SDH Basics

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Objective

 Standards

 Frame Structure

 Multiplexing

 Section Hierarchy

Regenerator Section Overhead

 Multiplex Section Overhead

 Path Overhead

 Advantages
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Basic data rate

  Common Characteristics E1 and T1

a Audible frequency range (fm) 0 - 3.4kHz ≈ 4kHz

b Sampling frequency (fs) 2 X fm = 8kHz

c Number of samples per signal 8000 per second

d Length of PCM frame 1/c = 125ųs

e Number of bits in each code 8

word
f Telephone channel bit rate c X e = 8000/s X 8 bit = 64kbps

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Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH)

European Standard American Standard

Notation Data Rate Notation Data Rate

E0 64 Kbps T0/DS0 64 Kbps
E1 2048 Kbps T1/DS1 1544 Kbps
E2 8448 Kbps T2/DS2 6312 Kbps
E3 34368 Kbps T3/DS3 44736 Kbps
E4 139264 Kbps T4/DS4 139264 Kbps

• •Used
Usedin
inSouth
SouthAmerica,
America,
Europe,
Europe,India
Indiaetc
etc ••Used
Usedin
inUSA,
USA,Canada
Canada
Japan,
Japan,Korea,
Korea,Hong
HongKong
Kong
etc
etc

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Limitations of PDH

 Inability to identify individual channels in a higher-order bit stream.

 Multiplexing/Demultiplexing is cumbersome (Stage wise).

 Insufficient capacity for network management as limited OAMP

operation.

 There’s no standardised definition of PDH bit rates greater than 140

Mbit/s.

 There are different hierarchies in use around the world. Specialized

interface equipment is required to interwork the two hierarchies.

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Standards

 The hierarchy is as follows:

Optical Signal Bit Rate Abbreviated as

STM-0 51.84 Mbps 51 Mbps
STM-1 155.52 Mbps 155 Mbps
STM- 4 622.080 Mbps 622 Mbps
STM-16 2488.320 Mbps 2.4 Gbps
STM-64 9953.280 Mbps 10 Gbps
STM-256 39813.12 Mbps 40 Gbps

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STM-1 Frame Format

Frame =125µs Frame =125µs Frame = 125µs

STM-1 = 270 Columns (2430 bytes)

1
Regenerator
2 Section
Overhead Administrative Unit
3

Pointers 4 H1 H2 H3
H1H1 H1 H2 H2 H2 H3 H3 H3
Capacity of the 9 Rows
5 Virtual Container
6 Multiplex +
7
Section Pointers
Overhead
8
9

Overhead width = 9 columns

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STM-1 Frame Format

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STM-N Frame Format

Frame = 125µs
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Frame Format

STM-N

 STM - Section overhead and

Administrative unit
Section Administrative
 Section overhead – Regenerator Overhead unit

section overhead and Multiplex section

Regenerator Multiplex Virtual
Pointer
Container
overhead Overhead overhead

 Administrative unit – Virtual container Path Payload

overhead
and pointers

 Virtual container - Payload and Path

overhead information

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Mapping Elements

 Container

 Virtual Container

 Tributary Unit

 Tributary Unit Group

 Administrative Unit

 Administrative Unit Group

 STM-N Frame

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SDH Multiplexing

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Container

• Input signals are placed into the containers

• It adds stuffing bytes for PDH signals,which

compensates for the permitted frequency
deviation between the SDH system and the PDH signal

C12 (2 Mbps – G.703)

• C11 (1.5 Mbps)
• C2 (6 Mbps)
• C3 (34 / 45 Mbps)
• C4 (140 Mbps)

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Virtual Container

MAPPING : It is a process from Containers to Virtual containers.

+ =
POH PAYLOAD POH PAYLOAD

ANALOGY:
Packing C2 carton box with some more packing material and
labeled as VC2 box

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Virtual Container

• It adds overheads to a container or groups of tributary units, that provides

facilities for supervision and maintenance of the end to end paths

• VCs carry information end to end between two path access points through
the SDH system

• VCs are designed for transport and switching sub-SDH payloads

• VC12 (C12 + POH)

• VC11 (C11 + POH)
• VC2 (C2 + POH)
• VC3 (C3 + POH)
• VC4 (C4 + POH)

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Virtual Container

• At each level, subdivisions of capacity can float individually between the

payload areas of adjacent frames. Each subdivision can be readily located by
its own pointer that is embedded in the overheads.

• The pointer is used to find the floating part of the AU or TU, which is called
a virtual container (VC).

• The AU pointer locates a higher-order VC, and the TU pointer locates a

lower-order VC. For example, an AU–3 contains a VC–3 plus a pointer, and a
TU–2 contains a VC–2 plus a pointer.

• A VC is the payload entity that travels across the network, being created
and dismantled at or near the service termination point.

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Tributary Unit

• It adds pointers to the VCs

• This pointer permits the SDH system to compensate for phase

differences within the SDH network and also for the frequency deviations
between the SDH networks

• TUs acts as a bridge between the lower order path layer and higher
order path layer

• TU12 (VC12 + pointer)

• TU2 (VC2 + pointer)
• TU3 (VC3 + pointer)

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Tributary Unit Group

• It defines a group of tributary units that are multiplexed

together
• As a result, a TU group could contain one of the following
combinations

• Three TU-12s (TUG – 2)

• Seven TUG-2s (TUG – 3)

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Administrative Unit

•It adds pointer to the HO Virtual containers(similar to the tributary unit)

• AU - 3 (VC-3 + pointer)
• AU - 4 (VC-4 + pointer)

Administrative Unit Group

• It defines a group of administrative units that are multiplexed together

to form higher order STM signal Eagle Photonics
Synchronous Transport Module – n

• It adds section overhead (RSOH & MSOH) to a number of AUGs that adds
facilities for supervision & maintenance of the multiplexer & regenerator
sections

• This is the signal that is transmitted on the SDH line

• The digit “n” defines the order of the STM signal

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SDH Multiplexing
4 columns
TU – 12
9X4

1 2 3 4 9 rows

TUG-2
Stuffing and 1 2 3
9 X 12
POH
TUG-3
9 X 84

Section Over P P P
Head O
H
O
H
O
H
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
TUG - 3 TUG - 3 TUG - 3

(9 X 9) 9 X 261 Eagle Photonics

Mapping of 2Mbps into STM – N

2.048 Mbps 1 23 32
(E1) 32 Bytes

Stuffing Bytes
C-12 1 23 32
34 Bytes

POH (Lower Order)

VC-12 1 23 32
35 Bytes

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Mapping of 2Mbps into STM – N

Pointer

TU-12

36 Bytes

TU 12 is arranged 9 Rows
Into Matrix of 9 X 4

4 Columns

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Mapping of 2Mbps into STM – N
TU-12 TU-12 TU-12

9 Rows

4 Columns 4 Columns 4 Columns

Multiplexing

TUG-2 9 Rows

12 Columns Eagle Photonics

Mapping of 2Mbps into STM – N
7 TUG-2s

X 7 TUG-2 TUG-3(multiplexing)
Stuffing Bytes

TUG 3

84 Columns
86 Columns Eagle Photonics
Mapping of 2Mbps into STM – N

TUG - 3 TUG - 3 TUG - 3

86 Columns

X 3 TUG–3
VC - 4
HOPOH Stuffing Bytes

258 Columns
261 Columns

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Mapping of 2Mbps into STM – N
VC - 4

9 rows
Pay Load
POH

261 Columns
AU – 4 (Adding Pointer)

AU Pointer
POH

4 th
Row
Pay Load

9 Columns
261 Columns

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SDH System

•TERMINAL EQUIPMENT

• REGENERATOR

• ADD / DROP MULTIPLEXER

• DIGITAL CROSS CONNECT

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Regenerator (Reg.)

STM-N STM-N
Regenerator

It mainly performs 3R function:

1R – Reamplification
2R – Retiming
3R – Reshaping
It regenerates the clock and amplifies the incoming distorted and
attenuated signal. It derive the clock signal from the incoming data
stream.

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Regenerator

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Terminal Multiplexer (TM)

PDH Terminal STM-N

SDH Multiplexer

It combines the Plesionchronous and synchronous input signals

into higher bit rate STM-N Signal.

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Terminal Multiplexer

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Add/Drop Multiplexer (ADM)

Add / Drop
STM-N STM-N
Multiplexer

PDH SDH
Extraction from & insertion into high speed SDH bit streams of
Plesiochronous and lower bit rate synchronous signal.

Ring structure of network which provides the advantage of

automatic back-up path switching in the event of fault.

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Add/Drop Multiplexer

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Regenerator Section Overhead - RSOH

Media dependent bytes

X Reserved for national use
Unscrambled Bytes

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Regenerator Section Overhead - RSOH
Framing Bytes (A1,A2)
Indicates start of the STM-1 frame.
A1=F6 & A2=28

Section Trace (J0)

J0 carries section trace message.

Section BIP-8 (B1)

Bit interleaved Parity-8 (BIP-8) is used
for regenerator section error monitoring.
Local Orderwire (E1)
Channel for voice communications
between any two NEs.

Section User Channel (F1)

A 64kb/s user data channel.

Data communication channel (DCC_R)

Provides a single 192 kb/s channel for
Management & OAMP
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Multiplex Section Overhead - MSOH

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Multiplex Section Overhead - MSOH
MS BIP-24 (B2)
Bit interleaved Parity-24 (BIP-24) is used
for multiplex section error monitoring.

Automatic Protection Switch (APS)

(K1,K2)
Used for APS signaling

Data Communication Channel (DCC-

M)
Provides a single 576 kb/s channel for
Management
Synchronization status (S1)
5-8 bits of the byte defines Synchronous status

MS Remote Error Indicator (M1)

Remote error indication. Conveys the BIP-24 error
count back to the source
Orderwire (E2)
Orderwire channel for voice
communication between NEs
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K1 & K2 bit description

Condition Selects the channel used by APS messages

or Destination node ID

Selects bridged channel used or Selects APS 111 => MS-AIS

Source node ID architecture or Path 110 => MS-RDI
code

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S1 bit description

0000 Quality unknown

Future Use 0010 PRC (G.811)
0100 SSU-A (G.812 transit)
1000 SSU-B (G.812 local)
1011 SEC (G.813)
1111 DNU

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Higher Order Path Overhead – HPOH(VC-4 / VC-3)

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Higher Order Path Overhead – HPOH(VC-4 / VC-3)

Path Trace (J1)

Path BIP-8
Path (B3)Label (C2)
Signal
J1 byte carries thePath
traceStatus (G1) at path level
information
J1 Path errorthe
monitoring
Indicates type of payload in AU
Provides status and performance
B3 information back to the remote end
C2
Indicator byte (H4)
G1
Carries
Path multiframe
User data Channel information
(F2,F3)
F2
User data channel at path level
H4
APS (K3)
F3
Bits 1-4 are allocated for APS. Bits 5-8 are
K3 for future use.

N1 Tandem Connection (N1)

IEC for tandem connection monitoring at TCM
source. Eagle Photonics
G1 bit description

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Lower Order Path Overhead – POH(VC-11 / VC-12)

VC-12 VC-11
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Lower Order Path Overhead - POH

Tandem Connection
Signal Label and(N2)parity
V5 check
IEC for tandem
J2 connection monitoring at
Path Trace (J2)
TCM source.
N2 J2Carries
byte carries the trace
APS information
K4 information at lower
at lower order pathorder
level
path level

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V5 bit description

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Pointers

 SDH provides payload pointers to permit differences in the phase and frequency of the Virtual Containers (VC-
N) with respect to the STM-N frame.

 On a frame-by-frame basis, the payload pointer indicates the offset between the VC payload and the STM-N
frame.

 The pointer value indicates the offset in bytes from the pointer to the first byte of the VC, which is the J1 byte.

 Starting points are at 3-byte increments for a VC-4 payload & 1-byte increment for VC-3 payload.

 The possible range is:

Total STM-1 bytes – Section Overhead bytes = Pointer value range

(2430 – 81) = 2349 pointer range

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Pointers Continued

 For a VC-4 payload, this pointer is located in columns 1 and 4 of

the fourth row of the Section Overhead

 For a VC-3 payload, entire pointer bytes are used.

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Pointers Continued

 The pointer value, is carried in bits 7 through 16 of the H1-H2

pointer word.
 The first four bits indicates an arbitrary change in the value of the
pointer. These four bits, the N-bits, are known as the New Data
Flag.
H1+H2

S1 S2 I D I D I D I D I D
1 2 3 4

Pointer Values (0 –
New Data Flag Size Bits 782)

0110  No Arbitrary change

1001  Arbitrary change (Contiguous concatenation)

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Positive Pointer Justification (PPJ)

 Positive Pointer Justification (PPJ)

Data

RSOH

AU Pointer

MSOH
Virtual Container (VC)

When the data rate of the VC is too slow in relation to the rate of the STM-1 frame, then I bits are
inverted & the pointer value is incremented by 1. This is known as PPJ.

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Positive Pointer Justification (PPJ)

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Negative Pointer Justification (NPJ)

 Negative Pointer Justification (NPJ)

Data

RSOH

AU Pointer

MSOH
Virtual Container (VC)

When the data rate of the VC is too fast in relation to the rate of the STM-1 frame, D bits
are inverted and the pointer value is decremented by 1. This is known as NPJ.

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Negative Pointer Justification (NPJ)

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Advantages

 High speed standards

 Efficient Multiplexing / Demultiplexing
 Enhanced Operation, administration, Provisioning, Maintenance
capabilities (OAM&P)

Next Generation SDH:

 Supports data(Ethernet) as well as voice.
Use of GFP, VCAT, LCAS, Auto Negotiation.
 Emulated LAN (ELAN)

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Thank You…

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