Fibre Channel Protocol Architecture Fibre Channel Layered Model
8b/10b Encoding
Each 8-bit data byte is encoded into a 10-bit character before it is transmitted
8b/10b Encoder
Parallel/Serial Converter (SERDES)
Transmitter
Data Byte FC – 2 FC – 1
Parallel Input
Serial Output FC – 0
The preceding diagram shows the FC-1 encoding process: How many possible combinations? 256 The data from the transmitting I/O bus is encoded using an 8-bit to 10-bit (8b/10b) encoding scheme. The parallel data is converted to serial format. The serial data is transmitted across the link. The encoding layer is how we maintain the data stream. It is a very reliable transport protocol – always done at FC-1 layer.