ADDIS ABABA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOIOGY

Asynchronous transfer mode Technology and Its

current status

Netsanet sinor
ID No-GSE/7944/11

1
 Abstract

The main aim of this paper review is to summaries asynchronous transfer mode
technology and its current status. Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a high
performance, cell-oriented switching and multiplexing technology that utilizes fixed
length 53 byte; 48 bytes of data, and 5 bytes of header information) packets to carry
different types of data and traffic. Asynchronous transfer mode was designed with
cells in mind. This is because voice data is converted to packets and is forced to
share a network with burst data (large packet data) passing through the same
medium. So, no matter how small the voice packets are, they always encounter full-
sized data packets, and could experience maximum queuing delays. This is the
reason all data packets should be of the same size.

2
Table of content

1.Introduction ………………………………………………............4
2.ATM Technology…………………………………………………5
3 basic concepts……………………………………………………..5
3.1 ATM Adaptation layer ……………………………………….6
3.2 service category…………………………………………….…6
4.Trafic control……………………………………………………...7
5. conclusion ……………………………………………………….8

3
 1. Introduction

ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) has been proposed as an enabling network

technology to support broadband integrated services. It was designed to provide a
single platform for the transmission of voice, video and data at specified quality of
service. ATM is a type of network technology based on transferring data in cells of
a fixed size. The cell used with ATM is relatively small compared to units used with
older technologies. The small, constant cell size allows ATM equipment to transmit
video, audio, and computer data over the same network, and assure that no single
type of data keeps the line.
ATM creates fixed routes between two points before data transfer begins, which
differs from TCP/IP, where data is divided into packets, each of which takes a
different route to get to its destination. This makes it easier to bill data usage.
However, an ATM network is less adaptable to a sudden network traffic surge. And
this makes the need for an adaptation layer called ATM adaptation layer, which
allows existing networks (such as packet networks) to connect to ATM facilities

4
 2.ATM Technology

Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is a switching technique used by

telecommunication networks that uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing to
encode data into small, fixed-sized cells. ATM uses asynchronous time-division
multiplexing that is why it is called Asynchronous Transfer Mode to multiplex cells
from different channels. Even if ATM is the most useful technology today it has
some issues or challenges.

ATM provides high-speed switching of data packets. ATM is a best effort delivery
system that relies on flow control to provide performance enhancements. The
transmission process begins when a block of data is sent to a recipient. The data is
broken into 48-byte data packets for transmission, with five bytes of control data
appended to the 48-byte data packets in a control header. As a result, a 53-byte
transmission frame is formed3. The reason for such a short cell length is ATM must
deliver real time service at low bit rates and thus it minimizes packetization delay4.
These 53-byte frames are transmitted to recipients, where the 5-byte control data is
stripped and the message is reassembled. Sequences of cells in an ATM connection
are received in the same order that they were transmitted. ATM therefore guarantees
that cells will not be disordered.

3.BASIC CONCEPT

In Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) logical connections are known as virtual

channel connections or VCCs. The VCC is similar to virtual circuit (VC) in packet
switched network. It is unit of switching used in ATM network.

• Initially VCC is established between end users in the network.

• After the VCC connection is established variable rate and fixed size cells are
exchanged.

• Here VPC i.e. Virtual Path Connection is combination of VCCs having same end
points or destinations. Hence all the ATM cells travelling through VCCs in one
common VPC are switched together.

5
 3.1 ATM Adaptation layer

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.

The AAL is subdivided into a Convergence Sub-layer (CS), and a Segmentation and
Re-assembly (SAR) Sub-layer. CS operations are tailored, depending on the type of
application being supported. The CS provides support to specific applications, such
as handling cell delay variation and tracking clock status. Applications access the
AAL at a service access point (SAP), defined as the address of the application. SAR
operations entail the segmentation of traffic payload into 48-byte service data units
(SDU10s) at the originating SAR and reassembling the SDUs into the original form
at the receiving SAR. Thus, the SAR sublayer packs the information from the CS
into cells and unpacks the information at the destination. The SAR also maps headers
plus CS information into 48-byte cells. Recently the ATM Forum specified a new
type of AAL, called AAL 5.

3.2 service category

ATM traffic contracts form part of the mechanism by which "quality of service"
(QoS) is ensured. There are four basic types (and several variants) which each have
a set of parameters describing the connection.

1. CBR - Constant bit rate: a Peak Cell Rate (PCR) is specified, which is
constant.
2. VBR - Variable bit rate: an average or Sustainable Cell Rate (SCR) is
specified, which can peak at a certain level, a PCR, for a maximum interval
before being problematic.
3. ABR - Available bit rate: a minimum guaranteed rate is specified.
4. UBR - Unspecified bit rate: traffic is allocated to all remaining transmission
capacity.

VBR has real-time and non-real-time variants, and serves for "bursty" traffic. Non-
real-time is sometimes abbreviated to vbr-nrt.

6
Most traffic classes also introduce the concept of Cell-delay variation tolerance
(CDVT), which defines the "clumping" of cells in time.

4. ATM traffic control

In ATM networks, different traffic classes with different flow characteristics and
Quality of Service (QOS) requirements are statistically multiplexed to increase the
utilization of link bandwidth. Since ATM will be a broadband service, ATM
networks will be high speed ones. Youngant shrman, states about how ATM
network is threat, on his study of ‘an overview of network architecture and security
framework of ATM’ he says
“As other networks, ATM networks will suffer a lot of threats. Typical ones are
eavesdropping, spoofing, service denial, VC stealing and traffic analysis etc. Notice
that VC stealing, and traffic analysis happen only in ATM networks.” because of the
above-mentioned traffic problems, ATM need traffic control mechanism.
on the other hand, Ibrahim Diyab on his study of a comparison and simulation of
ATM vs Frame relay, he says,
“The obtained results from the simulation show that both parameters traffic sent and
traffic received are higher in ATM and the delay is less than what is in the Frame
Relay. Hence, this comparative study can assess that the ATM has better
transmission performance than the Frame Relay for the real-time applications such
as Voice over IP.”

7
 5. Conclusion
The development of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) communications
networking is a key enabling communications technology that will introduce new
applications to users and network providers, as well as provide higher bandwidth
capacity to the network. Because of its high-bandwidth capacity and cell-oriented
architecture, ATM is expected to be the dominant infrastructure for delivering
virtually all types of communications, including data, voice, image, and multimedia,
into the buildings and desktops of users around the world. By carefully considering
critical performance issues, and accommodating existing legacy systems during
ATM implementations, the telecommunications industry has insured that ATM will
not only be the design solution of the future, but that it can provide cost effective
applications today as well.

8
REFERENCE
1. Ibrahim Diveb, Frame relay versus Asynchronous transfer mode: a
comparative study and simulation, DOI: 10.5815/ijcnis.2017.10.04

2. william dillon , Toddlm Bazzil,asyncronous transfer mode technology for

Radiologic image communication , DOI: 10.2214/ajr.164.6.7754909 · Source:
PubMed

3. Yougant sharma, Mohit Panchal, AN OVERVIEW OF NETWORK

ARCHITECTURE AND SECURITY FRAMEWORK OF
ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSFER MODE, © 2015 IJIRT | Volume 1 Issue 12 |
ISSN: 2349-6002
4. Ikemefuna James Udeh Enugu State University of Science and
Technology,PACKET LOSS MINIMIZATION IN ASYNCHRONOUS
TRANSFER MODE (ATM) IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
NETWORKS, August 2015