SDH Telecommunications Standard

Primer

Introduction To SDH Background

SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) is a standard for telecommunica- Before SDH, the first generations of fibre-optic systems in the public
tions transport formulated by the International Telecommunication Union telephone network used proprietary architectures, equipment line codes,
(ITU), previously called the International Telegraph and Telephone multiplexing formats, and maintenance procedures. The users of this
Consultative Committee (CCITT). equipment wanted standards so they could mix and match equipment
from different suppliers.
SDH was first introduced into the telecommunications network in 1992
and has been deployed at rapid rates since then. It’s deployed at all The task of creating such a standard was taken up in 1984 by the
levels of the network infrastructure, including the access network and Exchange Carriers Standards Association (ECSA) in the U.S. to establish
the long-distance trunk network. It’s based on overlaying a synchronous a standard for connecting one fibre system to another. In the late stages
multiplexed signal onto a light stream transmitted over fibre-optic cable. of the development, the CCITT became involved so that a single interna-
SDH is also defined for use on radio relay links, satellite links, and at tional standard might be developed for fibre interconnect between tele-
electrical interfaces between equipment. phone networks of different countries. The resulting international stan-
dard is known as Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH).
The comprehensive SDH standard is expected to provide the transport
infrastructure for worldwide telecommunications for at least the next two Synchronisation of Digital Signals
or three decades.
To correctly understand the concepts and details of SDH, it’s important
The increased configuration flexibility and bandwidth availability of SDH to be clear about the meaning of Synchronous, Plesiochronous, and
provides significant advantages over the older telecommunications sys- Asynchronous.
tem. These advantages include:
In a set of Synchronous signals, the digital transitions in the signals
A reduction in the amount of equipment and an increase in network reliability.
occur at exactly the same rate. There may however be a phase differ-
The provision of overhead and payload bytes – the overhead bytes permitting ence between the transitions of the two signals, and this would lie within
management of the payload bytes on an individual basis and facilitating cen-
specified limits. These phase differences may be due to propagation
tralised fault sectionalisation.
time delays, or low-frequency wander introduced in the transmission
The definition of a synchronous multiplexing format for carrying lower-level network. In a synchronous network, all the clocks are traceable to one
digital signals (such as 2 Mbit/s, 34 Mbit/s, 140 Mbit/s) which greatly simpli-
Stratum 1 Primary Reference Clock (PRC). The accuracy of the PRC is
fies the interface to digital switches, digital cross-connects, and add-drop
better than ±1 in 1011 and is derived from a cesium atomic standard.
multiplexers.

The availability of a set of generic standards, which enable multi-vendor

If two digital signals are Plesiochronous, their transitions occur at
interoperability. “almost” the same rate, with any variation being constrained within tight
limits. These limits are set down in ITU-T recommendation G.811. For
The definition of a flexible architecture capable of accommodating future
applications, with a variety of transmission rates. example, if two networks need to interwork, their clocks may be derived
from two different PRCs. Although these clocks are extremely accurate,
In brief, SDH defines synchronous transport modules (STMs) for the
there’s a small frequency difference between one clock and the other.
fibre-optic based transmission hierarchy.
This is known as a plesiochronous difference.
In the case of Asynchronous signals, the transitions of the signals don’t nec-
essarily occur at the same nominal rate. Asynchronous, in this case, means
that the difference between two clocks is much greater than a plesiochronous
difference. For example, if two clocks are derived from free-running quartz
oscillators, they could be described as asynchronous.

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 SDH Telecommunications Standard
Primer

SDH Advantages Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH)

The primary reason for the creation of SDH was to provide a long-term Traditionally, digital transmission systems and hierarchies have been based
solution for an optical mid-span meet between operators; that is, to on multiplexing signals which are plesiochronous (running at almost the same
allow equipment from different vendors to communicate with each other. speed). Also, various parts of the world use different hierarchies which lead to
This ability is referred to as multi-vendor interworking and allows one problems of international interworking; for example, between those countries
SDH-compatible network element to communicate with another, and to using 1.544 Mbit/s systems (U.S.A. and Japan) and those using the
replace several network elements, which may have previously existed 2.048 Mbit/s system.
solely for interface purposes. To recover a 64 kbit/s channel from a 140 Mbit/s PDH signal, it’s neces-
The second major advantage of SDH is the fact that it’s synchronous. sary to demultiplex the signal all the way down to the 2 Mbit/s level
Currently, most fibre and multiplex systems are plesiochronous. This before the location of the 64 kbit/s channel can be identified. PDH
means that the timing may vary from equipment to equipment because requires “steps” (140-34, 34-8, 8-2 demultiplex; 2-8, 8-34, 34-140
they are synchronised from different network clocks. In order to multiplex multiplex) to drop out or add an individual speech or data channel
this type of signal, a process known as bit-stuffing is used. Bit-stuffing (see Figure 1). This is due to the bit-stuffing used at each level.
adds extra bits to bring all input signals up to some common bit-rate,
Limitations of PDH Network
thereby requiring multi-stage multiplexing and demultiplexing. Because
SDH is synchronous, it allows single-stage multiplexing and demultiplex- The main limitations of PDH are:
ing. This single-stage multiplexing eliminates hardware complexity, thus Inability to identify individual channels in a higher-order bit stream.
decreasing the cost of equipment while improving signal quality. Insufficient capacity for network management;
Most PDH network management is proprietary.
In plesiochronous networks, an entire signal had to be demultiplexed in
There’s no standardised definition of PDH bit rates greater than 140 Mbit/s.
order to access a particular channel; then the non-accessed channels had
There are different hierarchies in use around the world. Specialized interface
to be re-multiplexed back together in order to be sent further along the equipment is required to interwork the two hierarchies.
network to their proper destination. In SDH format, only those channels
that are required at a particular point are demultiplexed, thereby eliminat-
ing the need for back-to-back multiplexing. In other words, SDH makes
individual channels “visible” and they can easily be added and dropped.

140 Mbit/s 140 Mbit/s

140-34 DEMUX 34-140 MUX

34 Mbit/s 34 Mbit/s

34-8 DEMUX 8-34 MUX

8 Mbit/s 8 Mbit/s

8-2 DEMUX 2-8 MUX

2 Mbit/s

Drop & Add

Figure 1. PDH multiplexing by steps, showing add/drop function.

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SDH Telecommunications Standard
Primer

Basic SDH Signal Transmission Hierarchies

The basic format of an SDH signal allows it to carry many different services Following ANSI’s development of the SONET standard, the ITU-T under-
in its Virtual Container (VC) because it is bandwidth-flexible. This capability took to define a standard that would address interworking between
allows for such things as the transmission of high-speed packet-switched the 2048 kbit/s and 1554 kbit/s transmission hierarchies. That effort
services, ATM, contribution video, and distribution video. However, SDH still culminated in 1989 with ITU-T’s publication of the Synchronous Digital
permits transport and networking at the 2 Mbit/s, 34 Mbit/s, and 140 Mbit/s Hierarchy (SDH) standards.
levels, accommodating the existing digital hierarchy signals. In addition, SDH Tables 1 and 2 compare the Non-synchronous and Synchronous
supports the transport of signals based on the 1.5 Mbit/s hierarchy. transmission hierarchies.

Ta b l e 1 . N o n - S y n c h r o n o u s , P D H H i e r a r c h y

Signal Digital Bit Rate Channels

E0 64 kbit/s One 64 kbit/s
E1 2.048 Mbit/s 32 E0
E2 8.448 Mbit/s 128 E0
E3 34.368 Mbit/s 16 E1
E4 139.264 Mbit/s 64 E1

Ta b l e 2 . S D H H i e r a r c h y

Bit Rate Abbreviated SDH SDH Capacity

51.84 Mbit/s 51 Mbit/s STM-0 21 E1
155.52 Mbit/s 155 Mbit/s STM-1 63 E1 or 1 E4
622.08 Mbit/s 622 Mbit/s STM-4 252 E1 or 4 E4
2488.32 Mbit/s 2.4 Gbit/s STM-16 1008 E1 or 16 E4
9953.28 Mbit/s 10 Gbit/s STM-64 4032 E1 or 64 E4
39813.12 Mbit/s 40 Gbit/s STM-256 16128 E1 or 256 E4
STM = Synchronous Transport Module

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