Performance and fault management functions for the maintenance of SONET/SDH and ATM transport networks

Maintenance functions for synchronous optical network/synchronous digital hierarchy (SONET/SDH) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks are described. These functions are: (i) performance management - continuous in-service performance monitoring for proactive warning of performance degradation, and (ii) fault management - detection and location of network trouble and failure. These functions include proposed non-intrusive capabilities for fault analysis and delay monitoring on ATM connections. The functions are described for the hierarchically layered SONET/SDH and ATM transport network architectures. A generic network element (NE) monitoring process is proposed for all hierarchical layers. Emphasis is on the NE functions of detecting, processing and reporting performance monitoring and on alarm information for use by operations systems (OSs). The monitoring capabilities enable assessment of end-to-end quality-of-service, trouble sectionalization to responsible administrations, and fault location within administrations