A Comparative study of UNI Signaling Systems and Protocols for ATM Networks

摘要

Signaling is the process by which the ATM users and the network exchange the control information, request the use of network resources, or negotiate for the use of circuit parameters. To support the dynamic establishment and release of switched virtual circuits, ATM signaling standards exist for both point-to-point as well point-to-multipoint connections. Although the basics for maintaining ATM connections are always principally the same, yet the tasks and procedures defined for setting-up an ATM connection are often very different concerning the relevant specifications of various working bodies (such as ITU-T or ATM-Forum), certain vendors, or university experiments. The reason for this situation is that the intentions of working bodies are different and each one of them follows specific strategies for certain scenarios. This comparative study of UNI signaling systems and protocols for ATM networks identifies several important characteristics and relevant scenarios of selected approaches (such as Q.2931, UNI3.0, UNI3.1, UNI4.0, CMAP, MSNL-CM, gNET, etc.).