Frame Relay

Packet switching system with low overhead

Assumes very reliable high-quality
physical network
Developed for use in ISDN networks
Used widely in a variety of private and
public networks which are not ISDN

X.25 Packet Flow

Intermediate node
14

12
3

6
13

16

Source

15

11
9

Destination
2

10

Frame Relay Packet Flow

Intermediate node

82

Source

Destination
3

Frame Relay
Control Signalling carried on separate logical
connection from user data
Multiplexing and switching of logical
connections take place at layer 2 not layer 3
No hop-by-hop flow control or error control
Protocol functionality at user-network interface
is reduced
Large increase in throughput over X.25

Frame Relay Protocol Architecture

Control Plane

User Plane

User Plane

Q.931/Q.933

Control Plane
Q.931/Q.933

User-selectable
TE functions

User-selectable
TE functions

LAPD (Q.921)

LAPD (Q.921)
LAPF core
(Q.922)

PhysicalI.430/I.431

LAPF core
(Q.922)
I.430/I.431Physical

Control Plane Protocols

Q.933 protocol is used for control of connections

In ISDN, Control signalling uses LAPD protocol
It is also possible to use in-channel call control
using Q.933 on top of Q.922

User Plane Protocols

LAPF (Q922) used for data transfer between users

LAPF Core functions:

Frame delimiting, alignment, transparency

Frame multiplexing / de-multiplexing
Frame integrity checking ( size, byte count, errors)
Congestion control

Functions are a sub-layer of data link layer

They provide a bare frame transfer service
7

Frame Relay and X.25

X.25

Implemented
by end system
and network

Implemented
by end system
not network
LAPF control

LAPB
LAPF core

I.430/I431

Implemented
by end system
and network

I.430/I431

Frame Relay Call Control

Subscriber must first be connected to a
frame handler
This is called an access connection
When access connection is made, multiple
logical channels can be multiplexed on the
connection
These are called frame relay connections
They can be on-demand or semi-permanent

Frame Relay Call Control

Two types of access connection

Switched Access
User on switched network where exchange does not
have frame handling capability
Exchange provides switched access (demand or semipermanent) to remote frame handler

Integrated Access
User connected to pure frame relay network or
switched network with integrated frame handling in
local exchange
User has direct logical access to frame handler
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User Access
Switched access connection

TE

NT

ET

ET

FH

Semi-permanent access connection

Switched access

TE

NT

ET

Integrated access

FH

Local exchange

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Frame Relay Connections

Analogous to virtual circuit in X.25
Can be established when access connection
established to frame handler
Multiple connections supported over single
link

Called data link connections

Each connection has a unique Data link

connection identifier (DLCI)
12

Frame Relay Connections

Data transfer sequence

Establish logical connection between two
endpoints and assign unique DLCI
Exchange information in data frames - each
frame has a DLCI
Release logical connection

13

Frame Relay Connections

Establishment and release of Logical

connection is made by messages over
dedicated call control logical connection
with DLCI =0

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Frame Relay Control Signalling

NT
Setup
D-channel Q.931
exchange to establish
B-channel circuitswitched connection
B-channel Q.933
exchange to establish
B-channel frame mode connection

Frame Relay
Network

ISDN

Connect
Connect
ack
Setup

Setup
Connect
Connect
ack

Setup
Connect

Connect ack

NT

Connect
Connect
ack

Frame relay Q.922

exchange of user
data on B-Channel

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Message exchange for switched access to frame handler over ISDN

Frame Relay Control Signalling

NT

Frame Relay
NT
Network
Disconnect

ISDN
Disconnect

B-channel Q.933
exchange to release
B-channel framemode connection
D-channel Q.931
exchange to release
B-channel circuit switched connection

Release
Release
complete
Disconnect
Release
Release
complete

Release
Release
complete

Disconnect
Release
Release
complete

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Message exchange for terminating switched access to frame handler

LAPF Frame Format

Flag Address
1 octet 2 - 4 octets

Information
variable length

FCS
2 octets

Flag
1 octet

Frame Format

Upper DLCI
Lower DLCI

FECN

BECN

C/R

EA 0

DE

EA 1

Address field 2 octets (default)

Legend
EA Address field extension bit
C/R Command/response bit
DE Discard eligibility bit

FECN Forward explicit congestion notification

BECN Backward explicit congestion notification
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DLCI Data link connection identifier

LAPF Frame Format

No control field exists in the frame
The connection can only carry user data
Therefore no in-band signalling exists
No error control or flow control exists since
there are no sequence numbers

18

LAPF Frame Format

Address field carries DLCI
Address field length may be extended to 2,
3, or 4 octets
Length determined by EA bits - default is 2
octets
DLCI allows multiple logical connections
to be multiplexed on single channel
DLCI can be 10, 17 or 24 bits depending on
address field length
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Congestion Control
No in-channel control signalling means no
sliding window flow control
Congestion control is the joint
responsibility of the network and the enduser
Network monitors congestion
User controls congestion by limiting flow
of traffic at origin
Network discards packets as a last resort
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Congestion Control Techniques

Type
Discard Strategy

Congestion
avoidance

Congestion
avoidance

Congestion
recovery

Technique

Function

Provides guidance
to network about
Discard Control
which frames
to discard
Provides guidance
Backward explicit
to end-systems
congestion
about congestion
notification
in network
Provides guidance
Forward explicit
to end-systems
congestion
about congestion
notification
in network
implicit
congestion
notification

Key elements
DE bit

BECN bit

FECN bit

End system infers Sequence numbers

congestion from
in higher-layer
frame loss
PDU

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Discard Strategy

Network agrees to support a connection at a

certain data rate:
Committed information rate (CIR) in bps
Committed burst size (Bc) in bits over time T

Network also negotiates excess burst size

(Be) the maximum amount of data in excess
of Bc it will attempt to transfer in normal
conditions
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Discard Strategy
Frame handler monitors traffic on a logical
connection
If data rate exceeds Bc in time interval T it
will set DE bit and forward packet
If data rate exceeds Bc+ Be in time interval
T it will discard data

23

Discard Strategy
Bits
Transmitted

Discard Region
Bc+Be

DE = 1 Region

Bc
Access Rate

CIR

D = 0 Region
Frame 1
DE=0

Frame 2
DE=0

Time
Frame 3
DE=0 T

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Discard Strategy
Bits
Transmitted

Discard Region
Bc+Be

DE = 1 Region

Bc
Access Rate

CIR

D = 0 Region
Frame 1
DE=0

Frame 2
DE=1

Time
Frame 3
DE=1

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Discard Strategy
Bits
Transmitted

Discard Region
Bc+Be

DE = 1 Region

Bc

Access Rate
CIR

D = 0 Region
Frame 1
DE=0

Frame 2
DE=1

Time
Frame 3
Discard T

26

Congestion Avoidance
Network alerts end-systems to growing
congestion
End-systems reduce offered load to network
Two methods exist in frame relay

Forward explicit congestion notification (FECN)

Backward explicit congestion notification (BECN)

27

Congestion Avoidance
Two bits, FECN and BECN exist in each
frame address field
Any frame handler that detects may set
either bit
Any frame handler receiving a frame with a
bit set must forward the frame with the bit
set
The bits therefore are signals to the end-user

28

Congestion Avoidance
The frame handler monitors outgoing queue
lengths
Determines average queue length
If average exceed a threshold, then FECN
bit or BECN bit or both is set
They may be set for certain logical
connections or all depending on queue sizes

29

Congestion Avoidance
On receipt of BECN signal, user reduces
rate of frame transmission
On receipt of FECN signal, user notifies
peer user to reduce rate of frame
transmission

30

Congestion Recovery
When higher-level end-end protocol
detects frame loss it assumes congestion
This is called implicit signalling
Flow control may be used to recover
Gradual reduction of window size and
gradual increase as frame loss disappears

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