WELCOME TO TRAINING ON

PDH &SDH TECHNOLOGY

USED
IN OPTICAL TRANSMISSION
Presented By: A.K. RAI
DM (OPT)

TOPIC COVERED ON SDH

PDH INTRODUCTION
SDH FUNDAMENTAL
NEXT GEN SDH

Position of Transmission Eqpt. in

Telecom NW
Switching Equpt

Transmission Eqpt.

Switching Equpt

TELECOM NETWORK
Access NW

Subscribers

Access NW

Subscribers

Different Transmission Media

Twisted pair
Coaxial cable
Wireless transmission.
Optical fiber

Why optical fiber transmission ?

Large transmission capacity,

Good quality
Small attenuation.
Strict security.
Large trunk distance.

Advantages of Optical Transmission

Large bandwidth permits high data
transmission, which also supports the
aggregation of voice, video, and data
Technological improvements are
occurring rapidly, often permitting
increased capacity over existing optical
fiber

Advantages of Optical Transmission

Immunity to electromagnetic
interference reduces bit error rate and
eliminates the need for shielding within
or outside a building
Glass fiber has low attenuation, which
permits extended cable transmission
distance

Advantages of Optical Transmission

Light as a transmission medium provides the
ability for the use of optical fiber in dangerous
environments
Optical fiber is difficult to tap, thus providing
a higher degree of security than possible with
copper wire
Light weight and small diameter of fiber
permit high capacity through existing conduits

History of Digital Transmission

70s - introduction of PCM into Telecom
networks
32 PCM streams are Synchronously
Multiplexed to
2.048 Mbit/s (E1)
Multiplexing to higher rates via PDH
1985 Bellcore proposes SONET
1988 SDH standard introduced
1990s DWDM introduced

PULSE CODE MODULATION

The input signal is sampled prior to digitisation and an approximation to
the input is reconstructed by the digital-to-analogue converter:

input

Sampling

Filtering

output

Digitisation

Digital-to-analogue
conversion

code, modulate
Transmission
Wire/optical fibre
Aerial/free-space

Demodulate, Decode

Nyquists Sampling theorem

For a signal of bandwidth B Hz, the

minimum sampling rate is 2B samples/s

In the telephone system the speech signal

has a bandwidth up to 3.4 kHz and a
sampling rate of 8 kHz,

The 32-channel PCM Transmission system

30 speech signals plus two control channels
for signalling and synchronising:
Signal bandwidth 3.4 kHz
Sampling rate 8 kHz (8000samples/sec)
Hence frame length 1/8000 sec or 125 s
Sample size 8 bits/sample
Hence bit rate from each signal 8*8000=64 kbit/s
32 channels
Hence each time slot 3.906 s
1/(8000*32)
Overall data rate 2.048 Mbit/s
32*64 kbit/s =2048 kbit/s or 2.048 Mbit/s

E1 format for 32 CH PCM

TS 0 is used for synchronization & alarm transport
TS 16 is used for channel associated signalling( CAS)
information & multi frame alignment word (MFA)
30 Channel for voice
ITU-T G.704 (32 Time Slots)
0

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Omniplexer - 30 Channel Assignments

-

10

11

12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

HIGHER ORDER DIGITAL MULTIPLEXING

TECHNOLOGY

Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy

(PDH)
Synchronous Digital Hierarchy

(SDH)

PDH MULTIPLEXING
Plesiochronous means non synchronous.
Multiplexing of 2 Mbit/s to 140 Mbit/s requires two
intermediate multiplexing stages of 8 Mbit/s and 34
Mbit/s.
The multiplexing of several tributaries can be achieved by
Bit by bit multiplexing (bit interleaving)
There are four bit streams to be multiplexed. One bit is
sequentially taken from each tributary so that the resulting
multiplexed bit stream has every fifth bit coming from the
same tributary.

PDH features
Bit interleaving is used for North American and
European PDH system. A typical 8.448 Mb/s
plesichronous multiplexer has four primary (E1)
MUX, each having an out put of 2.048 Mb/s, bit
interleaved to form the next level in hierarchy.
Note that this output rate of 8.448 Mb/s is not
exactly four times the tributary bit rate of
2.048Mb/s. This is a result of the non-sychronous
nature of the system.

PDH Features
Every tributary has its own clock. Every tributary is
timed with plesiochronous frequency, that is a
nominal frequency about which the shifts around it
within prefixed limits. For example, the primary
multiplexer output is 2.048 Mb/s +- 50ppm.
To account for the small variations of the tributaries
frequencies about the nominal value when
multiplexing four tributaries to the next hierarchy
level, a process known as positive stuffing (also
known as positive justification) is used.

Positive Pulse stuffing or justification

Pulse stuffing involves intentionally making the output bit
rate of a channel higher than the input rate. The output
channel therefore contains all the input data plus a variable
number of stuffed bits that are not part of the incoming
subscriber information.
The stuffed bits are inserted at the specific locations, to pad
the input bit stream to the higher output bit rate. This stuffed
bits must be identified at the receiving end so that destuffing can be done to recover the original bit stream.

Positive Pulse stuffing or justification

Pulse stuffing is used for higher order multiplexing
when each of the incoming lower order tributary
signal is unsynchronized, and therefore bears no
prefix phase relationship to any of the other.

PDH Multiplexers

PDH Bit Rates (European Standard)

Notation

Data Rate

No. of ch.

E4

139264 Kbps

1920

E3

34368 Kbps

480

E2

8448 Kbps

120

E1

2048 Kbps

30

E0

64 Kbps

PDH Bit Rates (American Standard)

Notation

Data Rate

T4/DS4

139264 Kbps

T3/DS3

44736 Kbps

T2/DS2

6312 Kbps

T1/DS1

1544 Kbps

T0/DS0

64 Kbps

PDH Multiplexers
Multiplexer Stages
64
kbits/s

x30

30 ch
2.048 Mb/s

120 ch
8.44Mb/s
x
4

480 ch
34.368
Mb/s
x4

7680 ch Europe
564.992
Mbit/s

1920 ch
139.264
Mb/s
x4

x4

A typical Plesiochronous Drop and Insert

PDH Equipments in Telecom. Network

Tel. Subscribers
Switching
Equip.
A
2Mb/s Trib. 1- 64 Add
2/140 OPTIMUX
PDH Equip.
A

2/140 OPTIMUX
PDH Equip.
B

34M
b/s

2Mb/s
1 32
Drop

Switching
Equip.
B

2/140 OPTIMUX
PDH Equip.
C

2/140 OPTIMUX
PDH Equip
B.

2Mb/s 1-32
Add

Tel. Subscribers

2Mb/s 33-64 &

1-32 Drop

Switching
Equip.
C

Tel. Subscribers

SDH Equipments in Telecom. Network

Tel. Subscribers
Master Clock (2MHz.)

Switching
Equip.
A

NMS

2Mb/s Tribs ADD/DROP

STM-1/ 4/16
Equip. A

SDH Equip. in Ring

STM-1/ 4/16
Equip. C

STM-1/ 4/16
Equip. B

2Mb/s Tribs ADD/DROP

Switching
Equip.
B

Tel. Subscribers

2Mb/s Tribs ADD/DROP

Switching
Equip.
C

Tel. Subscribers

Comparison Of SDH & PDH Technology

For SDH, tributaries & data are mapped/de mapped to VC-4

container directly and have its own identity.
For PDH , tributaries are mux. /de-mux. in steps and have no
identity.
Synchronous Digital Multiplexers have tributaries with the same
clock frequency, and they are all synchronized to a master clock.
Plesiochronous Digital Multiplexers (non synchronous) have
tributaries that have the same nominal frequency (that means
there can be small difference from one to another), but they are
not synchronized to each other.
For synchronous case, the pulses in each tributary all rise and
fall during the same time interval.
For the PDH, the rise and fall time of the pulses in each
tributaries do not coincide with each other.

Disadvantage of PDH System

Inability to identify individual channels in a higherorder bit stream;
Insufficient capacity for network management;
Non compatibility between different vendors.
No worldwide standard optical interface specification.
Restricted to point-to-point transmission.
Cant sustain high bit rate multiplexing (Above
140Mb/s)
Impossible to extract base-band signal in between
without complete De multiplexing the aggregate
restoration time is several seconds to minutes

Advantage of SDH System

Simple multiplexing processes
Easy access to various signals in a multiplexed high
bit rate signal
Standardized interface can support multi vendor inter
working, international connection and many different
services; i.e. Voice , Ethernet, video, ATM, IP
Support advance Network Management System
(OAM&P) Overhead bits for Fault, Configuration,
Performance Monitoring, Security and Accounting
management

Advantage of SDH System

Service restoration time is less than 50 ms
A flexible and efficient way of networking
Network Distribution: Add/Drop capability
Network survivability: APS (Automatic Protection
Switching)
Traffic Cross connection: capacity management,
bandwidth management and protection route
diversity

SDH Frame Format

STM-N

Administrative
Unit

Section
Overhead

RSOH

MSOH

Pointer

Path
Overhead

Virtual
Container

Container

Mapping Elements

Container
Virtual Container
Tributary Unit
Tributary Unit Group
Administrative Unit
Administrative Unit Group

Mapping Elements
The Container (C )
Basic packaging unit for tributary signal ( PDH )
Clock

PDH Circuit

Alignment

Line Input

Mapping Elements

The Virtual Container ( VC )

Formation of the container by adding of a
POH ( Path Overhead )
The Tributary Unit ( TU )
Is formed via adding a pointer to the VC
The Tributary Unit Group ( TUG )
Combines several TUs to formed a new VC

Mapping Elements
The Administrative Unit ( AU )
Is shaped if a pointer is allocated to the VC
formed at last
The Synchronous Transport Module ( STM-N)
Formed by adding a section overhead ( SOH )
TO AUs

SDH Hierarchy
STM-64
x64
STM-16
x16

x4

x16

AU-4-64c

VC-4-64c

C-4-64c

9039.872Mb/s

AU-4-16c

VC-4-16c

C-4-16c

2259.968Mb/s

AU-4-4c

VC-4-4c

C-4-4c

564.992Mb/s

AU-4

VC-4

C-4

E4: 139.264Mb/s

C-3

E3: 34.368Mb/s
DS3: 44.736Mb/s

x4

STM-4
x4
STM-1

AUG

x3

x3
AU-3

TUG-3

High Order Payloads

Containers of Base Signal
(Low Order Payloads)

TU-3

VC-3

VC-3
x7
x7

STM-n
AUG
AU-n
VC-n

Synchronous Transport Module

Administrative Unit Group: One or
more AU(s)

TUG-2

x1

TU-2

VC-2

C-2

DS2:6.312 Mb/s

TU-12

VC-12

C-12

E1: 2.048Mb/s

TU-11

VC-11

C-11

DS1:1.544Mb/s

x3

Administrative Unit: VC + pointers

Virtual Container: payload + path
overhead

x4

Frame Structures
*

270 columns x 9 rows = 2430 bytes

STM-1

270 Columns

2430X8byte=19440bits
8000 fps x 19440 bits = 155.52 Mbit/s

9 Rows

STM-4

155.52 Mbit/s

1,080 (270*4 )Columns

4 x 155.52 Mbit/s = 622.08 Mbit/s

9 Rows

STM-16
9 Rows

622.08 Mbit/s

4,320 (270*16) Columns

2488.32 Mbit/s

Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH)

International organization defined standardized bit rates :

155.520 Mbit/s

STM-1

63E1

1890 Ch

622.080 Mbit/s

STM-4

252E1 7560 Ch

2.488 Gbit/s

STM-16

1008E1 30240Ch

9.953 Gbit/s

STM-64

4032E1 120960Ch.

39.81312 Gbit/s

STM-256

16128E1 483840Ch

Overhead Layer Concepts

path
multiplex section
regen.
section

regenerator
section
PTE

multiplex section

REG

regen.
section

ADM
or
DCS

path
regen. section multipl. section
termination termination
termination
service (E1, E4..)
mapping
demapping

regenerator
section
REG

PTE

regen. section
path
termination
termination

PTE = path terminating element

MUX = terminal multiplexer
REG = regenerator
ADM = add/drop multiplexer
DCS = digital cross-connect system

service (E1, E4..)

mapping
demapping

SDH Frame

SDH Over Head

SDH Overhead

RSOH bytes

A1, A2 Frame alignment

J0 Reg Trace byte
Z0 Spare byte
B1 Reg Monitoring
E1 Reg EOW
F1 Data Channel
D1-D3 64kbps X 3=192kbps Management
Channel

Regenerator Section
Regeneration section layer is the lowest level of link
components in a SDH network
Deals with the transport of an STM-N frame across
the physical medium
Point-to-point connection between two regeneration
section termination points with direct optical or
electrical domain connectivity
Terminated by Regenerator Section Terminating
Equipment (RSTE)
The Regeneration section is mainly designed to
overcome physical limitations of the transport
technology

Pointer
H1, H2, H3

Pointers

Pointers were included into SDH design to

provide tools to compensate for incoming
payload phase differences

It avoids delay and jitter in payload

MSOH

B2 MSOH error monitoring

K1, K2 APS function
D4-D12 576 data communication channel
S1 syncronization status
M1 MSOH remote monitoring
E2 EOW channel

Multiplex Section
One or more consecutive regenerator sections might
compose a multiplex section
Main element to build different topologies (e.g. ring)

Deals with the transport of path layer payloads across

the physical medium
Multiplex section is a point-to-point logical link that
connects to ADM, MUX, or DCS devices
These devices might not include a path termination

Overhead is interpreted and modified by Multiplex

Section Terminating Equipment (MSTE)
Multiplex section (MS) overhead is accessed only after the
section overhead has been first terminated

Path Over Head (POH )

J1 trace byte
B3 Error monitoring
C2 Path signal label of container
G1 Higher order alarm status
F2 data channel
H4 pointer indicator
F3 user channel
K3 APS status
N1 TCM byte

Path Over Head (POH )

J1 trace byte
B3 Error monitoring
C2 Path signal label of container
G1 Higher order alarm status
F2 data channel
H4 pointer indicator
F3 user channel
K3 APS status
N1 TCM byte

POH
One or more connected multiplex sections may provide
a transport service for a path
Multiplex section may carry multiple paths by multiplexing

Deals with the transport of various payloads between

SDH terminal multiplexing equipment
Path layer maps payloads into the format required by
the MS Layer
Communicates end-to-end via the Path Overhead
(POH)
POH is terminated and modified by Path Terminating
Equipment (PTE)
Regenerator and multiplex section overhead must be
terminated to access the overhead

SDH TOPOLOGY
Point-to-point
Used for SDH island trunks in old asynchronous networks,
or data services as POS or ATM links
Linear point-to-multipoint
Adds up ADM in the middle
Max. 16 nodes

Hub network
A DCS interconnects ADMs

Ring
ADMs are put into a ring
Redundant, multiple connected rings
Automatic protection switching (APS)

USHR

Add and Drop Example

STM-4 Ring
4 x STM-1 channels
Uni-directional routing
Provisioning:
add 1-3 (drop 3-1)
add 3-4 (drop 4-3)
add 4-2 (drop 2-4)
2 channels occupied

Add 1-3

ADM
1
Add 4-2
Drop

ADM
2

OC-12

ADM
4
Drop

ADM
3
Add 3-4
Drop

Network Protection

1:1 protection
1:1 protection (special case of 1:n)

Bi- or unidirectional
Revertive
Typically dedicated protection
May transmit traffic on both channels, or use protect for
low priority traffic
Working facility

Protection facility

ADM/Router

ADM/Router

1:n protection
1:n protection
Bi- or unidirectional
Revertive
Shared protection facility

ADM/Router

Protection facility

ADM/Router

Shared protection
STM-1#10 into STM-1#4

Fiber cut

No dedicated
protection
bandwidth - only
used when
protection
required
Only nodes next
to the failure know
about the
protection switch
No traffic lost

Loops

STM-1#4 into
STM-1#10

STM-1#10 into
STM-1#4

Working
Traffic

Next Generation SDH

Technology

New SDH

Customer

Operator
Adaptation

Ficon
Escon
Fibre
Channel

Native Interfaces

Ethernet

GFP

VC

Core

LCAS

Link
Generic
Virtual
Frame
Concatenation Capacity
Adjustment
Procedure
Scheme

SDH MUX/DEMUX

Edge

SDH/
SONET/
OTN

GFP
Clients

Ethernet

IP/PPP

Fibre
Channel

ESCON

Others

GFP - Client Specific Aspects

Frame Mapped

(payload dependent)

Transparent Mapped

GFP

GFP - Common Aspects

(payload independent)

Transport

SDH/SONET
VC-n Path

OTN
ODUk Path

Others
(e.g. Fibre)

Making SDH efficient through

Virtual Concatenation (VC)
data

SDH

efficiency

NewSDH

efficiency

Ethernet
ATM

10 Mbit/s
25 Mbit/s

VC- 3
VC- 3

20%
50%

VC-12-5v
VC-12-12v

92%
98%

Fast Ethernet

100 Mbit/s

VC- 4

66%

VC-12-46v
VC-3-2v

100%
100%

ESCON

200 Mbit/s

VC-4-4c

33%

VC-3-4v

100%

Fibre Channel

400 Mbit/s
800 Mbit/s

VC-4-4c
VC-4-16c

66%
26%

VC-3-8v
VC-4-6v

100%
89%

Gigabit Ethernet

1 Gbit/s

VC-4-16c

42%

VC-4-7v

95%

Example:

100M Ethernet
8x E1 Services
2x 10M Ethernet

VC-12-46v
VC-12-5v
VC-12-5v

STM-1
= 64 x VC-12

More services integrated- by using VC!

SDH
Line
Rates
Transport
10M Ethernet over SDH?
10 M

5x

Standard
Containers
are inefficient!

SDH Payload Sizes

C-11
1.600 Mbit/s
C-12
2.176 Mbit/s
C-2
6.784 Mbit/s
C-3
48.384 Mbit/s
C-4
149.760 Mbit/s

Concatenate 5 x VC-12!
Contiguous
Concatenation
only large containers!

Contiguous Concatenation
C-4-4c
0.599 Gbit/s
C-4-16c
2.396 Gbit/s
C-4-64c
9.584 Gbit/s
C-4-256c
38.338 Gbit/s

Contiguous Concatenation

Offers concatenated payloads in fixed, large steps

One towing truck (POH) for all containers
All containers are on one path thru the network

C4

C4

C4

C4

VC-4-4c

Virtual Concatenation

Offers structures in a fine granularity

Every container has its own towing truck
(POH)
Every container might take a different
path
VC-4 #4

VC-4 #3

VC-4 #2

VC-4 #1

VC-4-4v

STM-16

Contiguous
Concatenation
VC-4-4c

RSOH

VC-4-1

VC-4-2

VC-4-3

VC-4-4

AU-4 Pointers

VC-4-5

VC-4-6

VC-4-7

VC-4-8

VC-4-9

VC-4-10

VC-4-11

VC-4-12

VC-4-13

VC-4-14

VC-4-15

VC-4-16

MSOH

The block has to start at defined positions in the payload

The block consists of consecutive VC-4-ns
There is only one pointer
STM-16

Virtual
Concatenation
VC-4-7v

RSOH

VC-4-1

VC-4-2

VC-4-3

VC-4-4

AU-4
Pointers
Pointers

VC-4-5

VC-4-6

VC-4-7

VC-4-8

VC-4-9

VC-4-10

VC-4-11

VC-4-12

VC-4-13

VC-4-14

VC-4-15

VC-4-16

MSOH

The blocks can start at any position in the payload

The block consists of distributed VC-ns
Each container has its own pointer

VC-4

Minimum

Maximum

Example High Order VC:

VC-4
Container Size 150,3 Mbit/s
VC-4
Payload Size
149,76 Mbit/s
VCG Granularity

VCGs:
VC-4-1v
VC-4-2v

Payload Size
Payload Size

149,76 Mbit/s
299,52 Mbit/s

VC-4-7v

Payload Size

1048,3 Mbit/s

VC-4-256v Payload Size

38338 Mbit/s
VCG Payload
Capacity

VC-12

Minimum

Maximum

Example Low Order VC:

VC-12
Container Size 2,240 Mbit/s
VC-12
Payload Size
2,176 Mbit/s
VCGs:
VC-12-1v Payload Size
VC-12-2v Payload Size

VCG Granularity

VC-12-5v Payload Size

10,88 Mbit/s

VC-12-64v Payload Size

139,26 Mbit/s

2,176 Mbit/s
4,352 Mbit/s

VCG Payload
Capacity

The end