Date Network Support

Content

1. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)

2. Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
3. X.25 and Frame Relay
4. Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
 ISDN User Network Interface

• ISDN allows multiplexing of devices over

single ISDN line
• Two interfaces
– Basic ISDN Interface
– Primary ISDN Interface
 Basic ISDN Interface (1)
• Digital data exchanged between subscriber and NTE
- Full Duplex
• Separate physical line for each direction
• Pseudoternary coding scheme
– 1=no voltage, 0=positive or negative 750mV +/-10%
• Data rate 192kbps
• Basic access is two 64kbps B channels and one
16kbps D channel
• This gives 144kbps multiplexed over 192kbps
• Remaining capacity used for framing and sync
 Basic ISDN Interface (2)
• B channel is basic user channel
• Data
• PCM voice
• Separate logical 64kbps connections for different
destinations
• D channel used for control or data
– LAPD frames
• Each frame 48 bits long
• One frame every 250s
Frame Structure
 Primary ISDN
• Point to point
• Typically supporting PBX
• 1.544Mbps
– Based on US DS-1
– Used on T1 services
– 23 B channels plus one D channel
– Line coding is AMI using B8ZS
• 2.048Mbps
– Based on European standards
– 30 B channels plus one D channel
– Line coding is AMI using HDB3
Bipolar AMI, B8ZS and HDB3
Primary ISDN Frame Formats
Conceptual View of ISDN Connection Features
 Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line

• ADSL
• Link between subscriber and network
– Local loop
• Uses currently installed twisted pair cable
– Can carry broader spectrum
– 1 MHz or more
 ADSL Design

• Asymmetric
– Greater capacity downstream than upstream
• Frequency division multiplexing
– Lowest 25kHz for voice
• Plain old telephone service (POTS)
– Use echo cancellation or FDM to give two bands
– Use FDM within bands
• Range 5.5km
ADSL Channel Configuration
 Discrete Multitone

• DMT
• Multiple carrier signals at different frequencies
• Some bits on each channel
• 4kHz subchannels
• Send test signal and use subchannels with better
signal to noise ratio
• 256 downstream subchannels at 4kHz (60kbps)
– 15.36MHz
– Impairments bring this down to 1.5Mbps to 9Mbps
DMT Transmitter
 Other Types of xDSL

• High data rate DSL (HDSL)

• Single line DSL (SDSL)
• Very high data rate DSL (VDSL)
Comparison of xDSL Alternatives
Use of Packets
 Advantages
• Line efficiency
– Single node to node link can be shared by many packets
over time
– Packets queued and transmitted as fast as possible
• Data rate conversion
– Each station connects to the local node at its own speed
– Nodes buffer data if required to equalize rates
• Packets are accepted even when network is busy
– Delivery may slow down
• Priorities can be used
 Switching Technique

• Station breaks long message into packets

• Packets sent one at a time to the network
• Packets handled in two ways
– Datagram
– Virtual circuit
 Datagram

• Each packet treated independently

• Packets can take any practical route
• Packets may arrive out of order
• Packets may go missing
• Up to receiver to re-order packets and recover
from missing packets
 Virtual Circuit

• Preplanned route established before any

packets sent
• Call request and call accept packets establish
connection (handshake)
• Each packet contains a virtual circuit identifier
instead of destination address
• No routing decisions required for each packet
• Clear request to drop circuit
• Not a dedicated path
 Virtual Circuit vs Datagram

• Virtual circuits
– Network can provide sequencing and error control
– Packets are forwarded more quickly
• No routing decisions to make
– Less reliable
• Loss of a node looses all circuits through that node

• Datagram
– No call setup phase
• Better if few packets
– More flexible
• Routing can be used to avoid congested parts of the network
 X.25
• 1976
• Interface between host and packet switched
network
• Almost universal on packet switched networks
and packet switching in ISDN
• Defines three layers
– Physical
– Link
– Packet
 X.25 - Physical

• Interface between attached station and link to

node
• Data terminal equipment DTE (user
equipment)
• Data circuit terminating equipment DCE
(node)
• Reliable transfer across physical link
• Sequence of frames
 X.25 - Link
• Link Access Protocol Balanced (LAPB)
– Subset of HDLC (High-Level Data Link Control)

X.25 - Packet

• External virtual circuits

• Logical connections (virtual circuits) between
subscribers
X.25 Use of Virtual Circuits
 Virtual Circuit Service
• Virtual Call
– Dynamically established virtual circuit
• Permanent virtual circuit
– Fixed network assigned virtual circuit
 Frame Relay

• Designed to be more efficient than X.25

• Developed before ATM
• Larger installed base than ATM
• ATM now of more interest on high speed
networks
 Frame Relay Background - X.25

• Call control packets, in band signaling

• Multiplexing of virtual circuits at layer 3
• Layer 2 and 3 include flow and error control
• Considerable overhead
• Not appropriate for modern digital systems
with high reliability
 Frame Relay - Differences
• Call control carried in separate logical connection
• Multiplexing and switching at layer 2
– Eliminates one layer of processing
• No hop by hop error or flow control
• End to end flow and error control (if used) are done
by higher layer
• Single user data frame sent from source to
destination and ACK (from higher layer) sent back
 Advantages and Disadvantages

• Lost link by link error and flow control

– Increased reliability makes this less of a problem
• Streamlined communications process
– Lower delay
– Higher throughput
• ITU-T recommend frame relay above 2Mbps
 Frame Relay - Virtual Circuits

• Permanent virtual circuits (PVCs)

– Original standard, more commonly used
• Switched virtual circuits (SVCs)
– Getting popular now
 Permanent Virtual Circuits

• Set up by a network operator

• Defined as a connection between two sites
• Fixed path, not to be set up on a call-by-call
basis
• Pre-configured by the provider or network
manager with given bandwidth allocated
packet-by-packet
 Switched Virtual Circuits

• Available by a call-by-call basis

• User specifies a destination address similar to
a phone number
• Network dynamically establishes connections
based on requests by many users
• Network allocates bandwidth based on the
user’s request
 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (1)

• Cell-based switching and multiplexing technology

• Asynchronous; transmitted cells need not be periodic
in times as in STM
• General purpose: for a wide range of services: voice,
packet data, video, imaging
• Applied to both LAN and private network
technologies
 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (2)

• Support both constant bit rate (CBR) or variable bit rate

(VBR)
• Each cell contains addresses information that establishes
a virtual connection from source to destination
• Support both permanent virtual connections or switched
virtual connections (PVCs or SVCs)
• Support multiple Quality of Service (QoS) classes for
different applications on delay and loss performance
Multimedia Communications using ATM

• Transmit text, voice, video, data traffic

 ATM Cell

• Fixed size cell 53 octets, 5-octet header and

48-octet payload (1 octet = 8 bits)
 Protocol Architecture
• Similarities between ATM and packet switching
– Transfer of data in discrete chunks
– Multiple logical connections over single physical interface
• In ATM flow on each logical connection is in fixed
sized packets called cells
• Minimal error and flow control
– Reduced overhead
• Data rates (physical layer) 25.6Mbps to 622.08Mbps
Protocol Architecture (Diagram)
 Reference Model Planes

• User plane
– Provides for user information transfer
• Control plane
– Call and connection control
• Management plane
– Plane management
• whole system functions
– Layer management
• Resources and parameters in protocol entities
 ATM Logical Connections
• Virtual channel connections (VCC)
• Analogous to virtual circuit in X.25
• Basic unit of switching
• Between two end users
• Full duplex
• Fixed size cells
• Data, user-network exchange (control) and network-
network exchange (network management and routing)
• Virtual path connection (VPC)
– Bundle of VCC with same end points
ATM Connection Relationships
 Advantages of Virtual Paths in ATM

• Simplified network architecture

• Increased network performance and reliability
• Reduced processing
• Short connection setup time
• Enhanced network services
 Summary of X.25, Frame Relay and ATM
• X.25
– Widely used, inexpensive, but relatively slow
• Frame Relay
– Reliable, inexpensive, faster than X.25, able to handle heavy
traffic in LAN
• ATM
– Fast, high bandwidth, high-capacity multimedia capabilities
for voice, video and data communications
 Main References

• Data and Computer Communications, 6/e, by William

Stallings, Prentice Hall.
• ISDN and Broadband ISDN with Frame Relay and ATM, 4/e,
by William Stallings, Prentice Hall.
• eBusiness Essentials: Technology and Network Requirements
for Mobile and Online Markets, 2/e, by Mark Norris and
Steve West, John Wiley & Sons.