18-2 ATM

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is the cell relay

protocol designed by the ATM Forum and adopted by
the ITU-T.

Topics discussed in this section:

Design Goals
Problems
Architecture
Switching
ATM Layers
Design goals

 Need of a technology to take advantage of high data

rate transmission media like optical fiber. These media
provides larger bandwidth and are less susceptible
to noise.
 The system must interface with existing systems to
provide WAN connectivity without lowering their
effectiveness and replacement.
 Inexpensive system so that everyone can use it.
 New system must be connection-oriented for
accurate & predictable delivery.
 Movement of functions to hardware for speed .
Problems with existing systems
 At data link layer, most of the protocols are using frames
of various sizes. Hence networks becomes more
complex.
 Larger header size .
 Data unit size is enlarged to send more data with same
size header. It creates wastage in case no large data is
available to send.
 Mixed network traffic
 Difficult to insure integrity of every frame.
 Internetworking among different frames is slow and
expensive.
 Big challenge to provide consistent data rate with
varying frame sizes.
Figure 18.6 Multiplexing using different frame sizes
Note

A cell network uses the cell as the basic

unit of data exchange.
A cell is defined as a small, fixed-size
block of information.
Cell network

 Frame internetworking problem are solved.

 Data are loaded into identical cells which can be
transmitted with predictability & uniformity.
 Interleaving of cells is done.
 Cells arrive at destination as continuous stream.
 A cell network can handle real transmission ( phone
calls) without parties being aware of segmentation &
multiplexing.
Figure 18.7 Multiplexing using cells
ATM
 Asynchronous Time division multiplexing.
 Cell switched network
Figure 18.8 ATM multiplexing
Figure 18.9 Architecture of an ATM network
Cont..

 UNI: user-to-network interface

 NNI: network-to-network interface
Figure 18.10 TP, VPs, and VCs
Figure 18.11 Example of VPs and VCs
Note

Note that a virtual connection is defined

by a pair of numbers:
the VPI and the VCI.
Figure 18.12 Connection identifiers
Figure 18.13 Virtual connection identifiers in UNIs and NNIs
Figure 18.14 An ATM cell
Figure 18.15 Routing with a switch
Figure 18.16 ATM layers
Figure 18.17 ATM layers in endpoint devices and switches
ATM layers
 Physical layer: Like Ethernet & wireless LANs, ATM
cells can be carried by any physical layer carrier. Original
design of ATM was based upon SONET. Use pointer to
indicate the starting of a cell.
 ATM layer: provides routing , traffic management,
switching, multiplexing services. Accepts 48 byte
segment from AAL(application adaptation layer) .
Transform them into 53 byte cell by adding 5-byte
header.
 Header format: two header formats, one for UNI &
another for NNI.
Cont…

 GFC: 4 bit field to provide flow control at UNI. At NNI, these

bits are added to VPI. Longer VPI allows more virtual paths
at NNI level.
 VCI: 16-bit field for both frames.
 PT: 3-bit field. First bit defines the payload as user data or
managerial information.
 CLP:1-bit field provided for congestion control. If CLP=1
then cell must be retained as long as there are cells with
CLP=0.
 HEC: a code used for first 4-bytes of the header. It is a CRC
with divisor x8+x2+x+1 to correct single bit & multiple bit
errors.
Figure 18.18 ATM layer
Figure 18.19 ATM headers
AAL

 Designed to accept any type of payload i.e. both data frames

and stream of bits.
 The ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL) is designed to support different
types of applications and different types of traffic, such as voice, video,
imagery, and data
 Data frame can come from an upper-layer protocol.
 ATM layer break frames into small chunks called cells.
 AAL has two sublayers: SAR and CS.
 Segmentation & reassembly: to segment payload and
reassemble the segements.
 Convergence sublayer: To guarantee the integrity of the data.
 AAL1,AAL2, AAL3/4 & AAL5.
Example: ATM Adaptation Layer

TCP TCP
IP IP
AAL AAL
ATM ATM ATM
NETWORK
ATM Adaptation Sublayers
0 Convergence Sub layer (CS):
- Handling lost/ misdelivered cells
- Timing recovery
- Interleaving
0 Segmentation and Reassembly Sub layer (SAR):
- Split frames/bit stream into cells for transmission
- Reassemble frames/bit stream for receiving
- Support multiple protocols

Higher Layers

Convergence Sublayer (CS)

ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL)
Segmentation and Reassembly Sublayer
(SAR)
Virtual Channel (VC)
ATM Layer (ATM)
Virtual Path (VP)

Transmission Convergence Sublayer (TC)

Physical Layer (PL)
Physical Medium Sublayer (PM)
AAL Types
AAL Protocols and Service Classes
 To minimize the number of AAL protocols, ITU-T proposed a service
classification specific to the AAL
 The classification was made with respect to the following parameters:
 Timing relationship between sender and receiver

 Related

 Not related

 Bit rate

 Constant bit rate

 Variable bit rate

 Connection mode

 Connection-oriented

 Connectionless
AAL Protocols and Service Classes
 Four AAL protocols have been defined to support four AAL service
classes
 AAL service classes
 Class A

 Class B

 Class C

 Class D

 AAL protocols
 AAL 1

 AAL 2

 AAL 3/4

 AAL 5
AAL Services
Service Class A Class B Class C Class D

Timing
between
Related Not Related
Source and
Destination

Bit Rate Constan Variable

t
Connection
Mode Connection Oriented Connection
less
Circuit
Emulati Variable Connection-
Examples oriented Connectionl
of on Rate
Bit Video
Constant Data Date
ess
Services and Audio
Rate
Bit Transfer Transfer
and
VideoAudio

AAL AAL AAL3/4

TYPE AAL 1 AAL 2 3/4 AAL 5
AAL 5
 Adaptation Layer : A detailed
view
Higher PDU
layer
 Adaptation Layer : A detailed
view
Higher PDU
layer

CS CS-header PDU Pad

CS-trailer
layer
 Adaptation Layer : A detailed
view
Higher PDU
layer

CS CS-header PDU Pad

CS-trailer
layer

SA SAR-PDUSAR-PDUSAR-PDU SAR-PDUSAR-PDU SAR-PDU

header payload trailer header payload trailer
R
lay
er
 Adaptation Layer : A detailed
view
Higher PDU
layer

CS CS-header PDU Pad

CS-trailer
layer

SA SAR-PDUSAR-PDUSAR-PDU SAR-PDUSAR-PDU SAR-PDU

header payload trailer header payload trailer
R
lay
er
ATM Cell Cell Cell Cell
headerpayload headerpayload
layer
AAL Type 1 Protocol
 Supports Class A traffic, i.e., constant bit rate data with specific
requirements for delay, delay jitter, and timing, e.g., PCM voice, CBR
video, and emulation of T-carrier circuits (DS1, DS3)
 Receives constant bit rate stream with a well defined clock from source and
delivers the same to the destination
 Provides for timing recovery (using SRTS), synchronization, and indication
of lost information not recovered by AAL1
 Summary of AAL 1 functions
 Segmentation and reassembly of user information
 Handling of cell delay variation
 Handling of cell payload assembly delay
 Handling lost and misinserted cells
 Recovery of sending clock frequency at receiver
 Checking and handling AAL PCI (header) error
AAL Protocols
 There are several different proposed AAL
protocols for different traffic types
 Example: AAL 1
 for real time or continuous bit rate services,
such as video traffic
 requires 1 byte of overhead per ATM cell
(i.e., within the 48 byte payload)
 1 bit CSI, 3 bit sequence count, 3 bit CRC,
and 1 bit parity
Figure 18.20 AAL1
AAL1
AAL Type 2 Protocol
 Designed to support Class B (VBR) traffic
 Supports variable bit rate data where a strong timing relationship
between source and destination is required, e.g., VBR audio and
video
 Data passed to AAL2 from higher layers at the source at fixed
intervals and must be passed to the destination at the same rate
 The amount of data passed to AAL2 may vary with each transfer
 Supports voice compression and silence suppression
 Supports idle voice channel deletion
 Supports multiple user channels with varying bandwidth on a
single ATM connection
AAL Type 2 Voice Application
Examples
 PBX-to-PBX trunking for compressed voice
 ATM trunking on public-switched telephone
network
 ATM backbone for cellular systems and
personal communications services (PCS)
 ATM backbone connectivity to packet
telephone
PBX-to-PBX Connectivity

PBX PBX
PCM Voice PCM Voice
Compression Compression
Silence Suppression Silence Suppression
Packetization Packetization
AAL AAL
ATM ATM Network ATM
PHY PHY
Figure 18.21 AAL2
Format of AAL2 Packet
CID LI UUI HEC Information
8 bits 6 bits 5 5 1 to 45/64 octets
bits bits
Packet Header (PH) Packet Payload (PP)

Packet

 Channel Identification (CID): Uniquely identifies the individual user channel

(LLC) within the AAL2, and allows up to 248 (8 - 255) individual users
within each AAL2 structure.
 Length Indicator (LI): Identifies the length of the LLC packet associated with
each individual user, and assures conveyance of variable payload.
 User-to User Indication (UUI): Provides a link between CPS and an
appropriate SSCS that satisfies the higher layer application. Different SSCS
protocols may be defined to support specific AAL2 user services, or groups of
services. The SSCS may also be null.
AAL2
AAL Protocols (Cont’d)
 Example: AAL 3/4
 an adaptation layer for connectionless or
connection-oriented data traffic
 4 bytes overhead per ATM cell
 16 bit header (2 bit type, 4 bit seq, 10 bit
MID)
 16 bit trailer (6 bit length, 10 bit CRC)
 very high overhead!!!
Figure 18.22 AAL3/4
AAL3/4
AAL Protocols (Cont’d)
 Example: AAL 5
 an adaptation layer for data traffic designed
by data neworking researchers
 Simple and Efficient Adaptation Layer (SEAL)
 much lower overhead
 8 byte trailer per PDU (i.e., last cell of a PDU)
 1 bit of header in last cell of a PDU
 48 bytes of data in each ATM cell
Figure 18.23 AAL5
 AAL 5

User data

5 byte 48 flag 8 byte

header bytes trailer
of data
AAL 5

Control Length CRC

User data Pad
field field 32

0-47 bytes 2 bytes 2 bytes 4

bytes
AAL5
 Voice ATM Adaptation Layers
A/D AAL
s1 , s2 … cells
Digital voice
samples

Video

A/D … Compressio AAL

n cells
compressed
picture
frames
frames

Data AAL
Bursty variable- cells
length packets
 Private ATM
network
Private
UNI
X X

Private
NNI UNI
c Public ATM
X
ubli network A
P

X X

NNI
Public X
UNI
B-ICI Public ATM
network B
X

Public
UNI
X X

Figure 9.5

Networks: ATM