ATM Switched Virtual Circuits

Using ATM Adaptation Layer 2 (AAL-2)

Sudhir Gupta, Director of Strategic Marketing

Accelerated Networks, Inc.

301 Science Drive Moorpark, CA 93021 805.553.9680 www.acceleratednetworks.com

Copyright 2000 Accelerated Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology had its humble beginnings in the early nineties. Since then, it has matured into a highly reliable transport technology, ideal for emerging packetized networks. The ATM Forum and the ITU-TS have played a key role in driving ATM standards, paving the way for widespread adoption. ATM is a packet-based multiplexing and switching technology that allows both asynchronous data and isochronous traffic, including time-sensitive voice traffic, to be carried seamlessly over one network. This technology was conceived with scalability and support for quality of service in mind two aspects that are paramount for large carrier networks. Before a traffic type can be carried over an ATM network, it requires fine-tuning with the help of ATM adaptation layers. The ATM Forum and the ITU-TS ratified industry standards related to ATM Adaptation Layer 2 (AAL2) in 1998. The AAL2 standard supports real time Variable Bit Rate (rt-VBR) traffic, which closely matches the characteristics of human voice. Due to the statistical nature of a packet-based network, the circuit paths in an ATM network are used only when there is actual traffic flowing over them; hence the term virtual circuits. Virtual circuits can either be established on a permanent basis via provisioning (Permanent Virtual Circuits or PVCs) or on demand via end user signaling (Switched Virtual Circuits or SVCs). The industry standards for establishment of SVCs have been available for many years. With the availability of standards for both signaling (SVCs) and an adaptation layer for rt-VBR traffic (AAL2), the stage is set for supporting AAL2-based SVCs in the network. This paper provides an in-depth look at the technical aspects of this technology, and the resulting business applications that will drive its widespread adoption.

ATM Adaptation Layer 2

Until the availability of AAL2, voice traffic was largely carried using structured mode AAL1 over an ATM network. The structured mode AAL1 allows for emulation of a 64K PCM path though the ATM network. However, in order to carry a 64K PCM path over the ATM network, extra cost is incurred because of ATM-related overhead. Each 53-byte ATM cell has a 5-byte header and 48-byte payload. The use of AAL1 takes up one additional byte for the overhead out of the available 48 bytes for payload. Consequently, there are 6 bytes (5-byte header + 1) of overhead for every 47 bytes of payload. This additional bandwidth for the overhead is referred to as cell tax, which in the case of AAL1 is about 11.3%. In order to carry a 64 Kb/s PCM channel, then, 71.3 Kb/s of bandwidth is used in the network.

Compression Gain
There have been significant advances in voice compression technology over the last decade as well. ITUTSs G.726 describes Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM). The ADPCM technique is based on waveform encoding in which a given waveform is encoded using a lesser number of bits per sample. Using ADPCM, a 64 Kb/s PCM voice channel can be encoded at 40 Kb/, 32 Kb/s, 24 Kb/s or 16 Kb/s rate (with 5,4,3 and 2 bits/sample respectively). Voice quality is characterized using Mean Opinion Score (MOS). Toll-quality voice requires a MOS score of 4 or more on a scale of 1 to 5. Various tests conducted on voice quality using ADPCM encoding at 40K and 32K rates results in MOS of greater than 4, and so can be used for providing toll-quality voice. The AAL2 standard supports the use of ADPCMbased compression. The result is that by using AAL2 with 32 Kb/s ADPCM, a bandwidth gain of 50% can be achieved.

2 Copyright 2000 Accelerated Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

Silence Suppression Gain

During a normal telephone conversation, there are gaps of silence, which on average amount to about 50% of the total conversation time. An AAL2-based transmitter detects these periods of silence and does not transmit any cells during that time. Instead, it inserts special silence indicator cells (SIDs), which the far end receiver uses to insert artificially created comfort noise before the signal is sent to the recipient. The temporal distance and duration of silences is maintained during this process. By removing the bandwidth associated with silence, AAL2 with silence suppression allows a bandwidth gain of 50%.

Idle Channel Removal Gain

To understand idle channel removal gain, consider a trunk interface between a PBX and a telephone switch. Statistics on the usage of these trunks indicate that 20% of the trunks voice channels are idle at any given time. Todays telephone switches typically transmit idle channel codes on the transmission network upstream to indicate the idleness of such channels to far end switches. The transmission of these codes consumes network bandwidth. The AAL2 protocol allows this unused bandwidth to be utilized for carrying additional voice channels. Table 1 provides a comparison of the number of voice channels that can be carried over a T1 trunk.

Channel Encoding 64 K PCM 64 K CES 32 K ADPCM 32 K ADPCM 32 K ADPCM

Adaptation Layer TDM AAL1 AAL2 AAL2 AAL2

Packetization Delay N/A 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms 6 ms

Silence Suppression N/A N/A No Yes (50%) Yes (50%)

Idle Channel Removal N/A N/A No No Yes (20%)

# Of Voice Circuits 24 20 35 70 85

Table 1

A traditional circuit-switched T1 trunk can carry 24 64 Kb/s PCM voice channels. If the same T1 is used in the structured circuit emulation mode using AAL1, only 20 64 Kb/s PCM voice channels can be carried. The decrease is directly attributable to the cell tax mentioned above. Use of AAL2 with 32 Kb/s ADPCM should result in a 50% gain in bandwidth. However, AAL2 also imposes about 17% of extra overhead in order to provide its many bandwidth allocation features. Due to this overhead, only 35 toll-quality voice channels can be carried using 32 Kb/s ADPCM as shown in Table 1. If the equipment is capable of supporting silence suppression in addition to 32 Kb/s ADPCM, additional gain can be achieved. Assuming 50% gain due to silence suppression, 70 toll-quality voice channels can be carried. Finally, if the equipment also supports identification of idle channels and their utilization for carrying voice traffic, further improvement to voice capacity can be obtained. Assuming 20% idle channels, up to 85 tollquality voice channels can be carried on one T1 span more than 3-1/2 times the voice capacity of the current TDM-based T1 trunk.

3 Copyright 2000 Accelerated Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

Switched Virtual Circuits

As mentioned previously, both PVCs and SVCs use bandwidth only when actual traffic flows over them. The PVCs are provisioned in the carriers network using Operation Support Systems, or OSS. In order to 2 PVCs establish connectivity between N nodes, N (N-1)/2 or approximately N will need to be provisioned. This type of network connectivity is manageable when N is in the range of a few hundred. However, for large carrier networks, this is not acceptable. On the other hand, SVCs require minimal provisioning when compared to PVCs. Typically, only the ATM addresses of the end points and routing tables in the network switches need to be provisioned. Once the provisioning step is complete, the end user devices can establish virtual circuits automatically between themselves when needed. The circuits are set up and then torn down after use much like what happens in the current circuit-switched environment. The SVCcapable network can scale to support the needs of large carrier networks with several hundred thousand subscribers or more.

Loop Emulation Service (LES)

The ATM Forums VToA sub working group is currently defining Loop Emulation Service (LES). This service is designed to emulate a customers local loop using ATM. The specification calls for the use of AAL2 due to all the inherent bandwidth efficiency advantages discussed above. Figure 1 shows a typical network configuration based on LES.
OVER-SUBSCRIPTION POTS (CAS) CPE xDSL

ATM AAL2 (SVC / PVC)

PBX PBX T1 (CAS) PRI (CCS) CPE T1/E1

VOICE GATEWAY

GR 303 (CCS) Class 5 V 5.2 (CCS)

CP - IWF

CAS or CCS

CO - IWF

Figure 1

The loop emulation service uses the ATM AAL2 network to essentially create an extension cord between voice ports on the CP-IWF (typically an Integrated Access Device (IAD)) and the corresponding voice ports on the class 5 switch, terminating on the GR-303-based voice gateway. The interface between the IAD and the first ATM-based edge switch or DSLAM may be T1 or xDSL. In either case, the use of AAL2 allows multiple voice circuits to be carried simultaneously. For example, for a small business 16 voice channels can be carried simultaneously over one T1 interface (using 32 Kb/s ADPCM and silence suppression) using approximately 350 Kb/s of bandwidth and still leaving about 1.1 Mb/s of bandwidth for a high-speed connection to the Internet. When the voice calls are not active, the corresponding bandwidth is also available for use by the Internet connection.

If an xDSL interface is used, then the available bandwidth is also a function of the distance between the end user premises and the central office. 4 Copyright 2000 Accelerated Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

The LES allows over-subscription on the GR-303 based interface between the CO-IWF or a voice gateway and the class 5 switch. With either PVCs or SVCs, a large number of end terminals can share a lesser number of available timeslots on the GR-303 interface. The use of SVCs allows this process to be even more efficient due to the inherent operational efficiencies.

Distributed Class 5 Switch

Service Creation

Billing

PSTN SCP

AIN SCP

Call Agent

ISUP, ISUP+

SS7
OVER-SUBSCRIPTION

FXS

CPE

MGCP/H.248

VOICE GATEWAY ATM AAL2 (SVC / PVC) PBX PBX T1/PRI CPE

SS7 IMT DAL

Class 4 Class 4 Tandem Tandem

Distributed Class 5 Switch

Figure 2

The concept of a distributed Class 5 switch is depicted in Figure 2. A new network element called a Call Agent (CA), also referred to as a Media Gateway Controller, is introduced in the network. The CA provides the connection control, call routing, and signaling functions of a typical voice switch. The CPE, i.e., the IADs and the voice gateways essentially serve the purpose of line and trunk modules, respectively, of the switch. The ATM network replaces the switching matrix. The CA is still responsible for performing AIN queries for support of services such as 800 number translation, etc. This distributed switch architecture is now possible because end users can access the ATM-based networks from their premises using the xDSL or T1 pipes. From a long-distance carrier perspective, the distributed Class 5 switch allows them access to their end user voice customer without going through a LEC switch. That in turn allows them to offer long-distance service to voice customers without paying the per minute service access charge to LECs. AAL2-based SVCs allow the IXCs to serve a very large number of their long-distance customers more profitably.

5 Copyright 2000 Accelerated Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

Summary
The benefits of AAL2 and SVCs are rapidly becoming apparent. Using this combination of technologies, an ATM AAL2-based T1 trunk can be 3-1/2 times more efficient for carrying voice than a similar TDMbased T1 trunk in todays circuit-switched network. Two applications are particularly suited for AAL2 and SVC deployment: the Loop Emulation Service (LES) that leverages the inherent operational efficiencies of AAL2 and SVCs, and a distributed Class 5 switch application that allows the long-distance carriers to bypass the LEC and connect directly to long-distance customers, saving significant service access charges. By reducing operational costs and saving fees paid to local carriers, long-distance carriers can enjoy dramatic increases in overall revenue, and offer improved service offerings to subscribers.

6 Copyright 2000 Accelerated Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

Glossary
ATM AAL1 AAL2 CAS CCS CES CID CO-IWF CP-IWF DSL FAX IWF IAD MSAP MGCP nrt-VBR PBX PCM PSTN PVC QoS rt-VBR SID SSCF SVC TDM UNI VBR VCC Asynchronous Transfer Mode ATM Adaptation Layer 1 ATM Adaptation Layer 2 Channel Associated Signaling Common Channel Signaling Circuit Emulation Service AAL2 Channel Identifier Central Office Interworking Function Customer Premises Interworking Function Digital Subscriber Line Facsimile Interworking Function Integrated Access Device Multi-service Applications Platform Media Gateway Control Protocol Non Real Time VBR Private Branch eXchange Pulse Code Modulation Public Switched Telephone Network Permanent Virtual Circuit Quality Of Service Real Time VBR Silence Insertion Descriptor Service Specific Coordination Function Switched Virtual Circuit Time Division Multiplexing User Network Interface Variable Bit Rate Virtual Channel Connection (where it may be a PVC, SPVC, or SVC)

7 Copyright 2000 Accelerated Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.

References
ITU-T Recommendation I.361 (1995) - B-ISDN ATM layer specification. ITU-T Recommendation I.363.2 (1997) - B-ISDN ATM Adaptation Layer type 2 specification. ITU-T Recommendation I.366.1 (1998) - Segmentation and reassembly service specific convergence sublayer for the AAL type 2. ITU-T Recommendation I.366.2 (1998) AAL type 2 service specific convergence sublayer for trunking. CCITT Recommendation G.711 (1988) - Pulse code modulation (PCM) of voice frequencies. CCITT Recommendation G.726 (1990) - 40, 32, 24, 16 Kb/s Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM). ATM Forum AF-VToA-0113.000 ATM trunking using AAL2 for narrowband services ATM Forum BTD-VTOA-LES-01.03, (November 1999) Baseline Text for Loop Emulation Service Using AAL2 ATM Forum AF-SIG-0061.000 (UNI 4.0) Signaling specification

About Accelerated Networks

Accelerated Networks is the leading supplier of voice-over-DSL (VoDSL) and multiservice broadband access solutions. These systems enable providers to offer a full complement of bundled voice and data services over a single DSL or T1 access line, with advanced provisioning and management features. Based on open industry standards, Accelerated is the only company to offer all three components of a complete access solution customer premises integrated access devices (IADs), NEBS-compliant central office DSL and T1 concentrators, and voice services gateways for regional POPs. Since its introduction, the company has garnered many prestigious industry awards. The company received funding from New Enterprise Associates, US Venture Partners, ONSET Ventures, Walden International Investment Group, and Siemens AG. For more information, please visit www.acceleratednetworks.com.

8 Copyright 2000 Accelerated Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.