ADDIS ABABA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOIOGY

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

ATM Adaptation layer

Netsanet Sinor
ID No-GSE/7944/11

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Table of content
1. Introduction………………………………………………….….3
2. Basic concept ……………………………………………….…..3

2.1. AAL0……………………………………………………...4
2.2. AAL1…………………………………………………..….5
2.3. AAL2…………………………………………………..….5
2.4. AAL3/4………………………………………………..…..6
2.5. AAL5……………………………………………...………6

3.CONCLUSION…………………………………….… ….…………9

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 1.Introduction

The use of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology and services creates
the need for an adaptation layer in order to support information transfer protocols,
which are not based on ATM. This adaptation layer defines how to segment higher-
layer packets into cells and the reassembly of these packets. Additionally, it defines
how to handle various transmission aspects in the ATM layer.
Examples of services that need adaptations are Gigabit Ethernet, IP, Frame Relay,
SONET/SDH, UMTS/Wireless, etc.
The main services provided by AAL (ATM Adaptation Layer) are:
Segmentation and reassembly
Handling of transmission errors
Handling of lost and mis inserted cell conditions
Timing and flow control
2. Basic concept

ATM has been designed to support applications including broadband ISDN, carrying
multiple synchronous information channels, as a transfer mechanism for frame-relay
and Switched Multi-Megabit Data Service (SMDS) applications, and finally as a
link-transport mechanism for Local Area Networks. Each of these types of interfaces
requires special mapping services to operate over the ATM cell structure.

AAL is divided into two major sublayers, the convergence and segmentation and
reassembly sublayer
1. convergence sublayer(cs): -Convergence sublayer (CS): at the source, the CS is
responsible to accept bit streams or arbitrary length messages from the applications
and breaking them up into units of 44 to 48 bytes (the exact size is protocol
dependent). At the destination, the CS reassembles the cells into the original
messages. The CS consists of 2 subparts:
a. The common part, which is common to all applications.
b. The service specific part, which is specific for the application.

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2. Segmentation and Reassembly (SAR) sublayer: it can add headers & trailers to
the data units given to it by the CS to form cell payloads. At the destination, the SAR
sublayer reassembles the cells into messages.
The SAR is basically concerned with cells while the CS is concerned with
messages.
The below ATM Adaptation Layer protocols (AALs) have been defined by
the ITU-T. It is meant that these AALs will meet a variety of needs. The
classification is based on

- Timing relationship between sender and receiver

= Related
= Not related
- Bit rate
= Constant bit rate
= Variable bit rate
- Connection mode
= Connection-oriented
= Connectionless
- AAL service classes are
- Class A
- Class B
- Class C
- Class D
- AAL protocols
- AAL 1
- AAL 2
- AAL 3/4
- AAL 5

2.1 AAL-0 NULL AAL

AAL is the simplest and least useful of the AAL service classes is AAL-0. This class
of service provides a direct interface into the ATM layer by users. It has been
included in the standard to permit equipment designers to disregard the AAL in its
entirety. While some had envisioned AAL-0 to useful in supporting control and
service messaging, it lacks the guaranteed delivery mechanisms that are critical to
many network controls functions. For proprietary systems this can be useful. For
systems that must operate in open environments, with equipment from multiple

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vendors, this "feature" should probably be avoided. It doesn't provide much in the
way of an aid to interoperability.

2.2. AAL-1 Supports Class A Constant Bit Rate Traffic

In support of synchronous networking, AAL-1 provides a constant rate bit-stream

between the two ends of an ATM connection. The data stream is locked to a fixed
timing reference. While providing steady rate transfer is a relatively simple matter
over a single synchronous interface, the asynchronous nature of ATM provides a
significant challenge. Variations in a network's ability to deliver ATM traffic can
result in significant jitter that impedes orderly reassembly of the synchronous
traffic stream. Figure 1. shows the format of the AAL-1

SAR-PDU, that is sent over a single ATM cell. AAL-1 PDU fields include the
Sequence Number that consists of a three-bit repeating sequence number, and a
"CS-indication" bit, a 4-bit Sequence Number Protection (SNP) field that protects
against sequence number errors, and a 47-octet payload. Typically, this payload
field is intended to be filled, however, it can be partially used based on
renegotiated operation.

Figure 1 - AAL-1 Cell Format

Some of the most interesting aspects of AAL-1 are involved in clock recovery. Send
too much information and data must be dropped. Send too little (too slow), and
information must be padded. Two general approaches to resolving these issues have
been proposed, Synchronous Residual Time Stamp where the clocks on both ends
of a network connection are synchronized, and Adaptive Clock, in which the receiver
adjusts the speed of its clock on the basis of the amount of information available in
its receive buffers.

2.3. AAL-2 Variable Rate Synchronous Service

AAL-2 is based on the assumption that some forms of isochronous information can
be represented in a multiple data rate format. For example, the rate of some video

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compression techniques can vary on the basis of the complexity and rate of change
of moving images. While this portion of the standard has been highlighted, it is
absent from the published standards.

2.4. AAL-3/4 End-To-End Data Transport

Based on the SMDS standard, AAL-3/4 provides data transport services for both
connection and connectionless data. These services correspond to Class C and Class
D data. Unlike AAL-0 and AAL-1, AAL-3/4 includes a range of service options.
Information is transferred in either message or streaming mode. Optional delivery
assurance techniques include discarding faulty SDUs, end-to-end data recovery, and
delivery of all SDUs regardless of their integrity. Assured transmission through
retransmission is discussed in the standards, but is not fully specified. Non-assured
transmission is supported in the standard, with options to deliver or discard faulty
SDUs. Typically, it is most useful to discard faulty SDUs. Delivery of unreliable
information is typically something to avoid. Several logical AAL connections can
be multiplexed over a single ATM Virtual Circuit (VC). Finally, AAL-3/4 provides
a capability to support multipoint delivery of information from a single source.

To support this set of services, the AAL-3/4 architecture is considerably more

involved than the other AAL protocols. Active processing is performed by both the
CPCS and SAR layers to provide additional functions. Processing steps include
receipt of the User data frame to AAL, CPCS formatting of the AAL-PDU for
transmission to the destination, followed by forwarding of the CPCS-PDU to the
SAR layer for segmentation into a set of 44-byte PDUs for transmission (with 3
octets of SAR control information) over the ATM layer. On receipt of the ATM
PDU, the opposite process ensues, with the SAR reassembling the stream of SAR-
PDUs into a single CPCS-PDU and delivering the received CPCS-PDU to the CPCS
for final processing and delivery of information to the user. A summary of these
processes follows.

The AAL-3/4 CPCS is responsible for managing the integrity of AAL-3/4

information. It additionally pads the information data-block size to an even multiple
of 4 octets, simplifying protocol processing by CPUs such as the Motorola 680x0
series that are popular in telecommunications systems. Figure 4 shows the format of
the CPCS-PDU. The fields of the PDU and their use are:

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  CPI - Common Part Indicator: Acts as a protocol identifier that defines how
the remaining fields of the PDU are to be processed. At this point, it is largely
a placeholder to support future changes to the protocol, the CPI is specified to
be always zero by ITU-T I.363.
 Btag - Beginning Tag. This value is used to determine whether or not the
CPCS-PDU has been properly delivered. When the CPCS-PDU is
constructed, the same value is entered into both the Btag and Etag fields. If a
reassembled CPCS-PDU is received with these values being different, the
PDU is assumed to have been corrupted. The tag value is incremented (with
a wrap at all ones) as each PDU is constructed.
 BASize - Buffer Allocation Size Indication. Tells the receiver the amount of
buffer space to allocate to process the PDU. This value is equal-to or greater
than the PDU size.
 Pad - Ensures that the PDU is a multiple of 4 octets in length. This simplifies
processing of the PDU in 32-bit chunks.
 AL - Alignment Field. This is unused pad space with the sole purpose of
padding the trailer to 4-octets
 Etag - End Tag. Matches the beginning tag. Used for data integrity verification
 Length - Field Length. Specifies the actual length of the CPCS-PDU (in octets
when CPI=0). As the SAR is responsible for framing the data, this is provided
to support additional error checking.

Figure 2 - AAL-3/4 CPCS PDU Format

The Segmentation and Reassembly Sublayer manages the fragmentation and

reassembly of the AAL-3/4 CPCS-PDUs into payload information that can be
carried by the ATM cells. The format of the SAR-PDU is shown in above Figure.
The SAR-PDU fields and there application are as follows:

 ST - Segment Type (2-bits) defines where the segment belongs in the SAR-
SDU (essentially the CPCS-PDU). Possible values include: (10) beginning of
the message, (00) continuation of the message, (01) end of the message, and
(11) single segment message.
 SN - Sequence Number (4-bits). Used to ensure the in-order delivery of
segments.

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  MID - Multiplexing Identification Field. (10-bits) Provides compatibility with
SMDS, this field carries multiplex channel identification, allowing for the
transmission of multiple channels of information over a single ATM VC.
 Payload - (44-octets) the segment of the CPCS-PDU information to be
transferred within this cell.
 LI - length Indication. (6 bits) Identifies the amount of information in the
payload portion of the cell. Only the last cell in a transmission should have
less than 44 octets of information. Therefore, this value will be 44 for all
segments with the exception of the end-of-message segment, in which case it
is an even multiple of 4 between 4 and 44 (remember the CPCS padding).
 CRC - cyclic redundancy check (10-bits). Calculated over the complete SAR-
PDU with the exception of the CRC field.

Figure 3 - SAR-PDU Format

2.5. AAL-5 Simple Data Transfer

While the AAL-3/4 provides a rich set of services, it does so at the expense of
additional protocol overhead and processing. AAL-5, originally coined the Simple
and Efficient Adaptation Layer (SEAL) was designed to provide similar services at
lower overhead. This AAL takes advantage of the ATM End of Message (EOM) flag
to signal the end of a single message. Significant overhead is elimated by removing
the SAR header and trailer. Processing involves construction of a CPCS-PDU
(shown in Figure 6) that can carry between 1 and 65535 octets, that is segmented
into a series of 48 octet SAR-PDUs for ATM transmission.

AAL 5 was introduced to:

 Reduce protocol processing overhead.

 Reduce transmission overhead.
 Ensure adaptability to existing transport protocols

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 Service Class A Class B Class C Class D
Timing Related Related Not related Not related
Between
source and
destination
Bit Rate constant Variable variable variable

Connection Connection Connection Connection connectionless

Mode oriented oriented oriented
Examples of Circuit Variable bit Connection Connectionless
services emulation, rate video oriented data data transfer
constant bit audio transfer
rate video
audio
AAL Type AAL 1 AAL 2 AAL ¾ and AAL ¾ and
AAL 5 AAL 5
Table 1. AAL Services

3. Conclusion

In Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks, the ATM Adaptation Layer

(AAL) provides facilities for non-ATM based networks to connect to ATM network
and use its services.

AAL is basically a software layer that accepts user data, which may be digitized
voice, video or computer data, and makes them suitable for transmission over an
ATM network. The transmissions can be of fixed or variable data rate. AAL accepts
higher layer packets and segments them into fixed sized ATM cells before
transmission via ATM. It also reassembles the received segments to the higher layer
packets.

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