Document No.

Product Name
Intended Audience Product Version
Compiled by Document Version



LCAS Technology



Prepared by Date
Reviewed by Date
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Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
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Revision History
Date Version Author Description

2007-12-21 V1.10 Holistic
optimization
OSN product family





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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Background of Emergence of LCAS Technology.........................................................6
Chapter 2 Introduction to LCAS Technology..................................................................................6
2.1 LCAS Characteristics.............................................................................................................7
2.2 LCAS Implemented in Virtual Concatenation ........................................................................7
2.2.1 Application of LCAS in Virtual Concatenation.............................................................7
2.2.2 Overview of Application Mode.....................................................................................7
2.3 Bandwidth Adjustment Handshake........................................................................................8
1.1.1 Functions of Control Packets and Implementation Method ......................................10
2.3.2 Definition and Description of Fields in Overhead Control Packet .............................12
Chapter 3 Operation of Control Packet When the Bandwidth Changes....................................16
1.1 Adding a New Member When the Traffic Increases ............................................................16
3.2 Deleting a Member Temporarily When the Traffic Decreases .............................................17
3.3 Supplementary Description on Deleting a Member .............................................................17
Chapter 4 Interconnection Between LCAS and Non-LCAS Networks .......................................17
4.1 Interconnection Between LCAS-Enabled Source and LCAS-Disabled Sink.......................18
4.2 Interconnection Between LCAS-Enabled Sink and LCAS-Disabled Source.......................19
4.2.1 Asymmetric Connection of LCAS..............................................................................19
4.2.2 Symmetric Connection of LCAS................................................................................19
Chapter 5 Relationship Between LCAS and Other Technologies ..............................................20
5.1 LCAS and LAPS ..................................................................................................................20
5.2 LCAS and SDH/SONET ......................................................................................................20


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List of Tables
Table 2-1 Application indication of control packet of higher order overhead H4 byte ............. 10
Table 2-2 Application indication of bit 2 control packet of lower order overhead K4 byte.......... 12
Table 2-3 Definition of lower order control packet ................................................................... 14
Table 4-1 Setting of higher order overhead H4 byte defined by G.707................................... 18
Table 4-2 Bit 2 of lower order overhead K4 byte defined by G.707......................................... 18



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Keywords
LCAS, virtual concatenation
Abstract
This document introduces the background of emergence of the LCAS
technology and the technical characteristics of LCAS, and analyzes its
application in the optical network system.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
VC: Virtual Concatenation
VC: Virtual Container
LCAS: Link Capacity Adjustment Scheme
SDH: Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
OTN: Optical Transport Network: SONET/SDH
CRC: Cyclic Redundancy Check
CTRL: Control word sent from source to sink
DNU: Do Not Use
EOS: End of Sequence
GID: Group Identification
LOM: Loss of Multiframe
MFI: Multiframe Indicator
MST: Member Status
NORM: Normal Operating Mode
RS-Ack: Re-sequence acknowledge
Sk: Sink
So: Source
SQ: Sequence Indicator
TSD: Trail Signal Degraded
TSF: Trail Signal Fail
VCG: Virtual Concatenation Group
1st multi-frame
2nd multi-frame
References
None

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Chapter 1 Background of Emergence of LCAS
Technology
With the development of SDH/SONET for transmitting multiple services, the
access bandwidth requirements are increasing. The existing container
(maximum of VC-4 granularity) is not enough for meeting the requirements,
and thus the concatenation technology emerges. In the concatenation
technology, virtual concatenation is more flexible than contiguous
concatenation, and utilizes the bandwidth more efficiently.
Both virtual concatenation and contiguous concatenation involve the following
problems:
Procedure 1 Failure of any physical channel in the concatenation will make
the whole concatenated channel fail. In other words, the service will be
interrupted completely.
Procedure 2 The bandwidth adjustment of the service affects the service
seriously. If the service bandwidth is adjusted after the user service is
established, the user service will usually be interrupted for some time.
Procedure 3 It takes a long time to make the service available: The period
from applying for the service to activating the service is too long.
LCAS is a link capacity adjustment scheme, and is a supplement to the virtual
concatenation technology.
(Note: Only virtually concatenated channels can use the LCAS technology.)
The LCAS can solve the following problems:
Procedure 1 The LCAS can dynamically adjust (add, delete or modify) the
service bandwidth without affecting the availability of the existing service.
Procedure 2 If there are failed physical channels in virtual concatenation, the
LCAS will shield these physical channels. Other physical channels in the
virtual concatenation can still transmit services. Therefore, service interruption
will not occur as a result of failure of a single physical channel.
Chapter 2 Introduction to LCAS Technology
LCAS is a technology applied in virtual concatenation for improving the
performance of virtual concatenation. It transmits the control information by
using the reserved overhead bytes of SDH (that is, H4 byte in case of higher
order virtual concatenation, K4 byte in case of lower order virtual

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concatenation), and dynamically adjusts the quantity of virtual containers for
mapping the required service to meet different service bandwidth requirements
and improve the bandwidth utilization.
2.1 LCAS Characteristics
Seamless bandwidth adjustment: Bandwidth can be adjusted without
damaging the service.
Complete control packet structure: The control packet is composed of 16
continuous H4 bytes (or 32 K4 bytes).
Asymmetric connection: To be described later.
2.2 LCAS Implemented in Virtual Concatenation
2.2.1 Application of LCAS in Virtual Concatenation
In the virtual concatenation transmission of SONET/SDH, the LCAS
technology can dynamically decrease or recover the quantity of virtual
containers, and thus adjust the total mapping capacity. Moreover, the LCAS in
this application can adjust (decrease) the capacity of virtual containers
automatically after detecting a failed member (for example, a VC-12) on the
network, and increase the capacity automatically after detecting recovery of
this member. This capacity adjustment is feasible to every member.
The capacity of virtual containers in the LCAS is adjusted by exchanging
control information between the source and the sink. The control information
indicative of capacity requirements is defined in G.707, G.783 (SDH), G.709
and G.798 (SONET).
Note: "Member" here means a virtual container for mapping other service, for
example, VC-4, or VC-12.
2.2.2 Overview of Application Mode
When the LCAS is applied to the virtual concatenation, the control mechanism
between the source and the sink can adjust the Virtual Concatenation Group
(VCG) capacity according to the traffic of the service to be mapped and the
required bandwidth. Meanwhile, the LCAS will cancel the connection
temporarily when the link of a virtual container with mapped service fails. (The
establishment and cancellation of links of a member are not covered by
LCAS.)
Note: VCG here means a group of virtual container sequences to which a
service is mapped, and a group of members with the same GID. All VC-3 or
VC-12 containers bound onto a VC trunk can be regarded as one VCG.

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2.3 Bandwidth Adjustment Handshake
Procedure 1 Increase bandwidth dynamically
I want to
add a
member
Addition is
allowed.
I want to
add
I
see
Let me check
whether it works
Well,It works.
Source Sink
Note: Delimited by red lines. The load will be
carried in the new member at the source and the
data will be retrieved from the new member for
assembling frames at the sink only after the
handshake operation is completed.

Procedure 2 Decrease bandwidth dynamically
Source
Sink
I want to delete a member
I see!

Note: Unlike increasing bandwidth, the source decides deletion of members,
without acknowledgement of the sink. Afterward, the source will not carry
payload in a deleted member. After receiving the deletion indication, the sink
will not retrieve data in the deleted member.
Procedure 3 Delete a failed member

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Source Sink
Oh, why is that?
That's a trouble. I
have to handle it
immediately.
Hey. The
member
failed
Note: Once the sink detects that the member
fails, the sink will notify the source not to put
load into the failed member; and will not
retrieve data from the failed member.

Procedure 4 Recover a failed member
Source Sink
Well, the
load can be
put into it
now.
The
member
has
recovered
I see.
Note: Once the sink detects that the member is
recovered, it will notify the source immediately. It
will retrieve data from the recovered member only
after receiving an instruction from the source.

The above handshake diagram tells the rough principles. The detailed control
method is described below.

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1.1.1 Functions of Control Packets and Implementation Method
The control packet traces the change of traffic between the source and the
sink. Each received control packet describes the state of the link that exists at
the time of receiving the next control packet. That is, the information of link
change is sent by the control packet in advance. Therefore, the receiver can
handle or change the relevant configuration as soon as any change occurs.
Because the LCAS is established on the basis of virtual concatenation, its
control packet is H4 (or K4 for lower order) byte. 16 continuous H4 bytes make
up one control packet.
The CRC check for ensuring certainty of the control frame is specially intended
for the control packet overhead. After a control packet is received, the CRC
check can be carried out immediately to decide whether its contents are
available.
Definition of control packet (that is, implementation method):
In case of higher order (HO): Every 16 frames make up a multiframe (Note:
8000 frames are transmitted per second).
Composed of overhead byte H4: Composed of 16 continuous frames from
frame 8 of multiframe N (2nd multi-frame) to frame 7 of multiframe N+1 (see
the red line box in Table 2-1).
Table 2-1 Application indication of control packet of higher order overhead H4
byte
H4 Byte
Bit 1 Bit 2 Bit 3 Bit 4 Bit 5 Bit 6 Bit 7 Bit 8
Sequence
number of
frame in the
multiframe
Sequence
number of
multiframe
Sequence indicator MSB ( bits
14)
1 1 1 0 14
Sequence indicator LSB ( bits
58)
1 1 1 1 15
N-1
2nd multi-frame indicator MSB
( bits 14)
0 0 0 0 0
2nd multi-frame indicator LSB
( bits 58)
0 0 0 1 1
N
CTRL 0 0 1 0 2

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GID ("000x") 0 0 1 1 3
Reserved ("0000") 0 1 0 0 4
Reserved ("0000") 0 1 0 1 5
CRC-8 0 1 1 0 6
CRC-8 0 1 1 1 7
Member status 1 0 0 0 8
Member status 1 0 0 1 9
RS-ACK 1 0 1 0 10
Reserved ("0000") 1 0 1 1 11
Reserved ("0000") 1 1 0 0 12
Reserved ("0000"), to extend
Seq. Ind.
1 1 0 1 13
Sequence indicator MSB ( bits
14)
1 1 1 0 14
Sequence indicator LSB ( bits
58)
1 1 1 1 15





N+1

2nd multi-frame indicator MSB
( bits 14)
0 0 0 0 0
2nd multi-frame indicator LSB
( bits 58)
0 0 0 1 1
CTRL 0 0 1 0 2
GID ("000x") 0 0 1 1 3
Reserved ("0000") 0 1 0 0 4
Reserved ("0000") 0 1 0 1 5
CRC-8 0 1 1 0 6
CRC-8 0 1 1 1 7
Member status 1 0 0 0 8



N+1



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In the above table, bits 58 of H4 byte in each frame represent the range of the
frame (015). Bits 14 of H4 byte in each frame, however, represent different
contents in different frames. For example, bits 14 of frame 0 and frame 1
make up one byte for storing the sequence number of a multiframe; bits 14 of
frame 8 and frame 9 make up one byte for indicating the member status. For
details, see the red line box in the table. For the detailed interpretation and
functions of each field (for example, CTRL), see the definition and description
of fields in the overhead control packet.
In case of lower order (LO):
Composed of overhead byte K4 bit 2: For bit 2 of K4 byte of 32 continuous
frames, see Table 2-2.
Table 2-2 Application indication of bit 2 control packet of lower order overhead
K4 byte

2.3.2 Definition and Description of Fields in Overhead Control Packet
I. Higher order overhead
Multi Frame Indicator field (MFI)
At the source, the MFI is equal among all members of the same VCG, and is 1
greater than the MFI of the previous frame. To put it simply, the MFI is a
sequence number of multiframe.
At the sink, the MFI is used to arrange the payload carried by all received
members. That is, it is used to indicate the delay of different members in the
same VCG.
Sequence Indicator field (SQ)
The sequence indicator indicates the sequence number of the member. It
starts from 0, and indicates the sequence number of the VC in the virtual
concatenation. In a virtual concatenation structure, the bytes are interleaved in
each VC. Therefore, to recover the service, it is necessary to know which VC
comes first and which VC comes next. The sequence indicator is a basis for
sorting. The sequence indicator of LCAS is similar to that specified in G.707
and G.709.

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In the initialization, the SQ value of VCG at the source will be initialized into the
possible maximum value.
When more than one member is added at a time, the SQ will be allocated to
those that return MST=OK first.
For example, four VC-4 containers are bound to a VC trunk at the source. An
SQ is allocated to each VC-4 at the source, and the VC-4 containers are
sorted by the SQ at the sink.
Control field (CTRL)
The control field is used to transmit the information of the link from the source
to the sink, and synchronize signals at the sink. The control field must be able
to provide the status information of each member in this group in time. The
definition of the control field is shown in the following figure:


In the initialization, the control field of all members at the source is IDLE=0101.
At the sink, the packet with the control word "EOS" is the member of the
highest sequence number (the last member), and all other members have the
control word "NORM" or "DNU".
Group ID bit (GID)
The GID is used to differentiate between different VCGs. The GID of all
members in one VCG is the same. Therefore, for the sink, the members of the
same GID come from the same source. The contents of the GID are
pseudo-random binary sequences.
For example, if multiple VC trunks bind multiple VC-4 containers, the GID of
members in different VC trunks is different, and the GID of members in the
same VC Trunk is the same.
Note: The GID is invalid when the control field is in the IDLE state.
CRC field

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Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of the 8BIT control packet. At the sink, the
contents of the control packet that has passed CRC will take effect
immediately; the contents of the control packet that has failed CRC will be
rejected. The CRC generation multinomial is x8 + x2 + x + 1.
Member status field (MST)
The MST is used to send the status of all members in the same VCG from the
sink to the source: OK or FAIL, OK=0, FAIL=1.
The source will allocate an SQ to a new member in the group only after
receiving the normal MST state from the sink.
In the process of initializing the sink, any MST must be set to FAIL, including
the idle MST value.
Re-Sequence Acknowledge bit (RS-Ack)
When a change of the status of the members in a VCG is detected at the sink,
the value of this bit will be reverse. This bit aims to report to the source that the
change of the sequence number of a VCG member has been acknowledged.
II. Definition of Fields in Lower Order Overhead Control Packet
Multiframe Count
The multiframe counter [0-31] is the count of multiframes, which falls within
[0-31].
Sequence Indicator field (SQ)
Sequence indicator is the sequence number of lower order virtual containers,
which falls within [0-63]. In the initialization, all sequence indicators are set to
the maximum value.
Control field (CTRL)
Like the higher order application, the control field is used to transmit the
information of the link from the source to the sink. The control field must be
able to provide the status information of each member in this link in time. The
definition of the control field is shown in Table 2-3.
Table 2-3 Definition of lower order control packet

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In the initialization, the control field of all members is IDLE=0101.
At the sink, the packet with the control word "EOS" is the member of the
highest sequence number, and all other members have the control word
"NORM" or "DNU".
Group ID bit (GID)
GID is the ID of a VCG. The GID is used to differentiate between different
VCGs. The GID of all members in one VCG is the same. Therefore, for the
sink, the members of the same GID come from the same source. The contents
of the GID are pseudo-random binary sequences, and the format of generated
GID is 215-1.
Note: The GID is invalid when the control field is in the IDLE state.
Member status field (MST)
The MST is used to send the status of all members in the same VCG from the
sink to the source. OK or FAIL, OK=0, FAIL=1.
All 64 members will be transmitted within 128 ms.
Re-Sequence Acknowledge bit (RS-Ack)
When a change of the state of a member in a VCG is detected at the sink, the
value of this bit will be reverse. This bit aims to report to the source that the
change of the sequence number of a VCG member has been acknowledged.
CRC field
Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of 8BIT control packet. At the sink, the
contents of the control packet that has passed CRC will take effect
immediately. The CRC generation multinomial is x8 + x2 + x + 1.

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Chapter 3 Operation of Control Packet When the
Bandwidth Changes
Control packets are main contents of LCAS. A control packet contains various
status information of the source and the sink.
Procedure 1 Forward control packet (from the source to the sink): MFI, SQ,
CTRL, GID, and CRC
Procedure 2 Backward control frame (from the sink to the source): MST,
RS-Ack, and CRC
Note: In the same VCG, the MST and the RS-Ack of all control frames are the
same.
In the forward control packet and backward control frame: CRC and all idle
reserved bits must be set to 0.
1.1 Adding a New Member When the Traffic Increases
When a member is added, the sequence number added is always greater than
the greatest sequence number of the existing members (EOS in the control
field).
When this member whose control field is ADD is executed, the MST of this
new member must be set to OK, and the value of its control field will be set to
EOS. The member whose control field is EOS will be set to NORM.
Note: The member whose control field is ADD will not stop being sent until the
member with MSK=OK in the control field is received at the local end from the
opposite end.
When more than one member is added, if the corresponding MSK=OK is
received at the same time, the sequence number of such members will be set
from the maximum number according to the sequence of receiving the
members. All the sequence numbers are greater than that of the current
member at EOS. The control field of the member with the maximum sequence
number is set to EOS. Likewise, the member whose control field is EOS shall
be changed to NORM.
Moreover, a control packet shall be sent to the new member, and the new
member comes immediately after this control packet.

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3.2 Deleting a Member Temporarily When the Traffic
Decreases
At the sink, when a member is detected as failure, the sink will send a
MST=FAIL message to the source. After receiving this message, the source
will change NORM (or EOS) of this frame to DNU, and then fill EOS into the
control field of the previous member.
When the detected member is recovered from failure at the sink, the sink will
send a control packet for the member with MST=OK to the source. After
receiving this packet, the source will replace the current DNU with NORM or
EOS, and then fill NORM into the control field of the previous member, and
send it to the sink.
Moreover, for the temporarily deleted member, it is necessary to delete the
payload of the member from the VCG. The control field of the last member
whose payload is deleted must be DNU. In this way, the payload field of the
next virtual container will be all 0s. When the sink receives the member whose
control field is DNU, the sink will not add it to the normal VCG.
When it is necessary to use this member later, the payload of this member
may be filled again. And this member must immediately follow the previous
member, and the control field of this member must be NORM or EOS.
3.3 Supplementary Description on Deleting a Member
If a member is deleted, the sequence number of all other members in the
same VCG will change. If the member with the greatest sequence number is
deleted, the previously second greatest sequence number will become the
currently greatest sequence number, the control field of the deleted member
will change from EOS to IDLE, and the control field of the member with the
currently greatest sequence number will change to EOS. If the deleted
member does not have the greatest sequence number, all sequence numbers
previously greater than this sequence number will decrease by one, and the
control field of the deleted member will change to IDLE.
Chapter 4 Interconnection Between LCAS and
Non-LCAS Networks
The application of interconnection between LCAS network and non-LCAS
virtual concatenation network involves two cases.

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4.1 Interconnection Between LCAS-Enabled Source and
LCAS-Disabled Sink
In this case, as long as the source that supports LCAS works in the non-LCAS
virtual concatenation mode, the virtual concatenation service sent from the
source to the sink will need no special handling. The higher order overhead H4
byte of the source will be set according to the G.707 protocol (the higher order
byte setting is shown in Table 4-1). The lower order overhead K4 byte will be
set according to G.707 protocol (the lower order byte setting is shown in Table
4-2). At the sink, other bits will be ignored, and the returned MSK is constantly
OK. All LCAS overhead byte contents will be ignored.
Table 4-1 Setting of higher order overhead H4 byte defined by G.707

Table 4-2 Bit 2 of lower order overhead K4 byte defined by G.707

Interpretation of K4 byte:
Bit 2 of K4 byte of lower order VC-n POH is used to transmit the information of
rearranging the virtual concatenation signals from the source to the sink.

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Bit 2 is retrieved from K4 of every frame. After 32 frames, a serial-like 32-bit
string (as shown in Table 2-3) is generated for labeling the information. This
string will complete a cycle at frame 128. The lower order framing information
of a virtual concatenation is included in it.
Note: The overhead of the virtual concatenation of VC-12 must use the
extended label (for details of bit 2 of the lower order virtual concatenation
overhead K4 byte, see G.707).
4.2 Interconnection Between LCAS-Enabled Sink and
LCAS-Disabled Source
In this case, because the control field and the CRC field sent by the source
that does not support LCAS are all 0s, when the sink that supports LCAS
receives the control field and CRC field that are all 0s, the processing is as
follows:
Do not process fields except MFI and SQ.
Process the MFI and SQ in the same way as in standard virtual concatenation.
4.2.1 Asymmetric Connection of LCAS
LCAS supposes that the protocol execution process is direction-independent.
In other words, the traffic flow sent from the source to the sink is independent
of the traffic flow sent from the sink to the source, and needs no special
processing. All contents discussed herein are intended for the asymmetric
connection mode.
4.2.2 Symmetric Connection of LCAS
The specific scheme is still under research.
In this connection mode, each member has a peer member in the reverse
direction (like bidirectional connection). That is, each VCG has a reverse VCG.
The state of the sink is returned only in this peer member to the source. In this
working mode, it is recommended to configure the NE in other ways.

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Chapter 5 Relationship Between LCAS and Other
Technologies
5.1 LCAS and LAPS
With respect to application, the Ethernet signals are bursty and variable in
length, and sharply different from the SONET/SDH frames that require strict
synchronization. Therefore, a proper link layer adaptation protocol is required
for implementing frame mapping from the Ethernet to the SONET/SDH. This is
much similar to the thought of the IP over SONET/SDH (POS) system that
adopts the IP/PPP/HDLC/SDH. Two protocols can be used to map and
encapsulate the Ethernet signals: (1) LAPS (Link Access Procedure SDH,
ITU-T X.86), which is put forward by Wuhan Postal & Telecommunication
Bureau on behalf of China to ITU-T; (2) GFP (Generic Framing Procedure,
ANSI T1X1.5), which is put forward by Lucent and Nortel. The former has
become an official international standard; the latter is still an ANSI draft, and is
estimated to be approved at the beginning of next year. Both are
connectionless-oriented data link layer protocols.
For the Ethernet over SDH implemented through the GFP/LAPS/HDLC
protocol, the frame mapping process includes two steps:
Encapsulate the MAC frame of the Ethernet into a GFP/LAPS /HDLC protocol
frame.
Map the GFP/LAPS/HDLC protocol frame into an SDH frame.
Encapsulating MAC frames into LAPS protocol frames is an operation on the
upper layer of virtual concatenation, and is unrelated to LCAS. In the operation
of mapping after encapsulation, that is, virtual concatenation operation, it is
appropriate to use LCAS to adjust the mapping capacity dynamically
according to the LAPS/HDLC service capacity, or the NMS configures the
capacity as required. This makes the bandwidth controllable and reasonably
utilized.
5.2 LCAS and SDH/SONET
Currently, LCAS is only applied to the virtual concatenation mapping of
SDH/SONET. For SDH and SONET, the LCAS operation is the same, and the
frame structure of the control packet is also the same. As required by the
virtual concatenation protocol, for the users who need to transmit virtual
concatenation services, the terminals with concatenation services can be
deployed at the source and the sink of the existing SDH device, without

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changing the existing transmission network structure. Therefore, the LCAS is
rather adaptive to the existing SDH/SONET network, and can be implemented
by only applying the LCAS-enabled virtual concatenation at the source and the
sink.