[Css-csts] Pink SLE FSP Service Specification

Wolfgang.Hell at esa.int Wolfgang.Hell at esa.int
Wed Apr 10 08:43:15 EDT 2013


John,

Thank you very much for your very thorough review of the draft FSP Pink
Sheets. I certainly do not mind your bending of the Pink Sheet rules. On the
contrary, I appreciate the additional input that certainly contributes to
further improving the Book. In what follows, you'll find my response to your
comments. I really hope that the two of us  get a chance to discuss the
various SLE issues, but I understand that you will at most be partially
available for the Tuesday session.

1. Blocking of TC frames
What this term was meant to refer to is indeed putting several TC frames into
one CLTU. I remember that we concluded at the time when we produced the
initial version of the FSP Book that the gain of TC link bandwidth efficiency
when using very long CLTUs is small while the overhead when it comes to
retransmissions is significant. Therefore it was agreed to constrain FSP to
the single TC frame per CLTU configuration. It appears to me that these
considerations are still valid and I therefore suggest that we keep this
constraint.

Sorry that I contributed to the confusion when I added section B5.5 as to
cover the option of repeated TC frame transmission. I will remove the
discussion on why a single TC frame per CLTU should be used in 'hammer mode'.
And what concerns the long two-way light-time, the intended message here was
that the 'hammer mode' should only be used on such links. If the round-trip
time is short, one is much better off when using COP-1.

Given all that, I gratefully accept your suggestions a) to d) with two minor
tweaks:

a) as per your suggestion;

b) as per your suggestion. In addition I have modified 2.4.1.3 d) from "The
Forward CLTU Generation SLE-FG forms a CLTU by appending Start and Tail
sequences to the BCH Codeblocks representing the block of one TC frames." to
" "The Forward CLTU Generation SLE-FG forms a CLTU by appending Start and
Tail sequences to the BCH Codeblocks representing one TC frame.

c) as per your suggestion;

d) I did not delete NOTE 2 completely, but kept the first sentence that reads
"For a link with long light time delay, the repeated transmission of frames
can improve the probability that a sequence of frames is successfully
received during a limited transmission session." This might be helpful to
readers who have not been confronted with the ' hammer mode' so far.

2. Absence of the Segment Header
The Segment Header is required when at least one of the following conditions
is TRUE:
- the (optional) MAP addressing is used on the given VC;
- TC packets may be larger than the data field of the maximum size TC frame
and therefore need to be segmented.
If neither of the two conditions is TRUE, the segment header can be omitted.

CCSDS 232.0 provides the related information:

4.1.3.2 Frame Data Unit
4.1.3.2.1 General
4.1.3.2.1.1 A Frame Data Unit shall consist of either
a) an integral number of User Data octets; or
b) a Segment Header followed by an integral number of User Data octets, if
the Segment
Header is used on the Virtual Channel.
4.1.3.2.1.2 If the Segment Header is present, the User Data contained in a
Frame Data Unit
shall consist of one of the following:
a) a complete Packet;
b) multiple Packets;
c) a portion of a Packet;
d) a complete MAP_SDU;
e) a portion of a MAP_SDU.
4.1.3.2.1.3 If the Segment Header is not present, the User Data contained in
a Frame Data
Unit shall consist of one of the following:
a) a complete Packet;
b) multiple Packets;
c) a complete VCA_SDU.
4.1.3.2.1.4 The Segment Header is required for any Virtual Channel which has
more than
one MAP or which transfers service data units larger than permitted in a
single Transfer
Frame. Its use is optional otherwise, except that if it is used in any
Transfer Frame carried on
a Virtual Channel, it must be used for all Transfer Frames carrying Frame
Data Units (not
Control Commands) on that Virtual Channel.
NOTE – A Frame Data Unit that has a Segment Header is called a Segment.

Hence one special case of the MAP multiplexing is that only a single MAP is
supported on a given VC in which case the MAP address is not used at all. If
in addition all TC packets are sufficiently short to fit into a single TC
frame, the segment header can be omitted. Given that even a well-informed
person like you raises such question is a strong indication that we need to
add related information to the FSP Book. I read annex B again and my
impression is that the case that no MAP multiplexing is used is adequately
addressed. So at least for now I have not introduced any changes there.
However, I have inserted the following NOTE after 3.6.2.10.2:  NOTE	–
Segment Headers have to be generated if a) Space Packets may exceed the
length of the user data zone of the maximum and/or if b) MAP addressing is
used on the given telecommand Virtual Channel.

Please let me know if you regard that to be sufficient or if there is a need
to add more tutorial type of information.

3. RAF NOTE in FSP
I have removed that NOTE.

4. Handling of the responder-port-identifier parameter in the BIND invocation
After we had prepared the Cleveland slides, further rounds of discussions
took place and a softer way of dealing with this problem was proposed, mainly
as not to make implementations that check this parameter 'not compliant'.
However, what we are talking about are anyway new versions of the SLE
services and therefore this should not really matter too much. And having
read through your material, I agree that we better come up with unambiguous
requirements. Therefore I have gratefully adopted your suggestions on how to
modify the FSP Book.

5. Potential risk of Space Packets not being processed in case the MAP
multiplexing scheme is 'Polling Vector'.
The NOTE following 3.6.2.10.1 is only intended to provide a warning that with
that a segments queue might get blocked. This is not a requirement, but a
consequence of how the MAP multiplexing is performed. I have added a forward
reference to annex B that specifies the behaviour.

6. Missing return
I share your concern. I have therefore modified the last sentence of NOTE 3
in 4.1.3 to now read: "Therefore, following an FSP-UNBIND invocation, the
‘return timeout’ FSP-EER-ABORT may be triggered by a missing return."

7. Service instance provision period
For some reason, out 'to-do' list had flagged this issue as not being
applicable to FSP and therefore no change had not been made. I now have
updated the FSP Book the same way as the return service specifications have
been modified. Also the typo has been corrected.

8. Not initialised, but gettable and not gettable parameters
I think that you are raising two separate issues:
a) Shall we make any (managed) parameter or user-controlled parameter that
gets added to an SLE specification always gettable at the expense of the
associated ASN.1 changes? What I have seen in practice, the GET-PARAMETER
operation is hardly used and therefore at least in the case of F-CLTU we had
postponed the update of the list of gettable parameters until we felt that
the overall scope of the changes were anyway such that the extension of the
gettable parameters list was not really a cost driver. In this spirit, I have
refrained from extending the FSP list of gettable parameters at this point.
Should the WG identify a strong need to make all parameters gettable, I'll be
happy to update the FSP Book accordingly, but until we have a WG decision, I
prefer to leave the specification alone in that regard.

b) Do we need to deal with not yet initialised, but gettable parameters?
After the Cleveland meeting, this topic has been discussed on various
occasions and in addition to the options already listed in the Cleveland
presentation I made yet another suggestion that if accepted avoids the issue
completely. We could as part of the service specifications define initial
values for all those parameters that for the time being could be retrieved
using the GET-PARAMETER operation before being initialised. I feel that this
topic will require some further discussion within the CSTS WG. Therefore I
have deferred related FSP updates until we have reached agreement in the WG.

9. repetition-limit managed parameter
I did not feel comfortable introducing this parameter. In fact, I do not see
that it would ever play a role in FSP. The only reason it is there is that
CCSDS 231.0 introduces it (and there it is really needed) and I thought that
it might be good to have that parameter then also as a managed parameter in
FSP. But strictly speaking it does not serve any purpose from a functional
point of view and could be removed.


I will upload to the CWE (CSS-CSTS - CWE Private - SLE Services) a new FSP
version which reflects the changes as discussed above. Obviously, this isn't
the final version since there are a few items for which we still need some
discussion in the WG as to agree on how to resolve them.

Best regards,

Wolfgang



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  |John Pietras <john.pietras at gst.com>                                                                                                                   |
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  |"Wolfgang.Hell at esa.int" <Wolfgang.Hell at esa.int>                                                                                                       |
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  |"css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org" <css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org>                                                                                             |
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  |01/04/2013 19:28                                                                                                                                      |
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  |RE: [Css-csts] Pink SLE FSP Service Specification                                                                                                     |
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  |css-csts-bounces at mailman.ccsds.org                                                                                                                    |
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Wolfgang,
Here are my comments on the Pink Sheet changes, which for the most part seem
perfectly reasonable to me. Technically, comments on "Pink Sheets" can only
address the changes that are proposed in those sheets. However, having just
gone through the exercise of trying to map the FSP managed and monitored
parameters onto the underlying production FG Types, I've come across a few
other items. I hope that you don't mind my bending the Pink Sheet rules a bit
so that I can raise them here.

      1.       Section 2.4.1.2, third paragraph, item (a): The third sentence
      states "The FSP service does not support blocking of TC Frames." I
      don't understand this sentence, even though I may have written it
      myself.  There are two uses of the term "blocking" that are defined in
      the specification: the first refers to blocking/non-blocking operations
      and the second refers to putting multiple Space Packets into a single
      TC Transfer Frame. "Blocking of TC Frames" is not defined. One thought
      is that this may refer to placing multiple TC Frames into the same
      CLTU. I seem to recall discussing imposing that limitation. However,
      section 2.4.1.3, paragraph 2, item (c) states "The Forward CLTU
      Generation SLE-FG BCH-encodes each  block of TC frames [emphasis
      mine ]into a set of BCH Codeblocks”. Also, NOTE 2 under B5.5 talks
      about limiting the number of frames per CLTU to one
      long-light-time-delay links, implying that for short delay links
      multiple frames per CLTU is possible.

      If “blocking of TC Frames” is intended to refer to putting multiple
      frames into the same CLTU, then I suggest the following clarifications:
         a.       Remove the sentence "The FSP service does not support
         blocking of TC Frames" from item (a) of 2.4.1.2. Section 2.4.1.2
         deals with the Forward TC VC Data Insertion FG: discussion of how
         CLTUs are built belongs in 2.4.1.3 (Forward CLTU Generation SLE FG).
         b.      Change the sentence in 2.4.1.3 item (c) to read “The Forward
         CLTU Generation SLE-FG BCH-encodes each TC frame into a set of BCH
         Codeblocks”.
         c.       These statements in section 2 are only informative – there
         is no normative statement regarding how many frames can be put into
         a CLTU. In Annex D, insert a new requirement and note after
         D1.2.2.1: “The Forward CLTU Generation FG shall form a CLTU Transfer
         Data SLE-SDU for each TC Frame Transfer Data SLE-SU.
         NOTE – Although the TC Synchronization and Channel Coding
         specification (reference [x]) allows a CLTU to contain multiple TC
         frames in general, the SLE FSP service restricts the CLTU to
         containing a single TC frame.
         d.      Delete NOTE 2 of B5.5.

      If “blocking of TC Frames” does not refer to putting multiple frames
      into the same CLTU, and if putting of multiple frames into a CLTU is
      allowed, then:
         a.       Some definition of ‘blocking of TC Frames” is needed and
         b.      Some mechanism must be specified for determining how many
         frames are to be put into a CLTU. E.g., a frames-per-cltu managed
         parameter of the Forward CLTU Generation SLE-FG.

      2.       This may just be due to my admittedly-weak understanding of
      Telecommand, but I don’t understand how having segment headers in the
      frames can be turned off for the FSP service. Annex B specifies that
      all FSP instances flow their packets through MAP Multiplexing. It’s my
      understanding (again, it may be a misunderstanding) that when MAP
      Multiplexing is used then segment header must always be used (to
      identify the MAP channels) except in Control frames, in which case
      segment headers are never present. So what am I missing here?

      3.       Section 3.2.2.6: the first NOTE is for RAF service and should
      be removed (its content is covered in an FSP version in the notes
      below).

      4.       Section 3.2.2.6: the flavor of this section is slightly
      different from that in the slides presented in Cleveland, especially
      regarding the behavior of the responder when the value is incorrect -
      the slide says that the parameter *should* be ignored by “provider
      implementations”*, whereas the Pink Sheet say in a (non-normative) note
      that the parameter *may* be ignored. [*Given that we are reaffirming
      the notion of provider-invoked Return services, this should be
      “performer implementations”].  At the risk of micro-editing this
      section, here are my suggestions:
         a.       Put the NOTE explaining the use of this parameter at the
         beginning , right under 3.2.2.6 responder-port-identifier: “ NOTE 1
         - The responder-port-identifier parameter is included in the
         FSP-BIND invocation to support its possible use by particular kinds
         of gateways. It is used by such gateways to complete the association
         with the responding SLE application entity, and it is not intended
         to be used by the responding SLE application entity itself. Beyond
         this statement, the behavior of such gateways is beyond the scope of
         this Recommended Standard.”
         b.      Enumerate the requirement so that a second requirement can
         be added: “3.2.2.6.1  The responder-port-identifier parameter shall
         specify the port identifier of the responding SLE application entity
         with which the initiator seeks to establish an association.” (I’d
         also recommend substituting “contain” for “specify” to remove the
         implication that the initiator is defining the port identifier on
         the fly (as stated in a following NOTE, it has been pre-negotiated),
         but I don’t have a strong feeling about it).
         c.       The Cleveland slides stated that the responding SLE
         application entity should ignore a bad responder port ID, leaving
         the possibility that an implementation doesn’t ignore it, resulting
         in the case where  “the BIND fails with no return”. However, the
         state table makes no provision for “failing with no result”. I think
         that what really happens is that the responding SLE application
         entity must ignore the bad values (in effect, it must ignore the
         parameter altogether) and return a positive result regardless of the
         value of the responder-port-ID (assuming, of course, that the
         invocation is otherwise successful). The BIND “failing without
         return” occurs when the gateway can’t complete the association
         because of the bad ID – the target responding SLE entity never gets
         the invocation in the first place, so there is no possibility for
         the responder to “fail without return”. If this is the acceptable
         interpretation, then:
            1)       I propose a second requirement:  “3.2.2.6.2  The
            responding SLE application entity shall ignore the value of the
            responder-port-identifier for purposes of determining the
            validity of the invocation.” (This wording allows for the
            possibility of using the value for something, e.g., an error
            log).
            2)      Rephrase what is now NOTE 4 to address more specifically
            how it is that a BIND operation will fail because of an invalid
            responder-port-identifier: “In case the association between user
            and provider is established via a gateway and the value of the
            responder-port-identifier parameter is incorrectly set, the
            gateway will not be able to relay the BIND invocation to the
            target responding SLE application entity. The lack of a return
            for the FSP-BIND operation will trigger the ‘return timeout’
            event on the user side. As specified in XXX, the user will abort
            the association by invoking the FSP-PEER-ABORT operation with the
            diagnostic parameter set to ‘return timeout’.”

      5.       Requirement 3.6.2.10.1 (MAP-identifier): The NOTE appears to
      be levying behavioral requirements (e.g., “the packet will be queued
      but not processed …”). Is this just a summary of behavior that stated
      normative somewhere else in this document (e.g., annex B) or in the TC
      Space Data Link Protocol Blue Book, or is it state uniquely in this
      NOTE? If it’s stated uniquely in this book then it should be turned
      into normative statements. If there are normative statements elsewhere,
      a cross-reference would be nice.

      6.       Section 4.1.3, NOTE 1, last sentence: the phrase “missing
      return event” may still mislead someone into thinking that this is an
      event (i.e., Incoming Event). Unless I am wrong, I think that the
      intent of this sentence is “Therefore, following an FSP-UNBIND
      invocation, the ‘return time’ PEER-ABORT may be triggered by a missing
      return.”

      7.       I see that there has been no change to the fourth sentence of
      the second-to-last paragraph of section 2.6.4.5: “Prior to the start
      time of a service instance,…”. I had pointed out that the only
      formally-defined notion of a time of viability of a service instance is
      the service instance provision period – “start time of a service
      instance” is undefined. Your PowerPoint slide on the topic asked “The
      concept of the service instance provision period shows up in various
      places – is that adequate given that (most of the) real world
      implementations actually operate with permanent/default service
      instances?” I was not present of the discussion of this item (if any)
      in the CSTSWG meeting, but my counter-question would be, even if a
      service instance is permanent, how is the notion of “start  time of the
      service instance” different from “start [or beginning] of the service
      instance provision period”? They seem the same to me.

      Also, the typo still exists in that sentence – it should read “… SLE
      Complex Management and SLE Utilization Management must mutually …”

      8.       In the comments that I had made on FCLTU last year, I had
      raised the question about what the CLTU-GET-PARAMETER operation should
      return when the value of clcw-physical-channel or clcw-global-VCID is
      requested when there is no CLCW-bearing return VC. Your PowerPoint
      slides identify 3 possible solutions: use default values that are
      indicative of the “not used” status (as is does for EFCLTU); allow
      anything to be put in, with understanding that they are meaningless
      when the FCLTU service instance is otherwise configured to ignore them;
      or modify the ASN.1. I wasn’t in the CSTSWG meeting when this was
      discussed so I don’t know the outcome (the Minutes of the Meeting don’t
      mention it).  Regarding the FSP service, table 3-1 also includes the
      clcw-physical-channel and clcw-global-VCID as managed parameters,
      although (unlike FCLTU) they are not listed as gettable parameters via
      FSP-GET-PARAMETER. Nevertheless, similar questions apply. In
      particular, is it possible to configure an FSP instance to *not* use
      CLCWs – e.g., to send bypass-only commands “in the blind”? If so ,
      whatever decision you’ve made regarding how to treat
      clcw-physical-channel and clcw-global-VCID for a non-existent
      CLCW-bearing channel should also be applied to the FSP book.

      9.       Regarding the repeated frame transmission topic (a.k.a.
      “hammer mode”), I don’t see any problems with your approach. However,
      if I understand it correctly, the purpose of the repetition-limit
      managed parameter seems to be to limit the values of the
      cop-control-frames-repetition and
      sequence-controlled-frames-repetitions managed parameters. If that’s
      true, then I’ll make the observation I don’t think until now that we’ve
      introduced managed parameter to control other managed parameters in the
      SLE specifications. That is, we have had managed parameters that limit
      the values that can be used in the operations and managed parameters
      that set a configuration value. Strictly speaking, I don’t think that
      this is necessary:  the upper bounds on clcw-physical-channel and
      clcw-global-VCID might be set by implementation or Agency and doesn’t
      necessarily have to be managed on a case-by-case-basis between UM and
      CM.  Also, none of these three parameters (repetition-limit,
      cop-control-frames-repetition and
      sequence-controlled-frames-repetitions) have been added to the gettable
      parameters in table 3-11, even though it seems that they might be as
      interesting to the user as any of the other gettable parameters that
      simple reflect to configuration of the service. Were these parameters
      omitted from table 3-11 to keep the ASN.1 unchanged or because they
      were determined to be of no possible interest to the user?

Best regards,
John

-----Original Message-----
From: css-csts-bounces at mailman.ccsds.org [
mailto:css-csts-bounces at mailman.ccsds.org] On Behalf Of Wolfgang.Hell at esa.int
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2013 9:38 AM
To: css-csts at mailman.ccsds.org
Subject: [Css-csts] Pink SLE FSP Service Specification


Dear CSTS Working Group Members,

At the Cleveland meeting we had a session to review various issues that had
been found mostly by John in the most recent SLE Blue Books. I have uploaded
to the CWE (CSS-CSTS - CWE Private - SLE Services) the 'pink' version of FSP
which I believe fixes all known problems with the exception of the handling
of gettable, but not yet initialised parameters for which we need to come to
a consensus position in the WG. The most important changes are that now the
FSP-THROW-EVENT operation can be disabled for a given service instance and
that the repeated transmission of TC frames is now supported. As a
consequence, there are new managed parameters that will have to be taken into
account on the Service Management side.

For both of these changes I have opted for the least intrusive modification.
Please have a look and let me know, if with these changes in place FSP in
your view covers the operational needs.

Best regards,

Wolfgang


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