ATM (Asynchronous Transfer

Mode)
Introduction
Need of ATM
Basic Concept of ATM
ATM NETWORK INTERFACE
ATM Adaption Layer
Packets are known as cells in ATM. The smaller packets are good for
voice as well as video transmissions. One ATM cell consists of header
(5 bytes) and data payload (48 bytes).
SAR sublayer performs the following functions:

• Fragmentation of bit stream from upper layers into size equal to ATM cells for
transmission to ATM layer in the stack.

• Reassembly of ATM cells into bit stream for delivery to upper layers.

CS sublayer performs following functions:

• management of lost and wrongly delivered ATM cells

• Timing recovery
AAL protocols have been defined to support five classes of service:

•Class A: Constant Bit Rate - supports transfer of synchronous circuit services.

•Class B: Variable Bit Rate - supports various services such as variable rate video and voice.

•Class C: Connection Oriented data

•Class D: Connectionless Data

ATM AAL Layers-Difference between
AAL1,AAL2,AAL3,AAL4,AAL5
AAL Type-1
ATM AAL1(AAL Type-1) Protocol Layer
ATM AAL1(AAL Type-2) Protocol Layer
ATM AAL1(AAL Type-3/4) Protocol Layer
ATM AAL1(AAL Type- 5) Protocol Layer
Disadvantages of ATM
ATM Cell Header Format
Traffic Parameter
ATM Protocol Service Categories
 IP Over ATM
➢ When the IP packet arrives at the router in the ATM network, the IP packet is encapsulated into the
ATM cells. The number of ATM cells required to encapsulated an IP packet depends on the size of
the IP packet and the size of cells in the ATM network.
➢ To route these ATM cells through the ATM network a route is established between the two routers.
We refer to these routers as the entry-point router and exit-point router.
➢ The entry-point router is where the IP packet enters the ATM network and the exit-point router is
where the IP packet exits the router.
The IP packet arriving at the entry-point router has the IP address of source and destination. To
route the cells from entry-point router to exit-point router, the ATM network requires three more
addresses, IP and Physical address of entry-point and exit-point router and the virtual circuit
identifier.

IP address: Every router connected to the ATM network has an IP address that defines that
router in the IP layer.

Physical address: Every router connected to the ATM network also have a physical address. Each
router in the ATM network is unique and is assigned by the network administrator. The physical
address of the router in the ATM network is similar to the MAC address in LAN. The physical
address defines the router in the ATM network.

Virtual Circuit Identifier (VCI): Virtual circuit identifier defines the connection between the
entry-point router and exit point router. It is denoted by the pair of identifiers (VPI, VCI) as we
have seen above.
Now let us discuss how to route the cell in the ATM network step by step.

Step 1: IP datagram (with source and destination IP address) reaches the entry-point router where it is
encapsulated into ATM cells. Now the entry point router uses the destination IP address present in the
IP datagram to identify the IP address of the next router.
The entry-point router uses its routing table to map the destination IP address to the IP address of the
next router.

Step 2: Once the IP address of the next-hop router is identified the entry-point router uses ATMARP
protocol to map the IP address of the next-hop router to its physical address.

Step 3: The virtual connection is bounded to the physical address of the entry-point router and exit point
router. So, the physical address of the router is used to establish a virtual connection between endpoints
in the ATM network.

This is how the IP datagram is routed over the switched ATM WAN network. We have also seen the
similarities and differences when IP datagram is routed in LAN and point-to-point WAN and when it is
routed in switched ATM WAN.