ATM

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is the cell relay

protocol designed by the ATM Forum and adopted by
the ITU-T.
Multiplexing using cells

Cleaner. Fixed buffer sizes,

uniform time spent on
each cell.
ATM multiplexing

ATM tries to not waste cell space

Architecture of an ATM network

UNI - user network interface

NNI - network network interface
TP, VPs, and VCs

VC - virtual channel
VP - virtual path
TP - transmission path
Example of VPs and VCs
Connection identifiers
 ATM Switches
Input Output
Port VPI/VCI Port VPI/VCI 45

1 29 2 45 2
29 64
2 45 1 29 1
1 64 3 29 3
3 29 1 64 29

• ATM switches translate VPI/VCI values

• VPI/VCI value unique only per interface—
e.g.: locally significant and may be re-used elsewhere
in network
Routing with a switch
ATM layers
ATM layers in endpoint devices and switches
An ATM cell
 ATM Service Categories
• An ATM network can support many types of
traffic:
• Real time
– Constant bit rate (CBR)
– Real time variable bit rate (rt-VBR)
• Non-real time
– Non-real time variable bit rate (nrt-VBR)
– Available bit rate (ABR)
– Unspecified bit rate (UBR)
Service Classes and Capacity of Network
 ATM Service Categories
Constant Bit Rate (CBR)

Application
Real Time Voice and Video

Traffic Descriptor QoS

Tolerance

PCR LOW HIGH

Peak Cell Rate

Cell Loss
Cell Delay
 ATM Service Categories
Variable Bit Rate (VBR-RT/VBR-NRT)

Application
Packetized Voice/Video, SNA

Traffic Descriptor QoS

PCR Tolerance
Peak Cell Rate
LOW HIGH
SCR
Sustainable Cell Rate
MBS
Maximum Burst Size Cell Loss Cell Delay
Cell Delay (RT) (NRT)
 ATM Service Categories
Unspecified Bit Rate (UBR)

Application
Data Transfer

Traffic Descriptor QoS

Tolerance

No Guarantees LOW HIGH

Send and Pray

Cell Delay
Cell Loss
 ATM Adaptation Layer
• Essentially the “translation layer”
between ATM layer and other layers,
such as PCM and IP
 Supported Application types
• Four AAL protocols defined:
• AAL 1: CBR traffic, e.g. circuit emulation (T-1 over
ATM), voice over ATM, real-time video
• AAL 2: rt-VBR traffic, e.g. MPEG voice and video
• AAL 3/4: nrt-VBR traffic, e.g. general data service
(not really used by anyone)
• AAL 5 (successor to AAL 3/4): e.g. IP over ATM