SONET/SDH

Part 2

STS-1 Frame Line Overhead

Line Overhead
Locating the SPE in the frame. Multiplexing or concatenating signals. Performance monitoring Automatic protection switching Line maintenance

Line Overhead
It contains 18 bytes. Pointer bytes (H1, H2, and H3). They identify the location of the payload in the frame when the payload starts somewhere other than at the beginning of the STS envelope. Pointers enable SONET to accommodate framing discrepancies when data collected from asynchronous network inputs may not be synchronized with the SPE and end up occupying two frames. Line parity byte (B2). For bit interleaved parity.

Line Overhead
Automatic protection switching bytes (K1 and K2).Used for automatic detection of problems in line-terminating equipment (e.g., multiplexers). Data communication channel bytes (D4 to D12). Provides the same service as the D1-D3 bytes, but at the line rather than the section level. Growth bytes (Z1 and Z2). For the future use. Orderwire byte (E2). Provides the same functions as the E1 orderwire byte, but at the line level.

STS-1 Frame Path Overhead

Path Overhead
Performance monitoring of STS SPE Path status Path trace

Path Overhead
Path trace byte (J1). Sends a continuous 64-Kbps string to verify the connection. Path parity byte (B3). For bit interleaved parity. Path signal lable byte (C2).Path identification byte.Used to identify different protocols used at higher levels (such as FDDI). Path status byte (G1). Sent by the receiver to communicate its status to the sender. Path user channel byte (F2). Like F1. Virtual tributary indicator (H4). Multiframe indicator. It indicates payloads that cannot fit into single frame. Growth bytes (Z3, Z4, and Z5). For future use.

Pointers
SONET uses a concept called pointers to compensate for frequency and phase variations. Pointers allow the transparent transport of synchronous payload envelopes (either STS or VT) across plesiochronous boundaries (i.e., between nodes with separate network clocks having almost the same timing). Pointers provide a simple means of dynamically and flexibly phase-aligning STS and VT payloads, thereby permitting ease of dropping, inserting, and cross-connecting these payloads in the network.

Pointers
The pointer is simply an offset value that points to the byte where the SPE begins.

Payload Pointers

Virtual Tributaries
To make SONET backward compatible with the current hierarchy. A partial payload that can be inserted into an STS-1 and combined with other partial payloads to fill out the frame. The 86 payload columns of an STS-1 frame are subdivided into VTs.

Virtual Tributaries
An STS1 SPE that is carrying VTs is divided into seven VT groups, with each VT group using 12 columns of the STS1 SPE. For example, an STS1 SPE may contain four VT1.5 groups and three VT6 groups, for a total of seven VT groups. Thus, an SPE can carry a mix of any of the seven groups. The groups have no overhead or pointers; they are just a means of organizing the different VTs within an STS1 SPE.

Virtual Tributaries
The 12 columns in a VT group are not consecutive within the SPE; they are interleaved column by column with respect to the other VT groups. In addition, column 1 is used for the POH; the two columns of fixed stuff are assigned to columns 30 and 59. The first VT group, called group 1, is found in every seventh column, starting with column 2 and skipping columns 30 and 59. That is, the 12 columns for VT group 1 are columns 2, 9, 16, 23, 31 , 38, 45, 52, 60, 67, 74, and 81.

Virtual Tributaries

Virtual Tributaries

VT Types

Multiplexing STS Frames

Lower-rate STSs can be multiplexed to make them compatible with higher-rate systems. Three STS-1 can be combined into one STS-3. Four STS-3s can be multiplexed into one STS-12.

STS-n

STS Multiplexing

ATM Convergence to SONET/SDH

The most important physical carrier for ATM is projected to be SONETs STS-3 service (STM-1 in Europes SDH). The entire payload of the STS-3 can be used for cell transport.

ATM in an STS-3 Envelope

Applications
SONET is designed to provide a backbone network for WANs. SONET can replace existing T-1 or T-3 lines. A T-1 load can easily be carried in a VT1.5 tributary and a T-3 load can easily be carried in a full SPE of an STS-1 frame. SONET protocol used to combine fiber optic cables into a network. SONET can be the carrier for ISDN and Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (B-ISDN). SONET can be the carrier for ATM cells. SONET can support bandwidth on demand. SONET can replace Switched Multimegabit Digital Service (SMDS) or Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI).

SONET SELF EVALUATION

Circle the Letter of your Choice and then compare your. 1. SONET consists of _________ and ___________ signals (A) Electrical, Radio (B) Optical, Radio (C) Electrical, Optical (D) None of the Above 2. How many "VT 1.5s" are contained in a VTG? (A) 7 (B) 4 (C) 28 (D) None of the Above 3. How many OC-3s can be carried in an OC-48 Link? (A) 12 (B) 4 (C) 16 (D) 8 4. SONET is the standard in ________________ (A) USA (B) Canada (C) Both A and B (D) None of the Above

5. What is the format for transport of a DS-1 in a SONET Network? (A) DS-3 (B) OC-3 (C) EC-1 (D) VT-1.5 6. Virtual Tributary (VT) is a structure designed for transport and switching of _____________ payloads. (A) STS-1 (B) Sub-STS-3 (C) STS-3 (D) Sub-STS-1 7. Path and Line Terminating Equipment is provided by ____ (A) SONET Multiplexer (B) VTG (C) T-1 Carrier Systems (D) None of the Above 8. Electrical and Optical signals are contained in_________ (A) Radio Transmissions (B) SONET (C) All of the Above (D) None of the Above

9. Orderwire is part of the _____ TRANSPORT overhead. (A) Line (B) Section (C) A and B (D) None of the Above 10. How many VT-1.5s can be transported in an STS-1?. (A) 30 (B) 24 (C) 28 (D) 31 11. The B3 byte provides _________ error monitoring? (A) Path (B) Line (C) Section (D) None of the above 12. How many Virtual Tributary Groups are possible in an STS-1 (A) 1 (B) 7 (C) 4 (D) None of the above

13. What overhead Layer contains the SDCC (A) Physical (B) Section (C) Line (D) Presentation 14. APS signaling takes place in the _______ Layer (A) Physical (B) Section (C) Line (D) Presentation 15. What is the difference between STS-3 and STS-3c (A) Only non-voice data can pass over an STS-3 (B) The STS-1 overhead is concatenated in an STS-3 (C) STS-3 is made up of three independent signals and STS3c is made up of a single composite signal. (D) The STS-1 overhead is not concatenated in an STS-3c

Answers