CATALOGUE

• BASIC CONCEPT OF NGSDH

• LCAS
• GFP

1 ALTTC TX
BASIC CONCEPT OF
NG SDH
TX FACULTY, ALTTC GHAZIABAD
 PROTOCOLS/ PROCEDURES

• GFP: A PROCEDURE TO ENCAPSULATE THE DISCRETE DATA IN A

WAY THAT MAKES IT SUITABLE FOR TRANSPORTATION THROUGH
ESSENTIALLY CIRCUIT SWITCHED SDH NETWORK.

• VCAT: THE PROCEDURE THROUGH WHICH CAPACITY OF

CONTAINERS ARE ADDED TO ACCOMMODATE LARGER
VOLUME OF DATA, AND ITS TRANSPORTATION TO THE FARTHER
DESTINED END.

• LCAS: THIS IS SPECIAL EFFECT TO VCAT BY FACILITATING

REMOVAL , ADDITION OF A MEMBER VCS IN THE FLOW IN
HITLESS FASHION.

IN ESSENCE, IT IS THE PROCESS OF CONCATENATION THROUGH

CCAT AND VCAT THAT ARE THE BACKBONE OF NG SDH.

3 ALTTC TX
 WHAT NG SDH IS ALL ABOUT?

• with out much circumlocution, let us be candid :

• it is basically three things
i. Pooling of payload.
ii. transportation of this pooled payload through
dedicated path for the whole pool or diverse
path for the individual elements of the pool; in
the latter case it is called virtual concatenation
else contiguous concatenation.
iii. sequencing of the elements at the receiver end
with the help of header and decoding of
information from inside the customized packets
better called GFP packets.
4 ALTTC TX
 CONTIGUOUS CONCATENATION

x1 x1
STM-256 AUG-256 AU-4-256c VC-4-256c C-4-256c

x4
x1 x1
STM-64 AUG-64 AU-4-64c VC-4-64c C-4-64c

x4
x1 x1
STM-16 AUG-16 AU-4-16c VC-4-16c C-4-16c

x4
x1 x1
STM-4 AUG-4 AU-4-4c VC-4-4c C-4-4c

x4
x1
x1
STM-1 AUG-1 AU-4 VC-4 C-4
x1
x3 TUG-3 TU-3 VC-3
x3
x1 x7
C-3
STM-0 AU-3 VC-3
x7
x1
TUG-2 TU-2 VC-2 C-2
pointer processing x3

multiplexing TU-12 VC-12 C-12

x4
aligning
TU-11 VC-11 C-11
mapping

5 9/18/2018 ALTTC TX / Topic Name

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 THE CONCEPT
• IN THE CONVENTIONAL SDH ,THERE WAS NO
POSSIBILITY OF ACCOMODATING DESCRETE BIT RATE
SIGNALS, THAT IS , OTHER THAN FOR INSTANCE:
2/34/140 PDH

• HOWEVER IN THE DESIGN THE PROVISION EXISTS AS

THIS SCENARIO WAS FORESEEN

6 ALTTC TX
 THE CONCEPT
• THE SIMPLEST WAY IS TO AUGMENT THE PAYLOAD BY
JUXTAPOSING IT ON ONE ANOTHER WITH THE SINGLE
POH.
• THE FIRST POH ACTS AS THE POH FOR THE WHOLE
SUCH LOT.
• FOR INSTANCE IN CASE WE ARE POOLING VC-4S THEN
FIRST POH OF FIRST VC-4 WILL CATER FOR ALL THE VC-
4S IN THE POOL.

7 ALTTC TX
 THE CONCEPT OF CONTIGUOUS CONCATENATION

• THE B3 FOR INSTANCE WILL WORK AS BIP-8 ON WHOLE OF THE VC-4-Xc ,

HERE X IS THE NUMBER OF VC-4S REQUIRED TO BE POOLED. “C”
DENOTES FOR CONTIGUOUS CONCATENATION.
• 2ND TO XTH COLUMNS ARE FIXED STUFF.

VC-4-Xc
1 J1
B3
C2
G1
fixed
F2 C-4-Xc
stuff
H4
F3
K3
9 N1
125 s

1
X-1 X * 260

X * 261

8 ALTTC TX
 THE CONCEPT OF CONTIGUOUS CONCATENATION

• VC-4-Xc IS TRANSPORTED IN X CONTIGUOUS AU-4 OF ANY STM-N

WHERE N>X.

• POINTER OF THE FIRST AU-4 POINTS TO THE POSITION OF THE J1

BYTE OF THE VC-4-Xc.

• POINTERS OF THE REMAINING AU-4S POINTS TO THE

CONCATENATION INDIACATION.
• IN GENERAL THE CONCATENATION IS DEFINED AS VC-n-Xc,
WHERE VALUE OF X IS LIMITED TO 4,16,64,256 ONLY.

9 ALTTC TX
 TRANSPORT EFFICIENCIES IN CONTIGUOUS
CONCATENATION
Data SDH Efficiency
Ethernet 10 Mbit/s C-3 20%
ATM 25 Mbit/s C-3 50%
Fast Ethernet 100 Mbit/s C-4 67%
ESCON 200 Mbit/s C-4-4c 33%
400 Mbit/s C-4-4c 67%
Fibre Channel
800 Mbit/s C-4-16c 33%
Gigabit Ethernet 1 Gbit/s C-4-16c 42%
10 Gb Ethernet 10 Gbit/s C-4-64c 100%

10 9/18/2018 ALTTC TX / Topic Name

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 LIMITATIONS OF CONTIGUOUS CONCATENATIONS

• ALL THE NES IN THE PATH SHOULD BE COMPATIBLE

WITH VC-4-Xc.

• EFFICIENCY IS LOW.

• NO SYSTEM OF ELIMINATION OF FAILED ELEMENTS.

• X CAN ONLY BE MULTIPLE OF 4

11 ALTTC TX
 EXERCISE-ONE

• In contiguous concatenation of say x VC-4s first POH caters for

1. All concatenated C-4s
2. Only first one
3. First and last C-4s
• In contiguous concatenation of say x VC-4s 2nd to Xth Columns are
1. POH of the C-4s from 2nd to Xth co
2. Concatenation indication
3. Fixed Stuff
• The first pointer of the concatenated AU-4s indicates the position of
1. G1 byte
2. J1 byte
3. F1 byte
• The remaining pointers (apart from first one) points to the
1. Concatenation Indication
2. Trail Trace
3. Actual start of the payload.

12 ALTTC TX
 VIRTUAL CONCATENATION
• HERE DESPITE CONCATENATION, INDEPENDENT STATUS
OF CONSTITUENT VCS IS NOT VIOLATED.

• IN OTHER WORDS IN VC-N-Xv, X INDIVIDUAL VC-Ns

ARE TRANSPORTED THROUGH THE NETWORK.

• EACH INDIVIDUAL VC-Ns CAN TAKE DIVERSE PATHS TO

REACH THE RECEIVER.

13 ALTTC TX
 VC-n-Xv STRUCTURE
1 X P.X
1

C-n-Xc
C
9

1 P+1
1

Path Overhead Bytes

C C-n

9
1 P+1 VC-n(X)
1
Path Overhead Bytes

C C-n

9
VC-n(1)
14

ALTTC TX
 VIRTUAL CONCATENATION
• VIRTUAL CONCATENATION ENABLED NE IS REQUIRED
ONLY AT TRANSMITTER AND RECEIVER, INTERMEDIATE
NODES NEED NOT BE AWARE OF THE VIRTUAL
CONCATENATION.

• THERE ARE TWO CHALLENGES HERE

I. DIFFERENTIAL DELAY
II. SEQUENCING

15 ALTTC TX
 MULTI FRAME INDICATOR(MFI)
• DETECTION OF DIFFERENTIAL DELAY IS MADE POSSIBLE
WITH THE HELP OF MFI.
• X INDIVIDUAL PAYLOADS OF VC-N WILL HAVE THE
SAME MFI TO COMMENCE WITH.
• MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE DIFFERENTIAL DELAY IS 512 MS.
• THUS THE MAXIMUM VALUE OF MFI SHOULD
CORRESPONDS TO THIS.
• MFI RESTS IN H4 BYTE OF THE POH

16 ALTTC TX
 C4(0)

C-4(1)

C-4(2)

C-4(3)

C4(0)

C-4(1)

C-4(2)

C-4(3)

C-4-4c
RECONSTRUCTION OF C-4-4c FROM VCAT RECEIVED SIGNAL
17 9/18/2018 ALTTC TX / Topic Name
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 VCAT OF VC-4
• H4 BYTE OF THE POH OF VC-4 OF THE VC-4-Xv
CONTAINS THE IFORMATION REGARDING MFI.
• THIS ALSO CONTAINS THE SEQUENCE NUMBER OR SQ.
• ANOTHER BYTE C2 IN THE POH INDICATES THE LABLE
WHICH IMPLIES THAT NOW H4 WILL CONTAIN THE
VCAT INFORMATION.
• H4 BYTE 5-8 ARE USED FOR FIRST STAGE MFI AND
PROVIDE A 4 BIT MULTIFRAME INDICATOR.
• THAT MEANS MFI-1 COUNTER CAN INCREASE FROM 0
TO 15.

18 ALTTC TX
 VCAT OF VC-4
• FOR EACH OF THE COUNTER VALUE THERE IS A
PAYLOAD. THUS TOTAL 16 FRAMES’ GROUP IS CALLED
VCAT PATH OVERHEAD FRAME OR CONTROL PACKET.
• SECOND STAGE OF MULTIFRAME(MFI-2) USES 8 BITS: 4
BITS FROM THE 1-4 BITS OF H4 OF THAT VC-4 FOR
WHICH MFI-1=0, THAT IS THE FIRST FRAME OF THE
CONTROL PACKET, REMAINING 4 BITS ARE USED FROM
THE 1-4 BITS OF H4 OF THAT VC-4 FOR WHICH MFI-1=1
THAT IS THE SECOND FRAME OF THE CONTROL
PACKET.

19 ALTTC TX
 VCAT OF VC-4
• MFI-2 IS INCREMENTED ONCE EVERY VCAT POH
FRAME(CONTROL PACKET) OF THE FIRST STAGE.
• THIS COUNTS FROM 0 TO 255.
• THE CONSEQUENT VCAT MULTIFRAME CONSISTS OF
16*256=4096 BASIC PAYLOAD CONTAINER FRAMES
AND WILL BE REPEATED EVERY 512 MS AS
4096*125US=512MS.

20 ALTTC TX
21 9/18/2018 ALTTC TX / Topic Name
Course Name
 VCAT OF VC-4:SQ
• EACH VC-4 OF VCG HAS A FIXED UNIQUE SEQUENCE
NUMBER IN THE RANGE BETWEEN 0 TO X-1.
• VC-4s TRANSPORTING IN THE TIME SLOT
1,X+1,2X+1…HAS THE SQ=0.
• VC-4s TRANSPORTING IN THE TIME SLOT
2,X+2,2X+2…HAS THE SQ=1

• VC-4s TRANSPORTING IN THE TIME SLOT

X,X+X,2X+X…HAS THE SQ=X-1.

22 ALTTC TX
 VCAT OF VC-4:SQ
• SQ IS DEFINED IN 8 BITS THESE ARE :
:1-4 BITS OF H4 OF THAT VC-4 FOR WHICH FIRST STAGE
MFI-1=14
AND
: 1-4 BITS OF H4 OF THAT VC-4 FOR WHICH THE FIRST
STAGE MFI-1=15.

• 8 BITS MEANS TOTAL OF 256 VC-4S CAN BE

CONCATENATED THIS WAY.

23 ALTTC TX
 H4 CODING FOR VC-4 VCAT
H4 BYTE FIRST STAGE SECOND STAGE
MULTIFRAME MULTIFRAME NUMBER
BIT-1 BIT-2 BIT-3 BIT-4 BIT-5 BIT-6 BIT-7 BIT-8
NUMBER
MFI-1 BITS

RESERVED('0000') 1 1 0 1 13 N-1
SQ MSB BITS(1…4) 1 1 1 0 14
SQ LSB BITS(5…8) 1 1 1 1 15
MFI-2 MSB BITS(1..4) 0 0 0 0 0 N
MFI-2 LSB BITS(5..8) 0 0 0 1 1
RESERVED('0000') 0 0 1 0 2
RESERVED('0000') 0 0 1 1 3
RESERVED('0000') 0 1 0 0 4
RESERVED('0000') 0 1 0 1 5
RESERVED('0000') 0 1 1 0 6
RESERVED('0000') 0 1 1 1 7
RESERVED('0000') 1 0 0 0 8
RESERVED('0000') 1 0 0 1 9
RESERVED('0000') 1 0 1 0 10
RESERVED('0000') 1 0 1 1 11
RESERVED('0000') 1 1 0 0 12
RESERVED('0000') 1 1 0 1 13
SQ MSB BITS(1…4) 1 1 1 0 14
SQ LSB BITS(5…8) 1 1 1 1 15
MFI-2 MSB BITS(1..4) 0 0 0 0 0 N+1
MFI-2 LSB BITS(5..8) 0 0 0 1 1
RESERVED('0000') 0 0 1 0 2

24 9/18/2018 ALTTC TX / Topic Name

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 VC-n-Xv VCAT multi-frame structure
C-n-Xc
1 MFI-1=0

POH
MFI-2=0
MFI-1=0

POH
MFI-1=1

POH
MFI-2=0 MFI-2=0
2 MFI-1=1

POH
MFI-2=0

MFI-1=15

POH
MFI-2=0
Multiframe

MFI-1=15

POH
MFI-1=0

POH
MFI-2=0 MFI-2=1
MFI-1=0

POH
MFI-2=1

4096

MFI-1=15

POH
MFI-2=255
1 MFI-1=15

POH
MFI-1=0

POH
MFI-2=255 MFI-2=0
POH MFI-1=0
MFI-2=0 SQ=X-1

SQ=0
25 ALTTC TX
 SDH SDH
1 GE HOVC NE 1 GE HOVC NE

STEP-5
STEP-1

1 2…………7………………1820 1 2…………….7…………1820

VC-4-7C VC-4-7C

STEP-3
1……………..260 1……………..260
STEP-4
STEP-2
1……………..260 1……………..260

H H
1……………..260 1……………..260
4 4

H H
SQ-1 SQ-7
4 4
H H
SQ-2 4 4
SQ-1

SQ-7 SDH LEGACY NETWORKS SQ-2

26 9/18/2018 ALTTC TX / Topic Name

Course Name
 Transport efficiencies in VCAT

Data SDH Efficiency

Ethernet 10 Mbit/s C-12-5c 92%
ATM 25 Mbit/s C-12-12c 98%
C-12-46c 100%
Fast Ethernet 100 Mbit/s
C-3-2c 100%
ESCON 200 Mbit/s C-3-4c 100%
400 Mbit/s C-3-8c 100%
Fibre Channel
800 Mbit/s C-4-6c 89%
Gigabit Ethernet 1 Gbit/s C-4-7c 95%
10 Gb Ethernet 10 Gbit/s C-4-64c 100%

27 9/18/2018 ALTTC TX Course Name / Topic Name

 EXERCISE-II
1. How would you transmit ethernet data of which the bit rate is 10 mb/s through
VCAT?
a)C-12-5C
b)C-3
c)C-5-12C
2. MFI-1 is depicted by
a) H4 bit 1-4 of MFI-1=0
b) H4 bit 5-8 of MFI-1=0
c) H4 bit 1-8 of MFI-1=0
3. MFI-2 is located in
a) H4 bit 1-4 of MFI-1=0&H4 bit 1-4 of MFI-1=1
b) H4 bit 1-4 of MFI-1=0&H4 bit 5-8 of MFI-1=1
c) H4 bit 5-8 of MFI-1=0&H4 bit 1-4 of MFI-1=1
4. How many VC’s can be concatenated?
a) 512
b) 64
c) 256
5. SQ is located in
a) H4 bit 1-4 of MFI-1=14&H4 bit 1-4 of MFI-1=15
b) H4 bit 1-4 of MFI-1=13&H4 bit 5-8 of MFI-1=14
c) H4 bit 5-8 of MFI-1=14&H4 bit 1-4 of MFI-1=15

28 ALTTC TX
 EXERCISE-II

• The concatenated function providing virtual

concatenation is required at
i. All the NEs of the path.
ii. Only at terminating path.
• Intermediate nodes needs to be aware of
the concatenation process in case of VCAT.
i. True
ii. False

29 ALTTC TX
LCAS

ALTTC
 LCAS PRINCIPLE
• LCAS INTRODUCES THE FLEXIBILITY TO VCAT BY
PERMITTING : DECREASE, INCREASE OF PAYLOAD
CAPACITY. THIS IS DONE HITLESSLY.

• TO SYNCHRONIZE ABOVE BETWEEN RECEIVER AND

TRANSMITTER , THE BASIC FRAME OF 16 PAYLOADS
ALSO KNOWN AS CONTROL PACKET IS USED TO
CONVEY THE REQUIRED CONTROL INFORMATION.

31 ALTTC TX
 LCAS PRINCIPLE
• EACH CONTROL PACKET SENDS STATE OF THE MEMBER
IN THE CONTROL PACKET IN ADVANCE.

• SINK(RECEIVER) CAN SWITCH TO NEW

CONFIGURATION AS SOON AS IT IS ARRIVED AND HAS
BEEN VALIDATED. THIS ENSURES ALL THE CHANGES IN
VCG ARE HITLESS.

32 ALTTC TX
 LCAS PRINCIPLE
• Control packet contains control information sent
from source side to sink side and vice versa.
• From source side to sink side following control signals
are sent
1. MFI field reused from original VCAT multi-frame.
2. SQ: Sequence Indicator field reused from original
VCAT multi-frame.
3. Ctrl field
4. GID bit
• In the return direction:
1. Member status field
2. Re-sequence Acknowledge :RS-Ack field

33 ALTTC TX
 LCAS PRINCIPLE

 Control packets of all members of VCG

contain the MST and RS-Ack information of
each member.
 This enable the source side to select the
control packet received from one member to
retrieve all the MST and RS-Ack information.
 That means: If that particular member should
experience a failure , the source side can
select another member control packet
without losing MST and RS-Ack information.

34 ALTTC TX
 MFI INDICATOR

• To be able to reconstruct the original

payload container at the receiving end of
the link , each part of the VCG has to be
reconstructed from the bytes received by X
individual VC-n.

• To facilitate this, each successive payload

container frame is assigned a unique number.
This is SQ.

35 ALTTC TX
 MFI INDICATOR

• There is a counter as well , this counter is

incremented by one for the next container
frame.

• Due to limited number of bits available for

the counter, the counter again starts at zero
when the maximum value is reached.
(What is the maximum value of the counter?)

36 ALTTC TX
 MFI INDICATOR

• Because container frames are counted, the

counter is in general termed as frame
counter and the full set of counter values is
termed as Multi-frame.

• The counter value itself is referred to as MFI –

Indicator.

37 ALTTC TX
 MFI INDICATOR

• At the source side , the MFI value is equal for

all container frame C-n of the VCG and will
be incremented each frame.

• However at the Sink side MFI value may be

different for each of the VC-n constituent,
Why?

38 ALTTC TX
 MFI INDICATOR

 MFI is used to determine the difference in the

propagation delay experienced by
individual members of VCG caused by
diverse routing through the network.

 Buffers are used to compensate the

experienced delay in order to realign the
member container.

39 ALTTC TX
 TUTORIAL

• Control packets of any one member of VCG contains the

MST and RS-Ack of
I. All the members of the VCG.
ii. Only that member
• How the hitless bandwidth change is achieved in LCAS?
i. By way of control Packet that sends status of the
member during the next control packet
ii. By way of MST and RS-Ack.
• How the differential delay is measured?
i. By way of MFI counter/Indicator
ii. By way of SQ
• What is used to compensate the delay?
i. Buffers
ii. Flip-flops

40 ALTTC TX
 SEQUENCE INDICATOR FIELD :SQ

• For the reconstruction of the original payload

container C-n-Xv after the differential delay is
compensated, It is necessary to know the
order of the bytes.
• For this purpose , the members in VCG are
assigned a unique sequence number by the
LCAS process at the source side.
• It is noted that SQ numbers are allocated by
NMS in case of VCAT.

41 ALTTC TX
 SEQUENCE INDICATOR FIELD : SQ

• Sequence number is transmitted from source

side to sink side in the sequence indicator
field of the control packet.
• The value of the SQ shall be ignored by the
sink side process for all the members that are
not an active member of VCG.
• A member removed from the VCG retains its
SQ and a new member added to the VCG
may be assigned the same SQ value.

42 ALTTC TX
 CONTROL(CTRL) FIELD

• Control field is used to transfer the status

information from source side to sink side
process.
• This status information is used to synchronize
the sink side with the source side and reflects
the status of each member in the group.
• There are five states in which each LCAS
enable member can be found.
• VCAT without LCAS also use one state for
which it is all zero.

43 ALTTC TX
 CONTROL(CTRL) FIELD

 For control field four bits are allocated.

 This leaves enough room for future expansion

of LCAS with more states if needed.

 To begin with, all provisioned members shall

send CTRL code IDLE until they are added to
the VCG then they send CTRL code ADD.

44 ALTTC TX
 LCAS CTRL WORDS

• CT1,CT2,CT3,CT4
• 0000=NON LCAS(FIXED): The indication that
the Source side uses fixed bandwidth , that is
non LCAS mode.
• 0001=ADD: The indication that the member is
about to be added to the VCG. It is a
transition state from IDLE state to NORM/EOS
state.
• 0010=NORM: Normal Transmission; the
payload of this member should be used to
reconstruct the original container C-n-Xv

45 ALTTC TX
 LCAS CTRL WORDS

• 0011=EOS: The end of sequence indication :

This is a special case of normal transmission
state. It indicates that this is the last member
of the VCG transporting valid payload. Only
one member in a VCG shall send this code.
• 1111=IDLE: This member is not part of the
VCG or is about to be removed from VCG.
• 0101=DNU: Do not use the payload
transported by this member. This sink side
reported a FAIL status for this member.

46 ALTTC TX
 TUTORIAL

• SQ numbers are allocated at the

i. Source side
ii. Sink Side
• A member removed from the VCG retains its
SQ number
i. True
ii. False
• CTRL field DNU may be due to
i. Link Failure
ii. Idle state

47 ALTTC TX
 GROUP IDENTIFICATION BIT(GID)

 Since the Individual VC-ns are transported

under VCAT through diverse routing hence
there is a possibility that two or more
individual members of two or more different
VCGs are interchanged.

 To avoid this a Group Identification Bit(GID) is

introduced.

 It is used for identification of the VCG.

48 ALTTC TX
 GROUP IDENTIFICATION BIT

 The GID Bit of all the members of the same

VCG has the same value.

 In this way the GID provides the LCAS process

at the Sink side of a VCG with a means to
verify that all the arriving members originate
from only one transmitter VCG.

49 ALTTC TX
 FUNCTIONS OF GID BITS

• The content of the GID bits are the

consecutive bits generated by the pseudo-
random generator providing a pattern with a
length of 215 -1 bits.
• At the sink side it is not required to
synchronize to the pattern derived from the
incoming stream for verification.
• It is sufficient to check that the GID bits of all
members in a VCG, after eliminating the
differential delay have the same value.

50 ALTTC TX
 THE MEMBER STATUS FIELD(MST)

 The MST is used to report the status of all the

members in a VCG at the Sink side to the
LCAS process at the source side.

 At the sink side , the members belonging to a

VCG are either operational and in the state
OK, or are experiencing a problem and are in
the state FAIL.

51 ALTTC TX
 THE MEMBER STATUS FIELD(MST)

 Members at the Sink side that are not

provisioned to be a member of the VCG are
in the state IDLE ; for the interworking
between source and sink side this state is
considered to be the same as the FAIL state.

 Since there are only two states at the Sink

side , the MST is defined as a single bit.

 The value of MST bit are OK(bit set to zero)

and FAIL(bit set to 1)
52 ALTTC TX
 MEMBER STATUS FIELD

 To ensure that the member status at the sink

side is received at the source side , the status
of all members in the VCG is transported in
the LCAS overhead of all members from the
sink side to source side.

 Now the LCAS process at the source side can

select any one member from the VCG to
retrieve the MST of all members in the VCG.

53 ALTTC TX
 RE-SEQUENCE-ACKNOWLEDGE BIT(RS-Ack)

 Changing the size of a VCG at the source

side by adding or removing members will
cause a change in the sequence numbers of
the group.

 In the standard it is recommended to add

new members at the end of the VCG.

 Removing one or more members can

happen at any place in VCG.

54 ALTTC TX
 RE-SEQUENCE ACKNOLEDGEMENT BIT RS-Ack

 It is also allowed to interchange the numbers in a

VCG without changing the size of VCG.

 Change in the sequence number is the

responsibility of Source side LCAS process.

 When a renumbering of the SQ numbers of the

members sending CTRL code NORM,DNU,EOS or
when a change of the SQ numbers of these
members are detected at the sink side , a
notification to the source side has to be
performed per VCG by toggling the RS-Ack bit.
55 ALTTC TX
 RE-SEQUENCE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BIT(RS-Ack)

• The causes that triggers the toggling of the RS-

Ack bit are as under

i. The addition of one or more members to the

VCG, that is , change in the CTRL code of the
member from ADD to EOS or NORM. This
addition will increase the payload bandwidth
of the VCG.

ii. Removal of one or more members from the

VCG that is , a change in the CTRL code from
NORM to EOS. This removal will decrease the
payload bandwidth of the VCG.

56 ALTTC TX
 RE-SEQUENCE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT BIT(RS-Ack)

iii. The removal of one or more failed member

from the VCG, i.e, a change in the CTRL
code of the member from DNU to IDLE.
Iv. Any change in the sequence number of
VCG, that is ,a reallocation of the SQ
numbers in a VCG. The change in the
sequence number is detected at the sink side
for the numbers sending CTRL codes NORM
or EOS or DNU only.

57 ALTTC TX
 TUTORIAL

• GID bit of all the members of VCG have

i. Same value
ii. Different value
• MST has
i. Two states : OK and FAIL
ii. Three states: OK, Fail and Error
• RS-Ack is toggled
i. When SQ remained the same
ii. When CTRL field or SQ is changed

58 ALTTC TX
 PLANNED ADDITION OF MEMBER

• When a member is added to the VCG , it is

recommended that it always be assigned the
sequence number that is one larger than the
currently highest number.
• Member with the highest SQ has CTRL code
EOS(or DNU if there is a problem in the
network).
• When adding a member to a VCG of size n, it
shall be assigned SQ=n because the SQ starts
at zero.

59 ALTTC TX
 PLANNED ADDITION OF MEMBER

• Following an ADD command, the first

member to respond with MST=OK shall be
allocated the next highest sequence number
and shall change its CTRL code to EOS
coinciding with currently highest number
changing its CTRL code to NORM.
• In case two or more members are added
simultaneously( say p)and MST=OK is
received simultaneously for more than one
member, then the allocation of the SQ
numbers is arbitrary provided they are the
next p sequence numbers after the currently
highest SQ number.
60 ALTTC TX
 PLANNED ADDITION OF MEMBER

• The CTRL code of the member that has been

sending EOS until this moment is being
changed from EOS to NORM , coinciding with
the new highest numbered member’s CTRL
code being changed from ADD to EOS.

• All other new members’ CTRL code will be

changed from ADD to NORM.

61 ALTTC TX
 TUTORIAL

• When a new VC-n is added then its SQ will be

i. Zero
ii. One larger than the currently highest SQ.
• If the VCG is of size “n” then what will be the
SQ of the newly added number?
i. n-1
ii. n
• CTRL code of the newly added member will
be
i. EOS
ii. NORM.

62 ALTTC TX
 PLANNED DELETION OF THE MEMBER

• If the deleted member was allocated the

highest SQ number of the VCG and was
sending the EOS code in the CTRL field,

• the member containing the previous highest

SQ number and sending the CTRL code
NORM shall change this to EOS code

• coinciding with the deleted member sending

IDLE code

63 ALTTC TX
 PLANNED DELETION OF THE MEMBER

• If the deleted member was allocated the

highest SQ number of the VCG and was
sending the DNU code in CTRL field,

• the CTRL code and sequence numbering of

the other members will not change.

64 ALTTC TX
 PLANNED DELETION OF THE MEMBER

• If the deleted member was not allocated the

highest SQ number ,

• Then the other members with SQ numbers

between the SQ number of the deleted
member and the highest SQ number shall
update their SQ.

• They send these in their control packet

containing the changes in the CTRL code of
the deleted member from NORM/DNU to
IDLE.

65 ALTTC TX
 TUTORIAL

• If the deleted member had EOS in CTRL field

then
i. The next member will change its CTRL field
from NORM to EOS
ii. The next number will change CTRL field from
NORM to IDLE
• If the deleted member had DNU and has
highest sequence number then
i. The next member will change its CTRL field
from NORM to EOS
ii. The next number will not change its CTRL
field.
66 ALTTC TX
 HIGHER ORDER VCAT LCAS
H4 BYTE FIRST STAGE SECOND STAGE
MULTIFRAME MULTIFRAME NUMBER
BIT-1 BIT-2 BIT-3 BIT-4 BIT-5 BIT-6 BIT-7 BIT-8
NUMBER
MFI-1 BITS

RESERVED('0000') 0 1 0 1 5 N
C1 C2 C3 C4 0 1 1 0 6
C5 C6 C7 C8 0 1 1 1 7
M1 M2 M3 M4 1 0 0 0 8
M5 M6 M7 M8 1 0 0 1 9
0 0 0 RS-ACK 1 0 1 0 10
RESERVED('0000') 1 0 1 1 11
RESERVED('0000') 1 1 0 0 12
RESERVED('0000') 1 1 0 1 13
SQ MSB BITS(1…4) 1 1 1 0 14
SQ LSB BITS(5…8) 1 1 1 1 15
MFI-2 MSB BITS(1..4) 0 0 0 0 0 N+1
MFI-2 MSB BITS(5..8) 0 0 0 1 1
CT1 CT2 CT3 CT4 0 0 1 0 2
0 0 0 GID 0 0 1 1 3
RESERVED('0000') 0 1 0 0 4
RESERVED('0000') 5
C1 C2 C3 C4 0 1 0 1 6
C5 C6 C7 C8 0 1 1 0 7
M1 M2 M3 M4 0 1 1 1 8
M5 M6 M7 M8 1 0 0 0 9
0 0 0 RS-ACK 1 0 0 1 10

67 9/18/2018 ALTTC TX Course Name / Topic Name

 DELETION OF MEMBER

• IF THE DELETED MEMBER IS HAVING HIGHEST SQ

NUMBER AND SENDING EOS THEN THE MEMBER
CONTAINING PREVIOUS HIGHER SQ NUMBER AND
SENDING NORM SHALL CHANGE TO EOS.
• IF IT IS IN BETWEEN THEN OTHER MEMBERS WILL
UPDATE THEIR SQ NUMBERS ACCORDINLY.
• DELETED MEMBER WILL SEND FIRST DNU AND THEN
IDLE SIGNAL.
• ADDITION OR DELETION IS ACKNOWLEDGED BY
TOGGLING RS-ACK.

68 9/18/2018 ALTTC TX / Topic Name

Course Name
 ADDITION OF MEMBER
• ADD COMMAND IS GIVEN TO SINK THRU NMS
• WHEN VCG SIZE IS N THEN SQ ALLOTED TO NEW
NUMBER IS N
• MST =OK IS RECEIVED FROM SINK.
• THE LAST MEMBER ADDED IS GIVEN EOS
• OTHER NEW MEMBERS ARE CHANGED TO NORM.

69 ALTTC TX
GFP

ALTTC
 GFP
• GFP AS DEFINED IN ITU-T RECOMMEDNATION G-7041IS
UTILIZED TO ENCAPSULATE THE VARIABEL LENGTH
PAYLOADOF VARIOUS CLIENT SIGNAL FOR
SUBSEQUENT TRANSPORT OVER SDH/OTN.

71 ALTTC TX
 GFP

 There are two flavor of GFP:

 Frame mapped(GFP-F) for packet oriented
data.
 Transparent(GFP-T) mapped for steaming
data like video.

 GFP can be used to map all these variable

bit rate signals in to constant bit rate signal.
The resulting CBR can be mapped in to the
SDH containers.

72 ALTTC TX
 GFP CLIENT FRAMES

 GFP PDUs are octet aligned and consists of a

GFP core header and a payload area

1 2 3………………………..8
1
4 CORE HEADER

4-
65535
PAYLOAD AREA

73 ALTTC TX
 GFP CORE HEADER

1 2 3……………..8

PLI(15…8) 1

PLI(7…0) 2

cHEC(15…8) 3

cHEC(7…0) 4

74 ALTTC TX
 GFP CORE Header

• A 16 bit PDU length indicator contains a

binary number representing the number of
octets in the GFP payload area.
• The absolute minimum value of the PLI field
in a GFP client frame is 4 octets.
• PLI values 0-3 are reserved for GFP control
frame usage.
• 16 bit Core header error check contains a
CRC-16 error control code that protects the
integrity of the contents of the core header.

75 ALTTC TX
 GFP PAYLOAD AREA

• All octets in the GFP frame after GFP core

header are considered the GFP payload
area.
• GFP payload area is used to transport client
specific protocol information.
• The variable length may vary between 4 to
65535 octets.
• It consists of Payload Header and Payload
information area with optional FCS field.

76 ALTTC TX
 GFP PAYLOAD AREA FORMAT

12345678
4-64(X)
Payloadheader
4-
65535-X
Payload
Information
Field

Payload FCS
4 (Optional)

77 ALTTC TX
 GFP PAYLOAD HEADER

1 2 3……………..8
2 Type
2 tHEC

Extension
0-60 Header
Format

2 eHEC

78 ALTTC TX
 GFP PAYLOAD HEADER

• This is intended to support data link

management procedures specific to the
client signal.
• Type field provides the type of payload
• tHEC is to ensure the integrity of the Type
field.
• Presence of extension header and its eHEC
are depicted by Type field.

79 ALTTC TX
 GFP TYPE FIELD

PTI PFI EXI

UPI

• This is two octet mandatory field indicating

the content and the format of the GFP
payload information field.
• 3 Bit PTI identify the type of GFP client frame.
• Single Bit Payload FCS Indicator PFI indicates
the presence(1) or absence(0) of the
Payload FCS.

80 ALTTC TX
 GFP TYPE FIELD

• Extension header identifier(EXI): a 4 bit field

identifying the type of extension header GFP.
• User Payload Identifier(UPI): An 8 bit field
identifying the type of payload conveyed in
the GFP Payload information field.

81 ALTTC TX
 GFP EXTENSION HEADER

• Payload extension header is a 0-60 octet

field (Including eHEC) that contains source,
destination address, class of service etc.

82 ALTTC TX
 PAYLOAD INFORMATION AREA

• Payload information field contains the client

PDU for frame mapped GFP or a Group of
client signal characters for transparent
mapped GFP.
• This variable length field may include from 0
to 65535-X octets, where X is the size of
Payload header.

83 ALTTC TX
 TUTORIAL

• GFP core header contains information

regarding
i. Type of the Payload.
ii. Length of the payload
• GFP core header is of
i. 2 Octets
ii. 4 Octets
• Variable payload area length can be
i. 4-65535
ii. 4-4096

84 ALTTC TX
 TUTORIAL

• GFP payload header contains the

i. Type of the payload.
ii. Length of the payload.
• Client PDU is actually mapped inside
i. Payload information area
ii. Full GFP payload.
• Size of the payload information area is
i. 65535
ii. 65535-X where X is the size of the payload
header

85 ALTTC TX
 GFP PDU
1 2 3……………8
2 Length 1
2 GFP core header
2 cHEC 3
4
PTI,PFI,EXI 5
2 UPI 6
2 tHEC
7
8 Payload Header
0-58 Extension
Header
0-2 eHEC

N Payload Client Payload

area

0/4 P FCS

86 ALTTC TX
 UPI for GFP Client Frames
UPI (hex) GFP Frame Payload area

01 Frame mapped Ethernet

02 Frame mapped PPP

03 Transparent fiber channel

04 Transparent FICON

05 Transparent ESCON

06 Transparent Gb Ethernet

0A RPR

0D Frame mapped MPLS

08 Frame mapped Multiple Access

Protocol over SDH

87 ALTTC TX
 GFP CONTROL FRAMES
1 2………………….8
1
2
3
4

• GFP control frames are used in the

management of the GFP connection.
• GFP idle frame is a special four octet GFP control
frame consisting of only a GFP core header
with the PLI and cHEC field set to zero. And no
payload area.
• The Idle frame is used to maintain the constant
bit rate when no client PDUs is available.

88 ALTTC TX
 FRAME BY FRAME MAPPING OF CLIENT SIGNAL INTO GFP

• The format of Ethernet MAC frame is defined

in IEEE 802.3
• There is one to one mapping between client
PDU and GFP PDU.
• Ethernet MAC octets from destination
address through FCS inclusive are placed in
GFP Payload information field.
• This mapping is octet by octet basis.

89 ALTTC TX
 FRAME BY FRAME MAPPING OF ETHERNET MAC INTO GFP

2 PLI
2 cHEC
2 PTI,PFI,EXI,UPI
7 Preamble 2 tHEC
Frame Delimiter
0-60 GFP extension header
1
6 DA

6
SA
2 GFP Payload
Length/Type
information
MAC client
data

4 MAC FCS

76543210 12345678

90 ALTTC TX
 IP/PPP payload

• The relationship between IP/PPP frame and

GFP frame is one to one.
• All octets from PPP frame including any
optional PPP information field padding are
placed in the payload information field of
GFP frame.
• Bits 0-7 of PPP corresponds to 8-1 of the GFP.
Payload byte.

91 ALTTC TX
 PPP TO GFP
2 PLI
2 cHEC
2 PTI,PFI,EXI,UPI
2 tHEC
flag 0-60 GFP extension header
1
address 1
control 1
PPP protocol 2
ID GFP Payload
PPP client information
data

HDLC FCS 4

7654321 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

92 ALTTC TX
 RPR TO GFP

• There is one to one mapping between RPR

frame and GFP PDU.
• All of the RPR frame octets are placed in the
GFP payload information field.
• Here also LSB and MSB of RPR corresponds to
bits 8 and 1 of GFP PDU respectively

93 ALTTC TX
 RPR TO GFP
2 PLI
2 cHEC
2 PTI,PFI,EXI,UPI
2 tHEC
Phy Support 0-60 GFP extension header

RPR Frame

GFP Payload
information

RPR FCS

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

94 ALTTC TX
 DIRECT MAPPING OF MPLS

• MPLS PDU contains one or more MPLS specific

label stack entrees and a MPLS payload
information field.
• All octets of MPLS PDU are placed in Payload
information field of a GFP frame

95 ALTTC TX
 DIRECT MAPPING OF MPLS
2 PLI
2 cHEC
2 PTI,PFI,EXI,UPI
2 tHEC
0-60 GFP extension header

Label Stack Entry

Label Stack Entry GFP Payload

information

MPLS PAYLOAD

PFCS

96 ALTTC TX
 TUTORIAL

• Extension header in payload header is

contains
i. Source and Destination Address
ii. Size of the payload information area
• Size of the Extension header is
i. 0-58
ii. 0-60
• GFP control frame has
i. 4 Octets
ii. 6 Octets

97 ALTTC TX
 TUTORIAL

• Ethernet Frame is mapped in to GFP Frame by

i. Full Ethernet frame is mapped in to GFP payload
information area.
ii. Preamble and Delimiter is removed before
Ethernet Frame is mapped in to GFP.
• Ethernet frames octet LSB corresponds to
i. Bit 8 of the GFP’s Octet
ii. Bit 1 of the GFP’s Octet
• Ethernet Frames octet MSB corresponds to
i. Bit 8 of the GFP’s Octet
ii. Bit 1 of the GFP’s Octet

98 ALTTC TX
 TUTORIAL

• IP/PPP frame is mapped in the GFP payload

information area
i. Entirely with flag.
ii. Without flag.
• RPR frame is mapped in the GFP payload
information area
i. Entirely with Phy Support.
ii. Without Phy Support.

• MPLS frame’s mapping necessitates keeping

FCS beneath GFP’s Payload information area
i. True
ii. False

99 ALTTC TX
PACKETS PACKETS
SOURCE SINK

STM-N

QUEUES GFP MAPPER GFP DEMAPPER QUEUES

ENCAPSULATING---MAPPING---MUXING—TRANSMISSION---DEMUXING—DEMAPPING---DE-ENCAPSULATING

10 9/18/2018 ALTTC TX / Topic Name

Course Name
0
 GFP MAPPING OF THE SIGNAL

HDSLC FLAG
ADDRESS
GFP
CONTROL
HEADER CORE HEADER
FIBER CHANNEL
DATA
LLC/SNAP
CRC PAYLOAD
BBW HEADER
EOF
SOF
EOF
HEADER EXTENSION
EOF
DATA HEADER
CRC
EOF PAYLOAD
LLC/SNAP
BBW
SOF CHECK SUM
HEADER
ETHERNET DATA
CRC
EOF
EOF
EOF

10 9/18/2018 ALTTC TX / Topic Name

Course Name
1
 PLI

CHEC:CRC PLI:PDU LENGTH INDICATOR

CORE CHEC:CORE HEC PROTECTION
HEADER PTI: PAYLOAD TYPE IDENTIFIER
PTI,PFI,EXI TYPE
PAYLOAD PFI: PAYLOAD FCS INDICATOR
HEADER UPI EXI:EXTENSION HEADER INDICATOR
UPI: USER PAYLOAD IDENTIFIER.
EXTENSION THEC: TYPE HEC PROTECTION
EXI
HEADER EXI: EXTENSION HEADER IDENTIFIER
EHEC EHEC: EXTENSION HEC PROTECTION
PAYLOAD PFCS: PAYLOAD FCS
PAYLOAD
CHECKSUM

PFCS:CRC

GFP FRAME
10 9/18/2018 ALTTC TX / Topic Name
Course Name
2
 THANK YOU!

10
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