GL’s Comprehensive SONET/SDH Testing and Analysis Solution
Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA - March 2, 2023 - GL Communications Inc., a global leader in telecom test and measurement solutions, addressed the press regarding their solutions for Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) networks carrying channelized TDM (T1, E1) traffic, and Unchannelized ATM and PoS traffic – SonetExpert™, a tester for high-speed OC-3/STM-1, OC-12/STM-4, OC-48/STM-16, and OC-192/STM-64 networks.
Overview
“GL’s SonetExpert™ is a powerful network testing tool designed to analyze, monitor, and test SONET/SDH networks. The software monitors the network in real-time and provides detailed analysis, reporting features of various types of SONET/SDH channels including STS-1, STS-3c, STS-12c, STS-48c, and STS-192c. The software provides a graphical user interface and is accessed through the web browser”, said Vijay Kulkarni, CEO of GL Communications.
With its advanced capabilities, the tool can effectively analyze SONET/SDH networks, including channelized and unchannelized interfaces. The tool offers scanning and detection of incoming SONET/SDH traffic, ATM/PoS features, which allow in-depth analysis of ATM/PoS networks. It also supports test and measurement capabilities, such as Bit Error Rate Testing (BERT) to evaluate the performance of the network.
SonetExpert™ Channelized Analyzer
GL's SonetExpert™ Channelized Analyzer comprises of hardware and software for capturing, monitoring, simulating, and analyzing protocols over SONET-SDH links. SonetExpert™ analyzer along with SFP+ based optical ports supports Channelized SONET and SDH mapping of T1/E1 payload.
SonetExpert™ Unchannelized Analyzer
GL's Portable or Rackmount SonetExpert™ Unchannelized Analyzer is capable of SONET/SDH testing over OC-3/STM-1, OC-12/STM-4, OC-48/STM-16 and OC192/STM-64 transports. SonetExpert™ can perform unchannelized BERT testing over OC-3/STM-1, OC-12/STM-4, OC-48/ STM-16 and OC-192/STM-64 SONET/SDH rates.
SonetExpert™ Unchannelized SCAN Application
The key feature of GL’s SonetExpert™ Unchannelized tool is its SCAN feature which scans incoming SONET/SDH traffic, analyzes the frames, detects, and reports the structure of the incoming traffic, down to the T1/E1 level.
SonetExpert™ ATM and PoS Protocol Analysis
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Protocol Analyzer
GL's SonetExpert™ ATM Protocol Analyzer is used to analyze and decode different ATM protocols such as ATM, AAL2 Protocols (CPS SDU, and SSCS), AAL5 (CPCS), UNI, and others across U plane and C plane of UNI and NNI interface. The analyzer can also decode ATM frames constituting Classical IP over ATM, or CIP based networks, and traditional SS7 Stack (ISUP, SCCP, MAP, CAMEL (CAP), etc.) over ATM.
Packet over SONET (PoS) Protocol Analyzer
GL’s SONET PoS Analyzer captures a host of PoS protocols exchanged between the two nodes over SONET and provides useful analysis including the distribution of protocols, protocol fields, frame lengths, and frame status. The user can obtain a detailed analysis of the protocol and can perform various statistical measurements.
Key Features
- Permits auto detection of the SONET/SDH structure and constituents
- Two channelized OC-3 STM-1/OC-12 STM-4 SONET/SDH interfaces per SonetExpert™ for simulating and monitoring traffic in both directions
- Configure the number of T1 E1 channels to multiplexed or demultiplexed to/from OC-3/12 STM-1/4
- Analyze or emulate voice, data, fax, protocols, analog and digital signals, including echo and voice quality
- Supports BERT over Raw SONET/SDH for OC-3/STM-1, OC-12/STM-4, OC-48/STM-16, and OC-192/STM-64
- Supports BERT over PoS and ATM on OC-3/STM-1 and OC-12/STM-4
- Monitors and reports various SONET/SDH Alarms (Section/Path/ Line as well as BERT Alarms) in real time
- Protocol analysis provides detailed analysis of higher layer protocols (for PoS and ATM) and decode of SONET/SDH frames in real time on both ports simultaneously
- Provides options to capture Raw SONET/SDH or PoS/ATM wirespeed (OC-3/STM-1 and OC-12/STM-4) traffic on 2 ports simultaneously to a file on hard disk, with hardware filtering and timestamping
- Supports playback of captured Raw SONET/SDH or PoS/ATM wirespeed traffic (for OC-3/STM-1 and OC-12/STM-4) traffic on 2 ports simultaneously from a file on hard disk, with highly accurate timing (as captured in the traffic file)
- SCAN application gives a complete overview of the incoming SONET/SDH traffic in an easy and intuitive graphical display and helps technicians to quickly identify the structure of unknown SONET/SDH traffic
- Web interface allows multiple users to connect to a single web server and independently run tests on different hardware units