Maulana Azad National Institute

Of Technology

Advanced Computer Networks

ATM Adaptation Layer

Submitted To: Presented By:

Dr. Devshri Roy Asad Siddiqui
092112217
 Topics Covered

●Introduction to ATM
●ATM Layers

●ATM Adaptation Layer

●ATM Application Classes

●AAL1, AAL2, AAL3/4, AAL5 and their cell formats

 ATM

Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard

defined by International Telecommunication
Union.
The primary goal behind developing ATM was to
create a network which can transmit voice, video
and data.
Unlike traditional networks which use packet as
basic transmission unit, ATM uses cells of fixed
size(5+48bytes or octets).
 ATM and other networks

Feature Data Networks Telecommunication ATM

Data, voice and

Traffic Support Data Voice
video

Transmission
Packet Frame Cell
Unit

Transmission
Variable Fixed Fixed
Length

Delivery Best effort Guaranteed Guaranteed

 ATM Protocol Structure

ATM Endpoint ATM Switch ATM Endpoint

ATM Adaptation ATM Adaptation

Layer Layer

ATM Layer ATM Layer ATM Layer

Physical Layer Physical Layer Physical Layer

ATM Layers

Higher Layers

ATM Adaptation Layer

ATM Layer

Physical Layer
 ATM Physical Layer

Four functions:
Conversion of cells into bit-stream
Transmission and receipt of bits on the physical

medium.
Tracking cell boundaries.

Packaging cells into the appropriate types of frames for

the physical medium.

 The Physical Layer

The ATM Physical Layer is divided into two sub-

layers:
The physical medium-dependent (PMD) sublayer
The transmission convergence (TC) sublayer.
 The ATM Layer

The ATM layer represents the interface between

the AAL and the Physical layer.
Its adds a 5byte header to the cells coming from
the upper layer.
 ATM Adaptation Layer

The AAL converts the protocol data unit originated

by the higher-layer protocol into the 48-byte
payload of ATM cell.
AAL is divided into two sub-layers:
Segmentation and Reassembly (SAR)
Convergence Sub-layer
 ATM Adaptation Layer
Higher PDU
layer

CS
layer CS-header PDU Padding CS-trailer

SAR
SAR-PDU SAR-PDU SAR-PDU SAR-PDU SAR-PDU SAR-PDU
layer
header payload trailer header payload trailer

ATM
Cell Cell Cell Cell
layer
header payload header payload
ATM Application classes and AAL
Layers

Class A Class B Class C Class D

Timing
Required Not Required
Relationship

Bitrate Constant Variable

Connection Connection-
Connection Oriented
Mode less

AAL AAL1 AAL2 AAL5, AAL3/4 AAL3/4

 AAL 1

AAL 1:
-For real time or constant bit rate services,
such as video traffic.
-Requires 1 byte of overhead per ATM cell.
-Provides connection oriented services.
-AAL-1 requires timing synchronization
between the source and destination. Therefore
needs a medium such as SONET, that
supports clocking.
 AAL1 Cell

SN SNP SAR PDU

CSI CRC Parity

SC(3bits) Payload(47 bits)
(1bit) (1bit) (3bits)

SN - Sequence number.
CSI - Convergence sublayer indicator.
SC - Sequence count.
SNP - Sequence number protection.
CRC - Cyclic redundancy check calculated over the SAR header.
Parity - Parity calculated over the CRC.
SAR PDU - payload 47-byte user information field.
 AAL2

-For VBR(variable bit rate) traffic ex. packet

data transfer.
-Requires 4bytes of overhead per cell and
leaves 44bytes for the actual payload
-VBR traffic can be either real-time (VBR-RT)
or as non-real-time (VBR-NRT)
-Used for connection oriented and synchronous
traffic.
 AAL3/4

-Supports asynchronous VBR traffic ex. X.25

data
-Supports both connection oriented and
connectionless traffic.
-Requires 4bytes of overhead per cell.
 AAL3/4 Cell

ST(2b) SN(4b) MID(10b) Data(44B) LI(6b) CRC(10)

ST - Segment type.
Values 10 = Beginning of message; 00 = Continuation of message;
01 = End of message; 11 = Single segment message
SN - Sequence number.
MID Multiplexing identification. This is used for multiplexing several AAL-3/4
connections over one ATM link.
LI - Length indication. Contains the length of the SAR SDU in bytes
CRC - Cyclic redundancy check calculated over the SAR header.
 AAL5

-AAL5 is similar to AAL3/4 except that it does

not add any additional information into the
payload.
-Thus actual payload length=48bytes
-Also known as Simple and Efficient Adaptation
Layer (SEAL).
Thank You