3/15/2016

ATMAdaptationLayer2Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

ATMAdaptationLayer2
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

ATMAdaptationLayer2(AAL2)isanATMadaptationlayerforAsynchronousTransferMode(ATM),usedprimarilyin
telecommunicationsforexample,itisusedfortheIuinterfacesintheUniversalMobileTelecommunicationsSystem,andisalsousedfor
transportingdigitalvoice.ThestandardspecificationsrelatedtoAAL2areITUstandardsI.363.2andI366.1.

Contents
1 WhatisAAL2?
2 AAL2andtheATMCell
2.1 OSF
2.2 SN
2.3 P
3 AAL2u
4 ATMAAL2CellDiagram
5 AAL2andtheCPSPacket
5.1 CID
5.2 LI
5.3 UUI
5.4 HEC
6 ATMAAL2CPSPacketDiagram
7 References
8 Externallinks

WhatisAAL2?
AAL2isavariablebitrate,connectionoriented,lowlatencyserviceoriginallyintendedtoadaptvoicefortransmissionoverATM.Likeother
ATMadaptationlayers,AAL2definessegmentationandreassemblyofhigherlayerpacketsintoATMcells,inthiscasepacketsofdata
containingvoiceandcontrolinformation.AAL2isfurtherseparatedintotwosublayersthathelpwiththemappingfromupperlayerservices
toATMcells.ThesearenamedServiceSpecificConvergenceSublayer(SSCS)andCommonPartSublayer(CPS).
TheAAL2protocolimprovesonotherATMAdaptationLayers,bypackinglotsofsmallpacketsefficientlyintoonestandardsizedATMcell
of53bytes.Aonebytepacketthusnolongerhasanoverheadratioof52unusedbytesoutof53(i.e.98%).Potentially,totalof11onebyte
CPSpackets(plus3/4ofa12thCPSpacket)couldsqueezeintoasinglecell.Ofcourse,CPSpacketscancomeinothersizeswithotherCIDs,
too.Whenthetransmissionisready,theCPSpacketsareallmultiplexedtogetherintoasinglecellandtransportedoverstandardATM
networkinfrastructure.
ThetransportnetworksforATMarewellstandardizedfiberoptic(SDH/Sonet,i.e.STM1/OC3orhigher)orcoppercable(PDH,i.e.
E1/T1/JT1orhigherbandwidthfixedlines)basedsynchronousnetworkswithbuiltinredundancyandOAMrelatednetworkfeatureswhich
Ethernetnetworksneverhadoriginally(inordertokeepthingssimple)butaresorelymissedinmetroEthernetstandardnetworks.
EffortstoimproveEthernetnetworksareinasensetryingtoreinventthewheellaATM.AAL2isoneexampleofausefulbenefitofATM,
asageneralstandardforLayer2protocols.ATM/AAL2'sefficienthandlingofsmallpacketscontrastswithEthernet'sminimumpayloadof
48bytesvsthe1byteminimumsizeforanAAL2CPSpacket.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATM_Adaptation_Layer_2

1/4

3/15/2016

ATMAdaptationLayer2Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

AAL2isthestandardlayer2protocolusedinallIuinterfaces,i.e.theinterfacesbetweenUMTSbasestationsandUMTSRadioNetwork
Controllers(RNCs)(IuB),interRNCs(IuR),UMTSRNCsandUMTSServingGPRSSupportNodes(SGSNs)(IuPS),andUMTSRNCs
andmediagateways(MGWs)(IuCS).[1]

AAL2andtheATMCell
ThebasiccomponentofAAL2istheCPSpacket.ACPSpacketisanunanchoredunitofdatathatcancrossATMcellsandcanstartfrom
anywhereinthepayloadoftheATMcell,otherthanthestartfield(STF).TheSTFisthefirstbyteofthe48byteATMpayload.TheSTF
givesthebyteindexintotheATMcellwherethefirstCPSpacketinthiscellbegins.Byte0istheSTF.Thedatafrombyte1...(STF+1),
wouldbethestraddledremainderofthepreviousATMcell'sfinalCPSpacket.Ifthereisnoremainderfromthepreviouscell,theSTFis0,
andthefirstbyteofthecellaftertheSTFisalsothelocationofthestartofthefirstCPSpacket.
Theformatforthe1byteSTFatthebeginningoftheATMcellis:
6bitsoffsetfield(OSF)
1bitsequencenumber(SN)
1bitparity(P)

OSF
TheOffsetFieldcarriesthebinaryvalueoftheoffset,inoctets,betweentheendofthePbitandthestartoftheCPCSPDUPayload.Values
ofgreaterthan47arenotallowed.

SN
TheSequenceNumbernumbersthestreamofCPCSPDUs.

P
TheParitybitisusedtodetecterrorintheOSFandSNfields.
IftheATMcellhasfewerthan47bytes,theremainderwillbefilledbypadding.

AAL2u
OnecommonadaptationofAAL2,AAL2u,doesn'tusetheSTFfieldatall.Inthiscase,onesingleCPSpacketisalignedtothebeginningof
thecell.AAL2uisnotusedinstandardizedinterfaces,butratherinproprietaryequipmentimplementationswherethe
multiplexing/demultiplexing,etc.thatneedstobedoneforstandardAAL2eitheristoostrenuous,isunsupported,orrequirestoomuch
overhead(i.e.the1byteofSTF)fromtheinternalsystem'spointofview.MostcomputerchipsdonotsupportAAL2,sostrippingthislayer
awaymakesiteasiertointerworkbetweentheATMinterfaceandtherestofthenetwork.

ATMAAL2CellDiagram
ThefollowingisdiagramoftheAAL2ATMcell:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATM_Adaptation_Layer_2

2/4

3/15/2016

ATMAdaptationLayer2Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

AAL2andtheCPSPacket
ACPSpackethasa3byteheaderandapayloadofbetweenoneand45octets.Thestandardalsodefinesa64octetmode,butthisisnot
commonlyusedinreal3Gnetworks.
The3byteCPSheaderhasfollowingfields:
8bitschannelidentifier(CID)
6bitslengthindicator(LI)
5bitsusertouserindication(UUI)
5bitsheadererrorcontrol(HEC)

CID
TheChannelIdentifieridentifiestheuserofthechannel.TheAAL2channelisabidirectionalchannelandthesamechannelidentification
valueisusedforbothdirections.Themaximumnumberofmultiplexeduserchannelsis248.Assomechannelsarereservedforotheruses,
suchaspeertopeerlayermanagement.
CE:ChannelElementCID=CEE+ID

LI
TheLengthIndicatorindicatesthelength(innumberofoctets)oftheCPSinformationfield,andcanhaveavaluebetween1and45(default)
orsometimesbetween1and64.ForagivenCIDallchannelsmustbeofthesamemaximumlength(either45or64octets)NB:theLIisone
lessthantheactuallengthofthepayload,so0correspondstotheminimumlengthof1octet,and0x3fto64octets.

UUI
UsertoUserIndicationconveysspecificinformationtransparentlybetweentheusers.Forexample,inSSSAR,UUIisusedtoindicatethat
thisisthefinalCPSpacketfortheSSSARPDU.

HEC
ThisisHeaderErrorControlandchecksforerrorsintheCID,LIandUUIfields.ThegeneratorpolynomialfortheCPSHECis:

ATMAAL2CPSPacketDiagram
ThefollowingisadiagramoftheCPSpacket:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATM_Adaptation_Layer_2

3/4

3/15/2016

ATMAdaptationLayer2Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

References
1.BoKarlanderSzilveszterNdasSandorRczJonasReinius(2002)."AAL2switchingintheWCDMAradioaccessnetwork"(PDF).EricssonReview
(Ericsson)(03).

Externallinks
BroadbandForumATMForumTechnicalSpecifications(http://broadbandforum.org/technical/atmtechspec.php)
AAL2ITUStandard(http://www.itu.int/rec/TRECI.363.2/en)
Retrievedfrom"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ATM_Adaptation_Layer_2&oldid=671278035"
Categories: Networkprotocols ITUTrecommendations
Thispagewaslastmodifiedon13July2015,at17:00.
TextisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionShareAlikeLicenseadditionaltermsmayapply.Byusingthissite,you
agreetotheTermsofUseandPrivacyPolicy.WikipediaisaregisteredtrademarkoftheWikimediaFoundation,Inc.,anonprofit
organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATM_Adaptation_Layer_2

4/4