01 Atm Basics
01 Atm Basics
01 Atm Basics
ATM Basics
Training Document
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and describes only the
product defined in the introduction of this documentation. This document is intended for the
use of Nokia's customers only for the purposes of the agreement under which the document is
submitted, and no part of it may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or means without
the prior written permission of Nokia. The document has been prepared to be used by
professional and properly trained personnel, and the customer assumes full responsibility
when using it. Nokia welcomes customer comments as part of the process of continuous
development and improvement of the documentation.
The information or statements given in this document concerning the suitability, capacity, or
performance of the mentioned hardware or software products cannot be considered binding
but shall be defined in the agreement made between Nokia and the customer. However,
Nokia has made all reasonable efforts to ensure that the instructions contained in the
document are adequate and free of material errors and omissions. Nokia will, if necessary,
explain issues which may not be covered by the document.
Nokia's liability for any errors in the document is limited to the documentary correction of
errors. NOKIA WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE IN ANY EVENT FOR ERRORS IN THIS
DOCUMENT OR FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL (INCLUDING
MONETARY LOSSES), that might arise from the use of this document or the information in it.
This document and the product it describes are considered protected by copyright according
to the applicable laws.
NOKIA logo is a registered trademark of Nokia Oyj.
Other product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks of their respective
companies, and they are mentioned for identification purposes only.
Copyright © Nokia Oyj 2005. All rights reserved.
Contents
1 Objectives ...............................................................................................4
1 Objectives
After completing this module, the student should be able to:
• Identify different modes to implement Network Transfer
• Describe the main characteristic of an ATM network in terms of function
and capacity as opposed to more traditional methods.
• At an overview level, explain how the ATM connection is structured and
how routing is achieved in an ATM network.
• List the ATM interfaces in a 3G network.
A A
C B B A C B B A C B B A
B B B B Synchronous
Multiplexing
C C C C
A A
C C C B B A C B B A
B B B B Asynchronous
Multiplexing
C C C C
Packet Transfer Mode operates at the physical and data link layers of the OSI
reference model.
ATM, also known as cell relay, is a fast packet switching and multiplexing
technology. ATM was developed as part of the work on broadband ISDN to
support the universe of services (for example, voice, data and video over public
network).
ATM is a connection-oriented, error-detecting protocol. It does not offer error
correction. These responsibilities are shifted to the end user. The advantages are
increased speed of switching and elimination of associated delay.
ATM provides efficient support for transmission of bursty wideband services
and offers an integrated solution to voice (circuit mode as well as packet voice),
data, and video. It provides quality of service (QoS) guarantee and reliability.
ATM utilises statistical multiplexing to take advantage of the inherently bursty
nature of applications. For a group of bursty connections, less bandwidth can be
reserved than if bandwidth reservation would be based on the peak rate of the
connections. Achieved transmission cost savings are considerable.
The fundamental strategy behind ATM is to split the information into small
fixed-size units, called 'cells', that are easy to handle. The fixed size of the cell
allows efficient switching. ATM networks allow statistical multiplexing (that is,
multiplexing of many connections with variable rate characteristics), which
altogether reduces the overall bandwidth requirements.
3 ATM cell
The user traffic is split and delivered in fixed length packets called ATM cells.
The size of the cell is 53 bytes, which is divided into a 5-byte header and a
48-byte payload field. The ATM cell is relayed by a label at the header:
Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) and Virtual Path Identifier (VPI).
53 bytes
Header Payload
5 bytes 48 bytes
There are two formats of an ATM cell (depending on the type of the interface):
• ATM UNI (User-Network Interface) cell, that is used for
communication between ATM endpoints and ATM switches.
• ATM NNI (Network-Node Interface) cell, that is used for
communication between ATM switches.
ATM is employed
Iub Iu-CS A B
Uu
BS RNC MGW MSC PSTN
UE NNI
UNI
Iur
NNI Iu-PS
UNI NNI
BS RNC
UNI
Gn Gi
BS
SGSN GGSN IP network
There is a slight difference between the first byte of the UNI and NNI header.
The NNI header does not include the Generic Flow Control (GFC) field.
Additionally, the NNI header has a Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) field that
occupies the first 12 bits, allowing larger trunks between public ATM switches.
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
GFC VPI VPI
VPI VCI VPI VCI
Header VCI VCI
(5 bytes)
VCI PT CLP VCI PT CLP
HEC HEC
4 ATM connection
ATM is a connection-oriented technique. The end-to-end route is defined
through the network in the beginning of the connection and that remains the
same throughout the connection. ATM cells are routed on the same route to
both directions. This guarantees that the cells arrive in the receiving end in the
same order that they are sent. Furthermore, cell delay variation is also
minimised.
VC VP
Transmission path
VC VP
Virtual paths help to reduce the control cost by grouping connections that share
common paths through the network into a single unit. Network management
actions can then be applied to a small number of groups of connections instead
of a large number of individual VCC connections.
Segregation of traffic
A form of priority control can be implemented by segregating traffic types
requiring different quality of service (QoS).
RNC
VC1/VP1 THROUGH-CONNECTED IN AXC2
BTS 1 BTS 2
VC2 / VP2
VC1 / VP1
AXC AXC ATM
switch
VC1 / VP1
BTS 3 BTS 4
VC3, VC4 / VP4
VC3 / VP3
AXC Standalone
AXC
AXC
BTS 5
VC3, VC4, VC5, VC6 / VP7
VC5 / VP5
AXC
6 Statistical multiplexing
Statistical multiplexing is one of the main benefits of ATM. Operators can
utilise statistical multiplexing to take advantage of the inherently bursty nature
of applications. Users of ATM networks generate numbers of cells according to
the amount of information they want to transfer. The amount of network
resources required by the users changes as a function of time. When these
resources are shared among users, like in ATM, it is very unlikely that all users
send at their peak cell rate simultaneously. This means that the network operator
can either reduce the amount of resources required for a fixed load or it can
accommodate more load with the same amount of resources. This phenomenon
is called statistical multiplexing. The network resources are shared among users
with either VCCs or VPCs.
Figure 13 shows an example of statistical multiplexing. The picture on the left-
hand side shows required amount of bandwidth when the capacity of each
connection is reserved according to the peak cell rate. The picture on the right
hand side shows the so-called statistical multiplexing gain, when principle of
statistical multiplexing is used in the bandwidth reservation.
When virtual paths are used, two levels of multiplexing exist: VC level and
VP level. At the VC level, VCs are statistically multiplexed on a VP. At the VP
level, VPs are either deterministically or statistically multiplexed on a physical
link.
If VPs are deterministically multiplexed, they do not share the bandwidth
reserved for them with the other VPs on the same link. The sum of the reserved
bandwidths of the VPs cannot exceed the bandwidth of the link. If VPs are
statistically multiplexed, they do share the bandwidth nominally reserved for
them with the other VPs on the same link. VPs do not have strictly reserved
bandwidths.
7 Review questions
Please take some time and use the material in this module as a reference to
answer the following questions.
True ο False ο
Iub Iu-CS A B
Uu
PSTN
UE
Iur
Iu-PS
Gn Gi
IP network
Abbreviations
AAL ATM Adaptation Layer
ABR Available Bit Rate
ALCAP Access Link Control Application Part
ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
AXC ATM cross-connect
B-ISUP Broadband ISDN User Part
BS Base Station
CAC Call Admission Control
CBR Constant Bit Rate
CDV Cell Delay Variation
CDVT Cell Delay Variation Tolerance
CID Channel Identification
CLP Cell Loss Priority
CLR Cell Loss Ratio
CPS Common Part Sublayer
CS Convergence Sublayer
CTD Cell Transfer Delay
EPD Early Packet Discard
GFC Generic Flow Control
HEC Header Error Control
IMA Inverse Multiplexing for ATM
LAN Local Area Network
MBS Maximum Burst Size
MCR Minimum Cell Rate
MGW Media Gateway
MSC Mobile Switching Centre
MT Mobile Terminal
MTP3b Broadband Message Transfer Part lever 3
nrt-VBR non-real time Variable Bit Rate
NBAP Node B Application Protocol
NNI Network-Node Interface
NPC Network Parameter Control