ATM Service Interworking

Overview
In this section we will discuss
Voice and Circuit Switched Services over ATM Frame Relay Service over ATM Frame Based UNI ATM Network Access ATM Addressing Bearer Independent Call Control Signaling

ATM Interworking: Motivation

Many public carriers are deploying ATM in their core networks as an infrastructure for carrying voice, video, and data traffic. In this role, ATM must interwork with services that are currently being offered to subscribers.

Voice Telephony over ATM

Interworking Function Interworking Function PSTN Switch PSTN Switch

ATM Network

The ATM network interconnects Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN) switches.
The ATM network replaces a long distance TDM core network.

Circuit Emulation Service

The service being provided by the ATM network is Circuit Emulation Service (CES).
CES uses AAL 1 CBR Service ATM cells marked with CLP=0

The IWF provides higher layer functionality to AAL 1.

Maps TDM timeslots to ATM connections

VTOA
If PSTN and ATM NEs belong to the same network, carrying end-to-end timing is not necessary
NEs within a public carrier network are driven by a common network timing reference and therefore stay in sync

So why do public networks carry voice over AAL-1 when any AAL will suffice?

Why use AAL-1 for Voice?

A: Lower overhead when carrying voice traffic With AAL-1, a single ATM cell payload can carry 47 voice samples (non-P format):

AAL-1 SAR Header (1 octet)

voice samples/AAL-1 SAR Payload (47 octets)

Why use AAL-1 for Voice?

With AAL-5, a single ATM cell payload carries 40 voice samples:

voice samples/AAL-5 CPCS Payload (40 octets)

AAL-5 CPCS Trailer (8 octets)

Why use AAL-1 for Voice?

With AAL-2, a single ATM cell payload carries 44 voice samples:

AAL-2 Start Field (1 octet)

AAL-2 SAR Header (3 octets)

voice samples/AAL-2 CPS Packet Payload (44 octets)

Channel Associated Signalling

CES with Channel Associated Signalling (CAS) enables channel associated (or robbed bit) PSTN signalling to be transported across the ATM network within the bearer channel.

Channel Associated Signalling

CES with CAS forms a payload structure from voice samples inserting CAS signaling in the structure every 12 DS-1 frames (for SF signaling) of 24 DS-1 frames (for ESF signaling)
AAL-1 structure size is the same for SF and ESF
Contains 1 ESF/2 SF frames per AAL-1 structure For DS-0, structure size is 25 octets

CAS AAL-1 Structure: DS-0

voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample voice sample signaling

24 voice samples (from 24 DS-1 frames)

Signaling Bits (from SF #1)

Signaling Bits (from SF #2)

Signaling Bits (from ESF)

a1 b1 a2 b2

Channel Associated Signalling

ISDN over ATM

ISDN signaling is transported across the ATM network on a separate VCC from the bearer channel. ISDN signaling messages are tunneled across the ATM network
To the ATM network the connection which transports ISDN signalling is just another bearer channel.

ATM Trunking
A Trunk is a communication channel between PSTN switches. The transport of signalling and bearer traffic between PSTN switches is known as ATM Trunking.

ISDN over ATM

Voice Telephony over ATM ATM to the Desktop

Another scenario for voice telephony over ATM is interconnection of ATM end systems (e.g. a PC with an ATM interface) to end systems (e.g. telephones) in the ISDN. In this case, the ATM end station sends an ATM SETUP message to initiate a call with a called party address being that of the ISDN end system.

Voice Telephony over ATM ATM to the Desktop

The IWF must perform protocol conversion of the ATM SETUP message to generate an ISDN SETUP message which is sent to the ISDN for delivery to the called party. When the end-to-end bearer connection is established, the IWF must perform protocol conversion between the ATM bearer channel and the ISDN bearer channel.

Voice Telephony over ATM ATM to the Desktop

B-ISDN SETUP ISDN SETUP

Interworking Function

ATM End System

ATM Network

ISDN End System

ISDN

B-ISDN CONNECT

ISDN CONNECT

Voice Telephony over ATM ATM to the Desktop

DSS2 SAAL ATM Physical Layer DSS2 SAAL ATM Physical Layer DSS2 SAAL Q.921 ATM Physical Layer Physical Layer Physical Layer Physical Layer Q.921 Q.921 DSS1 DSS1 DSS1

Signalling ATM End System ATM Network IWF ISDN ISDN End System

G.711 AAL ATM Physical Layer ATM Physical Layer

G.711 AAL ATM Physical Layer

G.711

G.711

Physical Layer

Physical Layer

Physical Layer

User Information

ATM and SS7

SS7 Networks carry ISDN User Part (ISUP) signaling over an SS7 network separate from the network used to carry bearer traffic. ISUP messages carry call control and bearer control information
Physical bearer circuit identified by a Circuit Identification Code (CIC)

ATM and SS7

CIC is specific to TDM networks What emerged was a new model which separated call control and bearer connection control
objective was to allow a common call control protocol to operate with any underlying bearer technology (TDM, ATM, IP) Bearer Independent Call Control (BICC)
ITU Recommendation Q.1901

BICC
BICC signaling transported independently from bearer control signaling For ATM, bearer control signaling is based upon UNI or PNNI Correlation Tag carried in BICC and corresponding bearer control signaling to allow association between separated call control and bearer control signaling

BICC Functional Model

Signaling Transport Network ISUP Signaling BICC Signaling BICC Signaling ISUP Signaling

ATM Network
ISN-A CSF Bearer Control B-IWF BCF ATM Bearer UNI Signaling ATM Switch-1 BCF PNNI ATM Switch-2 Signaling BCF ATM Bearer UNI Signaling ISN-B CSF Bearer Control B-IWF BCF ATM Bearer

TDM Bearer

LPF

SF

LPF

LPF

SF

LPF

LPF

SF

LPF

LPF

SF

LPF

TDM Bearer

BICC Functional Model

Interface Serving Node (ISN): Interworks ISDN signaling to BICC signaling, and TDM bearer to ATM bearer Call Service Function (CSF): handles endto-end call control signaling and ISDN to BICC interworking; controls BCF over Bearer Control interface Bearer Interworking Function (B-IWF): provides interworking of TDM traffic to ATM bearer

BICC Functional Model

Bearer Control Function (BCF): handles end-to-end bearer control signaling; controls SF and LPFs Switching Function (SF): connects LPFs under control of the BCF Logical Port Function (LPF): incoming/outgoing ports to/from switching elements; performs bearer interworking

BICC Functional Model

Bearer Control Interface: In response to CSF in ISN-B sends information to BCF instructing it to interwork incoming TDM bearer and establish ATM VCC to ISN-B Bearer Control Interface: In response to BICC signaling received from ISN-A CSF in ISN-B sends information to BCF instructing it to interwork TDM bearer and establish ATM VCC to ISN-A

BICC Signaling
BICC signaling messages have same names as corresponding ISUP message
ISUP CIC replaced by BICC Call Instance Code
used only to identify call control association between CSF no identification of physical circuits as with ISUP CIC

BICC Signaling
BICC signaling messages add BICC DATA field
Encapsulates bearer specific information

BICC DATA
Includes the following information:
Backbone Network Connection Identifier (BNC-ID): a correlation tag which associates the bearer connection with the BICC CIC Interworking Function Address: ATM End System Address for destination IWF Bearer Network Connection Characteristics: describes the characteristics of the underlying bearer network

Bearer Network Connection Characteristics

Allowable specifications:
AAL-1 AAL-2

BNC-ID
ATM signaling sent in response to BICC signaling carries the BNC-ID in the ATM SETUP message
Independent, but associated call control and bearer control signaling Bearer connection establishment can be initiated by either ISN-A or ISN-B regardless of which is the originating ISN for BICC signaling

BICC over ATM

ISN-A
CSF IAM IAM (CIC=A1,BNC-ID=x1,BIWF Addr=x,BNC Characteristics=AAL-1) IAM ATM SETUP(BNC-ID=x1, BIWF Addr=x) ATM SETUP(BNC-ID=x1, BIWF Addr=x) ATM SETUP(BNC-ID=x1, BIWF Addr=x) ATM CONNECT ATM CONNECT ATM CONNECT COT BCF-x ATM Switch-1 ATM Switch-2

ISN-B
BCF-y CSF

ACM ACM(CIC=A1) ACM ANM ANM(CIC=A1) ANM

Frame Relay over ATM

Frame Relay service
Widely used by Internet Service Providers to provide access to backbone networks. ATM interworking involves interworking of bearer channel only.

The Interworking of Frame Relay over ATM is called Frame Relay Service (FRS).

Interconnection of Frame Relay Networks

When interconnecting Frame Relay networks, the Frame Relay frame is tunneled across the ATM network but a Frame Relay SSCS (FR-SSCS) inspects the Frame Relay header and attempts to map corresponding fields from the Frame Relay header to the ATM cell header.
AAL 5 is the CPCS

Interconnection of Frame Relay Networks

FR Network IWF ATM Network IWF FR Network

FR-SSCS CPCS Q.922 Q.922 SAR ATM Physical Layer Physical Layer Physical Layer ATM Physical Layer

FR-SSCS CPCS Q.922 SAR ATM Physical Layer Physical Layer Physical Layer Q.922

Interconnection of Frame Relay Networks

Tunnelling of Frame Relay over ATM is defined in Implementation Agreement FRF.5 from the Frame Relay Forum
ATM switches which support this form of FRS specify support for FRF.5 on their data sheets.

Interconnection of Subscribers
When interconnecting a Frame Relay subscriber to an ATM subscriber the IWF performs protocol conversion between the Frame Relay frame and ATM cells
The IWF removes the Frame Relay header from the frame but transcodes information from the FR header into ATM cell headers

This allows the ATM subscriber to not have to know that the other subscriber has Frame Relay service.

Interconnection of Subscribers
FR CPE FR Network IWF ATM Network ATM CPE

Upper Layers FR-SSCS CPCS Q.922 Q.922 Q.922 SAR ATM Physical Layer Physical Layer Physical Layer Physical Layer ATM Physical Layer ATM Physical Layer SAR ATM Physical Layer Upper Layers CPCS

Interconnection of Frame Relay Networks

The interconnection of Frame Relay and ATM subscribers such that neither knows that the other is using a different service is called Frame Relay/ATM Service Interworking and is defined by Frame Relay Forum Implementation Agreement FRF.8

Interconnection of Subscribers
If an ATM switch provides support for FRF.5 and not FRF.8 the ATM subscriber would have to implement an FR-SSCS sublayer to transcode ATM cell header fields to the corresponding fields in the Frame Relay header.

Multiservice Switching
The basic function of an ATM switch is to transport ATM cells
When offered as a service this is called a Cell Relay Service (CRS)

The CES IWF is integrated into many ATM switches. The FRS IWF is also integrated into many ATM switches. ATM switches that support CRS, CES, and FRS are called Multiservice Switches.

Frame Based UNI

Frame based UNI (FUNI) is not the Frame Relay to ATM interworking point.
FUNI allows users to send ATM frames (up to 9,232 octets in length) across a UNI. The ATM network segments the ATM frame into ATM cells for transport across the network

FUNI allows subscribers to transport data across a UNI in larger packets that are more efficient for data applications.

Frame Based UNI

Frame Based UNI

Guaranteed Frame Rate (GFR) service could be used with FUNI to ensure that the entire frame is compliant with the traffic descriptor.

Access to the ATM Network

The last mile is the access of end users to the ATM network. A method of access being pushed by many public carriers, and especially CLECs is ATM over ADSL.
ADSL is being promoted as a low cost means of delivering high speed Internet access.
ADSL ~$200/month Leased DS1 ~$2,000/month

Access to the ATM Network

POTS ATU Core ATM Network ATM Access Switch ATU ATU ATM Access Network ATM over ADSL
ADSL Modem Splitter

Terminal Equipment Premises ATM Network Terminal Equipment

ATM Network Termination

ATU = ADSL Transceiver Unit

Access to the ATM Network

The ATM Network Termination takes telephony and data traffic from the premises network and multiplexes them over an ADSL to the ATM Access Network. The ATM Access Network (commonly known as a DSL Access Mux, or DSLAM) multiplexes traffic from multiple ATM Network Terminations to a higher rate link to the core network.

Access to the ATM Network

Attached to the ATM Core Network may be an ISP Remote Access Server
Since the ISP will likely still want to do authentication PPP has been defined over ATM using AAL 5