ATM

by YUSUF KURT

YEDTEPE UNIVERSITY Computer Engineering Dept.

OUTLINE
Introduction to ATM Principal Characteristics of ATM Why ATM? ATM Networks and Interfaces How Does ATM Work? ATM Protocol Architecture Physical Layer ATM Layer ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL) IP OVER ATM
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WHATS ATM?

ATM is Asynchronous Transfer Mode.

ATM is a connection-oriented, high-speed, lowdelay switching and transmission technology that uses short and fixed-size packets, called cells, to transport information.

ATM is originally the transfer mode for

implementing Broadband ISDN (B-ISDN) but it is also implemented in non-ISDN environments where very high data rates are required
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BROADBAND AND B-ISDN

Broadband: "A service or system requiring transmission channel capable of supporting rates greater than the primary rate.

Broadband-Integrated Service Digital Network (B-ISDN): A standard for transmitting voice, video and data at the same time over fiber optic telephone lines The goal of B-ISDN is to accommodate all existing services along with those that will come in the future. The services that BISDN will support include (1) narrowband services, such as voice, voiceband data, facsimile, telemetry, videotex, electronic mail, (2) wideband services such as T1, and (3) broadband services such as video conference, high speed data, video on demand. BISDN is also to support point-to-point, pointto-multipoint and multipoint-to-multipoint connectivities.
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 Used in both WAN and LAN settings Signaling (connection setup) Protocol: Packets are called cells (53 bytes)

ATM OVERVIEW

5-byte header + 48-byte payload Commonly transmitted over SONET other physical layers possible Connections can be switched (SVC), or permanent (PVC). ATM operates on a best effort basis. ATM guarantees that cells will not be disordered. Two types of connections: Point-to-point Multipoint (Multicast) Four Types of Services: CBR (Constant Bit Rate) VBR (Variable Bit Rate) ABR (Available Bit Rate) Flow Control, Rate-based, Creditbased UBR (Unspecific Bit Rate) No Flow control.

ATM Characteristics
No error protection or flow control on a link-by-link basis. ATM operates in a connection-oriented mode. The header functionality is reduced. The information field length is relatively small and fixed. All data types are the same

Why ATM?
International standard-based technology (for
interoperability)

Low network latency (for voice, video, and real-time

applications)

Low variance of delay (for voice and video transmission)

Guaranteed quality of service

High capacity switching (multi-giga bits per second)

Bandwidth flexibility (dynamically assigned to users)
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Why ATM? (cont)

Scalability (capacity may be increased on demand) Medium not shared for ATM LAN (no degradation in performance as
traffic load or number of users increases)

Supports a wide range of user access speeds Appropriate (seamless integration) for LANs, MANs, and WANs Supports audio, video, imagery, and data traffic (for integrated
services)

ATM NETWORKS

Public ATM Network:

Provided by public telecommunications carriers (e.g., AT&T, MCI WorldCom, and Sprint) Interconnects private ATM networks Interconnects remote non-ATM LANs Interconnects individual users

Private ATM Network:

Owned by private organizations Interconnects low speed/shared medium LANs (e.g., Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI) as a backbone network Interconnects individual users as the front-end LAN for high performance or multimedia applications
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Switches in the middle

End systems of ATM

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File Server Voice

FDDI Ethernet
Video Edge Switch

PBX

FDDI Ethernet

Private ATM Network

Public ATM Network

Private ATM Switch

Mainframe Computer

Token Ring

Edge Switch Edge Switch Mainframe Computer Token Ring PBX

Edge Switch

FDDI
Voice

Video

Ethernet

Video

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ATM Interfaces
Private UNI P-NNI Public UNI

Private ATM WAN

Public ATM Network

B-ICI

Private ATM LAN

Public ATM Network

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How ATM Works?

ATM is connection-oriented -- an end-to-end connection must be

established and routing tables setup prior to cell transmission

Once a connection is established, the ATM network will provide endto-end Quality of Service (QoS) to the end users

All traffic, whether voice, video, image, or data is divided into 53byte cells and routed in sequence across the ATM network

Routing information is carried in the header of each cell Routing decisions and switching are performed by hardware in ATM
switches

Cells are reassembled into voice, video, image, or data at the

destination
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User Applications
Voice Video Data

User Applications
Voice Video Data

BISDN Services

BISDN Services

Segmentation Multiplexing

Reassembly

Demultiplexing
H

Workstation
H

Workstation

ATM Network

H H

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B-ISDN/ATM Protocol Reference Model

Source: Stallings: Data and Computer Communications

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ATM Protocol Reference Model

CLNS data CONS data Signaling & control

Plane management functions

Video

Convergence SAR ATM Access control

CBR

Physical Layer

Voice

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ATM Protocol Reference Model

Plane management functions

CLNS data

CONS data

Signaling & control

Video

Convergence SAR ATM Access control

CBR

Physical Layer

Voice

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ATM Protocol Reference Model

Plane management functions

CLNS data

CONS data

Signaling & control

Video

Convergence SAR ATM Access control

CBR

Physical Layer

Voice

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ATM Protocol Reference Model

Plane management functions

CLNS data

CONS data

Signaling & control

Video

Convergence SAR ATM Access control

CBR

Physical Layer

Voice

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ATM Protocol Reference Model

Plane management functions

CLNS data

CONS data

Signaling & control

Video

Convergence SAR ATM Access control

CBR

Physical Layer

Voice

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ATM Protocol Reference Model

Plane management functions

CLNS data

CONS data

Signaling & control

Video

Convergence SAR ATM Access control

CBR

Physical Layer

Voice

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ATM Protocol Reference Model

Plane management functions

CLNS data

CONS data

Signaling & control

Video

Convergence SAR ATM Access control

CBR

Physical Layer

Voice

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ATM Protocol Reference Model

Plane management functions

CLNS data

CONS data

Signaling & control

Video

Convergence SAR ATM Access control

CBR

Physical Layer

Voice

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ATM Protocol Reference Model

Plane management functions

CLNS data

CONS data

Signaling & control

Video

Convergence SAR ATM Access control

CBR

Physical Layer

Voice

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ATM Protocol Reference Model

Plane management functions

CLNS data

CONS data

Signaling & control

Video

Convergence SAR ATM Access control

CBR

Physical Layer

Voice

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ATM Protocol Reference Model

Plane management functions

CLNS data

CONS data

Signaling & control

Video

Convergence SAR ATM Access control

CBR

Physical Layer

Voice

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ATM Protocol Reference Model

Plane management functions

CLNS data

CONS data

Signaling & control

Video

Convergence SAR ATM Access control

CBR

Physical Layer

Voice

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ATM Physical Layer

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TCS
Transmission Convergence Sublayer (TCS): adapts ATM layer above to PMD sublayer below

Header checksum generation: 8 bits CRC Cell delineation With unstructured PMD sublayer, transmission of idle cells when no data cells to send

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Physical Medium Dependent sublayer

Physical Medium Dependent Sublayer: depends on physical
medium being used

SONET/SDH: (Synchronous Optical Network / Synchronous Digital

Hierarchy) transmission frame structure (like a container carrying bits); bit synchronization; bandwidth partitions (TDM); several speeds: OC3 = 155.52 Mbps; OC12 = 622.08 Mbps; OC48 = 2.45 Gbps, OC192 = 9.6 Gbps TI/T3: transmission frame structure (old telephone hierarchy): 1.5 Mbps/ 45 Mbps unstructured: just cells (busy/idle)
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ATM LAYER

The ATM layer provides for the transparent transport of fixed sized
ATM layer service data units between communicating upper layer entities (e.g., ATM Adaptation Layer).

An interface between the AAL and the physical layer

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ATM CELL
5-byte ATM cell header 48-byte payload
Why?: small payload -> short cell-creation delay for digitized voice

5 Bytes Header

48 Bytes Payload
Leon-Garcia & Widjaja: Communication Networks

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ATM CELL HEADER FORMAT (UNI)

GFC: Generic Flow Control VPI: Virtual Path Identifier VCI: Virtual Circuit Identifier PTI: Payload Type Indicator CLP: Cell Loss Priority HEC: Header Error Control

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ATM CELL HEADER FORMAT (NNI)

VPI: Virtual Path Identifier VCI: Virtual Circuit Identifier PTI: Payload Type Indicator CLP: Cell Loss Priority HEC: Header Error Control
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ATM SERVICES
Service: transport cells across ATM network analogous to IP network layer very different services than IP network layer Guarantees ?

Network Architecture Internet

Service Model

Congestion Bandwidth Loss Order Timing feedback no yes yes no no no no (inferred via loss) no congestion no congestion yes no
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best effort none

ATM
ATM ATM ATM

CBR
VBR ABR UBR

constant rate guaranteed rate guaranteed minimum none

yes
yes yes yes

yes
yes no no

no

ATM VIRTUAL CIRCUITS

VC transport: cells carried on VC from source to destination
call setup, teardown for each call before data can flow each packet carries VC identifier (not destination ID) every switch on source-dest path maintain state for each passing connection link,switch resources (bandwidth, buffers) may be allocated to VC: to get circuit-like perf.

Permanent VCs (PVCs)

long lasting connections typically: permanent route between to IP routers

Switched VCs (SVC):

dynamically set up on per-call basis

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Virtual Channels
The virtual channel (VC) is the fundamental unit of
transport in a B-ISDN. Each ATM cell contains an explicit label in its header to identify the virtual channel.

a Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) a Virtual Path Identifier (VPI)

A virtual channel (VC) is a communication channel that

provides for the transport of ATM cells between two or more endpoints for information transfer.

A Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) identifies a particular

VC within a particular VP over a UNI or NNI.

A specific value of VCI has no end-to-end meaning.

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Virtual Paths
A Virtual Path (VP) is a group of Virtual Channels that are carried on
the same physical facility and share the same Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) value.

The VP boundaries are delimited by Virtual Path Terminators (VPT). AT VPTs, both VPI and VCI are processed. Between VPTs associated with the same VP, only the VPI values
are processed (and translated) at ATM network elements.

The VCI values are processed only at VPTs, and are not translated
at intermediate ATM network elements.

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ATM Virtual Connections

Virtual Paths Physical Link

Virtual Channels

Copyright 2000 The McGraw Hill Companies 39

ATM Layer Functions

Cell multiplexing and switching

Cell rate decoupling

Cell discrimination based on pre-defined VPI/VCI Quality of Service (QoS) Payload type characterization Generic flow control

Loss priority indication and Selective cell discarding

Traffic shaping
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ATM ADAPTATION LAYER (AAL)

adapts upper layers (IP or native ATM applications) to
ATM layer below AAL exists only in end systems, not in switches AAL layer segment (header/trailer fields, data) fragmented across multiple ATM cells

AAL Services
Handle transmission errors Segmentation/reassembly (SAR) Handle lost and misinserted cell conditions Flow control and timing control
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User information

User information

AAL
ATM PHY ATM PHY

AAL ATM PHY ATM PHY

End system Network End system

Copyright 2000 The McGraw Hill Companies 42

AAL SUBLAYERS
AAL layer has 2 sublayers:
Convergence Sublayer (CS) Supports specific applications using AAL manages the flow of data to and from SAR sublayer Timing and cell loss recovery Segmentation and Reassembly Layer (SAR) Packages data from CS into cells and unpacks at other end

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ATM ADAPTATION LAYER (AAL) SERVICE CLASSES AND AAL TYPES

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AAL 1 (Constant Bit Rate) Functions

Constant-bit-rate source SAR simply packs bits into cells and unpacks them at destination Emulation of DS1 and DS3 Circuits Distribution with forward error correction Handle cell delay for constant bit rate Transfer timing information between source and destination Transfer structure information (structure pointer) Provide indication of unrecoverable lost or errored information
SAR PDU
Header SN SNP 47 Octets Payload

CSI Seq
1 3

Count

CRC EP
3 1

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AAL 2 Protocol Data Unit (PDU)

ATM PDU SAR PDU
Header SN IT 47 Octets Payload LI CRC

SN: Sequence number IT: Information Type:BOM,COM,EOM,SSM Length Indicator

BOM: beginning of message COM: continuation of message EOM end of message

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AAL 3/4
Convergence Sublayer Protocol Data Unit (CS-PDU)
8 CPI 8 Btag 16 BASize < 64 KB User data 0 24 Pad 8 0 8 Etag 16 Len

CPI: commerce part indicator (version field) Btag/Etag:beginning and ending tag BAsize: hint on amount of buffer space to allocate Length: size of whole PDU

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Cell Format
40 ATM header 2 Ty pe 4 SEQ 10 MID 352 (44 by tes) Pay load 6 Length 10 CRC-10

Type BOM: beginning of message COM: continuation of message EOM end of message SEQ: sequence of number MID: message id Length: number of bytes of PDU in this cell

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AAL 3/4
Higher layer Service specific convergence sublayer Common part convergence sublayer
H
4

Information

User message

Assume null

Information

PAD

T
4

Pad message to multiple of 4 bytes. Add header and trailer.

SAR sublayer

2 44

2 44 2
2 44 2

Each SAR-PDU consists of 2-byte header, 2-byte trailer, and 44-byte payload.

ATM layer

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Copyright 2000 The McGraw Hill Companies

AAL 5 PDU Structure

is used to transport IP datagrams over ATM networks. The Simple and Efficient Adaptation Layer (SEAL),
attempts to reduce the complexity and overhead of AAL 3/4. It eliminates most of the overhead of AAL 3/4. AAL 5 comprises a convergence sublayer and a SAR sublayer, although the SAR is essentially null. Streamlined transport for connection oriented protocols Reduce protocol processing overhead Reduce transmission overhead Ensure adaptability to existing transport protocols

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AAL5
CS-PDU Format
< 64 KB Data 0 47 by tes Pad 16 16 Len 32 CRC-32

Reserv ed

pad so trailer always falls at end of ATM cell Length: size of PDU (data only) CRC-32 (detects missing or misordered cells) Cell Format end-of-PDU bit in Type field of ATM header

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AAL 5
Higher layer Service specific convergence sublayer Common part convergence sublayer
Information
PAD

Information

Assume null

SAR sublayer

48 (0) 48 (0) 48 (1)

Figure 9.18

ATM layer
PTI = 0 PTI = 0

PTI = 1

Copyright 2000 The McGraw Hill Companies

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Leon-Garcia & Widjaja: Communication Networks

IP-Over-ATM
Issues: IP datagrams into ATM AAL5 PDUs from IP addresses to ATM addresses just like IP addresses to 802.3 MAC addresses!
Ethernet LANs ATM network

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Datagram Journey in IP-over-ATM Network

at Source Host:
IP layer maps between IP, ATM dest address (using ARP) passes datagram to AAL5 AAL5 encapsulates data, segments data into cells, passes to ATM layer ATM network: moves cell along VC to destination at Destination Host: AAL5 reassembles cells into original datagram if CRC OK, datagram is passed to IP

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END

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