GL's ATM emulator performs IMA simulations

Software app generates and verifies end-to-end-traffic on virtual channels.

-- Test & Measurement World, 1/25/2012 7:00:00 AM

Software from GL Communications simulates inverse multiplexing of ATM cell streams over multiple physical links, retrieving the original stream at the far-end from these physical links. The IMA (Inverse Multiplexing over ATM) emulator application performs IMA simulations on up to 16 T1/E1 ports and allows ATM links to be created on full or fractional timeslots.

The multiplexing of ATM cell streams is performed on a cell-by-cell basis across multiple physical links. Traffic source can be sequence number, HDL files (containing packets/frames), flat binary file, user-defined frames (ASCII HEX file), and Ethernet data.

IMA involves inverse multiplexing and de-multiplexing of ATM cells in a cyclical fashion among physical links grouped to form a higher-bandwidth and logical link. The rate of the logical link is approximately the sum of the rate of the physical links in the IMA group. This technique provides an effective method of combining the transport bandwidths of multiple links, such as DS1/E1 links, grouped to collectively provide higher intermediate rates.

By adding virtual channels to IMA groups, you can generate and verify end-to-end traffic on each virtual channel. Transmit parameters are used to generate the ATM traffic, while receive parameters are used as a reference to verify the received frames. What's more, parameters for each virtual channel can be set independently.

The IMA emulator is available as an optional client-server based application for GL's T1/E1 analysis hardware.

GL Communications, www.gl.com/wcs-atm-ima-emulator.html