ATM networks and their applications at the NASA Lewis Research Center - A case study

This paper provides an overview of ATM networks and a discussion of their role in supporting high-level technological research at the NASA Lewis Research Center in the U.S, NASA Lewis operates a variety of local and wide area networks and is introducing ATM to meet specialized requirements for transporting multimedia traffic, including text, voice, video, real time visualization data, and data collected from scientific experiments, ATM employs fast packet switching and statistical multiplexing to allow many sources to flexibly share network bandwidth and it provides an integrated transport, multiplexing, and switching technology for BISDN. SONET/SDH may be used as a physical layer protocol for optical transmission of ATM cells. ATM, together with SONET, provides standardized high-speed transmission for a wide variety of traffic types and performance requirements. NASA Lewis researchers are experimenting with cluster computing for solving large problems and are testing ATM for use as the transport fabric to support this activity. Video experiments have been conducted over a private ATM network which has links to the Ames and Langley Research Centers. NASA Lewis is exploring the use of ATM to facilitate collaboration between experimental and analytical researchers at geographically dispersed locations and to provide personnel at remote sites with access to NASA Lewis facilities. ATM service classes, the BISDN protocol reference model, and congestion control issues are also addressed in this paper.