SDH BASICS OVERVIEW

Overview
Introduction to PDH
Transport Network
Path and Section
Virtual Containers
Synchronous Transport Module
Protection Rings and Capacity
SDH Multiplexing Structure
PDH Mapping
SDH Bytes
 Introduction to PDH

The Transport Plane

 Offers a Transport Service between the service and
access layers as well as between all of the physical
locations on each of these planes
 Each of the telephone or data switches on the
service plane relies on the transport plane to carry
traffic between them as well as to and from end
users. Hence the terminology TRANSPORT PLANE
 A Transport Network is used simply to Transport
signals to their required destination and to deliver
them in the same format as they were received
 TRANSPORT PLANE

ATM
PSTN
Service

TRANSPORT PLANE

Access
SDH
PBX

Large business
Telephone
 The Transport Network
 The Transport Network provides an ability to carry
Traffic between the points
 Just providing a set of links between Telephone
Sites is not Sufficient. The following are the Key
issues to be considered :
 Resilience : The ability of the network to cope
with a loss or failure of a link or node, alternative
routes to be provided
 Set up Cost (Investment) : Minimization is
usually required
 Services Supported : The network must be able
to carry any services
 Future Proof (Upgrade, growth) : The network
must be able to evolve to satisfy new
requirements, without disrupting existing
services
 Operation, Administration and Maintenance (OA
& M): The system proposed must integrate into
existing processes and contribute to minimizing
operational costs
Connection Point
Logical Communication Path
 Multiplexing
 In the early days of Telephony, each telephone
circuit required it’s own set of Copper wires to
connect two Telephones together
 As demand increased, this technique became
very expensive and impractical
 Multiplexing is a method to combine more than
one Telephone channel onto the same pair of
wires
Telephone Before Telephone

Telephone Telephone

Telephone Telephone

Telephone Telephone

One line needed per connection

Several Channels transmitted
on one line
After
Use one line
(MULTIPLEXING)

Several Channels transmitted on one line

1 Multiplexed Signal
1

30
30
European Standard
30 Telephone lines multiplexed into a 2 Mbps signal
Several Channels transmitted on
one line
 Transmission systems that are designed to European standards
combine 30 Telephone Channels to create a multiplexed signal
 This allows vendors to make multiplexers that can interwork
 This signal is multiplexed using a technique called Time Division
Multiplexing
 TDM combines these signals which are in Digital form
 This conversion is done using PCM (Sampling, Quantizing,
Encoding)
 The transmission speed of this signal is 2.048 Mbps
 As far as Transport Networks are concerned the 2 Mbps signal is
the lowest signal that is carried and therefore, forms the building
blocks for higher orders of Multiplexing
Multiplexing Principles
 The input signals to the Multiplexer are called Tributaries(Tribs)
 The output signal (multiplexed signal) is called the Aggregate
 For the tributaries to be multiplexed all tribs must be operating at
exactly the same speed
 The speed of the aggregate must be at least the sum of all the trib
speeds, this is because the multiplexer must transmit one byte from
all tribs in the same length of time that it takes to receive one byte
from one tributary
 Multiplexing Principles

The output signal is

called the aggregate
Input signals are called Mux
Tributaries(Tribs)
30 Channel PCM Frame
Time Slots (TS)

0 16 31

Channels for Channels for

speech or data speech or data
1-15 16 - 30

TS0 for frame TS16 for

alignment signaling
 Although the frame contains 30 Telephone channels, a total of 32
Time slots are multiplexed.
 TS 0 is used to transmit a set pattern of bits continuously so that the
receiver can locate and lock on to the start of the frame, in this way
all the channels can be demultiplexed and connected to the correct
tributaries.
 TS 16 is used to carry signaling information from the telephones to
the Telephone Exchange and vice versa, such as off hook, on hook,
dial tone and ring tone
 Frame Size : 32 Bytes (256 Bits)
 Frame Duration : 125 us (1/8,000th of a second)
 Frame Rate : 32 x 64 Kbps = 2.048 Mbps
PDH Limitations
 The problem in a plesiochronous network is illustrated by
considering what a network operator has to be able to provide a
business customer with a 2 Mbps leased line
 If the high speed channel passes near to the customer, the
operation of providing him a single 2 Mbps from within that channel
is not simple
 The use of justification bits at each levels in the PDH, means that
identifying the exact location of the frame from a single 2Mbps line
within a 140 Mbps channel is impossible
 To access a single 2 Mbps line the 140 Mbps channel must be
demultiplexed to it’s 64 constituent 2 Mbps lines via 34 and 8 Mbps
 Once the required 2 Mbps has been identified and extracted , the
channels must be remultiplexed back up to 140 Mbps for onward
Transmission
 As we know there are separate bit rate hierarchies in North America
and Europe
 This caused a lot of difficulty providing cross Atlantic communication
due to incompatibility of the transmission speeds
 Only the digital telephone channel itself operated at the same rate of
64 Kbps
 Tributary signals can only be accessed at the level from
which they were multiplexed
140
140M 140 140M
LTE
34
LTE
34

34
34
8
8
Inflexible : Slow
provision of services

Expensive : Lots of
equipment required 8 8
2
Unreliable
2

Real Estate: A lot of

space required for
equipment
Customer
Spares ; More equipment
means more spares to be
held
 Difficulty interworking between Europe and North America

North American Bit

Rates X4 X7 X6
1.5 6 Mbps 45 Mbps 275
Mbps Mbps
X 24
DS1 DS3
DS2

64
Kbps
Max Transmission rate
European Bit Rates limited to 565 Mbps
X 32 X4 X4 X4
X4
2 Mbps 8 Mbps 34 140 565
Mbps Mbps Mbps

First Order Second Order Third Order Fourth Order Not Specified by
(E1) (E2) (E3) (E4) CCITT
Transport Network
 The equipment used to implement a point to point connection is
called a Terminal Multiplexer or line system
 A terminal mux offers fixed connections between end user
termination points
 An SDH terminal takes in a number of electrical and optical signals
(tributaries )and transmits them on the line as a single signal
(aggregate)
 The tributary signals may be 2,34,45 or 140 Mbps
 SDH terminals can also handle synchronous tributaries from other
SDH multiplexers
 All the traffic received from the aggregate is terminated by the
terminal mux (hence the name terminal)
 1 Fixed Network 1
(Line System)

Mux Mux

63 63
1 to 1
63 to 63

Terminal Multiplexers
Cross Connect
 A simple point to point network does not allow changes to be made
to the way the traffic is delivered between the points, and is
therefore inflexible
 A flexible network allows changes to be made to the way the points
are connected and can respond to new connection requests faster
than a fixed network
 A cross connect, is a piece of equipment which provides flexible
connections between it’s termination points
 1 1

63
63
Point of flexibility
(Cross Connect)
1 X 1

1 to 63
2 to 1
63 63
62 to 63

63 to 2
Add Drop Multiplexer
 At each location the signal can get on or get off the Mux
 The key difference between a Terminal Mux and an ADM is that the
ADM is equipped with two aggregate units and sufficient cross
connect functionality to cross connect the traffic from one aggregate
port to the other or from an aggregate port to a tributary port
 This also enables the signals to be transmitted from the aggregate
in two directions (East & west)
 A terminal mux can also be provided with an additional aggregate
unit in order to provide an alternative route for resilience
 Terminal Mux Terminal Mux
1 Flexible Network
Add Drop Mux
63

63

X X X

1 62 2 62

Add Drop Multiplexers

Network Survivability
 In the case of a point to point line system, resilience can be
introduced by duplicating the link
 This would require the Terminal Mux’s to be equipped with an
additional aggregate unit
 Maximum protection will be achieved if these two links are
separately routed
 In the case of a flexible network implemented with a cross connect,
the cross connect is the major point of vulnerability
 With a bus structure resilience can be achieved by adding an extra
link
 An ADM with protection ring

Alternate route for protection

1 ADM ADM Ring ADM

63
X X
63

X X X

1 62 2 62
Add Drop Multiplexers
Ring Topology
ADM

ADM Ring ADM

ADM

ADM Ring Topology

• Provides resilience to traffic

• Ideal for maximizing capacity

Line System
Terminal Mux Terminal Mux
Optical Alternate Route
Line System (Point to Point )
• Resilience can be provided by
adding an additional fiber
Transport Plane
Transport Plane can be broken down into different distinct components
 Collector Function : At the edge of the network, there is a need to
collect traffic. Collector rings provide the network interface for all
access applications including local exchanges, PABX, Access
Multiplexers etc
 Bandwidth Management Function : This tier provides routing,
grooming and consolidation of the traffic between the collector
rings and the high speed backbone.
 High Speed Backbone: This tier provides a backbone function
providing reliable high speed transport between geographical
regions and locations
Path and Section
Path and Path overhead
 In transmission a path is defined as a circuit joining two nodes that
may pass through a number of intermediate nodes.
 In SDH, extra capacity is reserved to carry monitoring and
management information associated with the path
 Extra information associated with the path (generated at the
originating termination point and processed at the terminating
termination point) is called the path overhead
This helps to know
 The quality of the overall end to end transmission
 The existence of the path between two terminating points
 Allows one end to communicate to the other end that there is
trouble in the signal received
 Path and Path overhead
Path
A path is an end to end circuit

helps to

SDH allows information to be associated Path overhead

with the path (Path overhead) -Path trace
-Error monitoring
-Far end error
Section and Section Overhead
 A section can be considered as one stage of an end to end path
 Defined as node to node transmission
 A path may be made up of a number of sections
 One section may also be the path
 The SDH also reserves some extra capacity within the defined bit
rates to carry information relating to the section
 This extra information associated with a section is called the section
overhead
 The section overhead allows control of node to node transmission
such as transmission quality
 The section overhead also provides extra communication channels,
one of them being the ECC (Embedded communication channel)
used for network management Data Communication Network.
 Section and Section overhead

Sections

Section is node to node

transmission

SDH allows information to be associated Path overhead

with the Section (Section overhead) -Protection Switching
-Error monitoring
Channels for
-Network Management
-Maintenance Phone link
Virtual Containers
 SDH Multiplexers package the signals into small containers
 There are different sized containers for tributary signals with
different bit rates.
 Each container remains a defined size irrespective of any variations
in the bit rate of the PDH signal that it contains
 The POH is then added so that the signal and the quality of it’s
transmission are all traceable
 POH now stays with the VC through all intermediate multiplexers
until it reaches it’s destination SDH multiplexer where it is removed
and processed
 Any PDH signal which is packaged by an SDH multiplexer, is
transported and delivered at the same bit rate as it entered the SDH
network
 If you put a 34 Mbps signal in, then you will get a 34 Mbps out and
not just some of it’s constituent signals
Signal to send
eg: 2 Mbps

Container is a defined.
Virtual Container Path Overhead
size and designed to
= Signal + POH -Path Trace
carry a specific signal
-Error Monitoring
Path Overhead -Far End Error
-VC Composition
VC

Information stays with the path (ie end to end circuit control)
Nesting of VCs
 A VC can contain other VCs but only nested two deep
 Largest container is designed to carry all smaller containers
 Smaller containers cannot be put inside intermediate sized
containers prior to being put into the largest container

Virtual Containers
VC Nesting

Path Overhead

VCs can be nested, but only 2 deep

VC Numbering Scheme
 There is no container for the VC Numbering Scheme

8 Mbps signal, therefore the

VC-2 does not need a second 1st Order 1 North America 1.5 Mbps VC - 11

digit ie VC – 21 2 Europe 2 Mbps VC - 12

 The VC – 3 is designed to
carry both signals at the third 2nd Order 1 North America 6 Mbps VC -2
order, so once again does not 2 Europe 8 Mbps No Container
require a second digit
 The north american hierarchy 3rd order 1 Europe 34 Mbps
does not have a fourth order
2 North America 45 Mbps VC – 3
and so the VC-4 also does not
need a second digit
4th Order 1 Europe 140 Mbps

2 North America N/A VC – 4

VC packaging
 One 2 Mbps signal is packaged into a VC 12
 63 x 2 Mbps signals can go into a VC 4 (they are grouped in 3 sets
of 21)
 Alternatively a VC 4 can contain some VC 12 or VC 3
 A 140 Mbps signal takes up a whole VC4
 21 VC 12 21 VC 12 21 VC 12
2 Mbps VC 12 63 x VC 12
VC -4
(3 x 21)

34 Mbps VC 3 3 x VC -3 VC - 4 VC 3 VC 3 VC 3

140 Mbps VC 4 Content Combinations

VC 3 VC 3 21 140 Mbps
VC 12
Largest Container

VC Packaging
VCn and PDH Rates
 The smallest container is for a
2 Mbps signal
 There is no container for the Bit Rate PDH Europe SDH

standard 8 Mbps signal

name container
 The VC number reflects the
PDH hierarchy level 140 M E4 VC 4

34 M E3 VC 3

8M E2

2M E1 VC 12

64 K E0
Synchronous Transport Module
(STM)
 Several VCs are placed in and carried by a STM

VC – 4s are carried
VC – 4 in a Transport Module

POH STM - n

Smallest Transport Module : STM -1 = 155 Mbps

(Including Payload)
Transport Module
 The SOH is related to the STM in the same way as the POH is
related to the VC Transport Module Contains

(VC – 4
Or
n x VC -4 )
Section
Overhead

Only one transport module sent per section

Higher Bit Rates
 SDH offers higher bit rates at STM-4, STM-16 and STM-64

Payload

VC – 4 VC – 4 VC – 4 VC – 4 Still only one

Section
Overhead

STM -4 = 4 x STM-1

When higher bit rates are required, the STM-1 is multiplexed up to an STM-4.
This is equivalent to 4 x STM-1 and operates at 622 Mbps. The payload area
Is increased to 4 x VC-4, but still there is only one STM this time it is STM-4
European Bit rates
SDH line Transmission rates are
- 155 Mbps
- 622 Mbps
- 2.5 Gbps
- 10 Gbps
- You can see that the fastest standardized PDH rate is only 140
Mbps
- SDH therefore offers much higher capacity systems than standard
PDH
- Line signals can be electrical or optical
- Electrical signals are used for short distances( eg between
shelves in a rack) for interconnection of equipment on the same
site
- Electrical signals are sent on copper wires, while optical signals
used for longer distances (from 40 Km) require optical fibers
European Bit Rates

Bit Rate PDH Europe SDH

Name Container Transport

10 G STM - 64

2.5 G STM - 16

622 M STM - 4

155 M STM - 1

140 M E4 VC4

34 M E3 VC3

8M E2

2M E1 VC 12

64 K E0
The SDH and SONET Comparison
PDH North
Bit Rate America PDH Europe SDH SONET
Name rate Name rate Container Transport Container Transport
10G STM-64 STS/OC192
2.5G STM-16 STS 48/OC 48
622M STM-4 STS 12/OC 12
467M STS 9/OC 9
155M STM-1 STS 3/OC 3
140M E4 140M VC4
51M STS 1/OC 1
45M DS3/T3 45M
34M E3 34M VC3
8M E2 8M
6M DS2/T2 6M
2M E1 2M VC12
1.5M DS1/T1 1.5M
64K DS0/T0 64K E0 64K
Protection Rings and Capacity
 A rings capacity is the maximum number of paths that the ring can
support
 A ring’s maximum capacity occurs only when all of the traffic enters
the ring at one node and exits the ring at an adjacent node

VC 12
STM-1 ring
63

Ring Capacity = Max no of paths which can be set up

What is the maximum capacity of this STM-1 ring ?

 Two main types of protection
Dedicated Protection Ring
A ring with Dedicated path Protection called a DP Ring is shown in
figure

VC 12
STM-1 ring
VC 12 63
63

Traffic sent both ways

DP Ring
 How many fully protected VC 12 paths can be set up?
63 Paths
Traffic is sent simultaneously on both sides of the ring (also called East
and West), hence one path uses a complete lane on this 63 lane
motorway

STM-16 Ring
How many fully protected VC4 paths can be set up in the STM-16 ring?
16 Paths
 The traffic is sent both ways around the ring, and so in a sense it is
duplicated
 The receiver will now be receiving the same signal on two ports
 The decision has to be made as to which signal should be selected
to be passed to the tributary port
 Initially the decision to select is normally random, and carried out by
a automatic change over switch
 When to switch from one port to another, is based on fault reporting
and error detection functions of the multiplexer, and is switched
automatically
 Shared Protection Ring
 Shared protection is achieved by reserving half the line capacity on
each section for protection
 ie 8 STM-1s are allocated for traffic and 8 STM-1s for protection

9 -16 for protection

VC 4/STM-1
STM-16 ring
Half of each section VC 4/STM-1 1-8 for traffic
capacity is for
protection

Traffic sent one way only

How many fully protected VC-4 paths can be set up? 48 Paths
 SP ring protects a path section around the ring
 Each section is responsible for ensuring that the traffic transported
gets to the other node
 Under normal operating conditions, the traffic is sent in one direction
(East or West) only using the 8 STM-1s for normal traffic
 Shared protection protects all traffic in the ring ( it is not possible to
protect only some paths, all paths are protected)
 SP Ring protection

Re routed Traffic

9 -16 for protection

VC 4/STM-1
STM-16 ring
VC 4/STM-1 1-8 for traffic

Traffic sent one way only

In case of failure, the signal is rerouted to the good side
DP Ring Versus SP Ring
8 8

8
8
STM-16 Ring

8 8

6 Nodes
6 Nodes
Max paths = 48
Max paths = 16
 An operator can choose a SP for the capacity advantages that it
provides. This means the operator can obtain :
2. Better Network utilization
3. Capital investment saving

DP Ring – For hubbing traffic (all to the same point) and also the
circuitry is simple, used in collector ring
SP Ring – For uniform Traffic and also the circuitry is complex, used in
backbone ring
 SDH Multiplexing Structure
Xn
C4 140M
STM-n AUG AU4 VC4

X3 X1
TUG 3 TU3 VC3
X3

34M
AU3 VC3 C3 45M
X7

X7
X1
TUG 2 6M
TU2 VC2 C2

X3
X4 TU 12 VC12 C12 2M

TU 11 VC11 C11 1.5M

SDH Multiplexing Structure
 The first level of the SDH is at 155.52 Mbps and is known as a
Synchronous Transport Module level 1(STM-1) Signal
 Higher rates are integer multiples of the first level bit rate and are
denoted by the corresponding multiplication factor of the first level
rate.
 At present , the following rates constitute the synchronous
hierarchy
STM-1 = 155 Mbps
STM-4 = 622 Mbps
STM-16 = 2.5 Gbps
STM -64 = 10 Gbps
 The SDH allows for any of the current transmission rates except 8
Mbps to be mapped into containers, called VCs
 The containers can be combined into std formats in order to form
the payload of the STM-1 signal
 Different containers can be mixed, allowing for different rates to be
carried simultaneously within the same structure
SDH Multiplexing elements
 Container(C-n), n = 1 to 4
This is the basic element of the STM signal consisting of a group of
bytes allocated to carry the Transmission rates defined in ITU-T
recommendation G.702 (i.e. 1.5 Mbps and 2 Mbps)

 Virtual Container (VC-n), n = 1 to 4

The lower order VC-ns (n = 1 or 2) are built up of the basic container
(C-n, n =1 or 2) plus additional capacity to carry POH information
The higher order VC-ns (n = 3 or 4) are built up of either a single basic
container (C-n, n = 3 or 4) or an assembly of Tributary unit groups ,
together with the appropriate POH information
The POH information includes VC path performance monitoring,
signals for maintenance purposes, and alarm status indicators
SDH Multiplexing elements
 Tributary Unit (TU-n), n = 1 to 3
This element consists of a VC plus a Tributary unit pointer and provides
adaption between the lower order path layer and the higher order
path layer
The pointer value indicates the phase alignment of the VC wrt to the
higher order VC it is added to.
The location of the pointer is fixed wrt to this higher order VC
The TU can be considered as the space within the higher order VC
which is reserved for the lower order VC payload.
SDH Multiplexing elements
 Tributary Unit Group (TUG-n), n = 2 or 3
This element is formed by a group of identical TUs or TUGs allowing
mixed capacity payloads to be constructed
 Administrative Unit (AU-n), n =3 or 4

This elements consists of a VC-n (n = 3 or 4) plus an AU pointer and

provides adaption between the higher order paths and the
multiplexer section layer .
The pointer value indicates the phase alignment of the VC-n with
respect to the STM-1 frame.
The location of the pointer is fixed within the STM-1 frame structure
The AU can be considered as ‘the space’ within the STM frame which
is reserved for the high order VC payload
SDH Multiplexing elements
 Administrative Unit Group (AUG)
This element is formed by a group of byte interleaved AU s. The AUG
has a fixed position in the STM payload
 Synchronous Transport Module Level 1(STM-1)

This Is the basic element of the SDH and comprises a single AUG and
the SOH information.
The STM-1 frame structure comprises an array of 270 columns by 9
rows of 8 bytes (2,430 Bytes)
 PDH Mapping
2,430 Bytes
2,358 Bytes 2,349 Bytes
Xn
STM-n AUG AU 4 VC 4 3 x 774 + 2 Columns of stuffing
= 9 Bytes POH
+ 72 Bytes + 9 Bytes
SOH Pointer X3 774 Bytes

TUG - 3 7 x 108 + 2 Columns of stuffing

X7

108 Bytes TUG - 2 32 Bytes

2 Mbps
X3 Pointer POH
Mapping Stuff
Multiplexing TU12 VC12 C12
Multiplexing(SDH)
Aligning 36 Bytes 35 Bytes 34 Bytes
STM-1 frame structure

9 Bytes 261 Bytes

RSOH

9 Bytes AU Pointers Payload

2,349 Bytes
MSOH

Frame Size = 2,430 Bytes

Frame Duration = 125 Us
 SOH – Carries control and management information
 Administrative pointers to cater for problems in timing variations
 The payload area for carrying subscriber data
SDH Bytes
 VC 12 POH (V5 Byte)
RFI RDI

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

REI
BIP 2 Signal Label
BIP 2 – Bit interleaved parity
Used to provide an error monitoring function for the VC 12 path
REI – Remote error Indication
Used to communicate detected BIP-2 errors back to the VC12 path originator
RFI – Remote failure indication
Signal Label – Used to indicate payload mapping and equipped status
RDI - Remote Defect Indication
Used to indicate certain detected TU path alarms to the VC 12 path originator
 VC-4 POH (HO POH)
J1 = Path Trace
Used to provide a fixed length string which is transmitted repetitively
So that the receiving terminal can verify connection to the intended transmitter

B3 = Path BIP
Provides an error monitoring function for the VC-4 path VC4 Payload
2,349 Bytes
C2 = Signal Label
Used to indicate the composition of the VC4 payloads

G1 = Path Status VC4 Path overhead

Used to convey path terminating status and performance
Information back to the VC-4 path originator

F2 = Path User Channel

User communication purposes between path elements

H4= Multiframe indicator

Provides a generalized multiframe indicator for payloads

K3 = Spare

N1 = Network operator Byte

May be used for tandem connection maintenance
RSOH
 A1,A2 = Framing ( These bytes are used for frame alignment
purposes)
 J0 RS Path Trace = Regenerator section path trace
 B1 BIP = Used to provide an error monitoring function for a
regenerator section
 E1 Order Wire = Used to provide an order wire channel which may
be accessed at regenerators and multiplexers
 F1 user channel = Reserved for user purposes
 D1 to D3 DCCr = The Data communication channel bytes provides
a 192 Kbps regenerator data channel.
MSOH
 B2

 B2 BIP = Used to provide an error monitoring function for the

multiplex section
 K1, K2 APS Channel = These bytes are used for APS protocol
 E2 Order Wire = Used to provide an order wire channel which may
be accessed only at multiplexer section terminations.
 M1 MS REI Errors = Multiplex section REI for detected B2 errors
 D4 to D12 DCCm = The Data communication channel bytes
provides a 576 Kbps multiplex telemetry channel.
 S Sync = Synchronous status messaging
 Z1,Z2 Spare = Function not allowed
 Thank You