Basics of PSTN

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Our Agenda
PSTN Architecture & Its Components Understanding Local Loop Digital Transmission & Switching Switching & Functions Of Exchange

Trunk Types And Trunk Signalling

Teletraffic modeling and analysis Number Plan International, National

ISDN Principles, Interfaces and Services

Role of SS7 and its applications

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The Evolution of Telecommunication

Telecommunication is more than 100 years old

Graham Bell invented the telephone that enabled people separated by distance to talk to each other

Telecommunication network has evolved from simple local network into a global network Has passed through transitions manual, Strowger, Crossbar, SPC, Digital, Mobile Communication, VoIP .. Initially catered to only voice and later on data networks evolved We are seeing the merging of voice and data networks so called

convergence

Though voice is still the dominant application, data services are gaining prominence

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What happens when we speak?

Speech is a very very important means of communication

When we speak we create acoustic pressure variations and ears perceive the speech through this
Human speech contains most energy in 0-4 kHz band

Voice communication involves converting this variation into electrical form and transmitting over distance and converting back to sound waves at the other end
Speech has been extensively analysed & researched

Speech coding, speech & speaker recognisation, speech synthesis and so on

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How Voice Communication Takes Place?

When you establish a call with another person

A duplex path is set up one carrying voice from you and another bringing voice to you

Establishing this path is the job of one or more switches or exchanges

During very early days this was done manually through operators Now, most of these jobs are performed by automatic switches

This path remains till you disconnect

The same elements may be used for establishing another call later
This is broadly what we call circuit switching

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Hierarchical Telephone Network (Single Operator)

A wide area, circuit-switched, mesh (partially-connected) network of star-connected sub networks
State-level trunk exchange Area-level trunk exchange Local Exchange Subscribers

vulnerable to failure
high-traffic routes can be directly connected requires sophisticated routing strategy

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Typical Network of Single Operator

Mesh connected Trunk exchanges at the state/regional level Mesh connected local exchanges at bottom in metropolitan areas

Large number of direct routes between area-level trunk exchanges

hierarchical route selected only if direct route is not available

State TE Area TE

State TE

Town area LE Metro area LE

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PSTN Building Blocks (Indian View)

Subscriber terminal: telephone instrument Simple, robust, low-cost, powered by exchange Local loop: a pair of wires from telephone to local exchange Carries power to telephone, voice and signals both ways Local exchange (LE): a switching node that switches calls from one subscriber to another, as well as to/from trunks complex equipment Call processing ssubscriber administration Configuration / health monitoring Battery Local Loop terminations (Main Distribution Frame) Trunk terminations (Digital Distribution Frame) MaGee Academy 8

PSTN Building Blocks (Indian View) (Contd.)

Trunk: interconnects exchange to one another. Medium could be optical fiber, microwave radio, coaxial cable, carrying multiplexed trunks
Trunk Exchange (TE): Switching node which only switches calls between trunks TAX (Trunk Automatic Exchange): switches long-distance calls (dial 0 : call is routed to TAX) Tandem Exchange: switches calls between LEs in a metro; handles spillover traffic from direct routes
Tandem

L E L E

L E L E

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PSTN Network Topology: A Summary

Fully mesh-connected TAXs at highest level International gateways also connected to this subnetwork Second-level TAXs for states/regions/metros : connected to level-1 TAXs, but also partially amongst themselves Third-level TAXs (often, TAX-cum-local) also deployed at times LEs (sometimes, LE-cum-TE) at lowest level connect to subscribers Size of trunk group between any two TEs, depends on amount of traffic Trunks often segregated as outgoing and incoming, but can also be bothways

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Classification of Exchanges Indian View

The exchanges are classified into categories based upon the functions performed by them Local exchange (or also called end office exchange) This serves only subscribers connected to it Local cum trunk exchange This serves subscribers and also switches trunk circuits Trunk exchange This switches calls between trunks Tandem exchange A trunk exchange that interconnects local exchanges, usually in metro areas Trunk automatic exchange Services long distant trunk circuits, will have to generate metering pulses International Gateway Exchange Performs routing function for international calls, transcoding and other related functions

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Classification Of Exchanges (North American Terminology)

Class 5: the end office where the calls originate and terminate (19000) Class 4: a tandem toll center which interconnect Class 5 offices typically serve to connect ILECs to RBOCs; first point of entry to toll network (1500) Class 3: a primary toll center connecting Class 4 offices primarily intrastate toll calling (200) Class 2: a sectional toll center connects Class 3 offices for interstate calling within a geographic region (67) Class 1: a regional toll center connects Class 2 offices to support interregional toll calling (10)

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Elements in a Typical PSTN Call

Subscriber Nodes Subs 1 Trunks Subscriber Nodes Subs 3 Local Exchange 1 Trunk Exchange Local Exchange 2

Subs 2

Subs 4

Exch Nodes Calls usually involve more than one exchange Exchanges are interconnected by trunks

Subs Lines

Exchanges and trunks can be of many different types Proper compatibility is important for calls to be successful

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Steps in a Typical Call Set-up / Release

Subscriber goes off hook and dials the required digits Local exchange analyses the digits and routes the call If another exchange is involved, the digits have to be conveyed to that exchange This process is carried till the terminal exchange is reached Terminal exchange routes the call by ringing the subscriber When subscriber wants to disconnect, he goes on hook and similar but simpler steps are repeated

Information about billing / metering also get exchanged during call

Voice is carried on the trunk path on end-to-end basis (circuit switched connection)

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Call Setup Successful

Subscriber Actions Lifts Receiver Hears dial tone Dials first digit Dials next digit . . Dials last digit Hears RBT Conversation begins Loop is closed Dial tone Local Exchange / Network Actions Current flow is sensed Dial tone fed Analyses digit Removes Dial tone Analyses digits and routes call Called subscriber rung Called subscriber answers & Conversation begins
Local Exchange
15

. . Ring back tone Voice signals

Local Loop

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Call Setup Unsuccessful

Subscriber Actions Lifts Receiver Hears dial tone Dials first digit Dials next digit . . Dials last digit Hears busy tone Disconnects

Local Exchange / Network Actions

Loop is closed Dial tone Current flow is sensed Dial tone fed Analyses digit Removes Dial tone Analyses digits and routes call Called party busy Current flow stops
Local Exchange
16

. . Busy tone Loop is open

Local Loop

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Recap Of PSTN Architecture

List different types of exchanges What is Class5 switch? What is Class4 switch? Is there another name for this? Class1 switch will be _______ connected Link interconnecting exchanges is called _____ TAX has subscribers connected to it True or False? Explain circuit switching

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What Is Local Loop?

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Concept of Local Loop

The pair of wires that interconnects the local exchange with subscriber instrument (telephone) is called Local Loop This pair carries voice signals in both directions and we say

that the voice is carried on 2 wires

The voice signals (incoming and outgoing) are separated at instrument & exchange by using a device called Hybrid transformer or equivalent device

Not done at the exchange sied if the 2 wire switching is done (as in Strowger exchanges)

The exchange supplies 48V to the instrument and monitors the current flow continuously When the telephone is not in use, the handset (or receiver) is kept in its place

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Concept of Local Loop (Contd.)

Under this condition the loop is having high impedance and no current flows

When we lift the handset, a contact closes at the instrument and a low impedance path is created
Consequently there is a current flow and this is sensed by exchange to know that the subscriber wants service

When the subscriber gets an incoming call, ringing voltage is fed on the local loop and the bell (or buzzer) at the subscriber end alerts subscriber Local loop is a dedicated path between exchange and each subscriber and this is a major cost component

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The Local Loop

A pair of copper wires connecting subscriber terminal to the exchange is called Local Loop this is a dedicated pair for each subscriber

The pair is twisted (~ 3-4 twists every foot or so) to reduce induced coupling to other pairs in same bundle
Called twisted pair, or tp Characteristic impedance is 600 ohms tp comes in various gauges (diameter) 26 gauge 9 gauge 0.4 mm 0.9 mm

Typically 0.5 mm dia used to get of exchange (primary cable), dropping to 0.4 mm dia for the last segment to the subscriber

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Balance Wire Transmission

.. ..

Single wire transmission with ground return

.. ..
Balanced 2-wire transmission

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Balance Wire Transmission - Advantages

2-Wire transmission has been adapted for local loop for the following reasons

It can carry both transmit and receive signals

Transmission over long distance is affected by interference from Powerline signals 50 Hz or 60 Hz and their harmonics Lightning and other impulsive signals Voice band of 0-4 kHz gets affected by these

Balanced 2 wire transmission can reject most of the common mode interference

Hence 2-wire transmission is being used always

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Subscriber Terminal Or Telephone Instrument

Normally it is of passive type requires no power for its operation It is being powered by the local exchange Usually 48 V It has the following components Mechanism for converting ringing voltage to audible ringing Mechanism for dialling digits Converting into decadic or DTMF form Receiver having earphone and mothpiece Hook-switch that operates when the receiver is placed in idle position

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Concept of 2 Wire / 4 Wire

Exchange

Both signals from/to subscriber carried on 2wires Hybrid transformer at telephone instrument separates the 2w signal into 4w signals (receive / send signals)

2 Wire
Local Loop
2W 4W

Terminology:
4 Wire

2 Wire: Composite signal

4 Wire: Separate receive and send signal

mic ear

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2 Wire / 4 Wire Conversion

Separating receive signal in the presence of transmit signal is performed by 2W/4W conversion This is usually done by an inexpensive transformer called Hybrid Transformer This depends upon some form of impedance matching Perfect matching will result in perfect separation of signals Otherwise send signal has small portion of received signal We say part of received signal is reflected Whenever there is a 2W/4W conversion, some mixing of signals will result

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2 Wire / 4 Wire Conversion (Contd.)

Reflected Signal

2W/4W Converter

Long transmission path

Reflected signal with long delay (Echo)

Reflected Signal

2W/4W Converter
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Generation Of Echo

In a normal telephone instrument part of microphone output is fed to the earphone

Called sidetone, is meant to give feedback to earphone to regulate the speakers loudness

If the reflected signal is not delayed less than 50-75 msec, this will be similar to sidetone and user will not perceive this If the reflected signal delay is more than this, then user will start noticing this and will be annoying

This delay will be experienced on international calls, satellite circuits and cellular networks due to coding, processing and other delays

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Handling Echo

Echo is the effect of reflected signal arriving with a large delay Either reflection or long delay alone will not be a problem Echo can be handled by two methods Echo Suppressor this is a very simple mechanism that makes the communication semi duplex one direction at a time Whenever you talk, your receive signal is cutoff this happens at both ends Users should learn to talk one at a time This is rather obsolete now

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Handling Echo (Contd.)

Echo Canceller this is a sophisticated method by which the reflected signal is totally eliminated by using DSP techniques Most widely used nowadays Earlier this was fairly expensive and was selectively used

Due to dropping costs of DSP, this usage has increased

Users will not be aware of the presence of echo canceller Allows full duplex communication

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Twisted Pair Frequency Response

Frequency response of twisted pair is bandbass

Increase in attenuation with frequency

Restricts the response to higher frequencies

On very long loops ( 5 kms) loading coils are placed periodically to improve the frequency response Results in flat frequency response upto 4 kHz, but has poor response for higher freq

These effects do not have significance for POTS

Have serious implications for DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) applications

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Role of Signalling

PSTN calls are circuit switched calls

Dedicated voice path is established between the end users

This may involve one or more exchanges and may also involve trunks
This path is set up using information supplied by subscriber (called party number)

Once the path is set up, this allows end to end voice communication
The process of setting up this path and releasing it subsequently is called signalling Broadly divided into two classes

Between subscriber node & exchange node Between exchange nodes

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Signalling Between Subscriber and Exchange

Sub

Exchange

Subscriber to Exchange
Loop (Flow of - To indicate desire for service (either originating current) or terminating) No loop - To indicate end of request for service

Pulse Dialing - To convey digits of the called subscriber (make/brake) by loop / no loop repetition Hook Flash DTMF - To invoke features / special services - More reliable method to convey digits

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Signalling Between Subscriber and Exchange

Sub
Exchange to Subscriber
Ringing

Exchange

- To indicate incoming call with distinctive ringing

- To convey calling line identification

Tones / announcements - To indicate the status of call Special signals

Battery Reversal
16 kHz tone

- To indicate the start of metering

on PCO lines (called party answer) - Metering indication to Home Meter

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Summary Of Outband Signalling

Purpose of Signalling Changing condition of service Indication of incoming call Achieved by On Hook / Off Hook / Flash Applying ringing voltage through relay (at exchange) Results in Flow / interruption of current Bell ringing

Indication of answer Operation of relay to coin operated at exchange telephones (charging) Conveying digits by decadic method Operation of relay at telephone

Battery reversal

Flow / interruption of current

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Outband Signalling Decadic Dialling

48 V ~10V B

IDP

M
2

M
3

Pulse, or decadic, dialling

Break Make Ratio = 2 : 1 Make + Break duration is 100 ms 10 pulses per sec Inter-Digital Pause > 1 sec

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Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) Signalling

Pulse dialling was too slow

Each digit takes average of 0.5 sec (max 1 sec) Timing gets changed when transmitted

Prone to wrong interpretation and wrong number being switched This is an inband signalling using voice path
Two tones (1 tone from low frequency group and 1 tone from high frequency group sent) Signalling is about 5 digits per sec DID (Direct Inward Dialing), IVRS (Interactive Voice Response Service)

DTMF signalling evolved to overcome these defects

DTMF signalling can be used after establishing calls

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DTMF Frequency Combinations

fH (Hz) 1209 fL (Hz) 697 770 1336 1477

1 4 7 *

2 5 8 0
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3 6 9 #
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852
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Recap Of Local Loop

What is local loop? Explain 2 wire concept How echo is generated?

Balanced transmission explain the importance of this

Differentiate between echo suppressor and echo canceller Explain decadic dialling and its disadvantages What is DTMF signalling?

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Why Digital Networks?

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Nature of Speech Signals

Human speech signals have most of the energy contained in 0 to 4 kHz

This is called voice band

Musical Instruments produce signals in the range of 0-20 kHz and music requires higher bandwidth There are many advantages of representing speech signals in digital form A speech signal in analog form is continuous in both amplitude and time

It can take any continuous value in both these dimensions

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Digitising Speech Signal

It is preferable to represent speech in digital forms

Done by sampling the speech waveforms at periodical intervals and represent the signal in digital form

These are called Sampling and Quantisation How often do we need to sample the waveform?

This is governed by Nyquist criterion

Any waveform having maximum frequency of f Hz has to be sampled at a minimum rate of 2f samples per second

Otherwise a phenomenon call Aliasiing occurs that

makes a higher frequency component appearing as a lower frequency component

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Digitising Speech Signal (contd.)

Quantisation is the process of representing a continuously varying signal to a value closest to one

from a finite set of discrete values

This will result in Quantisation Error

There are many quantisation techniques

Uniform quantisation

The step sizes are all uniform & equal This is wasteful of bandwidth Not widely used in communication sytems

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Digitising Speech Signal (contd.)

Nonuniform quantisation is widely used in communication systems

Probability of smaller amplitude signals is more than

larger amplitude signals

Step size is varied depending upon the signal amplitude

Lower the signal amplitude, smaller the step size and vice versa

This results in smaller quantisation error even while maintaining smaller number bits to represent signal This type of quantisation is called companding (since this is equivalent to compressing the signal values before A/D conversion and expanding the signal after D/A conversion)

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Digitising Speech Signal (contd.)

PCM (Pulse Coded Modulation) Coding Speech signal is band pass filtered (band 0.3-3.4 kHz) & sampled at 8000 times per second Sampled value is quantised using 8 bits non-uniform quantisation scheme Each speech signal is represented by 8000 x 8 = 64000 bits per second or 64 kb/sec Two international standards American networks follow -Law European networks follow A-Law They appear similar, but incompatible Optimises the bandwidth 8 bit equivalent to 10 or more bits 64 kbps PCM coding is de facto PSTN standard

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Major Functions of a Network

There are broadly 2 functions performed by a telecommunication network Switching This is a function related to establishing the calls based upon info provided by subscriber and releasing the call after usage This function is carried out by Switches or Exchanges Transmission This is related to carrying the voice (in analog or digital form) from one exchange to another This involves carrying the trunks after multiplexing many of them Earlier this was performed by Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) Or Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) systems

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Long Distance Transmission

Circuits carry large number of individual channels

100s or even more at a time

Need reliable, high capacity, economical eqpts Earlier methods were analog

4 kHz channels multiplexed FDM systems 12 channel, 60 channel & so on Transmitted through coaxial cables or microwave Performance was just ok Some of the problems of FDM system Cross talk Noise build up Expensive

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Long Distance Transmission (contd.)

Late 70s saw increasing use of digital transmission

PCM was the adopted standard

Americans adopted 24 channel (called DS1 at 1.544 Mbps) 96 channel (called DS2 at 6.312 Mbps), .. rates Europeans adopted 30 channel (called E1 at 2.048 Mbps), 120 channel (called E2 at 8.192 Mbps), .. rates

Performance improvement was fantastic Cost of bandwidth began to drop with fibre optic medium

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Advantages of Digital Network

Ease of Multiplexing Better Signalling Benefit from Semiconductor Technology Integration of Transmission and Switching Preserving the Signal Integrity Performance Monitoring Supporting Other Services

Operation Under Low SNR conditions

Ability for Encryption

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Ease of Multiplexing

FDM Systems with adequate performance are difficult to design Cost of higher order multiplexer prohibitively expensive Every stage has to be carefully built for Linearity Cross talk and other impairments TDM systems can be built economically due to advances in semi conductor technology Once digitisation is done, subsequent stages are like a normal digital design Higher order multiplexers only marginally expensive This effect is accelerated by advent of fibre

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Better Signalling

Signalling is inherently digital in nature

On-hook / off-hook, ringing on / off, dialled digits, answer, etc. Ssignalling depended on the type of trunk E&M trunk, 2 wire, FDM system in band, out of band, etc

PCM based transmission improved signalling performance and ultimately resulted in CCS based on messages

Faster & reliable call set up

New services

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Benefit From Semiconductor Technology

Advances in semiconductor technology make it easier to integrate digital circuits

This results in much reduced cost of higher order multiplexers Scope for integrating more analog circuits not much

Many multiplexing and switching blocks have been standardised

Results in lower cost & speedier implementation

Performance improvement in space occupied, power consumed, etc equally important

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Integration of Switching & Transmission

Analog Switch Channel Bank TDM Link Channel Bank Analog Switch

Digital Switch
If

TDM Link

Digital Switch

switching & transmission are done digitally, then there are many benefits like, less A/D & D/A conversions, lower cost, less complexity, etc

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Preserving Signal Integrity

Noise injected at first stage

Noise injected at later stage

In the case of analog signals once noise is injected, it remains always

There is continuous deterioration (cumulative effect)

Digital signals are based upon thresholds and if the thresholds are not exceeded, signal can be restored

Even if one bit is in error, error coding can preserve the integrity of digits

Totally error free transmission end to end possible

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Performance Monitoring

In the case of analog links, pilot signals are introduced to monitor the link condition This is effective only under limited condtions CRC check of bits transmitted is used in digital links This provides a very good measure of link condition

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Supporting Other Services

Analog network was used for voice communication

The same network when used for data communication, data has to be converted to look like voice waveforms using modem

Digital network can carry

Digitally coded Voice

Any form of data Digitally coded images, video, etc. Same network can cater to variety of services Network can remain same while many services can be adapted

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Operation Under Low SNR conditions

Quality

SNR

Analog Transmission

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Operation Under Low SNR conditions

Quality

SNR Digital Transmission

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Ease of Encryption

Signals have to be encrypted to prevent others tapping the signal

Analog signal is not amenable to encryption

Digital signals can be easily encrypted thus ensuring privacy

Encrypted signal is secure and is intelligible only to the intended person

Digital methods provide variety of encryption

From the simplest to the most complex

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Recap Of Digital Network

Explain the difference between sampling and quantisation What is PCM coding? List the advantages of PCM coding Name the advantages and disadvantages of digital multiplexing compared to analog multiplexing List 3 advantages of digital networks List 3 advantages of digital networks What is encryption?

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Switching Concepts & Functions Of Excahnge

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Functions of a Local Exchange (Digital)

Local exchange (LE) has subscribers connected to it Connected to tandem, TAX,.. through trunks

Subscriber instrument connected to local exchange through local loop

Major functions of LE

Performing subscriber functions called BORSCHT

B Feeding battery supply to power subscriber instrument O Providing overload protection to subscriber line R Feeding ring voltage to announce incoming call
S - Supervision of subscriber line

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Functions of a Local Exchange (contd.)

C Performing audio coding to convert to digital form H - Hybrid function for converting to 4 wire signal T Line testing function

Switching tones & announcements as per call status Analysing & switching the call based upon the digits dialled

by subscriber

Performing signalling functions for trunks Monitoring incoming trunk status and switching calls

Managing traffic & generating

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Functions of a Local Exchange (contd.)

Performing billing related functions Periodically doing maintenance functions & raising alarm Allow local and remote monitoring of exchange status Provide man machine commands for Accessing and monitoring exchange and subscriber data Carrying out maintenance / replacement of cards Replacement under power-up condition should not bring down system With multilevel privilege protection

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What is Switching?

Switching is what facilitates communication This is nothing but interchanging the voice signals

When a call is to be established between Sub1 and Sub2

Exchange receives voice information from Sub1 and sends it to Sub2 Sub2 can hear Sub 1 Similarly it receives voice information from Sub2 and sends to Sub1 Sub 1 can hear Sub 2

Sub1

Exchange

Sub2
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Concept of Circuit Switched Connection

Conncetion1 Connection2 User1 User2 User3
Trunk1

Switch2

User2

.. ..

Switch1

.. ..
Trunk2

.. ..

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Switch3

User3
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Different Types of Switching

Electromechanical switching

Control by electrical, but switching is by physical contact of moving parts 2 wire switching Oldest Strowger exchanges belong to this

Other electromechanical forms

4 wire switching done by electromagnetic relays / reed relays

Electronic switching Analog, this belongs to Stored program Control (SPC) using cross point swithces 2 wire 4 wire

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Different Types of Switching (Contd.)

Digital switching done on digitised PCM streams Speech digitsed and multiplexed to PCM format Switching is done on PCM streams Major types of digital switching

Time Switching Time & Space Switching or a combination of these

This is the prevalent form of switching

Has superior performance in terms of cost,

performance and reliability

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Challenges In Implementation of Switch

Switches need to have large capacities

Switches with 100,000 lines are common

Such switches need to support large number of simultaneous calls

Switches have to be efficient, less costly, consume less power, occupy less space

They also need good performance

Minimum cross talk Less blocking during peak hours

There is need for switching systems with small, medium, large and very large capacities
They need to be modular enabling scalability

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Challenges In Implementation of Switch

Switches are designed with peak hour considerations

Switch does not allow every body to talk

simultaneously

It is assumed that only 10% or 15% of subscribers will talk at any point of time

Switch with 100,000 lines can support only 10,000

peak hour calls (10% active users) If more users try to call, their calls will be

blocked

This makes the systems economical and viable There are concepts called concentration & blocking

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Concept Of Blocking

There are certain resources that are critical

One could be the switch, that is the essence of exchanges or switching systems Another resource could be ringing voltage This will dictate only x numbers of lines can be fed ringing voltage

Another critical resource could be availability of trunk towards a particular exchange Availability of codec could be another reason

Non availability of this resource could lead to blocking subscriber may be fed busy tone

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An Example of Blocking

Digital switching is accomplished by

Converting the analog voice into PCM form

Multiplexing the individual PCM samples and forming PCM streams

Doing the switching by Time / Space switching to the required destination
This

could be PCM trunk or another subscriber

Economics may dictate that not all subscribers PCM output can be multiplexed

We talk that there is concentration

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PCM Multiplexer With 4:1 Ratio

Line1 Line2 Line3 Codec Codec

Codec

. . .

Multiplexer

32 Channel PCM Output Stream at 2.048 Mbps

Codec

Line 128

..
Codec

Clock & other signals

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Analog Space Switching

N x N space switch needs N(N-1) N
2

cross points

Cross point array has been implemented in many

technologies
Strowger, crossbar, electronic Space switching can be either 2 wire switching or

4 wire switching
Major disadvantage of space switching is that it is not

scalable
Larger arrays with good performance are difficult

to build
Cross talk goes up sharply

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Analog Space Switching

Outlet 1 Inlet1 Inlet2 Inlet3 2 3 4 5 m-1 m

.
. .

. . .
Inlet N-1
Inlet N

.
.

...
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PCM Format
PCM Frame = 125 sec = 256 bit time
0 1 2 . . . 15 16 17 . . . 29 30 31

Time Slots Time Slot = 8 bits

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Gross data rate is 2.048 Mbps

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Time Switching

64 kbps PCM voice coding has been standardised for transmission & switching Two standard transmission rates called E1 (2.048 Mbps) and T1 (1.544 Mbps) are used A multiplexed signal at 2.048 Mbps can carry 32 voice channels of 64 kbps each

Let us assume that we want user1 (his voice is in time slot # 5) to be connected to user2 (his voice is time slot 20) and the these two users to be communicating

This can be done by interchanging their signals appearing in the respective slot Voice in TS#20 should be switched to user1 and Voice in TS#5 should be switched to user2

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Time Switching (Contd.)

Time Switching (also called Time Slot Interchanger -TSI) interchanges these time slots at the output

Bit streams received in TS#20 interchanged with bit streams received in TS#5 and vice versa This function is easily done by converting to 8 bit form (equivalent to time slot), writing into Switch Memory

(SM) and reading out memory with proper sequence

This is achieved by having two banks of memories, called SM0 and SM1

One for writing into and one for reading out from

Writing into is done sequentially and reading out done as per switching requirement

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Time Switching (Contd.)

User1 User2 . . PCM Coding & Multiplexing

Time Slot Interchanger (Time Switch)
PCM Decoding & Demultiplexing

User1 User2 . .

. User32
PCM frame = 125 sec

. User32

User1 in Time Slot5

User2 in Time Slot20

User2 in User2 in Slot5 Time Slot5 MaGeeTime Academy

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Time Switching Implementation

serial to parallel converter

Input PCM Stream

32 x 8 Switch Memory Bank0 (SM0)

32x 6 Switch Memory Bank1 (SM1)

parallel to serial converter

Switched Output PCM Stream

clock, control and status signals

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Switch Address Memory (SAM)

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Time Switching Implementation (Contd.)

Initially Writing takes place into SM0, then into SM1, then into SM0 and so on

Reading from SM takes place as per the switching to be done

This is controlled by Switch Address Memory that holds the mapping details

Read out takes place from the bank that has been just written when SM0 is being used for writing, readout will be from SM1, similarly when SM1 is used for writing, SM0 will be used for writing
With reference to the need for switching User1s voice output recd on TS#5 to User2 on TS#20, the following points can be observed

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Time Switching Implementation (Contd.)

User2s PCM samples received in TS#20 will be written into memory location 20

These bits need to be read out during TS#5

SAM will have this information that specifies the locations to be read out during TS#5

Similarly User1s PCM samples recd on TS#5 need to be switched to User2 on TS#20

User2s PCM samples received in TS#20 will be written into memory location 20

These bits need to be read out during TS#5

SAM will have this information that specifies the locations to be read out during TS#20

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Time Switch With More Capacity

Time Slot Interchanger (32 x 32 switch)
Switched Output PCM Stream Input PCM Streams

Input PCM Stream

(128 x 128 Switch)

Output PCM Streams

Building large capacity time switch is possible It will have multiple PCM input stream and multiple PCM output stream Memory size will be larger Operating speeds will increase Time switch with 4 input / output streams will achieve 128 x 128 switch

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Building Large Switch

Building large capacity switch (say 512 x 512) is possible Beyond this we look for multistage switch

Switching is done in stages

32 x 32 32 x 32 32 x 32 32 x 32 32 x 32 32 x 32 32 x 32 32 x 32
PCMOut1 PCMOut4 PCMOut5 PCMOut8 PCMOut9 PCMOut12 PCMOut13 PCMOut16
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PCM1 PCM4 PCM5

PCM8
PCM9 PCM12 PCM13 PCM16

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Building Large Switch (Contd.)

Advantages of 2 stage 4 stream Time Slot Interchanger (TSI0

TSI Chipsets are available cost is affordable

System cost is low Time switch introduces frame delays Every stage will involve 2 or 3 frame delays There are allowable upper bounds on delays in switching systems

Disadvantages

There is blocking in a multistage switch

You will not be able switch any input to any output

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Space Switch

Building a very large capacity time space will be expensive

Clock rates will get increased

Memory capacity gets increased Design becomes complex PCB size will get increased No of input output pins will get increased Space switch

Instead space switch can be considered

Has no memory but has multiplexer

Cannot change time position but instead switches to another output

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Simple Space Switch

TS#2 PCM1 PCM2 PCM3 PCM4 TS#25 TS#25

TS#18
TS#8

Space Switch 128 x 128

TS#2
TS#18 TS#8

PCMOut1

PCMOut2
PCMOut3 PCMOut4

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Space Switch

PCM1

PCM1 PCM4 PCM5 PCM8

PCMOut1 PCMOut4 PCMOut5

PCM4
PCM5 PCM8

PCM9
PCM12 PCM13

PCM9
PCM12 PCM13

Space Switch

PCMOut8

PCMOut9
PCMOut12 PCMOut13

PCM16

PCM16

PCMOut16

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An Example Of Large Capacity Switch

C-DOT has designed large capacity switches of upto 16000 lines

Design is modular

Basic building block is switch of 512 lines This is called Base Module (BM) This can be used as a small capcity 512 line switch (for smaller towns) BM can do all the functions of an exchange It has a time switch unit

Original design of C-DOT was non-blocking

Can support all users being in active call

Total of 32 BMs can support 16000 lines

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An Example Of Large Capacity Switch (Contd.)

Each BM can support various types of terminations

It could be subscribers call line circuits It could be analog trunks / digital trunks E&M Trunks, Ring Down Trunks, Two way trunks, PCM trunks, etc.

Each of these can be configured for different signalling schemes Various forms of CAS SS7 (a form of CCS)

Calls within the same BM (intra BM) are switched by Time Switch Calls between 2 BMs (inter BM) are switched by Time Switch and Space Switch

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C-DOT SBM Configuration

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C-DOT SBM Architecture

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C-DOT 16,000 Line Architecture

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Redundancy in Digital Exchanges

Telecom networks require very high reliability

Availability should be 4 9s or 0.9999

Down time of less than 1 hour in a year

Local exchange (Class 5 switch) is the most critical link for network performance When a large capacity local exchange fails, it is of serious consequence Redundancy of critical sections of exchange are duplicated

Duplicated section remains in hot standby

Ready to take over at any time failure occurs

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Redundancy in Digital Exchanges (Rady)

Modern digital exchanges have a large switching matrix concentrated in a few devices

Call control software on one (or a few) powerful processor(s) Failure of a device or card can cause exchange to go down

Unacceptable

All active subsystems/cards performing functions that can affect more than a small group of subscribers, or which cause more than a marginal degradation of service, are duplicated in hot standby mode

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Redundancy in Digital Exchanges (contd.)

Switch card, CPU cards, tone generator cards,

database storage, etc. duplicated Subscriber line interface cards, trunk interface cards, etc., not duplicated failures affect a few subscribers or calls Passive subsystems (cables, motherboard / backplane) are much less failure-prone, and are not duplicated both copies of a card may be connected to same backplane General philosophy is to make system robust to a single-point failure maintenance philosophy is quick replacement of faulty card Good maintenance/health monitoring software is a must

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Copy Assertion

How does passive copy cut in when failure occurs? Line 0 Copy 0 writes on line 0 if it is Copy Copy healthy Line 1 0 1 Similarly, copy 1 writes on line1 Health Lines Each copy can know the others health On power-up, some logic necessary for deciding which copy should be active If fault occurs, passive copy takes over When faulty copy is replaced, it comes up as passive copy Forced copy-switch (from console) usually provided for To exercise passive copy To update software without bringing system down

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Recap Of Exchange Functions

What are BORSCHT functions? Explain 3 functions of exchange Explain 3 more functions of exchange Explain analog space switching What is concentration and why is it done? Explain how time slot interchanger works? Explain functioning of space switch Why multistage switching is required?

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