesley Publishing Co, 1996-3/4/09
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Switching.Indianapolis: Cisco Press, 1999.24/4/09
Þ `ehrouz A Forouzan,Fourth edition,Data communications & networking
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