Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM advantages)

ATM definition
"A transfer mode in which information is organized into cells; it is asynchronous in the sense that the recurrence of cells containing information from an individual user is not necessarily periodic".

What is it really?

Fast packet switching, high data rates

Low-level network layerabove physical layer, below AAL (ATM adaptation layer) Single transport mechanism for different types of traffic (voice, data, video, etc.) Streamlined protocol, minimal error and flow control capabilities Fixed packet size = ATM cell

Simplified processing, management

Synchronous Transfer Mode

Pre-assigned slots, frame boundaries, global timing Slots identified by position from the start of the frame BW allocated in units of slots Idle slots wasted Efficient for Constant Bit Rate traffic

Contrast with STM

Bandwidth on demandSlots assigned on demand, users take any empty slot Nothing pre-assigned, no global timing Slot Cell, fixed size of 53 bytes Arbitrary bit rates: can support T-1 using CBR, voice/video using real-time VBR, IPbased traffic using ABR and UBR, etc. Each cell must be self-identifying (overhead)

ATM cell contents

Header 5 bytes General Flow Control (GFC) traffic control for different QoS, alleviates short-term overloads VPI routing field for network VCI routing to/from user Payload type Cell loss priority (CLP) Header error control (HEC) can correct single bit errors in header Information 48 bytes

Stallings, Data & Computer Communications, 6th ed., Table 11.2

PT coding ______________Interpretation____________
000 001 010 011 100 101 110 111 User data cell, congestion not experienced, SDU type=0 User data cell, congestion not experienced, SDU type=1 User data cell, congestion experienced, SDU type=0 User data cell, congestion experienced, SDU type=1 OAM segment associated cell OAM end-to-end associated cell Resource management cell Reserved for future function

SDU = Service Data Unit OAM = Operations, Administration, and Maintenance

ATM Cells

Small size, may reduce queuing delay of high priority cells Fixed size, more efficient switching
UNI
GFC VP identifier VC identifier PT
CLP

NNI
VP identifier

VP identifier

5-byte header

VC identifier PL type CLP Header error control

Header error control

53 byte cell

Info field, 48 bytes

Info field, 48 bytes

VCs are not always VCs

Virtual Channel Transmission is connection-oriented

VC set up by some signaling protocol before any cells can be sent

Virtual channels

Physical channel Virtual path

Virtual Path Connection (VPC), bundle of VCCs

Logical connections

VPC = bundle of VCCs with the same endpoints all switched together Network management of group of connections, not many individual ones Setup time is for a VP, adding VCs to it involves minimal processing

Request for VCC originates

VPC exists?

Yes

Can QoS be satisfied?

No

Yes

No

Establish new VPC

Block VCC or request more capacity

Request granted?
No

Yes

Make connection

Reject VCC request

ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL)

AAL user CS

AAL
SAR sublayer ATM layer

Layer above ATM Service dependent Mask ATM specifics from user; universality

Physical layer

SAR: segmentation and reassembly. Translates service data from a non-ATM format into ATM cells, then back again at destination CS: convergence sublayer. Takes care of delay jitter, error checking, remove corrupted cells

ATM Service Categories

Real-time services

Constant bit rate uncompressed audio/video info

Videoconferencing, TV, pay-per-view, VOD, etc.

rt-Variable bit rate nrt-VBR high end system QoS, critical response time

Non-real-time services

Bank transactions, airline reservations, etc. e.g. text/image messaging, telecommuting

Unspecified bit rate best-effort service

Available bit rate bursty apps requiring reliable endto-end connection

e.g. LAN, router-to-router reliability

ATM advantages

Universality

Mixed traffic types, real-time and non-real-time LANs, MANs, WANs, WLANs

Scalability

Efficient use of network resources Bandwidth on demand concept Simplified network infrastructure

ATM challenges

In-network mux/buffering can lead to cell delay or loss QoS guarantees Many types of traffic Large geographic distribution

Traffic modeling, control