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CHAPTER-1

NEXT GENERATION SDH CONCEPTS

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OVERVIEW OF NEXT GENERATION SDH

Since the turn of 20th centaury, the telecommunication has switched over from the traditional voice transport to data transport. Though digitized voice is still a very large contributor for bandwidth as wall as for revenue. Therefore instead of an evolution of the existing transport standard, a revolution is necessary to cope up additional data transport. This revolution in this segment is called Next Generation SDH/.

During the evolution of digital multiplexes from the primary rate multiplexes 2048kbit/s E1 up to the fourth order multiplexes 139.264 Mbit/s E4, referred as Pleisiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) signals, improved network synchronization and better Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OA&M) has become necessary. The OA&M structure should provide a measure for the better quality of the transported signals and a validation of the connection through network. The existing PDH structure could not be used to fulfill this requirement. The revolutionary Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) was designed to meet the required improvements.

A PDH network has a strong vertical structure and is star shaped. The SDH/SONET network has a strong horizontal structure with ring shaped hierarchical layers and Add/Drop Multiplexes (ADM) providing the interconnection between the layers and connections for client or tributary signals. The first generation SDH/ SONET appeared after the standardization in 1986.

As the PDH multiplexes were designed to transport voice signals and private lines the SDH multiplex was also designed initially to transport the same signals. Because of their nature of multiplexing they are referred to as Time Division Multiplexes (TDM). An additional advantage of the revolutionary design of SDH/SONET is the multiplexing structure where tributary signals are mapped as payload into containers. These containers, together with their own timing information and OA&M overhead, are transported as independent virtual containers in the SDH/SONET network. The multiplex structure of SDH/SONET is also designed to enable the higher order multiplexes to meet the demand for transporting more and more payload. The original structure of SDH is given as follows:

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SDH Initial Multiplex Structure

STM-1 Pointer processing multiplexing Aligning Mapping x3 x7 TUG-2 x1 TU-2 x 3 VC-4 x1 AUG-1 x1 AU-4

TUG-3 x1

x4 TU-11 VC-11

x3 TU-12

TU-3

VC-12

VC-2

VC-3

C-11

C-12 E1

CC C-2 DS2

C-3 E3/DS3

C-4 E4

DS1

The ITU-T extended the concept of four times larger payload transport capabilities than the previous multiplex container in SDH/SONET as was prevailing in the PDH. The payload capacity of these new higher order multiplexes cannot only be used to transport four times the pay load container from the previous multiplex but can also be used to transport a single contiguous payload container. This methodology used is called Concatenation. Hence, in order to provide the increased bandwidth, the only solution is to define the concept of Contiguous concatenation (CCAT) and introducing VCAT in existing networks by using Virtual concatenation (VCAT). It appeared that VCAT could also be used to provide efficiently a matching bandwidth for non-voice related signals. The most recently defined application is the deployment of VCAT to enable the gradual introduction of an all-Optical Transport Network (OTN) as an evolution of existing SDH/ SONET. The figure below shows SDH extended multiplex structure:

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SDH Extended Multiplex Structure

STM-1 Pointer processing multiplexing Aligning Mapping x3 VC-4 x 3 x4 TUG-3 x1 TU-3 x4 x4 AUG-4 x1 AU-4-4c VC-4-4c VC-11 VC-12 VC-2 VC-3 AUG-16 Higher order multiplexes x1 AU-4-16c VC-4-16c x1 AU-4-64c VC-4-64c x1 AU-4-256c VC-4-256c x1 AUG-1 x1 AU-4 STM-4 x1 STM-16 x1 x4 STM-64 x1 x4 STM-256 x1 AUG-256

AUG-64

x7 x1 TUG-2 x4 TU-11 x3 TU-12 TU-2

Contiguous Concatenation C-4 C-4-4c E4

C-11

C-12 E1

CC C-2 DS2

DS1

C-3 E3/DS3

C-4-16c

C-4-64C

C-4-256C

Virtual Concatenation
VCAT makes it possible to make transport pipes to be right-sized for various data payloads by allowing SDH/SONET channels to be multiplexed in an operator defined arrangements. VCAT break down data packets and maps them into the base units of TDM frames e.g., AU-4 (155Mb/s) for SDH. This data is then grouped in multiple data flows of varying size to create larger, aggregate payloads optimally sized to match available SDH/SONET container capacity. VCAT is used at the end Network Elements of the Link (Intermediate network elements needs not to aware the facility of VCAT), which permits each channel used to be independently transmitted through legacy transport network. Data is encapsulated using GFP. The ITU standard for VCAT is G.707.

HO-VCAT High-Order Virtual Concatenation

High- Order VCAT manipulates data along higher order paths e.g., VC-3/4 for SDH. HO-VAT can be used to transport Gbit Ethernet traffic. It can also be used to transport 100 MBit Ethernet traffic.

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LO-VCAT Low-Order Virtual Concatenation

Low order VCAT applies concatenation at the lower granular at VC-12 level. LO-VCAT is used to transport lower rate data such as 10/100 MBit Ethernet.

VC Rate Efficiencies
Data Rates Ethernet (10M) Fast Ethernet (100M ) ESCON (200M ) Gigabit Ethernet (1G) Example: 100M Ethernet 8x E1 Services 2x 10M Ethernet
VC-12-46v VC-12-5v VC-12-5v

Efficiency w /o VC VC3 VC-4 20% 67% 33% 33% 42%

using VC VC-12-5v VC-12-46v VC-3-4v VC-4-6v VC-4-7v 92% 100 % 100% 89% 85%

VC-4-4c VC-4-16c

Fibre Channel (800M) VC-4-16c

STM -1 = 64 x VC-12

More services integrated- by using VC!

LINK CAPACITY ADJUSTMENT SCHEME (LCAS)

For dynamic applications of bandwidth, which can vary in time, the payload capacity provided by the VCAT is not used efficiently. For the effective utilization, a protocol has been designed to flexibly adjust the payload container size. This protocol in named as link capacity adjustment scheme (LCAS).

In LCAS protocol, the LCAS overheads signals are added to the virtual concatenation control information. This information is required to provide a flexible and hitless increase or decrease of the payload bandwidth. This tool can effectively be used to provide bandwidth on demand to users such as Ethernet, Private Lines Customers.

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This dynamic bandwidth control can also be used by operators to provide protection/ Survivability, when network faces any undesirable problems. LCAS works with VCAT to dynamically allocate bandwidth by reconfiguring VCAT groups in real time. LCAS is bi-directional signaling protocol between network elements that are continuously monitoring a link. This monitoring process ensures that changes in the network capacity do not impair a customers traffic transportation. The ITU standard defining LCAS is G.7042.

Generic Frame Procedure (GFP).

The major part of IP, Ethernet traffic is transported over the public network by encapsulating it in Frame Relay, Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC), and Packet over SONET/SOH (POS) or Asynchronous Transport Multiplex (ATM). SAN (Storage Area Network) protocols such as Fiber Channel (FC), Enterprise Systems Connectivity (ESCON) and Fiber Connectivity (FICON) have originally then transported over the public network by using propriety solutions. Figure on over leaf gives an example of how packet data can be transported.

At present, most line interfaces for IP edge routers and most Frame Relay and PPP interfaces operate at low order SDH/ SONET rates, although STM-16 and STM-64 interfaces are being introduced in big way, especially in MAN and WAN networks. Taken into account, the widespread availability of inexpensive 10/100/1000 Mbit/s Ethernet interfaces on Customer Premises equipment (CPE), there is a strong interest for a QOS friendly, standard-based mechanism to transport IP, Ethernet and SAN traffic over TDM and WDM networks. Based on this interest, a mapping of all these Variable Bit Rate (VBR) signals into a Constant Bit Rate (CBR) signal was developed, defined as Generic Frame Procedure (GFP).

Therefore we conclude that GFP offers significantly reduced latency and effective, improved bandwidth utilization. GFP offers two different mapping modes GFPT & GFP-F. The ITU standard for GFP is G.7041.

GFP-T (GFP Transparent)

GFP-T offers direct transmission of data streams regarding low latency, such as VoIP, digital video and SAN application.

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SDH ATM POS PDH HDLC PPP Ethernet IP Packet data transfer SAN FC ESCON FICON

GFP-F (GFP - Framed)

GFP-F is normally used to encapsulate packet/ frame based protocols such as IP/PPP or Ethernet. The frame is entirely assembled before transmission through the SONET/SDH network and is used mainly for non latency sensitive applications.

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