SONET/SDH Introduction

What is the Difference Between SONET and SDH?

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Why SDH/SONET?
SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) and SONET (Synchronous Optical NETwork) are standards for interfacing optical networks.
Simple multiplexing processes Easy access to various signals in a multiplexed high bit rate signal

A flexible and efficient way of networking Network Distribution: Add/Drop capability Network survivability: APS (Automatic Protection Switching) Traffic Cross connection: capacity management, bandwidth management and protection route diversity Support advance Network Management System (OAM&P) Overhead bits for Fault, Configuration, Performance Monitoring, Security and Accounting management Standardized interface can support multi vendor interworking, international connection and many different services; i.e. ATM, IP

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SONET/SDH Digital Hierarchy

Optical Level SONET Electrical Level SDH Equivalent Line Rate (Mbps) Payload Rate (Mbps) Overhead Rate (Mbps) SONET Capacity SDH Capacity

OC-1

STS-1

51.840

50.112

1.728

28 DS-1s or 1 DS-3 84 DS-1s or 3 DS-3s 336 DS-1s or 12 DS-3s 1,344 DS-1s or 192 DS-3s 5,376 DS-1s or 192 DS-3s

21 E1s

OC-3

STS-3

STM-1

155.520

150.336

5.184

63 E1s or 1 E4 252 E1s or 4 E4s 1,008 E1s or 16 E4s 4,032 E1s or 64 E4s

OC-12

STS-12

STM-4

622.080

601.344

20.736

OC-48

STS-48

STM-16

2488.320

2405.376

82.944

OC-192

STS-192

STM-64

9953.280

9621.504

331.776

Note: Although an SDH STM-1 has the same bit rate as the SONET STS-3, the two signals contain different frame structures. STM = Synchronous Transport Module (ITU-T) STS = Synchronous Transfer Signal (ANSI) OC = Optical Carrier (ANSI)

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SDH and SONET Bit Rate

SDH STM-0 STM-1 STM-4 STM-16 STM-64
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Bit Rate
51Mb/s 155Mb/s 622Mb/s 2.48Gb/s 9.95Gb/s

SONET OC-1
(STS-1)

OC-3 OC-12 OC-48 OC-192

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What is different about SDH vs. SONET?

Together they are a set of global standards that interface equipment from different vendors. SDH is basically the international version of SONET, and SONET can be thought of as the North American version of SDH.
There are some slight differences between SONET and SDH.

The main differences are in the basic SDH and SONET frame formats, but SDH and SONET are essentially identical beyond the STS-3 signal level. The base signal for SONET is STS-1 and the base signal for SDH is STM-1. STS-3c is equivalent to STM-1 and the lower tributaries can be mapped interchangeably between the two formats from that point on.

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What is different about SDH vs. SONET? (Cont)

In SDH, both electrical and optical signals are referred to as STM signals.

In SONET, however, electrical signals are called STS and optical signals are referred to as OC.

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SONET
Defined by Bellcore and ANSI T1.X committees
Base rate (High Order) is 51.84Mbps (STS-1)
STS-1 Synchronous Payload Envelope (SPE) = 50.112M used for carrying tributaries or a DS3 signal Tributaries (Low Order) used for SONET are: VT1.5 (SPE Trib) = 1.728M for carrying DS1 (1.544) VT2 (SPE Trib) = 2.304M for carrying CEPT (E1, 2.048) VT6 (SPE Trib) = 6.912M, Never formalized same rate as VT Group

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SONET Hierarchy
STS-N

x1

STS-N SPE
x1

Data

xN

STS-1 SPE
x7

DS3
Broadband STS-N Payloads (High Order Payloads)

Tributaries of Base Signal (Low Order Payloads)

VT Group
x1

VT 6

VT6 SPE VT2 SPE VT1.5 SPE E1 DS1

x3

VT 2
x4

VT 1.5

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STS-1 Frame with VT Mapping

3 bytes 87 bytes 3 1

Section OH
J1 STS Pointer B3 C2 G1 F2 H4 F3 K3 Z3

Line OH

STS-1 SPE STS-1 SPE Payload DS3 Mapped or 7x VTG Mapped

ptr

VT
Group Vx

VT
Group

VT
Group

VT
Group

VT
Group

VT
Group

VT
Group

V T 1 5

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Points to Remember in SONET

The base layer is the STS-1 SPE
Single pointer to get to the STS-1 SPE (50MB level)
ALL tributary signals multiplex (via Pointer Processing) to the STS-1 SPE Each STS-1 has its own path overhead TOH is called Section and Line Overhead SS bits (in H1) is set to 00 Bellcore (Telcordia) Alarming and GR-820 Performance Monitoring Other Nuances: Path Trace is 64bytes, Orderwire is Mu-Law, Z bytes not used, No J2, APS is different
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SDH
Defined by ITU-T (previously CCITT) committees
Base rate (High Order) is 155.520 (STM-1) Virtual Container 4 (VC-4) = 150.336M used for carrying tributaries or an E4 signal (or data)

Tributaries (Low Order) used for SDH are:

VC-11 = 1.728M for carrying DS1 (1.544) (rarely used in AU4) VC-12 = 2.304M for carrying CEPT (E1)

Also a stuffing option for mapping VC11/1.5M to TU-12

VC-2 = 6.912M Just gaining acceptance (TU-2-Mc) for data VC-3 = 50.112M (Same as STS-1 SPE) used for E3 AND DS3

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SDH Hierarchy
STM-64 x4 x64 STM-16 x16 STM-4 x4 STM-1 AUG x3 AU-3 AU-4 VC-4 x3 TUG-3 TU-3 VC-3
E3: 34.368Mb/s DS3: 44.736Mb/s

AU-4-64c

VC-4-64c

C-4-64c

9039.872Mb/s

x16 x4

AU-4-16c

VC-4-16c

C-4-16c

2259.968Mb/s

AU-4-4c

VC-4-4c

C-4-4c

564.992Mb/s

C-4

E4: 139.264Mb/s

High Order Payloads Containers of Base Signal (Low Order Payloads)

VC-3 x7 x7 x1 TUG-2

C-3

STM-n AUG AU-n VC-n

Synchronous Transport Module

Administrative Unit Group: One or more AU(s) Administrative Unit: VC + pointers Virtual Container: payload + path overhead

TU-2

VC-2

C-2

DS2:6.312 Mb/s

x3
TU-12 x4 TU-11 VC-11 C-11
DS1:1.544Mb/s

VC-12

C-12

E1: 2.048Mb/s

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STM-1 Frame with AU-4 Mapping

9 bytes 261 bytes 3 1

Regenerator Section OH AU Pointer Multiplex Section OH

J1 B3 C2 G1 F2 H4 F3 K3 N1

VC-4 Payload: C4 or TUG-3 mapped

H1 H1 H1 H2 H2 H2 H3 H3 H3 J1 B3 C2 G1 F2 H4 F3 5 bytes K3 N1 J1 B3 C2
ptr

Higher Order Path OH

C-3 Payload

G1 F2 H4 F3 K3 N1

C-3 Payload
Vx

TUG-3
TUG-2/VC12
Muxed

V C 1

Low Order Path OH

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Points to Remember in SDH

The base layer is the VC-4 Container
Single pointer to get to the VC-4 ALL Low Order (LO) Signals multiplex (via PP) to the VC-4 Additional pointer to get to VC-3, the STS-1 equivalent: A FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE between SONET and SDH TUG-3 is NOT the same as an STS-1 TOH is called Regenerator Section (RS) and Multiplex Section (MS) Overhead SS bits (in H1) is set to 01 ITU-T Alarming and ITU-T Performance Monitoring Other Nuances: Path Trace (P-API) is 16 or 64 bytes, Orderwire is A-Law, Z (N1) bytes used for TCM, APS is different
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SONET Vs. SDH

SONET UPSR = SDH SNCP (Sub-Network Connection Protection) WTR is up to 12 minutes in 1 minute increments Hold-off timer for SDH 0-10S in 100mS increments SONET BLSR = SDH MS-SPRing (Multiplex Section Shared Protection Ring), SDH does not specify MS-SPRing @ STM-4 (but we allow it) SONET APS = SDH MSP (Multiplex Section Protection) SONET Mesh/ Virtual Ring = SDH Same as/Extension of SNCP (and this has been around a while in SDH Networks) SONET Path Trace = SDH Path Access Point Identifier (P-API, or API) SONET Alarms: CR, MJ, MN = SDH Alarms PMA (Prompt Maintenance Activity), DMA (Deferred Maintenance Activity): We kept the CR/MJ/MN and added the -PMA/DMA as a suffix
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SONET Vs. SDH (cont)

SDH Collects Errored Block Seconds, Errored Second Ratios
SDH is beginning to use Tandem Connection Monitoring Path within a path Adds additional Path Trace, BIP, FEBE and RDI to a high or low-order path

SONET, STS-SPE (50.112M) is the base-rate payload SDH, the base is 155M and the VC-3 (STS equivalent) is a tributary to the VC-4
Its not a central office, its an Exchange

Its not a Class 5/ Class 4, its a Local Switch and a Transit Switch
Its not a DCS, its a DXC SONET uses 3/3s and 3/1s, SDH uses 4/4s and 4/3/1s

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Terminology Summary
Optical I/O Board Path Type

SDH
STM-1 STM-4 STM-16 STM-64 STM-256

SONET
OC-3 OC-12

SDH
Not applicable VC4 VC4-4c

SONET
STS-1 STS-3c STS-12c STS-24c STS-48c STS-192c

OC-48 VC4-8c OC-192 OC-768 VC4-16c VC4-64c

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Terminology Summary
Protection Type Overhead Naming

SDH
MSP MS-SPRing SNCP

SONET
APS/FFP BLSR PPMN/UPSR

SDH
RS - Regenerator Section MS - Multiplex Section

SONET
Section

Line

HP - High Order Path

Path

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Terminology Summary
Alarms

SDH
LOS LOF RS-TIM MS-AIS MS-RDI MS-DEG MS-EXC MS-REI

SONET
LOS LOF TIM-S AIS-L

SDH
AU-LOP AU-AIS HP-UNEQ HP-TIM HP-SLM

SONET
LOP-P AIS-P

UNEQ-P
TIM-P SLM-P RDI-P/RFI-P SD-P SF-P REI-P
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RDI-L/RFI-L SD-L SF-L

HP-RDI HP-DEG HP-EXC HP-REI

REI-L

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Terminology Summary
PM Monitored Types

SDH
Not defined EB Errored Block BBE Background Block Error ES Errored second Not defined Not defined

SONET
CV Code Violation

ES Errored second

Not defined
SES - Severely Errored Second Not defined UAS - Unavailable Second BBER - Background Block Errored Ratio ESR Errored second Ratio SESR - Severely Errored Second Ratio
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SEFS - Severely Errored Framing Seconds

SES - Severely Errored Second FC- Failure Count UAS - Unavailable Second Not defined Not defined Not defined
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Terminology Summary
PM Monitored Entities

SDH
Not defined Not defined MS-UAS-NE MS-UAS-FE CV-S

SONET
FC-LNE FC-LFE UAS-LNE UAS-LFE

SDH
Not defined RS-EB RS-BBE RS-ES Not defined Not defined MS-EB-NE MS-EB-FE MS-BBE-NE MS-BBE-FE MS-ES-NE MS-ES-FE

SONET
Not defined Not defined ES-S CV-LNE CV-LFE Not defined Not defined Not defined Not defined ES-LNE ES-LFE

Not defined
Not defined HP-EB-NE HP-EB-FE

CV-PNE
CV-PFE Not defined Not defined

HP-BBE-NE
HP-BBE-FE HP-ES-NE HP-ES-FE HP-SES-NE HP-SES-FE

Not defined
Not defined ES-PNE ES-PFE SES-PNE SES-PFE
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Terminology Summary
PM Monitored Entities (Cont.)

SDH
Not defined Not defined HP-UAS-NE HP-UAS-FE HP-BBER-NE

SONET
FC-PNE FC-PFE UAS-PNE UAS-PFE Not defined

HP-BBER-FE
HP-ESR-NE HP-ESR-FE HP-SESR-NE HP-SESR-FE

Not defined
Not defined Not defined Not defined Not defined

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Cisco Systems

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