Including HDLC Framing in CCSDS Recommendations

James Rash - NASA/GSFC

VC

Transfer Frame Packets, Bits, e tc.

C R C

Frame Re lay Frame

DL CI

Keith Hogie, Ed Criscuolo,

Ron Parise - Computer Sciences Corp

Packets, Bits, e tc.

Space Data Link Protocols Transfer Frames Sync and Channel Coding

F L G

HDLC Frame
Bits or Bytes

C F R L CG

R/S Code block

Sync Mark Data R/S symbols

June 2004

SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS

Basic Concept
Add ISO HDLC frame synchronization as an option to TM/TC/AOS recommendations for data link frame synchronization Add IETF RFC 2427 multi-protocol data link frame header as an option to TM/TC/ AOS recommendations for data link This adds an option for spacecraft to use data link formats that are supported by all common carriers and network equipment vendors synchronous serial interfaces It provides an option that separates link frame sync and FEC coding sync which allows changing FEC coding type and block length independent of data link format It allows spacecraft data to be inserted directly into all national and international carriers Frame Relay and IP networks It supports encapsulation of IP and many other network protocols

June 2004

SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS

What About IP Encapsulation in CCSDS Frames

CCSDS has defined a way to encapsulate IP packets inside CCSDS frames that uses the IP header fields for packet identification and length like CCSDS packet header fields This doesnt fit with the concept of providing end-to-end IP network connectivity using COTS routers
Custom CCSDS/IP gateways are required to process IP packets These gateways need to evolve rapidly like COTS routers to incorporate new routing, traffic management, and security options This is not feasible in a low-volume CCSDS gateway

IP packets encapsulated in CCSDS frames require more complicated data processing that IP in Frame Relay/HDLC
First header pointers and lengths require clean links to recover data Approach results in IP packets split across link frames just like it does with CCSDS packets (with HDLC, one IP packet is in one HDLC frame) Losing one CCSDS frame results in the loss of many IP packets Tightly coupled to link coding and requires major hardware change whenever coding changes

Currently no definition for IP on CCSDS uplinks

June 2004

SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS

HDLC Space Link Data Framing

ISO/IEC 13239:2002, Information technology -Telecommunications and information exchange between systems -- High-level data link control (HDLC) procedures, International Organization For Standardization (Adopted ISO/IEC 13239:2002, third edition, 2002-07-15) HDLC FLAG bytes (01111110) between frames
no fill frames or packets continual FLAG bit pattern when no data frames being transmitted

Bit stuffing to ensure no FLAG patterns in data or CRC CRC-16 on end of frame for error detection Variable length frames up to at least 4K Bytes
Bit stuffing applied

Link Framing

Flag (1B)

Variable Length Frame Data

CRC-16 (2B)

Flag (1B)

Flag (1B)

HDLC Frame
June 2004

SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS

Frame Relay Space Link Data Framing

IETF Multi-Protocol Encapsulation over Frame Relay (RFC 2427, STD 55)
Uses Frame Relay/HDLC - Not X.25 or LAP-B No windowing, optional flow control - completely independent of delay

Frame Relay DLCI provides 1024 virtual channels Standard Frame Relay processing supported by all telecom vendors Normally one user data packet per variable length frame
No first header pointers or packet extraction processing Any packet segmentation or fragmentation handled in upper layer protocols

Supports encapsulation of IP and many other network protocols

Frame Relay/Multi-Protocol Encapsulation Header FR Hdr Encap Hdr (2B) (2B)

Link Layer Header

Frame Data

Link Framing

Flag (1B)

Data

CRC-16 (2B)

Flag (1B)

Flag (1B)

HDLC Frame
June 2004

SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS

RFC 2427 Frame Headers

First 2 bytes of Frame Relay information
Upper DLCI (6 bits) C/R EA =0 Lower DLCI (4 bits)

Next 2 bytes of protocol encapsulation information

FE BE DE EA CN CN =1
RFC 2427 Encapsulation Header

Address extension (EA): Used to determine the size of the header. Data link connection identifier (DLCI): A logical identifier used to distinguish between multiple Frame Relay connections over a link. Command/response (C/R): This bit indicates whether the current frame is a command frame or a response frame. Forward and backward explicit congestion notification (FECN, BECN): The network uses these notifications for congestion avoidance. The network sends these notifications to the users in advance of congestion problems. Discard eligibility (DE): DE is used to discard frames when the network experiences congestion. Frames that exceed the traffic parameters (CIR, Bc, Be) are tagged by the network with the DE bit to indicate that they are more likely to be discarded if the need arises.
Control (UI) 0x03 (8 bits) NLPID (8 bits)

List of Commonly Used NLPIDs 0x00 Null Network Layer or Inactive Set (not used with Frame Relay) 0x08 Q.933 [2] 0x80 SNAP 0x81 ISO CLNP 0x82 ISO ESIS 0x83 ISO ISIS 0x8E IPv6 0xB0 FRF.9 Data Compression [14] 0xB1 FRF.12 Fragmentation [18] 0xCC IPv4 0xCF PPP in Frame Relay [17]

June 2004

SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS

CCSDS and HDLC Ground Support Comparison

Very similar except the HDLC commercial world separates FEC and framing at a bitstream level interface

CCSDS
NP or IP NP or IP Net PDU Frame Packet Insert VCDU Framing FEC Encode Randomize Conv. Encode Packet Extract VCDU Framing FEC Decode Derandomize Conv. Decode Bit sync Modulator Transmitter Upconvert Demod Receiver Downconvert 101010 (bits)

Commercial Router/ Frame Relay Switch

IP HDLC Framing IP HDLC Framing

FEC Encode Randomize Conv. Encode

FEC Decode Derandomize Conv. Decode Bit sync

Modulator Transmitter Upconvert

Demod Receiver Downconvert

Antenna
June 2004

SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS

Fixed Length FEC Coding Blocks and HDLC

Question - How do you put variable bit length HDLC frames in fixed byte length code blocks (e.g. Reed-Solomon, TPC, LDPC) ? Answer - Separate data link framing and FEC coding Different approach from traditional CCSDS framing where transfer frame and R-S code block use the same attached sync mark (ASM) HDLC inserts into fixed length R/S, TPC, LDPC codeblock as a bitstream and is extracted as a bitstream on the other end of link
In the commercial network world R/S, TPC, LDPC and convolutional coding are performed at the physical layer independent of HDLC data link framing FEC has no relation to any framing present in the bit stream HDLC provides its own sync independent of any optional coding sync marks

Separation of coding allows changing coding type and block length with no changes to HDLC framing
Variable Bit Length HDLC Frames
Frame Data

HDLC

Codeblock Size number of Bits

Coding
ASM

R/S Sym

ASM

Fixed Length FEC Codeblock

June 2004

SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS

Adding HDLC to CCSDS Recommendations

IP packets similar to CCSDS packets RFC 2427 encapsulation similar to CCSDS encapsulation header HDLC framing appears as a bitstream service directly into CCSDS forward-error-correction code blocks HDLC framing can be radiated directly without R/S coding added
Transfer Frame
VC

Frame Re lay Frame

C R C

Packets, Bits, e tc.

DL CI

Packets, Bits, e tc.

Space Data Link Protocols Transfer Frames Sync and Channel Coding

F L G

HDLC Frame
Bits or Bytes

C F R L CG

R/S Code block

Sync Mark Data R/S symbols
9

June 2004

SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS

Ground Support for HDLC

HDLC is widely used by the amateur radio community HDLC has been used by NASAs South Pole TDRSS Relay (SPTR) since 1997
TDRSS relay satellites dont see frames of CCDSDS or HDLC they just relay RF signals Routers installed at White Sands in a special configuration for SPTR

HDLC was installed in a few months to support the STS-107 shuttle flight and the Communication and Navigation Demonstration on Shuttle (CANDOS) experiment
Routers and convolutional decoders at NASA Ground Network (GN) sites at Wallops and Merritt Island Routers at NASA Space Network (SN) sites at White Sands Ground Terminal (WSGT) and Second TDRSS Ground Terminal (STGT)

Routers used by SSTL DMC stations in UK, Turkey, Algeria, and Nigeria Linux router used by CHIPSat ground stations Full operational support for IP services being developed for TDRSS under Space Network IP Services (SNIS) project
SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS
10

June 2004

Current HDLC in Space Status

Used for over 20 years in small educational and experimental spacecraft. Over 80 past, present, or planned missions used or will use HDLC Developed and operated by 23 universities, 8 amateur groups, and 7 commercial space entities in 24 countries Also represented are NASA, the US Air Force, the US Navy, and the Chilean Air Force. Earth resources satellites by Germany and Turkey, are currently in development and will use HDLC. A Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) by UK, Algeria, Nigeria, and Turkey is currently operational and uses HDLC with 8Mbps downlinks. NASAs CHIPSat is currently operational and uses HDLC Future missions (e.g. GPM, MMS, LRO) are selecting HDLC/Frame Relay for its flexibility, simple implementation, low-cost, and wide availability

June 2004

SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS

11

HDLC Spacecraft
Spacecraft UoSat-1 UoSat-2 AO-13 SAREX UoSat-3 UoSat-4 HealthSat-I Dove WeberSat LUSAT PACSAT JAS-1b UO-14 SARA S80/T KITSat-1 Arsene PoSAT HealthSat-II KITSat-2 ITAMSAT AO-27 Cerise Fasat-A UNAMSAT-1 UNAMSAT-2 JAS-2 Fasat-B TechSat-1b SEDSAT TMSAT-1 PanSat Clementine SunSat Launch Year 1981 1984 1988 1990 1990 1990 1990 1990 1990 1990 1990 1990 1990 1991 1992 1992 1993 1993 1993 1993 1993 1993 1995 1995 1995 1996 1996 1998 1998 1998 1998 1998 1999 1999 Ow ner Organization University of Surrey University of Surrey AMSAT AMSAT University of Surrey University of Surrey/ESA SateLife AMSAT-Brazil Weber State University AMSAT-LU AMSAT JAMSAT University of Surrey Amateur Radio Astronomy Matra Espace/CNES Korean Advanced Institute of Science ENSAE/CNES Portugal SateLife Korean Advanced Institute of Science AMSAT-I AMRAD Alcatel Espace/DME Chile University Program of Space Research University Program of Space Research JAMSAT Chilean Air Force (FACH) IARC University of Alabama, Huntsville TMSC and MUT Naval Post-Graduate School Alcatel Espace(France) Stellenbosch University Ow ner Country UK UK USA USA UK UK USA Brazil USA Argentina USA Japan UK France France Korea France Portugal USA Korea Italy USA France Chile Mexico Mexico Japan Chile Israel USA Thailand USA France South Africa Status decayed operational non-operational multiple shuttle missions operational non-operational operational non-operational non-operational operational semi-operational operational operational non-operational operational operational non-operational operational operational operational semi-operational operational operational non-commissioned failed launch non-operational operational operational unknow n semi-operational operational operational operational non-operational

June 2004

SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS

12

HDLC Spacecraft (cont)

UoSat-12 JAWSAT SNAP-1 Tsinghua-1 Opal ASUsat-1 SaudiSat-1A SaudiSat-1B TIUNGSAT-1 AO-40 ARISS PicoSat FalconSat I Sapphire PCSat Starshine 3 Emerald ChipSat CUTE XI-IV 3 Corner Sat HokieSat AlSat (DMC) TopSat StenSat MOST Starshine 4 Starshine 5 NigeriaSat (DMC) BILSAT (DMC) UK-DMC (DMC) DTUsat AAU Cubesat BiltenSat RapidEye PolySat Citizen-Explorer CESAR-1 1999 1999 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2001 2001 2001 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2002 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 2003 TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD Surrey Satellite Technology LTD USAFA/Weber State Univ. SSTL development satellite Tsinghua University, Beijing Stanford University Arizona State University King Abdulaziz City for Science & Tech King Abdulaziz City for Science & Tech Astronautic Technology AMSAT-DL AMSAT USAF Air Force Academy Stanford University US Naval Academy Project Starshine (NASA/USN/USAF) Stanford University UC Berkeley Tokyo Institute of Technology University of Tokyo USAF/ASU VA Tech (University Nanosat) Algeria UK MoD and BNSC StenSat Group University of British Columbia Project Starshine (NASA/USN/USAF) Project Starshine (NASA/USN/USAF) Nigeria Turkey UK Technical University of Denmark Aalborg University Turkey RapidEye A.G. California Polytechnic University University of Colorado AMSAT-Chile UK USA UK China USA USA Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia Maylasia Germany USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA Japan Japan USA USA Algeria UK USA Canada USA USA Nigeria Turkey UK Denmark Denmark Turkey Germany USA USA Chile operational unknow n operational operational operational non-operational unknow n unknow n operational operational in use on ISS unknow n operational operational operational operational in development in development in development in development in development in development operational in development in development in development in development in development operational operational operational in development in development in development in development in development in development in development

June 2004

SIW-4 - HDLC for CCSDS

13