A Unified Framing Protocol for Hybrid Data Transport

Based on the introduction of the transport protocols to transfer data over synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) or Fiber (DoS/DoF), we present the scheme of transporting different protocol data units (PDUs) on a single carrier, for example, a virtual container (VC-x) in SDH or a single wavelength in dark fiber. A new protocol, named as Unified Framing Protocol (UFP), is proposed in the paper, which is suitable for flexibly transferring variable- and constant-length packets, and has a high compatibility with present ATM technology. Its main issues relating to the structure, delineation, recognition and encapsulation efficiency of the proposed PDU are discussed in detail. Finally, this paper also compares the technical aspects of the UFP with those of the generic framing procedure (GFP) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), and conclusions to the UFP are made accordingly.