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Sonet: Synchronous Optical Network: High Speed Broadband

SONET is a standard for optical networks that defines a synchronous frame structure and rates up to 2.4 Gbps. The basic module is the STS-1 frame with 9 rows and 90 columns transmitted at 51.84 Mbps. It uses overhead bytes for operations and can carry payloads like DS-3, virtual tributaries like VT1.5 for DS1, or ATM cells through the synchronous payload envelope. Higher rates are achieved by interleaving multiple STS-1 frames.

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Ashraf Sharifuddin
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184 views18 pages

Sonet: Synchronous Optical Network: High Speed Broadband

SONET is a standard for optical networks that defines a synchronous frame structure and rates up to 2.4 Gbps. The basic module is the STS-1 frame with 9 rows and 90 columns transmitted at 51.84 Mbps. It uses overhead bytes for operations and can carry payloads like DS-3, virtual tributaries like VT1.5 for DS1, or ATM cells through the synchronous payload envelope. Higher rates are achieved by interleaving multiple STS-1 frames.

Uploaded by

Ashraf Sharifuddin
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SONET:

SYNCHRONOUS OPTICAL
NETWORK

High Speed Broadband


Introduction
 SONET is a newly adopted standard for interfaces
in optical networks
 Physical layer transmission format
 SONET defines a “fiber based transmission scheme
for ATM”
SONET Overview
 The SONET specification defines:
 standard optical signals, which permits the
interoperation of equipment from different
manufacturers
 a synchronous frame structure for multiplexing digital
traffic
 procedures for operations and maintenance (OAM)
SONET Overview (Cont’d)
 SONET includes:
 support for broadband rates
 base rate approximately 50 Mbps
 hierarchical family of digital rates
 defines data rates up to 2.4 Gbps
 synchronous multiplexing
 global timing structure at physical layer
 synchronous implies simpler interface
SONET Framing Structure
 Basic module is STS-1 Synchronous
Transport Signal, Level 1
 STS-1 corresponds to 51.84 Mbps
 Frame structure: 9 rows of 90 columns of
8-bit bytes
 8000 frames/sec (125 usec/frame)
STS-1 Framing Structure
...
...
9 ...
...
rows
...
...
...
...
...
90 columns 1 byte

125 usec
STS-1 Framing
 Bytes are transmitted one row at a time, from left to
right
 Note: 1 byte/frame = 64 kbps
 First three columns of STS-1 frame are for section
overhead and line overhead
 Remaining 87 columns are for the Synchronous
Payload Envelope (SPE)
STS-1 Framing (Cont’d)
90 columns
...
...
9 ...
...
rows
...
...
...
...
...
Section and
Synchronous Payload
Line Overhead
Envelope (SPE)
(3 columns)
(87 columns)
SONET Overhead
 Overhead bytes are used by SONET equipment
(e.g., switches) for exchange of control and
signalling information, and as a low bandwidth
data channel
 Three types of overhead bytes
 section
 line
 path
SONET Overhead (Cont’d)
 Section overhead: 9 bytes per frame
 Includes two framing bytes, plus other control
information for maintenance and provisioning
 Line overhead: 18 bytes per frame
 Control info, plus 9 bytes for data channel
 Path overhead: variable size
 Payload type, path status, etc.
 Transmitted as part of payload itself (SPE)
SONET Framing (Cont’d)
 The SPE in an STS-1 frame has sufficient capacity
to carry a DS-3 (45 Mbps)
 There are many other ways to “carve up” the
capacity of an STS-1 into smaller units used by the
telco’s
 These are called Virtual Tributaries (VT’s)
SONET Framing (Cont’d)
 Examples of VT’s:
 VT 1.5: requires 3 columns of 9 bytes each,
corresponding to North American DS1 (T1) standard
(1.544 Mbps)
 VT 2: 4 columns, corresponds to European standard
for 2.048 Mbps
 VT 3: 6 columns (54 bytes) per frame, corresponds to
3.088 Mbps
 VT 6: 12 columns, 6.312 Mbps
STS-1 Framing Example
90 columns
...
...
9 ...
...
rows
...
...
...
...
...
Section and VT 1.5 VT 2
Line Overhead
SONET Framing (Cont’d)
 A “VT group” is 9 rows x 12 columns
 Can conveniently repackage into four VT 1.5, or three
VT 2, or two VT 3, or one VT 6
 An STS-1 frame can hold 7 VT groups per frame
(84 columns), with 1 column for path overhead,
and 2 columns empty
SONET Framing (Cont’d)
 Higher rate SONET signals are obtained by
interleaving N STS-1’s to form an STS-N (e.g.,
STS-3 = 155 Mbps)
 STS-N has 9 rows, and N x 90 columns
 Interleaving is done byte by byte
SONET and ATM
 If the entire STS-1 payload is to be used for ATM
transmission, then there is no need to use VT’s at
all
 The 53-byte ATM cells are simply packaged into
the SPE portion of the STS-1 frame, as they fit
 Cells may wrap across STS-1 overhead bytes, or
even STS-1 frame boundaries
 Overhead byte keeps track of where ATM cell
boundaries lie
STS-1 ATM Example
90 columns
...
...
9 ...
...
rows
...
...
...
...
...
Section and
Line Overhead Start of ATM Cells
Summary
 SONET defines a standard for framing and
transmission at the physical layer on fiber-optic
based networks
 Framing structure is designed to accommodate
common telco channel rates in both North America
and Europe
 ATM cells can be layered on top of the
(synchronous) SONET framing structure

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