[comp.dcom.modems] V32bis

tnixon@hayes.uucp (Toby Nixon) (11/06/90)

In article <90309.054925KPURCELL@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK>,
KPURCELL@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK writes: 

> 1. What is V32bis (I'm familiar with V32, V42, V42bis, PEP, etc ... )

V.32bis is a new standard that is presently in the process of being 
adopted under accelerated procedures in the CCITT.  It received 
unanimous support from Study Group XVII, and is now being translated 
into the official CCITT languages so that it can be mailed to all 
CCITT member countries for the official written ballot.  The ballot 
will close around the end of February 1991, at which time if 70% of 
the ballots returned are affirmative, V.32bis will be an official 
CCITT standard.

V.32bis is an upwardly-compatible extension of V.32.  To the 
original V.32 speeds of 4800 and 9600, it also adds new speeds of 
7200, 12000, and 14400 bps, all with trellis-coding, and all 
full-duplex.  It also adds "rapid rate renegotiation", which allows 
the modems to respond to changing line conditions by increasing or 
decreasing the speed in less than 1/10th of a second rather than 
taking five to ten seconds to do a full retrain.

-- 
Toby Nixon, Principal Engineer    | Voice   +1-404-449-8791  Telex 151243420
Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. | Fax     +1-404-447-0178  CIS   70271,404
P.O. Box 105203                   | UUCP uunet!hayes!tnixon  AT&T    !tnixon
Atlanta, Georgia  30348  USA      | Internet       hayes!tnixon@uunet.uu.net

gregh@inmet.inmet.com (01/03/91)

  A friend of mine wanted to know how V32bis achieves 14400 bps. 
  Not knowing myself, I thought I would turn to a source of higher 
  knowledge.
	
  What in short does V32bis do differently from V32 to achieve the faster
  speed?

  Thanks,

  Greg Herlihy
  gregh@inmet.inmet.com

tnixon@hayes.uucp (01/03/91)

In article <19700002@inmet>, gregh@inmet.inmet.com writes: 

>   A friend of mine wanted to know how V32bis achieves 14400 bps. 
>   Not knowing myself, I thought I would turn to a source of higher 
>   knowledge.
> 	
>   What in short does V32bis do differently from V32 to achieve the faster
>   speed?

V.32 and V.32bis use Quadrature Amplitude Modulation.  In both 
standards, the modem's "carrier" is at 1800Hz, and it indicates data
by modulating the phase and amplitude of the signal according to
certain rules.  The phase and amplitude is changed 2400 times per
second, and the value of the bits is determined by the phase an 
amplitude sent during each 1/2400 second period.  

In V.32, you can transmit at either 4800 or 9600 bps.  At 4800, 
there are 4 possible combinations of phase and amplitude.  These 
four combinations can represent all combinations of two bits (00, 
01, 10, 11).  Thus, two bits are signalled in each 1/2400 second 
period, for 4800 bits per second.  

At 9600, there are 32 possible combinations of phase and amplitude
in each period, which means five bits are signalled.  However, one 
of these bits is for redundant encoding of the other four, which 
helps the receiving modem decide which of the 32 possible 
combinations is actually being received.  Therefore, four user data 
bits are being transmitted in each 1/2400 sec period, for 9600bps.

Since V.32 was standardized, modem technology has progressed so that 
it's possible to transmit and received more complex signals with 
greater resolving capability.  In V.32bis, all that was done is 
permit more combinations of phase and amplitude.  At 12000bps, there 
are 64 possible conbinations, and at 14400bps, there are 128 
possible combinations.  V.32bis also permits 7200bps transmission, 
with 16 possible combinations.  In all three of these cases, trellis 
coding is used as at 9600bps; thus, the number of user bits per 
symbol period sent at 7200 is 3, 12000 is 5, and 14400 is 6.

The total signal power that a modem is allowed to transmit is 
governed by national regulations (and the reality of the 
capabilities of the telephone network!).  The average power is 
determined by the combined amplitude of all of the combinations of 
phase and amplitude that can be sent in a particular modulation 
scheme (the modems use scramblers to insure that the transmission is 
actually spread out over all of the possible combinations).  What 
this means is that the total power of all combinations in the 14400 
modulation is limited to the same total power of all combinations in
the 9600 modulation.  You have 128 combinations of phase and 
amplitude, whose amplitudes must add up to the same total as the 32 
combinations at 9600!  This means that these "points" must be closer 
together.  It is therefore more likely that line noise will cause 
one of the combinations to be misinterpreted by the receiving modem 
as being a different combination.  This means that a V.32bis modem 
will require a cleaner phone line to transmit 14400 than 9600.  You 
won't necessarily be able to connect at 14400 on all lines, but it 
should be possible on a majority of circuits -- particularly local 
lines in the USA.  

-- 
Toby Nixon, Principal Engineer    | Voice   +1-404-449-8791  Telex 151243420
Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. | Fax     +1-404-447-0178  CIS   70271,404
P.O. Box 105203                   | UUCP uunet!hayes!tnixon  AT&T    !tnixon
Atlanta, Georgia  30348  USA      | Internet       hayes!tnixon@uunet.uu.net

root@zswamp.fidonet.org (Geoffrey Welsh) (01/07/91)

 >From: tnixon@hayes.uucp

 >V.32 and V.32bis use Quadrature Amplitude Modulation.

   Is it still kosher to refer to them as QAM, even when the coding
constellation (is that the proper term?) is more complex than the
one described in V.22bis?  I was under the impression that QAM was
so called because amplitude was used to differentiate between the
two possible shifts at the 90 degree angles, while the other angles
represented only one bit pair each and did not require aimplitude
for differentiation.

   Anyway, thanks for the tech stuff on V.32, V.32bis, and their 'flavours'.
 

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bsmith@rose.cis.ohio-state.edu (brentley r smith) (01/09/91)

In article <3713.27832d53@hayes.uucp> tnixon@hayes.uucp writes:
=>In article <19700002@inmet>, gregh@inmet.inmet.com writes: 
=>=>   A friend of mine wanted to know how V32bis achieves 14400 bps. 
=>=>   What in short does V32bis do differently from V32 to achieve the faster
=>=>   speed?
=>
[much deleted]
=>
=>Since V.32 was standardized, modem technology has progressed so that 
=>it's possible to transmit and received more complex signals with 
=>greater resolving capability.  In V.32bis, all that was done is 
=>permit more combinations of phase and amplitude.  At 12000bps, there 
=>are 64 possible conbinations, and at 14400bps, there are 128 
=>possible combinations.  V.32bis also permits 7200bps transmission, 
=>with 16 possible combinations.  In all three of these cases, trellis 
=>coding is used as at 9600bps; thus, the number of user bits per 
=>symbol period sent at 7200 is 3, 12000 is 5, and 14400 is 6.
=>
[much deleted]

How does V.32bis compare to "HST", U.S. Robotics' proprietary protocol?
Are teh mechanics of the protocols similar?  Is the (theoretical) 
throughput similar?

Brentley Smith
bsmith@cis.ohio-state.edu

tnixon@hayes.uucp (01/10/91)

In article <87110@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>,
bsmith@rose.cis.ohio-state.edu (brentley r smith) writes: 

> How does V.32bis compare to "HST", U.S. Robotics' proprietary protocol?
> Are teh mechanics of the protocols similar?  Is the (theoretical) 
> throughput similar?

V.32bis, like V.32, is a duplex modulation scheme -- it transmits 
and receives in both directions simultaneously at the same rate, 
using echo cancellation techniques so that both modems can transmit 
on the same frequencies.

HST is "asymmetrical".  One modem is transmitting at high speed (up 
to 14400), while the other is transmitting at low speed (300 or 450 
bps).  No echo cancellation is used; each modem transmits on a 
different frequency.  Thus, it is incompatible with and quite 
different from V.32bis.

The "constellation" (method of encoding bits into analog signal 
states) of V.32bis is similar to the HST high-speed modulation.  The 
handshaking and other procedures are quite different.

If you only transmit in one direction, the theoretical throughput of 
V.32bis and HST are identical.  The sharp band-edge filters needed 
to make an asymmetrical modem work do make the HST more susceptible 
to certain line impairments, but this is traded off against the 
potentially damaging effects of echo path impairments in V.32bis.  
Of course, the performance of V.32bis is vastly superior to HST when 
transmitting in both directions simultaneously, which is required in 
many high-speed applications.  Full-duplex modems are much more 
flexible in terms of the applications which can be supported.

-- 
Toby Nixon, Principal Engineer    | Voice   +1-404-449-8791  Telex 151243420
Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. | Fax     +1-404-447-0178  CIS   70271,404
P.O. Box 105203                   | UUCP uunet!hayes!tnixon  AT&T    !tnixon
Atlanta, Georgia  30348  USA      | Internet       hayes!tnixon@uunet.uu.net

tnixon@hayes.uucp (01/11/91)

In article <6596.27880099@zswamp.fidonet.org>,
root@zswamp.fidonet.org (Geoffrey Welsh) writes: 

>  >V.32 and V.32bis use Quadrature Amplitude Modulation.
> 
>    Is it still kosher to refer to them as QAM, even when the coding
> constellation (is that the proper term?) is more complex than the
> one described in V.22bis?  I was under the impression that QAM was
> so called because amplitude was used to differentiate between the
> two possible shifts at the 90 degree angles, while the other angles
> represented only one bit pair each and did not require aimplitude
> for differentiation.

The standards themselves refer to the modulation technique as QAM.
My understanding is that the Quadrature part refers to the division
of the constellation into quadrants, with the two low-order bits
being differentially encoded to select the quadrant of the next
signal.  The Amplitude part refers to, simply, that the signal is
not of constant amplitude; V.22bis uses three different amplitudes,
and V.32 at 9600 has five.

-- 
Toby Nixon, Principal Engineer    | Voice   +1-404-449-8791  Telex 151243420
Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. | Fax     +1-404-447-0178  CIS   70271,404
P.O. Box 105203                   | UUCP uunet!hayes!tnixon  AT&T    !tnixon
Atlanta, Georgia  30348  USA      | Internet       hayes!tnixon@uunet.uu.net

necka@motcid.UUCP (William J. Necka) (01/12/91)

In article <3722.278c7fbc@hayes.uucp> tnixon@hayes.uucp writes:
>In article <87110@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>,
>bsmith@rose.cis.ohio-state.edu (brentley r smith) writes: 
>
>> How does V.32bis compare to "HST", U.S. Robotics' proprietary protocol?
>> Are teh mechanics of the protocols similar?  Is the (theoretical) 
>> throughput similar?
>
[STUFF DELETED]
>
>If you only transmit in one direction, the theoretical throughput of 
>V.32bis and HST are identical.  The sharp band-edge filters needed 
>to make an asymmetrical modem work do make the HST more susceptible 
>to certain line impairments, but this is traded off against the 
>potentially damaging effects of echo path impairments in V.32bis.  
>Of course, the performance of V.32bis is vastly superior to HST when 
>transmitting in both directions simultaneously, which is required in 
>many high-speed applications.  Full-duplex modems are much more 
>flexible in terms of the applications which can be supported.
>
[STUFF DELETED]
>
	On the contrary, the success of the HST demonstrates
that the majority of applications make little demand in one 
direction, while maximizing the other. 450 baud is much faster 
then I or most people out there can type, making it ideal for
a user interface, and 14400 baud makes short work out of any
X Y or Zmodem file transfer I have ever made.
	There is one important point you have over-looked.
Because the HST does not have too cancel it's own echo, it
can train/retain is millseconds instead of seconds. When ever
I call long distance and get a bad line, I am very grateful of this.
Granted the V.32 performance can be better in full-duplex operation;
however that was not its intended design. Providing fast file
transfers at a reasonable price was.
______________________________________________________________________________
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casey@gauss.llnl.gov (Casey Leedom) (01/12/91)

| From: necka@motcid.UUCP (William J. Necka)
| 
| | From:  tnixon@hayes.uucp (Toby Nixon)
| | 
| | | From: bsmith@rose.cis.ohio-state.edu (brentley r smith)
| | | 
| | | How does V.32bis compare to "HST", U.S. Robotics' proprietary protocol?
| | | Are the mechanics of the protocols similar?  Is the (theoretical)
| | | throughput similar?
| | 
| | If you only transmit in one direction, the theoretical throughput of
| | V.32bis and HST are identical. ...  Of course, the performance of V.32bis
| | is vastly superior to HST when transmitting in both directions
| | simultaneously, which is required in many high-speed applications.
| | Full-duplex modems are much more flexible in terms of the applications
| | which can be supported.
| 
| 	On the contrary, the success of the HST demonstrates that the
| majority of applications make little demand in one direction, while
| maximizing the other.

  Toby didn't say that the majority of applications need to transmit in
both directions simultaneously.  He said that a full duplex connection
offered you more flexibility ``in terms of the applications which can be
supported [effectively.]''

  But you're right, as long as the applications you want to work with
don't need it the full duplex channel, they'll be happy with a half
duplex channel like that offered by HST or PEP.  However

    1.	Neither HST or PEP are international standards.  With the
	increasing move towards standards, especially in the typically
	provincial U.S., this is going to become a big problem
	disadvantage.

    2.	Half duplex modems are also going to fall on their face with the
	increasing incidence of home networks with SLIP/PPP links to work,
	X Terminals like the GraphOn and NCD/XRemote, and other
	applications which definitely need a full duplex channel.

| 	Because the HST does not have too cancel it's own echo, it can
| train/retain is milliseconds instead of seconds.

  The long retrain problem has been essentially solved with V.32bis.

| 	Granted the V.32 performance can be better in full-duplex
| operation; however that was not its intended design [of HST].  Providing
| fast file transfers at a reasonable price was.

  Last I looked the HST (and PEP) modems were fairly expensive compared
to the new V.32 modems appearing from just about every modem
manufacturer.  I expect that V.32bis will be adopted very quickly by the
same manufacturers and competition will push the price down well below
the HST (and PEP) proprietary modems.

  Now, I don't really want to paint too rosy a picture because I'm
suffering from V.32 connections dropping all the time in my new home.  My
PEP connections never drop (I have no idea how well HST does with
marginal lines.)  Thus, PEP is by no means a ``total failure.'' I just
wish we had something that was as robust as PEP and had descent full
duplex performance.

Casey

jjj@blob.hut.fi (Joni Jaakko J{rvenkyl{) (01/13/91)

In article <89275@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> casey@gauss.llnl.gov (Casey Leedom) writes:
>| 	Because the HST does not have too cancel it's own echo, it can
>| train/retain is milliseconds instead of seconds.
>
>  The long retrain problem has been essentially solved with V.32bis.

And US Robotics' got this nice feature called ALS, which offers the
possibility of shifting the speed also upwards, when line conditions get
better! With a normal V32bis modem you get only downwards speed shifting,
which may reduce the effectivity of data transfer very much.

--
jjj@niksula.hut.fi
jjj@otax.tky.hut.fi

fire me, fire					until you die

tnixon@hayes.uucp (01/14/91)

In article <1991Jan12.161258.19986@santra.uucp>, jjj@blob.hut.fi
(Joni Jaakko J{rvenkyl{) writes: 

> In article <89275@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> casey@gauss.llnl.gov (Casey Leedom) writes:
>>| 	Because the HST does not have too cancel it's own echo, it can
>>| train/retain is milliseconds instead of seconds.
>>
>>  The long retrain problem has been essentially solved with V.32bis.
> 
> And US Robotics' got this nice feature called ALS, which offers the
> possibility of shifting the speed also upwards, when line conditions get
> better! With a normal V32bis modem you get only downwards speed shifting,
> which may reduce the effectivity of data transfer very much.

This is baloney; regurgitated USR public relations crap.  V.32bis 
supports changing dynamically between any of its five rates!  Any 
V.32bis modem can change rates UP OR DOWN.  The question is whether 
or not a given implementation will _initiate_ a speed change, and 
the _criteria_ upon which it will initiate the change.  Because of 
the large number of applications in which V.32bis modems will be 
used (e.g., async non-error-control where changing speeds is 
explicitly not possible, likewise with synchronous applications 
where the DTE provides the clock), the criteria and initiation 
decision are left up to the modem and its implementor.  All USR has 
done is make a decision to permit their modems to initiate changes 
and, apparently, decided on some criteria on which to base this.  
Every other V.32bis modem manufacturer will make a similar decision! 

It really irks me to see a company whose Vice President of 
Engineering (Dale Walsh of USR) sat in on all of the V.32bis 
discussions and agreed to them, turn around and flat out 
misrepresent what the standard says, and claim some unique "feature" 
that, in reality, is not going to be unique at all.

-- 
Toby Nixon, Principal Engineer    | Voice   +1-404-449-8791  Telex 151243420
Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. | Fax     +1-404-447-0178  CIS   70271,404
P.O. Box 105203                   | UUCP uunet!hayes!tnixon  AT&T    !tnixon
Atlanta, Georgia  30348  USA      | Internet       hayes!tnixon@uunet.uu.net

vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com (Vernon Schryver) (01/15/91)

In article <89275@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV>, casey@gauss.llnl.gov (Casey Leedom) writes:
> 
>   But you're right, as long as the applications you want to work with
> don't need it the full duplex channel, they'll be happy with a half
> duplex channel like that offered by HST or PEP.  However
> 
>    1.	Neither HST or PEP are international standards.  With the
> 	increasing move towards standards, especially in the typically
> 	provincial U.S., this is going to become a big problem
> 	disadvantage.

This is the arguement that said OSI would replace TCP/IP by 1985.  I know
because I took the OSI pledge in 1984.  I have since developed an opinion
about the accuracy any arguement based on such "circular lemming" logic.

"Blank will be popular real soon, because everyone will be using it."


>   2.	Half duplex modems are also going to fall on their face with the
> 	increasing incidence of home networks with SLIP/PPP links to work,
> 	X Terminals like the GraphOn and NCD/XRemote, and other
> 	applications which definitely need a full duplex channel.

On the contrary, X terminals would benefit from a good asymmetric splitting
of bandwidth.  Consider the nature of your typical xterm TCP traffic, in
terms of packet sizes and rates, including TCP acks.  I do not know what
the right split is nor how dynamic it should be.  It's "obvious" that an
automatic, instantaneous, infinitely variable split between 28.8/0 and
0/28.8 would be far better than 14.4 full duplex.  (Yes, it's also
obviously impossible to be either instantaneous or infinitely variable.)

The troubles we've seen with machines like the NCD over TB's are not
related to PEP, but to NCD's less than heavy weight implementation of
TCP/IP.  For example, no routing, even RIP, causes some hassle, although it
no doubt makes the code in the terminal smaller and easier to maintain.

That PEP and HST may be fading does not imply asymmetric modem protocols
are dead, any more that the fact that the 300/1200 async, private line
modem I used in 1970 is long forgotten, along with the fancy graphics
terminal and the computer it connected.


Vernon Schryver,   vjs@sgi.com

ronald@robobar.co.uk (Ronald S H Khoo) (01/17/91)

vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com (Vernon Schryver) writes in defence of the TB+:

> On the contrary, X terminals would benefit from a good asymmetric splitting
> of bandwidth.

But PEP doesn't give you split bandwidth, it gives you half duplex with
extremely high cost to turn the line around.  Now, if you had a
link-level protocol that reduced the number of turnrounds by letting
whole windows through before letting the other side speak, you might
win.  SLIP doesn't do this though, and my cursory glance at PPP doesn't
show such an option there either (though I'd be glad to be told that I'm
wrong).  Am I ? Does such a protocol exist ?

-- 
ronald@robobar.co.uk +44 81 991 1142 (O) +44 71 229 7741 (H)

ronald@robobar.co.uk (Ronald S H Khoo) (01/17/91)

vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com (Vernon Schryver) writes:

> casey@gauss.llnl.gov (Casey Leedom) writes:

> >    1.	Neither HST or PEP are international standards.  With the
> > 	increasing move towards standards, especially in the typically
> > 	provincial U.S., this is going to become a big problem
> > 	disadvantage.

> This is the arguement that said OSI would replace TCP/IP by 1985.  I know
> because I took the OSI pledge in 1984.  I have since developed an opinion
> about the accuracy any arguement based on such "circular lemming" logic.

TCP v. OSI affects end<->end interoperability problems, v.32 vs. PEP
only affects individual point-to-point links.  The scale of the problem
just isn't the same.

I suppose we shall see what we shall see.  Interesting times.....
-- 
Ronald Khoo <ronald@robobar.co.uk> +44 81 991 1142 (O) +44 71 229 7741 (H)

ejm@ejmmips.NOC.Vitalink.COM (Erik J. Murrey) (01/18/91)

In article <1991Jan16.210914.18482@robobar.co.uk>, ronald@robobar.co.uk
(Ronald S H Khoo) writes:
> vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com (Vernon Schryver) writes in defence of the TB+:
> 
> > On the contrary, X terminals would benefit from a good asymmetric splitting
> > of bandwidth.
> 
> But PEP doesn't give you split bandwidth, it gives you half duplex with
> extremely high cost to turn the line around.  Now, if you had a
> link-level protocol that reduced the number of turnrounds by letting
> whole windows through before letting the other side speak, you might
> win.  SLIP doesn't do this though, and my cursory glance at PPP doesn't
> show such an option there either (though I'd be glad to be told that I'm
> wrong).  Am I ? Does such a protocol exist ?
> 

Both SLIP and PPP only look as far as the IP header for clues on
delivery.  Even this may be considered too much of a bleed into the
network layer when a point-to-point data-link is involved. Both Van
Jacobson's Compressed SLIP and his extensions to PPP look as far as
the TCP header to determine compressability.

If SLIP or PPP were to provide TCP window optimization over the
data-link, then it would have to really dig into both the TCP header
and the TCP options to determine window size/status, etc.

While sometimes these optimizations are necessary to give a product an
edge in the market, I usually shy away from code that is *too* smart.

I tend to think that better optimization of IP over half-duplex links
can be done with smarter queuing algorithms coupled with starvation
prevention measures.  On the local machine, this may actually give the
feeling that entire windows are being sent at once, since all the
segments may be queued in one shot from the TCP code.

---
Erik J. Murrey
Vitalink Communications NOC
ejm@NOC.Vitalink.COM	...!uunet!NOC.Vitalink.COM!ejm

vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com (Vernon Schryver) (01/18/91)

In article <1991Jan16.210914.18482@robobar.co.uk>, ronald@robobar.co.uk (Ronald S H Khoo) writes:
> vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com (Vernon Schryver) writes in defence of the TB+:
> 
> > On the contrary, X terminals would benefit from a good asymmetric splitting
> > of bandwidth.
> 
> But PEP doesn't give you split bandwidth, it gives you half duplex with
> extremely high cost to turn the line around. ...



I was trying to say is that a magical way to automatically and dynamically
allocate bandwidth between the two directions would be better than any
fixed allocation, including 50/50.  Whether this magic would consist of
devoting 100% of the bandwidth to one direction for X% of the time and 100%
of the bandwidth to the other direction for (100-X-Z)% of the time
(ie.  what is often called "half duplex") is an separate issue.  It may be
that at the low speeds and analog phone lines being discussed, no such
magic is possible, or that the magic would cost too many bits computed as
[sum (wasted bandwidth*wasted time)].  I've not been initiated into the
right kinds of wizardry to know.

It is obvious that if you must fix the allocation between the two
directions (if the system including modems cannot change this allocation as
traffic or other conditions warrent) and if your traffic is "general," then
50/50 is the best general purpose answer (e.g. v.32), provided 50% of the
total is gives usable performance.  It seems obvious that an old fashioned,
half-duplex 2400 b/s modem with would support X traffic less badly than a
1200 b/s full duplex modem, despite the long turn-around times of such
old hdx modems.

At medium and high speed, things tend to be more dynamic.  Imagine how slow
ethernet would be if the ~10MHz were permanently partitioned into rx and tx
allocations for each station.  (Common, commercially available, relatively
low cost workstations move >1MByte/sec through TCP/IP/ethernet.)


Sheesh!  I didn't realize I was so mumble-mouthed to be repeatedly
misunderstood on such an obvious point.

Vernon Schryver,   vjs@sgi.com