IEEE Std 802.3ah
™
-2004
(Amendment to IEEE Std 802.3
™
-2002
as amended by
IEEE Stds 802.3ae
™
-2002, 802.3af
™
-2002,
802.3aj
™
-2003 and 802.3ak
™
-2004)
IEEE Standards
802.3ah
TM
IEEE Standard for Information technology—
Telecommunications and information exchange between systems—
Local and metropolitan area networks—
Specific requirements
Part 3: Carrier Sense Multiple Access with
Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) Access Method
and Physical Layer Specifications
Amendment: Media Access Control
Parameters, Physical Layers, and Management
Parameters for Subscriber Access Networks
3 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5997, USA
IEEE Computer Society
Sponsored by the
LAN/MAN Standards Committee
IEEE Standards
7 September 2004
Print: SH95249
PDF: SS95249
IEEE Std 802.3ah™-2004
(Amendment to IEEE Std 802.3™-2002
as amended by
IEEE Stds 802.3ae™-2002, 802.3af™-2002,
802.3aj™-2003, and 802.3ak™-2004)
IEEE Standard for Information technology—
Telecommunications and information exchange between systems—
Local and metropolitan area networks—
Specific requirements—
Part 3: Carrier Sense Multiple Access with
Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) Access Method
and Physical Layer Specifications
Amendment: Media Access Control
Parameters, Physical Layers, and Management
Parameters for Subscriber Access Networks
Sponsor
LAN/MAN Standards Committee
of the
IEEE Computer Society
Approved 24 June 2004
IEEE-SA Standards Board
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
3 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5997, USA
Copyright © 2004 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
All rights reserved. Published 7 September 2004. Printed in the United States of America.
IEEE is a registered trademark in the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, owned by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, Incorporated.
Print: ISBN 0-7381-4075-9 SH95249
PDF: ISBN 0-7381-4076-7 SS95249
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, in an electronic retrieval system or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
Abstract: This amendment to IEEE Std 802.3-2002 as amended by IEEE Std 802.3ae-2002, IEEE
Std 802.3af-2003, IEEE Std 802.3aj-2003, and IEEE Std 802.3ak-2004 combines a minimal set of
extensions to the IEEE 802.3 Media Access Control (MAC) and MAC Control sublayers with a
family of Physical (PHY) Layers. These Physical Layers include optical fiber and voice grade copper
cable Physical Medium Dependent sublayers (PMDs) for point-to-point connections in subscriber
access networks. This amendment also introduces the concept of Ethernet Passive Optical
Networks (EPONs), in which a point to multi-point (P2MP) network topology is implemented with
passive optical splitters, along with optical fiber PMDs that support this topology. In addition, a
mechanism for network Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) is included to facilitate
network operation and troubleshooting. To support these innovations, options for unidirectional
transmission of frames are provided for 100BASE-X, 1000BASE-X, 10GBASE-R, 10GBASE-W,
and 10GBASE-X
.
Keywords: Ethernet in the First Mile, EFM, Ethernet Passive Optical Network, EPON, Ethernet
over DSL, Multi-point MAC Control, MPMC, Operations, Administration, Maintenance, OAM, full
duplex MAC, P2MP, P2P, 100BASE-LX10, 100BASE-BX10, 1000BASE-LX10, 1000BASE-BX10,
1000BASE-PX10, 1000BASE-PX20, 10PASS-TS, 2BASE-TL, last mile
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Introduction
(This introduction is not part of IEEE Std 802.3ah-2004, IEEE Standard for Information technology—
Telecommunications and information exchange between systems—Local and metropolitan area networks—
Specific requirements— CSMA/CD Access Method and Physical Layer Specifications Amendment: Media
Access Control Parameters, Physical Layers, and Management Parameters for Subscriber Access Networks).
IEEE Std 802.3
™
was first published in 1985. Since the initial publication, many projects have added
functionality or provided maintenance updates to the specifications and text included in the standard. Each
IEEE 802.3 project/amendment is identified with a suffix (e.g., IEEE 802.3ae). A historical listing of all
projects that have added to or modified IEEE Std 802.3 follows as a part of this introductory material. The
listing is in chronological order of project initiation and for each project describes: subject, clauses added (if
any), approval dates, and committee officers.
The media access control (MAC) protocol specified in IEEE Std 802.3 is Carrier Sense Multiple Access
with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD). This MAC protocol was included in the experimental Ethernet
developed at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. While the experimental Ethernet had a 2.94 Mb/s data rate,
IEEE Std 802.3-1985 specified operation at 10 Mb/s. Since 1985 new media options, new speeds of
operation, and new protocol capabilities have been added to IEEE Std 802.3.
Some of the major additions to IEEE Std 802.3 are identified in the marketplace with their project number.
This is most common for projects adding higher speeds of operation or new protocols. For example, IEEE
Std 802.3u™ added 100 Mb/s operation (also called Fast Ethernet), IEEE Std 802.3x™ specified full duplex
operation and a flow control protocol, IEEE Std 802.3z™ added 1000 Mb/s operation (also called Gigabit
Ethernet) and IEEE Std 802.3ad™ specified link aggregation. These major additions are all now included in
IEEE Std 802.3-2002 and are not available as separate documents.
Recent additions such as IEEE Std 802.3ae (also called 10 Gigabit Ethernet) and IEEE Std 802.3af (also called
Power over Ethernet) are currently published as separate documents. These recent amendments are part of
IEEE Std 802.3 and they are dependent on and reference information published in IEEE Std 802.3-2002.
At the date of IEEE Std 802.3ah publication, IEEE Std 802.3 is comprised of the following documents:
IEEE Std 802.3-2002
Section One—Includes Clause 1 through Clause 20 and Annexes A through H. Section One
includes the specifications for 10 Mb/s operation and the MAC, frame formats and service
interfaces used for all speeds of operation.
Section Two—Includes Clause 21 through Clause 32 and Annexes 22A through 32A. Section Two
includes the specifications for 100 Mb/s operation and management attributes for multiple
protocols and operational speeds.
Section Three—Includes Clause 34 through Clause 43 and Annexes 36A through 43C. Section
Three includes the specifications for 1000 Mb/s operation.
IEEE Std 802.3ae-2002
Includes changes to IEEE Std 802.3-2002, and adds Clause 44 through Clause 53 and Annexes 44A
through 50A. This amendment includes specifications for 10 Gb/s operation.
IEEE Std 802.3af-2003
Includes changes to IEEE Std 802.3-2002, and adds Clause 33 and Annexes 33A through 33E. This
amendment includes specifications for the provision of power over 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, and
1000BASE-T cabling.
