IMA AND UNI FUNCTIONS
31
December 4, 2006
IDT82V2616
Inverse Multiplexing for ATM
4
IMA AND UNI FUNCTIONS1
The IDT82V2616 is capable of combining the transport bandwidth of
multiple links into one single logical link. The logical link is called a
group. The IDT82V2616 supports up to 8 independent groups with each
group capable of supporting from 1 to 16 links. Links that are assigned
to an IMA group are called in IMA mode while links that are not assigned
to any IMA group can be used in UNI mode.
4.1
IMA MODE
4.1.1
IMA FRAME
An IMA frame is defined as M consecutive cells, numbered from 0 to
M-1 on each link, across all the links in an IMA group. It is generated by
inserting an ICP cell after every M-1 cells per link. Values of M supported
are 32, 64, 128 and 256, which can be programmed for all the links in a
group by ConfigGroupPara command. The ICP cell occurs within the
frame at the ICP cell offset position and should be at the same position
throughout the frame. The ICP offset is programmable on a per-link
basis by AddTxLink command.
4.1.2
TRL (TIMING REFERENCE LINK)
Within an IMA group, a TRL should be selected to pass synchroniza-
tion from the transmit to the receive end. The TRL can be selected by
ConfigTRLLink command.
4.1.3
STUFFING MODE
The insertion of stuff cells is to compensate for timing differences
between links within an IMA group.
There are two kinds of stuffing method: CTC (Common Transmit
Clock) mode and ITC (Independent Transmit Clock) mode. The stuffing
method is selected by ConfigGroupWorkMode command.
In CTC mode, a stuff cell is added after every 2048 ICP, filler and
ATM layer cells. The stuff cell is generated by repeating the ICP cell.
Both the ICP cell and the stuff cell are identified as ICP cells via the Link
Stuff Indication (LSI) field of the ICP cell. The stuff cell event will occur
on the same frame on all the links. However, the pre-defined ICP offset
will determine at which cell in the frame the stuff event will occur.
In ITC mode, a stuff cell is added to the TRL the same way as in CTC
mode, that is, it is added after every 2048 ICP, filler and ATM layer cells.
On all other links in the group, stuff cells are added as necessary to
compensate for timing differences between the TRL and other links of
the group.
In an IMA group, if at least one of the links uses independent clock
pin as its clock input, stuff mode can only be set as ITC. If all the links
within the group use common clock pin (i.e., TSCCK and RSCCK) as
their clock input, stuff mode can be set as either CTC or ITC. For details
4.1.4
LINK BACKUP
The group link backup function is used to add a link to the group for
backup in case of link failure. This function is only enabled when the
device is working in symmetry mode.
The link to be added to the group is specified as backup link or non-
backup link in ‘AddLink’ command (i.e., AddTxLink and AddRxLink
commands). Note that only one backup link is supported in each group.
If several links are specified as backup links, only the last added backup
link is regarded as a backup link.
When a link failure event occurred, the IDT82V2616 will automati-
cally pick up a backup link and activate it.
4.2
UNI MODE
ConfigDev command and ConfigUNILink command are used to
configure a UNI link. ConfigDev command can be used to configure TC
Work Mode, TC Alpha and Delta value and LCD threshold. ConfigU-
NILink command can be used to configure link physical ID, Tx and Rx
Utopia port, line interface Work Mode and clock mode.
When a link is configured in UNI mode, IMA functions are bypassed.
ATM cells are simply transmitted from the Utopia interface to the line
interface.
1. Chapter 4, 5, 6 and 7 are specific to IMAOS16. Details about
IMAOS16_Slave are provided in Chapter 8.