SDH Principle

ZTE University Transmission Course Team

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SDH Frame Structure

9 x 270 x N Bytes 1

SOH
3 4 5

AU PTR

STM-N Payload (including POH)

Transmission Direction

SOH
9 9N 261N 270N

Byte-oriented block structure Frame transmission rate: 125s (8000 frames/sec)

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SDH Frame Structure

Payload used to store service information in the frame structure 2M, 34M, and 140M signals are packed and carried in the payload of STM-N frame over SDH network. If STM-N frame is the truck, the payload area is the carriage of the truck.

Path Overhead (POH) after packing low rate signals, POH is added to monitor the transmission of every packet. This process is like attaching a label on the packet.

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SDH Frame Structure

Section Overhead (SOH) monitors the whole STM-N frame, i.e. monitor the performance of all packages in the carriage of the truck.

Regenerator Section Overhead (RSOH) monitors the whole STM-N frame.

Multiplex Section Overhead (MSOH) monitors each STM-1 of the STM-N frame.

RSOH, MSOH, and POH comprise the integrated monitoring system of SDH.

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SDH Frame Structure

AU Pointer (AU-PTR) - aligns lower rate signals in the payload of

the STM-N frame so that it can be accurately located in the frame

AU-PTR is added in transmitting end, when the signal is packed into the payload of STM-N frame. The process could be compared to setting a coordinate value to identify where the package is in the carriage. At receiving end, the low rate signal is dropped from STM-N frame according to the AU-PTR value. The process could be compared to getting the package from the carriage according to a coordinate value.

Since packages are placed through byte interleaving, all of the payload could be dropped once the first package is identified through alignment.

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SDH Frame Structure

For low rate signals like 2M and 34M, 2-level pointer alignment is necessary.

First, packing the low rate signal, like 2M or 34M into a packet;

Secondly, aligning the signal in the packet by TU Pointer (TU-PTR);

Thirdly, multiplexing the above lower rate packet into another higher rate packet, and aligning by AU Pointer (AU-PTR).

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SDH Frame Structure

2M
AU PTR

34M

TU PTR

2-Level Pointer Alignment

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Synchronous Multiplexing Structure

Multiplexing Structure

Low order SDH frame high order SDH frame: 4 in 1 byte interleave PDH STM-N: synchronous multiplexing and flexible mapping ITU G.709 defines a complete set of multiplexing structures, in which multiplexing of PDH signal into an STM-N frame is not unique and every country or area can adopt a particular structure.

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Overhead

Overhead implements the monitoring functions to ensure proper transmission of the payload.

Section Overhead- includes RSOH & MSOH Path Overhead- includes HPOH & LPOH

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Section Overhead
R S O H A1 B1 D1 B2 M S O H D4 D7 D10 S1 A1 B2 A1 B2 A2 E1 D2 K1 D5 D8 D11 M1 A2 A2 J0 F1 D3
Transmission direction

9 Rows

Administrative Unit Pointer (AU PTR) K2 D6 D9 D12 E2

9 Columns
Reserved for national use Media dependent bytes
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A1, A2 Bytes

Framing Alignment Bytes: A1, A2

To identify the initial location of a frame A1=F6 H, A2=28 H

A1, A2 cannot be detected for five consecutive frames;

OOF is reported OOF lasts for 3 m seconds LOF is reported

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J0 Byte

Regenerator Section Trace Byte: J0

As regenerator section access point, it ensures that a section receiver can verify its continued connection to the intended transmitter.

It is used to identify individual STM-1 inside a multiplexed STM-N. STM-16 has sixteen J0 bytes for every STM-1 in it.

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F1 Byte

User Channel Byte: F1

Provides a 64 kb/s data/voice maintenance purposes.

channel for special

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D1-D12 Bytes

Data Communication Channel (DCC) Bytes: D1-D12

DCC is the channel for transmission of OAM information between NEs and NMS. 192kbp/s (3 x 64 = 192) channel is defined using bytes D1, D2, and D3 as a Regenerator Section DCC. 576kbp/s (9 x 64 = 576) channel is defined using bytes D4 to D12 as Multiplex Section DCC.

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E1, E2 Bytes

Orderwire Bytes: E1, E2

E1 and E2 are used to provide 64 kb/s channels for voice communication.

E1 is accessed at regenerators as well as at all multiplex points

E2 is accessed only at Multiplexers

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B1 Byte

Bit Interleaved Parity (BIP-8) Byte: B1

B1 is for regenerator section error monitoring.

BIP-8 is computed over all bits of the regenerator section of STM-N frame.
BIP-8 Principle: B1 is computed in unit of 8 bits. Monitoring partition: bit column. Even parity is generated by setting the BIP-8 bits so that there is an even number of 1s in each partition of the signal.

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B1 Byte

B1 Byte Principle

At the transmitting side, the BIP-8 is computed over all bits of the STMN regenerator before scrambling, and the result is placed in byte B1 of the preceding frame. At the receiving end, the BIP-8 is computed over all bits of the regenerator after de-scrambling. This result is then Exclusive OR with the B1 byte result received in later frame.

If the value of Exclusive OR operation is zero, there is no bit block error. But if the result is not zero then there may be errors in transmission.
A1 A2 A3 A4 B 00110011 11001100 10101010 00001111 01011010
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For example BIP-8 is computed over a frame of signal composed of 4 bytes.

BIP-8

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B1 Byte

At the transmitting side (A), BIP-8 is computed over all bits of the first frame, and result is placed in byte B1 of the second frame. At the receiving end (B), BIP-8 is computed over all bits of the first frame, and then exclusive OR with the B1 byte of the second frame. The number of 1s of exclusive OR operation indicate transmission errors.
1st frame

Nth frame

1st frame 2nd frame

Nth frame

2nd frame

A
Transmitting end

B
Receiving end

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B2 Bytes

Bit Interleaved Parity Nx24 (BIP-Nx24) byte: B2

B2 is for multiplex section error monitoring. BIP-N x 24 is computed over all bits of the STM-N frame except for the first three rows of SOH. BIP-N x 24 Principle: B2 is computed in unit of N x 24. Monitoring partition: bit column. Even parity is generated by setting the BIP-N x 24 bits so that there is an even number of 1s in each partition of the signal.

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B2 Bytes

B2 Byte Principle

At transmitting end, BIP-Nx24 is computed over all bits of the STM-N frame except for the first three rows of SOH, and the result is placed in the 3 B2 bytes of the preceding frame before scrambling. At receiving end, BIP- Nx24 is computed over all bits of the frame except for the first three rows of SOH, and then Exclusive OR with the B2 bytes of the later arrived frame. If the value of Exclusive OR operation is zero, there is no bit block error. Any mismatch in result indicates transmission errors.

11001100 11001100 11001100

For example BIP-N24 is computed over a frame of signal composed of 9 bytes.

01011101 01011101 01011101 BIP24 11110000 11110000 11110000 01100001 01100001 01100001 univ.zte.com.cn 42

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M1 Byte

MS Remote Error Indication (MS-REI) Byte: M1

A return information from the receiving end detecting MS-BBE to the transmitting end. Convey the count of interleaved bit blocks that have been detected in error by B2 bytes in the receiving end. The transmitting end will report a corresponding performance event, MS-REI.

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K1, K2 Bytes

Automatic Protection Switching (APS) Bytes: K1 & K2 Last three bits of K2 byte indicates alarm type;

111 indicates MS-AIS alarm (Multiplex Section Alarm Indication Signal) at the receiving end.

110 indicates MS-RDI alarm (Multiplex Section Remote Defect Indication) at the transmitting end.

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S1 Byte

Synchronization Status Message Byte: S1 (b5-b8)

S1 is used to implement clock source protection and switching function. The value corresponding to b5-b8 indicates the quality of synchronization clock. The smaller the value indicates better quality of the clock sources.

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Section Overhead

Byte interleaving of Section Overhead

When STM-1 frames are multiplexed into STM-N, the byte interleave multiplexing method used for AU Pointer and Payload is different from Section Overhead. In the former case, all bytes are interleaved. For the latter, only the first STM-1 frames section overhead is reserved, while remaining STM-1 frames Section Overheads are omitted except few bytes like A1, A2, B1, B2, J0 etc.

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Path Overhead

Classifications

High Order Path Overhead (HPOH)

Low Order Path Overhead (LPOH)

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HPOH

1 J1 B3 C2 G1 F2 H4 F3 K3 N1
Path trace byte Path BIP-8 byte Signal label byte Path status byte

261 1

VC4

Path user channels byte Position indicator byte Path user channels byte (b1~b4) APS channel byte 9 Network operator byte

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J1 Byte

Path Trace Byte: J1

The first byte of VC4 Pointed by AU-PTR Required to be matched at transmitting and receiving ends

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B3 Byte

Path BIP-8 Code Byte: B3

Implements higher order VCs error monitoring Monitoring principle: BIP-8 even parity The value of B3 byte needs to be compared at both transmitting and receiving ends. Any inconsistency between two results means transmission errors in VC-4.

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C2 Byte

Signal Label Byte: C2

Indicates the composition and type of multiplexing structure Examples: 00H means unused 02H means multiplexing structure is 3xTUG-3

Indicate the information about payload type

Required match at both ends

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G1 Byte
Path Status Byte: G1

Indicating high order VC transmission status Return message from receiving end to transmitting end

HP-REI: Higher Order Path Remote Error indication (sum of receiving error block of VC4) HP-RDI: High Order Path Remote Defect Indication

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H4 Byte
Multi-frame Indicator Byte: H4

Indicate the multi-frame types and location of the payload. For 2M PDH to SDH multiplexing structure, H4 indicates the current frame is which frame of the multiframe, allowing Rx to find TU-PTR and drop 2M signals. H4 value: 00H-03H

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Low Order Path Overhead

1 1 V5 4 J2 N2 K4

VC12

VC12

VC12

VC12

9
500us VC12 Multi-frame

V5: Path Status, Path BIP-2, and Signal Label Byte J2: Low-order Path Trace Byte N2: Byte for network operator use K4: APS for low order path
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V5 Byte
Path Status, Path BIP-2, & Signal Label byte: V5

The first byte of VC-12 multi-frame Pointed by TU-PTR Monitor error block, signal label, path status

Error block monitoring: b1-b2 Return path status message: b3, b8 Signal label: b5-b7

Similar with B3, C2, and G1

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SDH Frame Structure

Understanding SOH and POH?

Both SOH and POH are bytes for Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM), which ensure reliable and flexible transmission.

SOH and POH monitor and administrate transmission at different layers (or levels). RSOH and MSOH are for regenerator section and multiplex section respectively. Whereas, HPOH and LPOH are for VC-4 / VC-3 and VC-12 respectively.

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SDH Frame Structure

Comparison

LPOH to monitor small package (VC-12) HPOH to monitor large package (VC-3/VC-4) MSOH to monitor the carriage of the truck (STM-1) RSOH to monitor the motorcade which consists of trucks (STM-4 / STM-16 / STM-64)

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Hierarchy of Common Alarms

R-LOS R-LOF

MS-EXC

MS-AIS

AU-LOP

AU-AIS

HP-UNEQ

HP-TIM

HP-SLM

TU-AIS ZTE University

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