Module 10

Protocol :SCTP
Describe Multiuser Scheduling
Concept
Link Adaptation(LA)
Hybrid automatic
retransmission request
(HARQ)

Handover Procedure

DTX

Agenda
SCTP
The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) is a new Internet Protocol (IP)
transport protocol, existing at an equivalent level with the User Datagram
Protocol (UDP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which provide transport
layer functions to Signaling System No. 7. As a connectionless transmission
protocol, the UDP cannot meet the requirements for transmission quality of
Signaling System No. 7. As a transmission protocol with connections, the TCP
provides reliable transmission with a congested header, poor real-time
performance, and poor multihoming. In addition, denial of service (DoS) may
attack the data during transmission. Therefore, the Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF) approves the reliable connection-oriented packet data transmission
protocol SCTP in RFC2960. Unlike the TCP, the SCTP provides reliable signaling
transmission. The design of the SCTP includes congestion avoidance behavior,
resistance to flooding and spoofing attacks, and integration of the real-time
performance and multihoming function. Therefore, the SCTP becomes one
member of the SIGTRAN series protocols.
The SCTP is regarded as a protocol applicable to the transport layer between the
SCTP user application and packet network services. During actual application,
the LTE control plane functions as SCTP upper-layer users, such as S1 Application
Protocol (S1AP) and X2 Application Protocol (X2AP), and Internet Protocol (IP)
networks function as the lower layer.
SCTP functions
An association is initiated by a request from the SCTP
users, such as S1AP and X2AP. Association startup is
complex compared with a TCP connection. It is a four-
way handshake and uses the cookie mechanism. A
cookie is a chunk containing initial information and
encryption information about an endpoint. It is
processed and exchanged between two endpoints
during association setup. This ensures protocol
security and avoids spoofing attacks and DoS.
The SCTP protocol provides a shutdown function in a
normal situation for active associations. The function
must be performed based on SCTP user requests. In
addition, the SCTP protocol provides a shutdown
function in an emergency such as interruption. This
function can be started based either on SCTP user
requests or errors detected by the SCTP protocol.
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SCTP functions
Packets can be delivered in a sequence based on the
SCTP protocol, and must be transmitted in the same
stream. A stream is the basic for sequenced delivery.
In a stream, the SCTP protocol defines two
mechanisms for data transmission acknowledgement
and sequenced delivery. It uses the TSN mechanism
for data transmission acknowledgement, and uses
the stream No. and SSN mechanism for sequenced
delivery. If SCTP receives data with sequenced SSNs,
it delivers the data to SCTP users, and does not need
to deliver the data after the TSN is consecutive.
If a stream is blocked, the next consecutive SCTP user
message can be delivered on another stream.
The SCTP also provides data delivery without
sequence. A received user message can be delivered
in this mode to SCTP users without considering the
sequence.
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SCTP functions
The SCTP protocol detects the path maximum
transmission unit (PMTU) on each path to pack user
data with a large size. This avoids multiple
fragmentations and regrouping on the IP layer, and
reduces data on the IP layer.
On the transmit end, the SCTP protocol fragments
user data with a large size to allow the data to apply
to the maximum transmission unit (MTU) on the path
at the lower layer.
On the receive end, the SCTP combines all
fragmented data to form a complete packet, and then
delivers it to SCTP users.
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SCTP functions
Acknowledgement and congestion avoidance is a
policy to ensure data transmission reliability. The
acknowledgement mechanism is basic for data
transmission reliability. Congestion avoidance derives
from the TCP window mechanism to control traffic.
The SCTP protocol assigns a TSN to each data
fragment or user packet without fragmentation in
sequence and then transmits the data to the lower
layer.
The TSN and SSN are independent from each other.
The TSN is used to ensure data transmission
reliability, and the SSN is used to ensure that
messages within a stream are transmitted in
sequence.
The TSN and SSN separate reliable transmission from
sequenced transmission. The receive end
acknowledges all TSNs, even if there are gaps in the
sequence.
Packet retransmission is used to acknowledge the
TSN and congestion avoidance.
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SCTP functions
If user data with a short length has an SCTP message
header with a large size, data transmission efficiency
decreases. Therefore, the SCTP protocol binds several
user data into an SCTP packet to efficiently use
bandwidth resources.
An SCTP packet consists of a common header
followed by one or more chunks. Each chunk can
contain either user data or SCTP control information.
SCTP users can request bundling of more than one
user messages into a single SCTP packet based on
requirements.
To improve bundling efficiency, bundling is performed
during congestion or retransmission, even if users
have stopped this function.
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SCTP functions
Packet validation ensures reliably data transmission
without errors. The common header of an SCTP
packet consists of a verification tag and an optional
32-bit checksum.
The value of a verification tag is determined by each
end of an association during association setup. If a
received packet does not contain the expected value
of the verification tag, the receive end will discard
this packet to avoid attacks and invalid SCTP packets.
The 32-bit checksum is set by the transmit end of
each SCTP packet to provide additional protection
against data corruption in the network. The receive
end discards an SCTP packet with an invalid 32-bit
checksum.
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SCTP functions
SCTP users at the transmit end use a set of transport
addresses as destinations for SCTP packets. The SCTP path
management function chooses a destination transport
address for each SCTP packet that has been transmitted
based on the SCTP user's instructions and the reachability
status of the currently valid destination set. If other packet
traffic cannot indicate the reachability, the path
management function can monitor the reachability of a
destination transport address using heartbeat messages. In
addition, this function can provide information for an SCTP
user if the reachability of any transport addresses changes.
The path management function can also report the set of
local transport addresses to the peer end during association
setup, and report the transport addresses returned from the
peer end to SCTP users.
During association setup, the path management function
defines a primary path for each SCTP endpoint to transmit
SCTP packets.
At the receive end, the path management function checks
whether the association to which the inbound SCTP packet
belongs exists before the SCTP packets is processed.
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Thank you