BASICS OF

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

By
Manojkumar S.B
Lecturer, Dept of E&C
B.G.S.I.T B.G.Nagara
What is Information?
Information
Computer
Technology
To collect, store, process, search,
retrieve, and present electronic
information to meet the needs of
various kinds of users, e.g., computer
hardware & software, PDAs, printers,
groupware, smart cards….
Communication Technology
To deliver, disseminate, exchange,
transmit, and receive electronic
information in local, regional or global
contexts, e.g., networks, fax machines,
cell phones, email, satellites, GPS,
Internet, telephony, ….
2
 COMPUTER SYSTEMS
REDEFINED
Computer systems used to be defined as:

hardware + software

Computer systems are now redefined as:

hardware + software + networks

3
DEFINITION

 Telecommunications means to change information

into electric signals for remote transmission and
switching.

 Telecommunication is the assisted transmission of

signals over a distance for the purpose of
communication.
 Telecommunication: communication at a
distance.
 The World of Connectivity
Wired or wireless communications links offer
several options for information and
communications.

Source: The McGraw-Hill Companies,

Inc., 1999
 Physical topology

Figure 1.4 Categories of physical topology

physical topology: design or layout of the network
TELECOM NETWORK TOPOLOGIES

Mesh Bus Network

Star
Network Network

Ring Tree
Network Network
MESH NETWORKS:
 Point to point dedicated link between
any two nodes
 Elimination of traffic problem

 Provides security and privacy of data

 Robust

 Not Scalable – Interface problem

 Good reliability

 Usage of the links is low

 The network is not economic

 This type of network is only used

when there are extremely high
requirements for reliability
 Mesh

Example: telephone regional

1 offices

Advantages:
• no traffic problems
• Robust. No link failure no
2 4
effect on others.
• Privacy security
• Easy to detect the
abnormal situation.

Disadvantages:
• Amount of cables, i/o
3 5 ports
• Efficiency and
effectiveness
• Space
A fully connected mesh topology (five devices) • Cost
 Each node is connected to the central

STAR NETWORKS: controller.
 It does not allow direct traffic between
devices.
 Robust, provided the controller
remains active
 Scalable

 It is the basis of the ordinarily used

telephone network structure. One
switching center is configured, which
enables the calls among subscribers.
 The reliability of star network is lower
than the overall meshed network, but
the star network is much more
economic than the overall meshed
network.
 Star

Less expensive. One

link and I/o port
connecting to the
hub. No direct
traffic between
two devices.

Advantages:
• Easy to install
• Less cables
• Maintain: add,
move, delete
• Robustness

Disadvantages;
• Hub is too
important
• The hub
A star topology connecting four stations represents a
single source of
failure
BUS NETWORKS:

Most are used in computer communication networks.

 One long cable act as a backbone to link all
the devices in a network.
 Nodes are connected to bus cable by the
drop lines and taps.
 No security and privacy to data.

 Broadcasting of data
 Bus

Multipoint

Advantages:
• Easy to install
• Less cables

Disadvantages:
• Hard to detect fault isolation.
• Bus cable is too important

A bus topology connecting three stations

RING NETWORKS:

 Each device has a dedicated point to point

connection only to the two devices on either
side of it.
 No broadcasting of data.

 Scalable
 Ring

Point to point with 2 devices

on both sides

Advantages:
• Easy to install
A ring topology connecting six stations • Maintain: add move
delete
• Fault isolation

Disadvantages:
• Unidirectional traffic
TREE NETWORKS:
At present widely used in CATV distribution
networks and private network (e.g. military
networks).
 Hybrid

A hybrid topology: a star backbone with three bus networks

BASIC STRUCTURE OF TELECOM LOCAL
NETWORK

To toll end To toll end

office office End office

Branch Tandem
office
PBX
End office
Branch PBX
PBX office

Single Tandem Office Network Multiple-Tandem Office Network.

NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS
NETWORK
 Primary Center (Local Network/Primary Trunk
Switching Centers)

 Secondary Center (Trunk network/Regional

Tandem Switching Centers)

 Tertiary Center (National Tandem

Exchanges/Tertiary Trunk Switching Centers)
THE PSTN HIERARCHY

 Since ‘96 in Finland all the exchanges of PSTN have

been digital
 However, there exists still analog phones
 Natural connection to the modern PSTN is the ISDN-
interface

Country-level

County-level

City-level
EXAMPLE: PSTN NETWORK OPERATOR IN
TWO TOWNS

Note that by dial-up

networking part
of local exchange capacity
is allocated for another
X.25 operator
A PCM-link

OSS: Operations Support

System
NMC: Network Maintenance
ATM
Center
RLL: Radio in the Local Loop
MUX: multiplexer
PBX: Private Branch Exchange
Figure Representative telephone Network Hierarchy
TERMINOLOGY:

North American British

1Customers Loop 1 Local Network/Access

Network
2 Central Office
3 End Office 2 Exchange
4 Class 5 Office 3 Local Exchange
Inter Office Trunk 4 Junction
5 Junctor 5 Trunk
6 Toll Office 6 Trunk exchange
7 Toll Network 7 Trunk Network
REGULATIONS:

 Different countries have used different

methods to regulate the telecommunication
business. In most countries the
telecommunication monopoly has been
controlled by state ownership like BSNL in
India.
STANDARDS:

International Communications Union (ITU)

 The work of ITU is carried out through two main bodies:

1) The ITU Telecommunication Sector (ITU-T)

Its duties include the study of technical questions,
operating methods and tariffs for telephony, telegraphy
and data communications
2) The ITU Radio Communication Sector (ITU-R)
It studies all technical and operating questions relating
to radio communications including point to point
communications, mobile services and broadcasting.
Associated with it is the International Frequency
Registration Board (IFRB), which regulates the
assignment of radio frequencies to prevent interference
between different transmissions
A digital exchange (Nortel DMS-100) used by an operator to
offer local and long distance services
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
TRANSMISSION
COMMUNICATION NETWORK

Telecommunication
Network
 COMMUNICATION
 Main purpose of communication is to transfer
information from a source to a recipient via a
channel or medium.

 Basic block diagram of a communication

system:

Source Transmitter Channel Receiver Recipient

A COMMUNICATIONS MODEL
  Generally, Digital signal must be discrete in time
and amplitude. Analog signal,contrarily,is
continuous in amplitude.

Analog signal

Digital signal
Analog signal
 Continuous waveform

 Passes through communications medium

 Used for voice communications

Digital signal
o Discrete waveform
o Transmits data coded into two discrete states as 1-bits and 0-
bits
o Used for data communications

Modem
o Translates computer’s digital signals into analog and vice
versa
 • Bandwidth

Bandwidth
1 2 Frequency (Hz)

channel bandwidth:
The bandwidth of a channel (medium) is defined
to be the range of frequencies that the medium can
support. Bandwidth is measured in Hz
With each transmission medium, there is a
frequency range of electromagnetic waves that can
be transmitted:
Twisted pair cable: 0 to 109 Hz (Bandwidth : 109
Hz)
Coax cable: 0 to 1010 Hz (Bandwidth : 1010 Hz)
ANY CHANNEL/MEDIUM CAN BE VIEWED
AS A FILTER.

channel
 DIFFERENT SERVICES REQUIRE
service
DIFFERENT RATES

Telephony
Voice

Broadcasting

Video conf.

TV/HDTV
Video

Video

Inter-LAN/PBX communications
Data

Fax

CAD Graphics

10k 1M 100M bitrate

 Types of information
Voice, data, video, music, email etc.

 Types of communication systems

Public Switched Telephone Network
(voice,fax,modem)
Satellite systems
Radio,TV broadcasting
Cellular phones
Computer networks (LANs, WANs, WLANs)
Radars
dB IN COMMUNICATIONS
 The db (decibel) is a relative unit of measurement
commonly used in communications for providing a
reference for input and output levels.
 Power gain or loss.
 Decibels are used to specify measured and
calculated values in
 audio systems, microwave system gain calculations,
satellite system link-budget analysis, antenna power
gain, light-budget calculations and in many other
communication system measurements
 In each case the dB value is calculated with respect to a
standard or specified reference.
POWER LEVELS
Definition s of dBm and dBw
dB hint
TELEPHONY
 The telephone is connected to Public switched
telecommunications network (PSTN) for local,
national , and international voice
communications
 The same connections can carry data and
image information (television)
 The connection to the PSTN may be via local
exchange carriers (LEC)
 End-users, nodes, and connectivities
SUBSCRIBER LOOP DESIGN
 Any use of telephone channels involves two
unidirectional paths, one for transmission
and one for reception.
 The local loop, which connects a telephone
to a local exchange is a two-wire (2W) circuit
that carries the signals in both transmission
directions.
 Even asymmetrical digital subscriber lines
(ADSLs) use this same 2W local

• To connect a 2W local loop to a 4W network a circuit called

a 2W/ 4W hybrid is needed.
NORMAL SIGNAL FLOW
TRANSMISSION SYSTEM
 Two-Wire versus Four-Wire
 All
subscriber loops in the telephone network are
implemented with a signal pair of wires
 Both directions of transmission
 Conversations are superimposed on the wire
pair
 Two directions of longer distances are separated
 Two-Wire-to-Four-Wire Conversion
 Basic conversion function is provided by hybrid
circuits
 Impedance matching is important
 Impedance mismatch causes “echo”
MULTIPLEXING
Trunks between central offices carry hundreds of
Conversations
 Can’t run thick bundles!

 Instead, send many calls on the same wire

 multiplexing
 Analog multiplexing (Frequency Division Multiplexing)
 bandlimit call to 4 KHz and frequency shift onto higher
bandwidth trunk
 Obsolete
 Digital multiplexing
 first convert voice to samples
 1 sample = 8 bits of voice
 8000 samples/sec => call = 64 Kbps
DIGITAL MULTIPLEXING
 Time division multiplexing
 trunkcarries bits at a faster bit rate than inputs
 n input streams, each with a 1-byte buffer
 output interleaves samples
 need to serve all inputs in the time it takes one
sample to arrive
 => output runs n times faster than input
 overhead bits mark end of frame
TIME DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (TDM)
 The process by which many voice signals are
arranged in different “Time Slots” according to
certain rules and transmit along a single bearer.

A A

B B

C C

D D

D C B A D C B A
TIME DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (3)

Multiplexing T1 streams into higher carriers.

 T T T

τ
T T T

τ
 Multiplexed trunks can be multiplexed
further
 Need a standard

 US/Japan standard is called Digital Signaling

hierarchy (DS)
PCM PRIMARY GROUP FORMAT
The PCM primary group system is the basic system for
digital multiplexing.
Its primary frame structure contains 32 time slots.
TS1-15 &TS17- 31are used for Voice Channels,
TS0 is normally used for Frame Synchronization.
TS16 is used as a Signaling Time Slot.
Each time slot has 8 bits.

Each multi-frame is composed by 16 single frames

 MULTI-FRAME
16 Frames, 2ms, 4096 bits

0 1 2 14 15

FRAME
32 TS, 256 bits, 125µs,
0 1 15 16 17 30 31

1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 A2 1 1 d0 d1 d2 d3 d4 d5 d6 d7

1 1 A1 1 1 1 1 1 a b c d a b c d

TS0 MULTIFRAME: MULTIFRAME SYNCRONIZATION

TS0: FRAME:FRAME SYNCRONIZATION
TS1—TS15 & TS17– TS31 :VOICE CHANNELS
TS 16: FRAME: SIGNALING INFORMATION
FEATURES OF PCM30/32
Sampling Rate 8000Hz
Frame Period 125µ s
Width per TS 3.9µ s
Multi - Frame period 125µ s*16=2ms
Bits/ Sample Value 8 bits
Bits/ Frame 32*8bits=256bits
Bits/ Multi-frame 256*16=4096bits
TS / Frame 32TS
TS / Multi-frame 32*16=512TS
Channel rate 64kb/s
Channel rate = 8k * 8 bits= 64kbits/per sec
Single Frame Rate 2Mb/s
64Kb/s * 32 = 2048Kb/s ≈ 2Mb/s
LINK TECHNOLOGY
 Many in use today
 twisted pair
 coax cable
 terrestrial microwave
 satellite microwave
 optical fiber
 Increasing amount of bandwidth and cost per
foot
 Popular
 Fiber
 satellite
OPTICAL FIBER LINK
 Wonderful stuff!
 lots
of capacity
 nearly error free
 very little attenuation
 hard to tap
 A long thin strand of very pure glass
SATELLITES LINK
Long distances at high bandwidth
 Geosynchronous
 36,000 km in the sky
 up-down propagation delay of 250 ms
 bad for interactive communication
 slots in space limited
 Non-geosynchronous (Low Earth Orbit)
 appear to move in the sky
 need more of them
 handoff is complicated
 e.g. Iridium