Introduction

Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is a high bandwidth, low-delay,

connection-oriented switching and multiplexing technique. ATM technology is
based on the switching of small fixed-length packets of data called cells. In
ATM, all data is transferred in 53-byte cells. Each cell has a 5-byte header that
identifies the cell’s route through the network and 48 bytes that contain user
data (called the payload).
1. ATM: What it is
By the mid 1980s, three types of communication networks had evolved.The telephone
network carries voice calls, television network carries video transmissions, and newly
emerging computer network carries data.Telephone companies realized that voice
communication was becoming a commodity service and that the profit margin would
decrease over time.They realized that data communication was increasing.The
telecommunication industry decided to expand its business by developing networks to
carry traffic other than voice.
Goal of ATM (extremely ambitious)
 Universal Service
 Support for all users
 Single, unified infrastructure
 Service guarantees
 Support for low-cost Devices
How ATM Works?
ATM is connection-oriented -- an end-to-end connection must be established and
routing tables set up prior to cell transmission.Once a connection is established, the
ATM network will provide end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) to the end users
All traffic, whether voice, video, image, or data is divided into 53-byte cells and
routed in sequence across the ATM network.Routing information is carried in the
header of each cell.Routing decisions and switching are performed by hardware in
ATM switches.Cells are reassembled into voice, video, image, or data at the destinan
ATM Conceptual Model Four Assumptions

A) ATM network will be organized as a hierarchy.

User’s equipment connects to networks via a UNI (User-Network Interface).
Connections between provided networks are made through NNI (Network-Network
Interface).
B) ATM will be connection-oriented.
A connection (an ATM channel) must be established before any cells are sent.
C) Vast majority of ATM networks will run on optical fiber networks with extremely
low error rates.
D) ATM must support low cost attachments.
This decision lead to a significant decision – to prohibit cell reordering in ATM
networks.ATM switch design is more difficult. W
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
A low-layer networking technology based on fast packet-switching of small fixed size
packets called cells ATM provides a single transport mechanism for integrated
services traffic: data, voice, video, image, graphics...
All statistically multiplexed at ATM layer
Advantages of ATM
 Better for bursty traffic (i.e., VBR)
  Statistical multiplexing gain
 Better network utilization
 Same mechanism works for all traffic types
 Simple and fast hardware switching
Disadvantages of ATM
ATM has not been widely accepted. Although some phone companies still use it in
their backbone networks.The expense, complexity and lack of interoperability with
other technologies have prevented ATM from becoming more prevalent.
Expense: ATM technology provides a comprehensive lists of services, even a
moderate ATM switch costs much more than inexpensive LAN hardware. In addition,
the network interface card needed to connect a computer to an ATM network is
significantly more expensive than a corresponding Ethernet NIC.
Connection Set up Latency: ATM’s connection-oriented paradigm introduces
significant delay for distant communication. The time required to set up and tear
down the ATM VC for distant communication is significantly larger than the time
required to use it.
Cell Tax: ATM cell headers impose a 10% tax on all data transfer. In case of
Ethernet, cell tax is 1%.
Lack of Efficient Broadcast: Connection-oriented networks like ATM are
sometimes called Non Broadcast Multiple Access (NBMA) networks because the
hardware does not support broadcast or multicast. On an ATM network, broadcast to
a set of computers is ‘simulated’ by arranging for an application program to pass a
copy of the data to each computer in the set. As a result, broadcast is in efficient.
Complexity of QoS: The complexity of the specification makes implementation
cumbersome and difficult. Many implementations do not support the full standard.
Assumption of Homogeneity: ATM is designed to be a single, universal networking
system. There is minimal provision for interoperating with other technologies

ATM Protocol Layers

Physical Layer: The lowest layer in the ATM protocol. It describes the physical
transmission media. We can use shielded and unshielded twisted pair, coaxial cable,
and fiber-optic cable.
ATM Layer: It performs all functions relating to the routing and multiplexing of cells
over VCs. It generates a header to the segment streams generated by the AAL.
Similarly, on receipt of a cell streams, it removes the header from the cell and pass the
cell contents to the AAL protocol. To perform all these functions, the ATM layer
maintains a table which contains a list of VCIs.
ATM Adaptation Layer: Top layer in the ATM protocol Model. It converts the
submitted information into streams of 48-octet segments and transports these in the
payload field of multiple ATM cells. Similarly, on receipt of the stream of cells
relating to the same call, it converts the 48-octet information field into required form
for delivery to the particular higher protocol layer. Currently five service types have
been defined. They are referred to as AAL1-5. AAL1 and AAL2 are connection
oriented. AAL1 provides a constant bit rate (CBR) service, where as AAL2 provides a
variable bit rate (VBR) service. Initially, AAL 3 was defined to provide connection
oriented and VBR service. Later, this service type was dropped and it is now merged
with AAL 4. Both AAL ¾ and AAL 5 provide a similar connectionless VBR service.
 Characteristics of ATM
 Point to point technology.
 Connection-oriented: an end-to-end connection (called a virtual channel) must be
set up using a signalling protocol before any data cells can be sent on that VC.
 “Bandwidth on demand”.
 Statistical multiplexing.
 Integrated services.
ATM Cell
 53 bytes
 5 byte header
 48 byte payload (data)
 Virtual Path Identifier (VPI)
 Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI)
 Simple control fields
Who Can Benefit from ATM?
 Large enterprises with large WAN
 Scalable: 1.5 to 622 Mbps
 Multiple quality of services
 Integration of voice, data
 Standard
 Internet Service Providers
 Carriers
 Any one with a need for high-quality multimedia
2. Cable Modem
 DSL is very susceptible to noise because of the use of UTP cables
 Cable TV network provides an alternative
 Traditional cable networks

Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC) Network:-

 Traditional cable network uses coaxial cables throughout and uses amplifiers
 The communication in traditional networks is unidirectional
 HFC networks use high-bandwidth fiber for long distance delivery, only last
connections go over coaxial cables
 Less number of amplifiers is needed and communication can be done in two
directions
 The “last mile” is still coaxial cable which is a bandwidth bottleneck
Cable companies divide coaxial cable bandwidth (5-750MHz) into three bands
 Video: 54-55-MHz, carrying ca. 80 channels of 6MHz each
 Downstream Data: 550-750MHz, contains 6MHz channels
Modulation: 64 or 256-QAM
Data Rate: 64-QAM, 1 bit for error correction 5 x 6MHz = 30Mbps, but
connection to computer may be limited with the 10Base-T connection to 10Mbps
 Upstream Data: 5-42MHz, contains 6MHz channels
Modulation: QPSK because of the noise susceptibility
Data Rate: 2 x 6MHz = 12 Mbps, usually less than that

Bandwidth is limited and must be shared among subscribers

 Upstream: 6 channels in 37MHz bandwidth
A group of subscribers is assigned a single channel
They contend for channel access
 Downstream: 33 channels in 200MHz bandwidth
Data is broadcast in a channel where the subscriber is assigned to
Subscribers discard information not destined to them

Cable Modem

Cable Modem Transmission System

Data over Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS)
 Upstream Communication:
CM checks downstream channels to receive a packet sent by CMTS periodically
A new CM receiving this packet announces its presence
CMTS replies with a packet that defines CM’s allocated downstream and upstream
channels
CM “ranges” the distance to CMTS for synchronization
CM sends a packet to ISP to obtain a dynamic IP address
CM and CMTS exchange packets for security transactions
CM sends its unique identifier to CMTS
Upstream communication occurs in the allocated channel
CM contends in minislots to send data

How Cable Modems Work

For millions of people, television brings news, entertainment and educational
programs into their homes. Many people get their TV signal from cable television
(CATV) because cable TV provides a clearer picture and more channels. See How
Cable TV Works for details.Many people who have cable TV can now get a high-
speed connection to the Internet from their cable provider. Cable modems compete
with technologies like asymmetrical digital subscriber lines (ADSL). If you have ever
wondered what the differences between DSL and cable modems are, or if you have
ever wondered how a computer network can share a cable with dozens of television
channels, then read on. In this article, we'll look at how a cable modem works and see
how 100 cable television channels and any Web site out there can flow over a single
coaxial cable into your home.
Cable Modem
Cable modems can be either internal or external to the computer. In some cases, the
cable modem can be part of a set-top cable box, requiring that only a keyboard and
mouse be added for Internet access. In fact, if your cable system has upgraded to
digital cable, the new set-top box the cable company provides will be capable of
connecting to the Internet, whether or not you receive Internet access through your
CATV connection. Regardless of their outward appearance, all cable modems contain
certain key components:
• A tuner
• A demodulator
• A modulator
• A media access control (MAC) device
• A microprocessor
Tuner
The tuner connects to the cable outlet, sometimes with the addition of a splitter that
separates the Internet data channel from normal CATV programming. Since the
Internet data comes through an otherwise unused cable channel, the tuner simply
receives the modulated digital signal and passes it to the demodulator.
In some cases, the tuner will contain a diplexer, which allows the tuner to make use of
one set of frequencies (generally between 42 and 850 MHz) for downstream traffic,
and another set of frequencies (between 5 and 42 MHz) for the upstream data. Other
systems, most often those with more limited capacity for channels, will use the cable
modem tuner for downstream data and a dial-up telephone modem for upstream
traffic. In either case, after the tuner receives a signal, it is passed to the demodulator.
Demodulator
The most common demodulators have four functions. A quadrature amplitude
modulation (QAM) demodulator takes a radio-frequency signal that has had
information encoded in it by varying both the amplitude and phase of the wave, and
turns it into a simple signal that can be processed by the analog-to-digital (A/D)
converter. The A/D converter takes the signal, which varies in voltage, and turns it
into a series of digital 1s and 0s. An error correction module then checks the received
information against a known standard, so that problems in transmission can be found
and fixed.
In most cases, the network frames, or groups of data, are in MPEG format, so an
MPEG synchronizer is used to make sure the data groups stay in line and in order.
Modulator
In cable modems that use the cable system for upstream traffic, a modulator is used to
convert the digital computer network data into radio-frequency signals for
transmission. This component is sometimes called a burst modulator, because of the
irregular nature of most traffic between auser and the Internet, and consists of three
parts:
• A section to insert information used for error correction on the receiving end
• A QAM modulator
• A digital-to-analog (D/A) converter
Media Access Control (MAC)
The MAC sits between the upstream and downstream portions of the cable modem,
and acts as the interface between the hardware and software portions of the various
network protocols. All computer network devices have MACs, but in the case of a
cable modem the tasks are more complex than those of a normal network interface
card. For this reason, in most cases, some of the MAC functions will be assigned to a
central processing unit (CPU) -- either the CPU in the cable modem or the CPU of the
user's system.
Microprocessor
The microprocessor's job depends somewhat on whether the cable modem is designed
to be part of a larger computer system or to provide Internet access with no additional
computer support. In situations calling for an attached computer, the internal
microprocessor still picks up much of the MAC function from the dedicated MAC
module. In systems where the cable modem is the sole unit required for Internet
access, the microprocessor picks up MAC slack and much more. In either case,
Motorola's Power PC processor is one of the common choices for system designers.
Cable Modem Termination System
At the cable provider's head-end, the CMTS provides many of the same functions
provided by the DSLAM in a DSL system. The CMTS takes the traffic coming in
from a group of customers on a single channel and routes it to an Internet service
provider (ISP) for connection to the Internet. At the head-end, the cable providers will
have, or lease space for a third-party ISP to have, servers for accounting and logging,
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for assigning and administering the IP
addresses of all the cable system's users, and control servers for a protocol called
Cable Labs Certified Cable Modems -- formerly Data Over Cable Service Interface
Specifications (DOCSIS), the major standard used by U.S. cable systems in providing
Internet access to users.
The downstream information flows to all connected users, just like in an Ethernet
network -- it's up to the individual network connection to decide whether a particular
block of data is intended for it or not. On the upstream side, information is sent from
the user to the CMTS -- other users don't milliseconds, in which users can transmit
one "burst" at a time to the Internet. The division by time works well for the very
short commands, queries and addresses that form the bulk of most users' traffic back
to the Internet.
A CMTS will enable as many as 1,000 users to connect to the Internet through a
single 6-MHz channel. Since a single channel is capable of 30 to 40 megabits per
second (Mbps) of total throughput, this means that users may see far better
performance than is available with standard dial-up modems. The single channel
aspect, though, can also lead to one of the issues some users experience with cable
modems.
If you are one of the first users to connect to the Internet through a particular cable
channel, then you may have nearly the entire bandwidth of the channel available for
your use. As new users, especially heavy-access users, are connected to the channel,
you will have to share that bandwidth, and may see your performance degrade as a
result. It is possible that, in times of heavy usage with many connected users,
performance will be far below the theoretical maximums. The good news is that this
particular performance issue can be resolved by the cable company adding a new
channel and splitting the base of users.
Another benefit of the cable modem for Internet access is that, unlike ADSL, its
performance doesn't depend on distance from the central cable office. A digital CATV
system is designed to provide digital signals at a particular quality to customer
households. On the upstream side, the burst modulator in cable modems is
programmed with the distance from the head-end, and provides the proper signal
strength for accurate transmission.
Reference
Albert Azzam, “High-Speed Cable Modems,” McGraw-Hill Series on
Computer Communications, Published in 1997.

Venkata Majeti (Executive Editor), “Cable Modems: Current Technologies

And Applications,” Published by the International Engineering Consortium
And the IEEE Press, 1999.
URL: www.cablelabs.com