
2.0 Architecture Overview
CN8236
2.5 Advanced xBR Traffic Management
ATM ServiceSAR Plus with xBR Traffic Management
2-16
Mindspeed Technologies
28236-DSH-001-A
2.5 Advanced xBR Traffic Management
The CN8236 implements ATM’s inherent robust traffic management capabilities
for CBR, VBR, ABR, UBR, GFR, and GFC. The CN8236 manages each VCC
independently and dynamically.
The user assigns each connection a service class, a priority level, and a rate
if applicable. Then, the on-chip traffic controller, the xBR Traffic
Manager, optimizes use of the line bandwidth according to the VCC’s
traffic parameters and control information stored in SAR-shared memory.
The xBR Traffic Manager guarantees the compliance of each VCC to its
service contract with the ATM network at the UNI ingress point. It
schedules all data traffic by acting as a master to the segmentation
coprocessor.
One of the functional components of the xBR Traffic Manager is the
xBR Scheduler. The xBR Traffic Manager assigns segmentation traffic
from active VCCs to schedule slots, which the segmentation coprocessor
then complies to by segmenting VCC traffic in the sequence/schedule
dictated by the xBR Scheduler.
In addition to reserved CBR bandwidth, the CN8236 provides 16
segmentation priorities. The user configures these priorities for the
remaining service categories, including the TM 4.1-defined ABR class.
The CN8236’s xBR Traffic Manager implements multiple functional
levels of traffic prioritizing. This is illustrated in
Figure 2-9.
The host submits data to be sent by writing entries to the transmit queues
for segmentation. The SAR processes these transmit queues either in
round–robin order (transmit queue 0 through 31, looped back to 0), or in
priority order (with transmit queue 31 having highest priority). This
scheme gives the user or system designer some control of the delay
between the host submitting traffic and the SAR starting to process that
traffic. For instance, the user could assign CBR traffic to the highest
priority transmit queue in order to minimize any delay in processing and
scheduling that traffic.
The CN8236 then submits this traffic demand to the xBR Traffic Manager
for scheduling. Traffic is scheduled based on the traffic class plus certain
parameters from the segmentation VCC table entries (primarily the GCRA
I and L parameters). And if the service category is ABR, the SAR also uses
certain parameters from the ABR templates to help determine that traffic’s
placement on the Schedule table.
The conforming traffic to be transmitted is further groomed in internal
priority queues. Each virtual channel is prioritized according to its
assigned scheduling priority. CBR channels are given pre-assigned
segmentation bandwidth, and channels for the remaining service
categories scheduled according to their priority number (priority 0 being
the lowest priority and priority 15 being highest).