SONET/SDH Introduction –

What is the Difference Between SONET and SDH?

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 Why SDH/SONET?

• SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) and SONET (Synchronous Optical NETwork) are
standards for interfacing optical networks.
• Simple multiplexing processes
• Easy access to various signals in a multiplexed high bit rate signal
• 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
• Support advance Network Management System (OAM&P) – Overhead bits for Fault,
Configuration, Performance Monitoring, Security and Accounting management
• Standardized interface can support multi vendor interworking, international
connection and many different services; i.e. ATM, IP

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 SONET/SDH Digital Hierarchy

Optical SONET SDH Line Rate Payload Overhead SONET SDH

Level Electrical Equivalent (Mbps) Rate Rate Capacity Capacity
Level (Mbps) (Mbps)

OC-1 STS-1 – 51.840 50.112 1.728 28 DS-1s or 21 E1s

1 DS-3

OC-3 STS-3 STM-1 155.520 150.336 5.184 84 DS-1s or 63 E1s or

3 DS-3s 1 E4

OC-12 STS-12 STM-4 622.080 601.344 20.736 336 DS-1s or 252 E1s or
12 DS-3s 4 E4s

OC-48 STS-48 STM-16 2488.320 2405.376 82.944 1,344 DS-1s or 1,008 E1s or
192 DS-3s 16 E4s

OC-192 STS-192 STM-64 9953.280 9621.504 331.776 5,376 DS-1s or 4,032 E1s or
192 DS-3s 64 E4s

Note:
Although an SDH STM-1 has the same bit rate as the SONET STS-3, the two signals contain different frame structures.
STM = Synchronous Transport Module (ITU-T)
STS = Synchronous Transfer Signal (ANSI)
OC = Optical Carrier (ANSI)

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 SDH and SONET Bit Rate

SDH Bit Rate SONET

STM-0 51Mb/s OC-1

(STS-1)
(STS-1)

STM-1 155Mb/s OC-3

STM-4 622Mb/s OC-12

STM-16 2.48Gb/s OC-48

STM-64 9.95Gb/s OC-192

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 What is different about SDH vs. SONET?

• Together they are a set of global standards that interface

equipment from different vendors. SDH is basically the
international version of SONET, and SONET can be thought of
as the North American version of SDH.
• There are some slight differences between SONET and SDH.
• The main differences are in the basic SDH and SONET frame
formats, but SDH and SONET are essentially identical beyond
the STS-3 signal level. The base signal for SONET is STS-1 and
the base signal for SDH is STM-1. STS-3c is equivalent to STM-1
and the lower tributaries can be mapped interchangeably
between the two formats from that point on.

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 What is different about SDH vs. SONET?
(Cont’)

• In SDH, both electrical and optical signals are referred to as STM

signals.
• In SONET, however, electrical signals are called STS and optical
signals are referred to as OC.

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 SONET

• Defined by Bellcore and ANSI T1.X committees

Base rate (High Order) is 51.84Mbps (STS-1)
STS-1 Synchronous Payload Envelope (SPE) = 50.112M
used for carrying tributaries or a DS3 signal
Tributaries (Low Order) used for SONET are:
VT1.5 (SPE Trib) = 1.728M for carrying DS1 (1.544)
VT2 (SPE Trib) = 2.304M for carrying CEPT (E1, 2.048)
VT6 (SPE Trib) = 6.912M, Never “formalized” same rate
as VT Group

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 SONET Hierarchy

STS-N
x1 STS-N Data
SPE

x1
xN STS-1 DS3
SPE Broadband STS-N Payloads
(High Order Payloads)

Tributaries of Base Signal x7

(Low Order Payloads)

VT Group
x1 VT6
VT 6
SPE

x3 VT2
VT 2 E1
SPE
x4 VT1.5
VT 1.5 DS1
SPE

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 STS-1 Frame with VT Mapping
3 bytes 87 bytes

Section OH STS-1 SPE

3
J1 STS-1 SPE Payload
B3
1 STS Pointer DS3 Mapped or
C2
G1
7x VTG Mapped
Line OH
5
F2
H4 ptr
F3
K3
Z3
VT VT VT VT VT VT VT
Group Group Group Group Group Group Group
Vx

V
T
1
5

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 Points to Remember in SONET

• The base layer is the STS-1 SPE

Single pointer to get to the STS-1 SPE (50MB level)
ALL tributary signals multiplex (via Pointer Processing) to the STS-1 SPE
Each STS-1 has it’s own path overhead
TOH is called Section and Line Overhead
SS bits (in H1) is set to 00
Bellcore (Telcordia) Alarming and GR-820 Performance Monitoring
Other Nuances:
Path Trace is 64bytes, Orderwire is Mu-Law, Z bytes not used, No J2,
APS is different

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 SDH

• Defined by ITU-T (previously CCITT) committees

Base rate (High Order) is 155.520 (STM-1)
Virtual Container 4 (VC-4) = 150.336M used for carrying tributaries
or an E4 signal (or data)
Tributaries (Low Order) used for SDH are:
VC-11 = 1.728M for carrying DS1 (1.544) (rarely used in AU4)
VC-12 = 2.304M for carrying CEPT (E1)
Also a stuffing option for mapping VC11/1.5M to TU-12
VC-2 = 6.912M Just gaining acceptance (TU-2-Mc) for data
VC-3 = 50.112M (Same as STS-1 SPE) used for E3 AND DS3

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 SDH Hierarchy
STM-64 AU-4-64c VC-4-64c C-4-64c 9039.872Mb/s
x4
x64

STM-16 AU-4-16c VC-4-16c C-4-16c 2259.968Mb/s

x16
x16
x4
STM-4 AU-4-4c VC-4-4c C-4-4c 564.992Mb/s
x4

STM-1 AUG AU-4 VC-4 C-4 E4: 139.264Mb/s

x3 x3
AU-3
High Order Payloads TUG-3 TU-3 VC-3

Containers of Base Signal E3: 34.368Mb/s

C-3 DS3: 44.736Mb/s
(Low Order Payloads) VC-3
x7
x7
x1 DS2:6.312 Mb/s
Synchronous Transport Module TUG-2 TU-2 VC-2 C-2
STM-n
Administrative Unit Group: One or x3
AUG more AU(s)
TU-12 VC-12 C-12 E1: 2.048Mb/s
Administrative Unit: VC + pointers
AU-n x4
Virtual Container: payload + path DS1:1.544Mb/s
TU-11 VC-11 C-11
VC-n overhead

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 STM-1 Frame with AU-4 Mapping
9 bytes 261 bytes

Regenerator
3
Section OH J1
VC-4 Payload:
B3
1 AU Pointer C4 or TUG-3 mapped
C2
Multiplex G1
5 H1 H1 H1
Section F2
H2 H2 H2
OH H4
H3 H3 H3 J1 J1 ptr
F3
B3 B3
K3
C2 C2
N1
G1 C-3 G1 C-3 TUG-3
Higher Order
TUG-2/VC12
Path OH F2 Payload F2 Payload Muxed
H4 H4 Vx
F3 F3
K3 K3 V
5
C
bytes N1 N1
1
2
Low Order
Path OH
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 Points to Remember in SDH

• The base layer is the VC-4 Container

Single pointer to get to the VC-4
ALL Low Order (LO) Signals multiplex (via PP) to the VC-4
Additional pointer to get to VC-3, the STS-1 equivalent: A FUNDAMENTAL
DIFFERENCE between SONET and SDH
TUG-3 is NOT the same as an STS-1
TOH is called Regenerator Section (RS) and Multiplex Section (MS) Overhead
SS bits (in H1) is set to 01
ITU-T Alarming and ITU-T Performance Monitoring
Other Nuances:
Path Trace (P-API) is 16 or 64 bytes, Orderwire is A-Law, Z (N1) bytes used for
TCM, APS is different

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 SONET Vs. SDH

• SONET UPSR = SDH SNCP (Sub-Network Connection Protection)

WTR is up to 12 minutes in 1 minute increments
“Hold-off” timer for SDH – 0-10S in 100mS increments
• SONET BLSR = SDH MS-SPRing (Multiplex Section – Shared Protection Ring),
SDH does not specify MS-SPRing @ STM-4 (but we allow it)
• SONET APS = SDH MSP (Multiplex Section Protection)
• SONET Mesh/ Virtual Ring = SDH Same as/Extension of SNCP (and this has
been around a while in SDH Networks)
• SONET Path Trace = SDH Path Access Point Identifier (P-API, or API)
• SONET Alarms: CR, MJ, MN = SDH Alarms PMA (Prompt Maintenance
Activity), DMA (Deferred Maintenance Activity): We kept the CR/MJ/MN and
added the “-PMA/DMA as a suffix

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 SONET Vs. SDH (cont…)

• SDH Collects Errored Block Seconds, Errored Second “Ratios”

• SDH is beginning to use Tandem Connection Monitoring – “Path within a
path”
Adds additional Path Trace, BIP, FEBE and RDI to a high or low-order
path
• SONET, STS-SPE (50.112M) is the base-rate payload – SDH, the base is
155M and the VC-3 (STS equivalent) is a “tributary” to the VC-4
• It’s not a central office, it’s an “Exchange”
• It’s not a Class 5/ Class 4, it’s a Local Switch and a Transit Switch
• It’s not a DCS, it’s a DXC
SONET uses 3/3s and 3/1s, SDH uses 4/4s and 4/3/1s

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 Terminology Summary
Optical I/O Board
Path Type

SDH SONET SDH SONET

Not applicable STS-1
STM-1 OC-3

VC4 STS-3c
STM-4 OC-12
VC4-4c STS-12c
STM-16 OC-48
VC4-8c STS-24c
STM-64 OC-192
VC4-16c STS-48c

STM-256 OC-768 VC4-64c STS-192c

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 Terminology Summary
Protection Type Overhead Naming

SDH SONET
SDH SONET
MSP APS/FFP
RS - Regenerator
MS-SPRing BLSR Section
Section

SNCP PPMN/UPSR
MS - Multiplex
Line
Section

HP - High Order
Path
Path

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 Terminology Summary
Alarms

SDH SONET SDH SONET

LOS AU-LOP LOP-P
LOS
AU-AIS AIS-P
LOF LOF
HP-UNEQ UNEQ-P
RS-TIM TIM-S
HP-TIM TIM-P
MS-AIS AIS-L
HP-SLM SLM-P
MS-RDI RDI-L/RFI-L
HP-RDI RDI-P/RFI-P
MS-DEG SD-L
HP-DEG SD-P
MS-EXC SF-L
HP-EXC SF-P
MS-REI REI-L
HP-REI REI-P

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 Terminology Summary
PM Monitored Types
SDH SONET
Not defined CV – Code Violation
EB – Errored Block Not defined
BBE – Background Block Error Not defined
ES – Errored second ES – Errored second

Not defined SEFS - Severely Errored Framing Seconds

SES - Severely Errored Second SES - Severely Errored Second

Not defined FC- Failure Count
UAS - Unavailable Second UAS - Unavailable Second

BBER - Background Block Errored Ratio Not defined

ESR – Errored second Ratio Not defined

SESR - Severely Errored Second Ratio Not defined

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 Terminology Summary
PM Monitored Entities
SDH SONET
SDH SONET Not defined FC-LNE
Not defined CV-S Not defined FC-LFE
RS-EB Not defined MS-UAS-NE UAS-LNE
RS-BBE Not defined MS-UAS-FE UAS-LFE
RS-ES ES-S Not defined CV-PNE
Not defined CV-LNE Not defined CV-PFE
Not defined CV-LFE HP-EB-NE Not defined
MS-EB-NE Not defined HP-EB-FE Not defined
MS-EB-FE Not defined HP-BBE-NE Not defined
MS-BBE-NE Not defined HP-BBE-FE Not defined
MS-BBE-FE Not defined HP-ES-NE ES-PNE
MS-ES-NE ES-LNE HP-ES-FE ES-PFE
MS-ES-FE ES-LFE HP-SES-NE SES-PNE
HP-SES-FE SES-PFE
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 Terminology Summary
PM Monitored Entities (Cont.)

SDH SONET
Not defined FC-PNE
Not defined FC-PFE
HP-UAS-NE UAS-PNE
HP-UAS-FE UAS-PFE
HP-BBER-NE Not defined
HP-BBER-FE Not defined
HP-ESR-NE Not defined
HP-ESR-FE Not defined
HP-SESR-NE Not defined
HP-SESR-FE Not defined

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 Cisco Systems

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