University Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT) Stream BCA

Subject Code BCAE-601A Syllabus Old

Subject Name Advanced networking and Communication Semester EVEN [ 6 th Semester ]

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)

The ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) was designed with an aim to provide:
1. Digital voice and videos.
2. High speed data rate. Low operating cost.
3. Low error rate between two or more switching centers.

Features of ATM
 ATM stands for Asynchronous Transfer Mode.
 ATM is also called cell relay.
 ATM networks are high speed, connection oriented networks that supports voice, video and data communications.
 ATM uses short, fixed-length packets called cells to carry data. The size of an ATM cell is 53 bytes: 5 byte header and 48
byte payload. They are suitable for TDM and transmits them over a physical medium
 ATM combines the benefits of circuit switching with those of packet switching. It provides support for virtual networks.
 ATM has higher transmission capability.

ATM is a technology that supports different types of data – Discuss

ATM is based on the ITU-T Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (B-ISDN) standard, and was intended as a
high-speed data transfer technology for voice, video, and data over public networks. The idea behind ATM was the utilization of
small, fixed length cells in order to reduce packet delay variation (jitter) in the multiplexing of data streams. This is particularly
important for voice traffic and other real-time applications, where the availability of a constant stream of data is essential.

Architecture of ATM

There are three basic layers in the ATM.

 Physical Layer:
o Corresponds to physical layer of OSI model.
o Handles medium dependent transmissions.
o This layer has two sub layers:
 PMD sub layer
(Physical Medium Dependent)
 TC (Transmission Convergence) sub layer.

The main functions of the ATM physical layer are as follows:

 Cells are converted into a bit stream and transmitted over the physical medium.
 Cells are packaged into the appropriate types of frames for the physical medium.
 The transmission and receipt of bits on the physical medium are controlled.
 ATM cell boundaries are tracked.

 ATM Layer:
o This layer is comparable to data link layer of OSI model.
o ATM layer is common to all services which can have the packet transfer capabilities.
o Functions of ATM layer is routing of each cell, traffic management, multiplexing and switching.

 Application Adaptation Layer (AAL):

o This layer corresponds to network layer of OSI model.
o It provides facilities to the existing packet switched networks to connect to ATM network and use its services.
o The AAL is responsible for hiding the ATM implementation details form the higher layers.
o It accepts the data and converts them into fixed sized (48 bit cell payloads) segments.
o The transmissions can be of fixed or variable data rate.
o This layer has two sub layers –
 Convergence sub layer
 Segmentation and Reassembly sub layer.
University Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT) Stream BCA
Subject Code BCAE-601A Syllabus Old
Subject Name Advanced networking and Communication Semester EVEN [ 6 th Semester ]

Finally, the higher layers residing above the AAL accept user data, arrange it into packets, and hand it to the AAL.

ATM model includes the following planes, which span all layers:

 Control plane
o Responsible for generating and managing signaling requests.
 User plane
o Responsible for the transfer of the data.
 Management plane
o Incorporates layer management ( layer-specific functions management, failure detection & protocol problems)
o Incorporates plane management (coordinating functions related to the system as a whole).

ATM is a connection-oriented technology – Discuss

ATM is a connection-oriented technology because in ATM before two systems can communicate; they should inform all
intermediate switches about their service requirements and Traffic parameters. This is similar to the telephone networks where
a fixed path is set up from the calling party to the receiving party.

ATM is flexible – Discuss

ATM does not rely on any one media or topology. ATM was designed with interactive, multimedia applications in mind.
ATM is potentially capable of supporting all classes of Traffic (e.g., voice, video, data) in transmission and switching technology.
Hence it is flexible, efficient and economical.

ATM Devices

ATM switch ATM endpoints

 An ATM switch is responsible for cell transit through an ATM network.  An ATM endpoint (or end system)
 ATM switch accepts the incoming cell from an ATM endpoint or another contains an ATM network interface
ATM switch. adapter.
 ATM switch reads and updates the cell header information and quickly  Examples of endpoints are workstations,
switches the cell to an output interface towards its destination. routers, CODECs, LAN switches, etc.

ATM Network Interfaces

An ATM network consists of a set of ATM switches interconnected by point-to-

point ATM links or interfaces. ATM switches support two primary types of
interfaces:
 The UNI (User-Network Interface) connects ATM end systems (such as
hosts and routers) to an ATM switch.
 The NNI (Network-Network Interface) connects two ATM switches.

Depending on whether the switch is owned and located at the customer's premises
or is publicly owned and operated by the telephone company, UNI and NNI can be
further subdivided into
 Public UNIs • Private NNIs

ATM cell formats

ATM transfers information in fixed-size units of 53 bytes called cells. The first 5 bytes contain cell-header information, and the
remaining 48 contain the payload (user information). Small, fixed-length cells are well suited to transfer voice and video traffic
because such traffic is intolerant to delays that result from having to wait for a large data packet to download, among other
things.
An ATM header can have one of two formats - User-Network Interface (UNI) or Network-Node Interface (NNI). UNI is used for
communication between end systems and switches. NNI is used for communication between switches. The header formats are
shown below.
University Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT) Stream BCA
Subject Code BCAE-601A Syllabus Old
Subject Name Advanced networking and Communication Semester EVEN [ 6 th Semester ]

Note that the NNI header does not include the Generic
Flow Control field, but has an additional four bits in
the Virtual Path Identifier field, allowing for a much larger
number of virtual paths to be use

ATM Cell Header Fields

 Generic Flow Control (GFC)—Provides local functions,

such as identifying multiple stations that share a
single ATM interface. This field is typically not used
and is set to its default value of 0 (binary 0000).

 Virtual Path Identifier (VPI)—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.

 Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI)—In conjunction with

the VPI, identifies the next destination of a cell as it
passes through a series of ATM switches on the way to
its destination.

 Payload Type (PT)—

st
 The 1 bit indicates data type [ user / control ]
(0 = user data, 1 = control data)
nd
 The 2 bit indicates congestion
(0 = no congestion, 1 = congestion)
rd
 The 3 bit indicates whether the cell is the last in a series of cells (1
= last cell for the frame).

 Cell Loss Priority (CLP)—Indicates whether the cell should be discarded

if it encounters extreme. If the CLP bit equals 1, the cell should be
discarded in preference to cells with the CLP bit equal to 0.

 Header Error Control (HEC)—Calculates checksum only on the first 4

bytes of the header..

ATM has a switching technology that is scalable – Discuss

ATM is easily scalable. This means that the amount of bandwidth can
be tailored to the growing complexity of applications and faster host processors
without adversely affecting the performance of other applications and hosts on
the network.

A small cell size in ATM has its own advantages – Discuss

 Since all data are encoded into identical small cells of 53 bytes, data
transmission is simple, uniform and predictable.
 Small sized header reduces packet overload, thus ensuring effective
bandwidth usage.
 Uniform packet size ensures that mixed traffic is handled efficiently.

ATM virtual connections

ATM networks are connection-oriented hence a connection or circuit must be set up between two ends before data can be
transferred. In ATM this connection or circuit is called virtual connection or virtual circuit.
University Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT) Stream BCA
Subject Code BCAE-601A Syllabus Old
Subject Name Advanced networking and Communication Semester EVEN [ 6 th Semester ]

A connection or circuit is termed as virtual because it appears as though there is a dedicated physical link between the source
and destination end systems of this data, but that can be changed if needed. A virtual channel is a type of virtual circuit. A
virtual connection or virtual circuit can be permanent or switched.

ATM header comprised of two types of format

 VPI (Virtual path identifier)
 VCI (Virtual circuit identifier).

The diagram illustrates the relationship between virtual channels, virtual paths and transmission paths.
ATM defines two types of connections:

Virtual path connections (VPCs)

 A virtual channel (VC) is the complete end-to-end link between two end systems.
 A VC is the basic fundamental unit, which carries a single stream of cells, in order, from user to user.
 A collection of VCs can be bundled together into a virtual path (VP) connection.
 A VP connection can be created from end-to-end across an ATM network.
 All cells of a particular VP are routed through the same way, thus resulting in faster recovery in case of major failures.
 Further, a set of VPs connection makes up a Transmission path.
Switches
 Switches in an ATM network use a combination of Virtual Path Identifiers (VPIs) and Virtual Channel Identifiers (VCIs) to
determine how to route incoming cells.
 Switches uses VPIs or both VPIs and VCIs to switch the cells, serving the purpose of creating a virtual trunk.
 Basic operation is straightforward by looking up the connection value in the local translation table determining the outgoing
port of the connection and the new VPI/VCI value of connection on that link.
 All the switches within the ATM network are VP switches, and those connected to the subscribers are VP/VC switches

ATM supports two kinds of connections.

 Point-to-point (unidirectional or bi-directional) connections connect two ATM end-systems.
 Point-to-multipoint (always unidirectional) connections
connect one source ATM end system to a number of
destination ATM end systems.

The source ATM end system (or root node) transmits the information
once only, and ATM switches replicate cells and forwards them to
the various destination end systems (or leaves) wherever the
connections within the network branch.

Explain how virtual connection is defined in ATM?

ATM is based on packet switching by setting up a virtual circuit. Several nodes are connected with the hosts and various
switches. ATM sets up a logical path, not a permanent path. A table is setup in each station in the path and information is
entered in these tables. Once a virtual path is created, there is an entry about all the possible routes through which data
communication can takes place. Routing takes place based on these tables.

ATM advantages and disadvantages

Advantages Disadvantages
 Can handle mixed network traffic very efficiently.  Cost of switching devices is higher.
 Effective utilization of the network resources.  Overhead generated by the cell header is more.
 Less susceptible to the noise degradation.  ATM QoS mechanism is quite complex.
 Can seamlessly interface with network such as PSTN, ISDN.
 Has dynamic bandwidth for bursty traffic.

ATM is a switching technology that imposes no speed limitations- Discuss

ATM goes considerably beyond the 10M b/s and 16M b/s offered by legacy Ethernet and Token Ring LANs. To date,
there are Asynchronous Transfer Mode standards for transmission at 52M b/s, 100M b/s, 155M b/s, and 622M b/s.
University Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT) Stream BCA
Subject Code BCAE-601A Syllabus Old
Subject Name Advanced networking and Communication Semester EVEN [ 6 th Semester ]

ATM Applications

ATM is used in both LANs and WANs; let’s have a look at few of the possible applications.

ATM WANs:
 ATM is basically a WAN technology that delivers cell over long distances.
 ATM is mainly used to connect LANs or other WANs together.
 A router between ATM network and the other network serves as an end point.
 This router has two stacks of protocols: one belonging to ATM and other belonging to other protocol.

ATM LANs:
 High data rate (155 and 622 Mbps) of ATM technology attracted designers to think of implementing ATM
technology in LANs too.
 At the surface level, to implement an ATM LAN, ATM switch will replace the traditional Ethernet switch, in a
switched LAN. But few things have to be kept in mind and software modules would be needed to map the
following differences between the two technologies:
 Connectionless versus connection-oriented: ATM is a virtual connection oriented technology, while traditional
Ethernet uses connectionless protocols.
 Physical address versus virtual circuit identifier: In the Traditional LAN packets are routed based on the source
and destination addresses, while in ATM cells are routed based on the virtual circuit identifiers (VPI-VCI pair).

ATM technology has several advantages that make it an ideal LAN:

o ATM supports different types of connections (permanent/temporary) between two end users.
o ATM supports multimedia communication with a variety of bandwidths for different applications.
o ATM can guarantee a bandwidth of several megabits per second for real-time video.
o ATM can also provide support for text transfer during off-peak hours.
o An ATM LAN can be easily adapted for expansion in an organization.

LAN Emulation:
 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, such as Ethernet and Token Ring.
 As the name suggests, the function of the LANE protocol is to emulate a LAN on top of an ATM network.
 LANE protocol defines mechanisms for emulating either an IEEE 802.3 Ethernet or an 802.5 Token Ring LAN.

Frame-relay backbones: Frame-relay service providers are deploying ATM backbones to meet the rapid growth of their
frame-relay services.

Internet backbones: Internet service providers are likewise deploying ATM backbones to meet the rapid growth of their
frame-relay services..

Carrier infrastructures for the telephone and private-line networks: Some carriers have identified opportunities to make
more-effective use of their SONET/SDH fiber infrastructures by building an ATM infrastructure to carry their telephony and
private line traffic.

ATM and IP ATM Characteristic IP Characteristic

In the late 80’s and early 90’s there was a hope among ATM providers Connection oriented Connectionless
that TCP/IP could be abandoned in favor of a complete ATM-based Fixed small cells Variable size datagrams
network. They lost. ATM is use today primarily in wide area support of Non-broadcast ARP requires broadcast
IP-based networking. QoS Support Best effort service
Several Address format Single Address format
University Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT) Stream BCA
Subject Code BCAE-601A Syllabus Old
Subject Name Advanced networking and Communication Semester EVEN [ 6 th Semester ]

ATM is more efficient than synchronous technologies such as time-division multiplexing (TDM) - Justify
 In TDM a station with a lot of data to send can only send data during the time slot allocated to it, even if all the other
time slots are currently empty.
 On the other hand, if a station has no data to send when its time slot becomes available, the time slot remains unused,
even if other stations have data to send.
 ATM is asynchronous with time slots available on demand.
 Hence ATM is more efficient than synchronous technologies such as time-division multiplexing (TDM)

ATM Traffic management

The ATM Forum has defined five service categories in order to try and match traffic characteristics and QoS requirements to
network behavior, which are described below.

 Constant Bit Rate (CBR) - used for traffic requiring a consistent and predictable bit rate for the lifetime of the
connection. Typical applications include video conferencing and telephony.

 Real-Time Variable Bit Rate (rt-VBR) - used for variable rate data that must be delivered in a timely fashion. Examples
might include traffic that could be considered bursty, such as variable rate compressed video streams.

 Non-Real-Time Variable Bit Rate (nrt-VBR) - is used for variable bit rate traffic that is not time-critical, but may have
some minimum requirement with regard to bandwidth or latency (for example, Frame Relay internetworking traffic).

 Available Bit Rate (ABR) - this service is similar to nrt-VBR, but is intended primarily for traffic that is not time sensitive
and requires no guarantee of service, and that can moderate its data rate in response to flow-control data (for
example, TCP/IP traffic). ABR employs Resource Management cells to provide the necessary feedback to the traffic
source in response to variations in the resources available within the ATM network.

 Unspecified Bit Rate (UBR) - this service is similar to ABR in that it is intended primarily for traffic that is not time
sensitive and requires no guarantee of service, but no flow-control mechanism is provided. This service is suitable for
applications that are tolerant of delay and cell-loss, such as file-transfer and e-mail.

ATM has guaranteed QOS – Discuss

In ATM networks, an application wishing to send data across an ATM network should advise the network of the type of
data is to be sent, together with any Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. As the QoS is negotiates well in advance during the
actual data transfer the guarantee is locked.
In ATM network each connection is called a virtual circuit or virtual channel (VC), because it also allows the capacity of
each link to be shared. The connections allow the network to guarantee the quality of service (QoS) by limiting the number of
VCs.

Frame Relay Vs ATM

BASIS FRAME RELAY ATM

Packet size Variable Fixed
Processing overhead Increased Decreased
Data transfer Implemented in more than one area network. Takes place within a LAN
Cost Inexpensive Cost is higher
Speed Low High
QoS Quantifiable QoS is not provided. Offers quantifiable QoS.
Error control No support is provided for error and flow control Error and flow control is provided.
Data rate 64 Kbps up to 45 Mbps. 155.5 Mbps or 622 Mbps.
Reliability Low Good
Throughput Medium High
Delay High Less
University Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT) Stream BCA
Subject Code BCAE-601A Syllabus Old
Subject Name Advanced networking and Communication Semester EVEN [ 6 th Semester ]

University Questions

1. 'ATM is a connection-oriented, scalable, and flexible with guaranteed QOS, a virtual circuit packet switching technology
that imposes no speed limitations and supports different types of data.’ Justify all the terms used in the above
statement.
2. Describe the format of an ATM cell.
3. With the help of a suitable diagram, describe an ATM cell.
4. Describe the characteristics of physical layer and ATM adaptation layer. Also show the ATM protocol model.
5. Write short notes: ATM network
6. Discuss briefly on ATM network model
7. What do you mean by ATM LAN? Discuss ATM LAN architecture.
8. Write short note: ATM
9. Describe the advantages of a small cell size in ATM.
10. How does ATM differ from frame relay?
11. List and briefly define the ATM classes.
12. List and briefly define the ATM service classes.
13. Discuss about ATM reference model with proper diagram & compare it with OSI reference model.
14. What is the relation between virtual circuits and virtual paths for a particular transmitting path during the data
transfer?

References
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/ATM-Networks
https://techdifferences.com/difference-between-frame-relay-and-atm.html
http://www.technologyuk.net/telecommunications/communication-technologies/asynchronous-transfer-mode.shtml
https://nptel.ac.in/content/storage2/courses/106105080/pdf/M4L6.pdf
https://www.tutorialride.com/computer-network/asynchronous-transfer-mode-atm.htm
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/asynchronous-transfer-mode-atm-in-computer-network/
http://www.ittoday.info/AIMS/Information_Management/5-04-35.pdf
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/virtual-path
http://kfall.net/ucbpage/EE122/lec25/sld027.htm