1.

1INTRODUCTION
Telecommunication networks carry information signals among entities, which are
geographically far apart. An entity may be a computer or human being, a facsimile
machine, a teleprinter, a data terminal and so on.
With the rapidly growing traffic and untargeted growth of cyberspace,
telecommunication becomes a fabric of our life. The future challenges are
enormous as we anticipate rapid growth items of new services and number of
users. What comes with the challenge is a genuine need for more advanced
methodology supporting analysis and design of telecommunication architectures.
Telecommunication has evaluated and growth at an explosive rate in recent years
and will undoubtedly continue to do so.
The communication switching system enables the universal connectivity. The
universal connectivity is realized when any entity in one part of the world can
communicate with any other entity in another part of the world. In many ways
telecommunication will acts as a substitute for the increasingly expensive physical
transportation.
The telecommunication links and switching were mainly designed for voice
communication. With the appropriate attachments/equipments, they can be used to
transmit data. A modern society, therefore needs new facilities including very high
bandwidth switched data networks, and large communication satellites with small,
cheap earth antennas.

1.2. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

By the early 1800s scientists had developed ways to generate and transmit
electricity. In 1819, oersted discovered the relation between magnetism and
electricity. Ampere, Faraday and others continued this work in 1820. In 1834,
Gauss and Weber wired over the roofs of Gottingen to make a telegraph system.
Samuel F.B. Morses developed the first significant work in telecommunication.
F.B. Morse developed code telegraphy in 1837. In 1844, a 40 mile telegraph line
was setup between Baltimore and Washington by F.B. Morse. In 1845, Morse
formed a telegraph company based on his technology. In 1849, the first slow
telegraph printer link was setup. In 1874, Ban dot invented a Multiplexes system
which enables up to six signal from telegraph machines to be transmitted together
over the same line.
Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell contributed significant works and filed
paper related to telephony. The early stages of the development of
telecommunication were due to A.G. Bell, G. Marconi and C.E. Shannon. In 1876,
Bell invented a telephone system. In 1897 Marconi patented a wireless telephone
system. Teletypewriter service was initiated in 1931.
In early days, a very simple exchanges whose control is provided by a human
operator and the elements of the switch assemblies are plugs and sacks.With
increase in demand of service, human operator exchange was replaced by the
invention of range of electromechanical switching devices. Of all the
electromechanical switching devices that become available over the years, the stepby-step switching system invented by Almon B. Strowger in 1892 is still quite
popular. The next automatic electromechanical switching system was crossber
switching. First patent for crossbar device was granted in 1915 to J.N. Reynolds of
wester Electric, USA. In 1919, two Swedish Engineers, Betulander and Palmgren
got patent for crossbar switch. In 1938, AT & T laboratories in US introduced
crossbar-switching system in the field.
The electromechanical switching systems have been replaced by computer
controlled switching systems referred to as stored program control (SPC). In SPC,
switching is controlled by software program. The first computer controlled switch

was introduced in 1960. Till 1965, computer controlled switching was used
transistors and printed circuit technology. Since 1965 switching are based on
microprocessors.
The use of computers to control the switching led to the designation electronic
switching system (ESS) or Electronic automatic exchange (EAX). In 1970, first
electronic switching system No. 1 ESS or No. 1 EAX was introduced. Digital
electronic switching matrices were first introduced into the U.S. Public network in
1976 with AT & Ts No. 4 ESS digital toll switch. By the mid 1980s the
interoffice transmission environment has changed to almost exclusively digital.

Fig. 1.1 shows the various telephone networks.

1.3. SIGNAL CHARACTERISTICS

Telecommunication is mainly concerned with the transmission of messages
between two distant points. The signal that contains the messages is usually
converted into electrical waves before transmission. Our voice is an analog signal
which has amplitude and frequency characteristic.
Voice frequencies.The range of frequencies used by a communication device
determines the communication channel, communicating devices, bandwidth or
information carrying capacity. The most commonly used parameter that
characterizes an electrical signal is its bandwidth of analog signal or bit rate if it is
a digital signal. In telephone system, the frequencies it passes are restricted to
between 300 to 3400 Hz. Thus the network bandwidth is 3100 Hz. The bandwidth
and bit rate for various types of system are shown in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1. Bandwidth requirements of various applications

Speech spectrum.The telephone channel over which we wish to send data are
designed to transmit electrical oscillations (microphone converts sound into
equivalent number of electrical oscillation) of voice. Fig. 1.2 is described as a
speech spectrum diagram. It illustrates human speech strength variations at various
frequencies. Most of the energy is concentrated between 300 Hz to 3400 Hz.

Fig. 1.2.Speed spectrum.

1.4. ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION SWITCHING SYSTEM
The purpose of a telecommunication switching system is to provide the means to
pass information from any terminal device to any other terminal device selected by
the originator.
Telecommunication system can be divided into four main parts. They are
1. End system or Instruments
2. Transmission system
3. Switching system
4. Signaling.
End Systems or Instruments:
The end system or instruments are a transmitter or
receiver that are responsible for sending information or decoding or inverting
received information or message into an intelligible message. End systems in the
telelphone network have evolved from analog telephones to digital handsets and
cellular phones. However, endless arrays of other devices are being attached to
telephone lines, including computer terminals used for data transmission. Fig. 1.3
shows some of the end instruments.

Fig. 1.3.Some of the end instruments.

Transmission System:
Signals generated by the end system or the instruments should be transported to the
destination by some means. The transmission on links conveys the information and
control signals between the terminals and switching centers. A transmission link
can be characterized by its bandwidth, link attenuation and the propagation delay.
To maintain signal quality, the signal must be regenerated after a certain distance.
In general a communication path between two distinct points can be setup be
connecting a number of transmission lines in tandem. The transmission links
include two-wire lines, coaxial cables microwave radio, optical fibers and
satellites. Functionally, the communication channels between switching system are
referred to as trunks. Fig. 1.4 shows the various possibletransmission media.

Fig. 1.4.Various transmission media.

Switching System.The switching centers receives the control signals, messages or
conversations and forwards to the required destination, after necessary
modification (link amplifications) if necessary. A switching system is a collection
of switching elements arranged and controlled in such a way as to setup a
communication path between any two distant points. A switching center of a
telephone network comprising a switching network and its control and support
equipment is called a central office.
In computer communication, the switching technique used is known as packet
switching or message switch (store and forward switching). In telephone network
the switching method used is called circuit switching. Some practical switching

system are step-by-step, cross barred relay system, digital swtiching systems,
electronic switching system etc.
Signalling Systems.A signalling system in a data communication networks
exchanges signalling information effectively between subscribers. The signalling
systems are essential building blocks in providing the ultimate objective of a
worldwide automatic telephone services standardized. Signalling provides the
interface between different national systems. The introduction of signalling system
was the big step in improving the PSTN.
The consultative committe on international telegraphy and telephony (CCITT)
based in Geneva, recommended seven formats related to signalling. The first five
formats related to Inband signalling and the last two in the category of common
channel signalling. In In-band signalling, voice information and signalling
information travel on common paths, where as in common channel signalling, they
travel on separate paths.
1.5. CENTRALIZED SWITCHING SYSTEM

Fig. 1.6. Short distance centralised system.

Even though the increase in the number of switching centers lower the total
transmission costs, the total switching cost tend to increase for two reasons.
1. The local centers become more complex because they must be able to decide on
a suitable routing to another center.
2. Economy of scale is lost with an increased number of local centers because of
additional numbers

Hierarchical system.Central offices may be interconnected by direct trunk groups

or by intermediate office known as a tandem, toll or gateway office. The process of
centralizing switching centers can occur at several levels leading to the hierarchical
network. Typical interconnection of central office is shown in Fig. 1.7.
Star connection may be used where traffic intensity is less. Mesh connection are
used when there are relatively high traffic levels between offices such as in
metropolitan network.

Fig. 1.7.Hierarchical network long level network (Star Connection)

Public Switched Telephone Networks
Public switched telephone network (PSTN) is an example of circuit-switched
network. Its also known as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS). The switching
centres used for the switching are organised in different levels, namely: Regional
offices (class 1), Section offices (class 2), primary offices (class 3), Toll offices
(class 4) and finally End offices (class 5) as shown in Fig. 4.1.11. Level 1 is at the
highest level and Level 5 is the lowest level. Subscribers or the customers are
directly connected to these end offices. And each office is connected directly to a
number of offices at a level below and mostly a single office at higher level.
Subscriber Telephones are connected, through Local Loops to end offices (or
central offices). A small town may have only one end office, but large cities have
several end offices. Many end offices are connected to one Toll office, which are
connected to primary offices. Several primary offices are connected to a section
office, which normally serves more than one state. All regional offices are
connected using mesh topology. Accessing the switching station at the end offices
is accomplished through dialling. In the past, telephone featured rotary or pulse

dialling, in which digital signals were sent to the end office for each dialled digit.
This type of dialling was prone to errors due to inconsistency in humans during
dialling. Presently, dialling is accomplished by Touch-Tone technique. In this
method the user sends a small burst of frequency called dual tone, because it is a
combination of two frequencies. This combination of frequencies sent depends on
the row and column of the pressed pad.

Figure 4.1.11 Basic organization of a PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN)

The connections are multiplexed when have to send to a switching office, which is
one level up. For example, Different connections will be multiplexed when they
are to be forwarded from an end-office to Toll office. Figure 4.1.12 shows a typical
medium distance telephone circuit

Figure 4.1.12 Typical medium distance telephone circuit

SIGNALING
The CCITT defines signaling as the exchange of information specifically
concerned with the establishment and control of connections and the transfer of
user-to-user and management information in a telecommunication network.
Signalling information can be send in two ways.
one is In-band signaling and other is
out-of-band signaling
In-band signaling and out-of-band signaling are illustrated in below Figure

Figure signaling (a) in-band and (b) out-of-band.

Conventional signaling has evolved with the telephone network. Many of the
techniques we deal with in this chapter are applicable to a telecommunication
network which is principally involved with telephone calls. With telephony,
signaling is broken down in three functional areas:
1. Supervisory;
2. Address; and
3. Call progress audible-visual.
DEFINING THE FUNCTIONAL AREAS
Supervisory Signaling
Supervisory signaling provides information on line or circuit condition. It informs
a switch whether a circuit (internal to the switch) or a trunk (external to the switch)
is busy or idle; when a called party is off-hook or on-hook, and when a calling
party is on-hook or off-hook.
Supervisory information (status) must be maintained end-to-end on a
telephone call, whether voice, data, or facsimile is being transported. It is
necessary to know when a calling subscriber lifts her/his telephone off-hook,
thereby requesting service. It is equally important that we know when the called
subscriber answers (i.e., lifts the telephone off-hook) because that is when we may
start metering the call to establish charges. It is also important to know when the
calling and called subscribers return their telephones to the on-hook condition.
That is when charges stop, and the intervening trunks comprising the talk path as
well as the switching points are then rendered idle for use by another pair of
subscribers. During the period of occupancy of a speech path end to end, we must
know that this particular path is busy (i.e., it is occupied) so no other call attempt
can seize it.
Address Signaling
Address signaling directs and routes a telephone call to the called subscriber. It
originate as dialed digits or activated push-buttons from a calling subscriber. The
local switch accepts these digits and, by using the information contained in the
digits, directs the call to the called subscriber. If more than one switch is involved
in the call setup, signaling is required between switches (both address and
supervisory). Address signaling between switches is called interregister signaling.

Call ProgressAudible-Visual
This type of signaling we categorize in the forward direction and in the backward
direction.
In the forward direction there is alerting. This provides some sort of audible-visual
means of informing the called subscriber that there is a telephone call waiting. This
is often done by ringing a telephones bell. A buzzer, chime, or light may also be
used for alerting.
The remainder of the techniques we will discuss are used in the backward
direction. Among these are audible tones or voice announcements that will inform
the calling subscriber of the following:

1.Ringback. This tells the calling subscriber that the distant telephone is
ringing.
2. Busyback. This tells the calling subscriber that the called line is busy.
3. ATBAll Trunks Busy. There is congestion on the routing. Sometimes a
recorded voice announcement is used here.
4. Loud warble on telephone instrumentTimeout. This occurs when a telephone
instrument has been left off-hook unintentionally.
Multiplexing
It has been observed that most of the individual data-communicating devices
typically require modest data rate. But, communication media usually have much
higher bandwidth. As a consequence, two communicating stations do not utilize
the full capacity of a data link. Moreover, when many nodes compete to access the
network, some efficient techniques for utilizing the data link are very essential.
When the bandwidth of a medium is greater than individual signalsto be
transmitted through the channel, a medium can be shared by more than one
channel of signals. The process of making the most effective use of the available
channel capacity is called Multiplexing. For efficiency, the channel capacity can
be shared among a number of communicating stations just like a large water pipe
can carrywater to several separate houses at once. Most common use of
multiplexing is in long-haul communication using coaxial cable, microwave and
optical fibre.

Figure 2.7.1 depicts the functioning of multiplexing functions in general. The

multiplexer is connected to the demultiplexerby a single data link. The multiplexer
combines (multiplexes) data from these n input lines and transmits them through
the high capacity data link, which is being demultiplexed at the other end and is
delivered to the appropriate output lines. Thus, Multiplexingcan also be defined as
a technique that allows simultaneous transmission of multiple signals across a
single data link.

Figure 2.7.1Basic concept of multiplexing

Multiplexing techniques can be categorized into the following three types:
Frequency-division multiplexing (FDM): It is most popular and is used
extensively in radio and TV transmission. Here the frequency spectrum is
divided into several logical channels, giving each user exclusive possession
of a particular frequency band.
Wavelength-Division
Multiplexing
(WDM):Wavelength-division
multiplexing (WDM) is conceptually same as the FDM, except that the
multiplexing and de multiplexing involves light signals transmitted through
fibre -optic channels.
Time-division Multiplexing (TDM): It is also called synchronous TDM,
which is commonly used for multiplexing digitized voice stream. The users
take turns using the entire channel for short burst of time.
Statistical TDM: This is also called asynchronous TDM, which simply
improves on the efficiency of synchronous TDM.
In the following sections these techniques have been considered in detail.

Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM)

In frequency division multiplexing, the available bandwidth of a single physical
medium is subdivided into several independent frequency channels. Independent
message signals are translated into different frequency bands using modulation
techniques, which are combined by a linear summing circuit in the multiplexer, to
a composite signal. The resulting signal is then transmitted along the single
channel by electromagnetic means as shown in Fig. 2.7.2. Basic approach is to
divide the available bandwidth of a single physical medium into a number of
smaller, independent frequency channels. Using modulation, independent message
signals are translated into different frequency bands. All the modulated signals are
combined in a linear summing circuit to form a composite signal for transmission.
The carriers used to modulate the individual message signals are called subcarriers, shown as f1, f2, , fn in Fig. 2.7.3 (a).

Figure 2.7.2Basic concept of FDM

At the receiving end the signal is applied to a bank of band-pass filters, which
separates individual frequency channels. The band pass filter outputs are then
demodulated and distributed to different output channels as shown in Fig. 2.7.3(b).

Figure 2.7.3 (a) FDM multiplexing process, (b) FDM de multiplexing process

Figure 2.7.4Use of guard bands in FDM

If the channels are very close to one other, it leads to inter-channel cross talk.
Channels must be separated by strips of unused bandwidth to prevent inter-channel
cross talk. These unused channels between each successive channel are known as
guard bands as shown in Fig. 2.7.4.
FDM are commonly used in radio broadcasts and TV networks. Since, the
frequency band used for voice transmission in a telephone network is 4000 Hz, for
a particular cable of 48 KHz bandwidth, in the 70 to 108 KHz range, twelve
separate 4 KHz sub channels could be used for transmitting twelve different
messages simultaneously. Each radio and TV station, in a certain broadcast area, is
allotted a specific broadcast frequency, so that independent channels can be sent
simultaneously in different broadcast area. For example, the AM radio uses 540 to
1600 KHz frequency bands while the FM radio uses 88 to 108 MHz frequency
bands.
2.7.3 Wavelength-Division Multiplexing
Wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) is conceptually same as the FDM,
except that the multiplexing and de multiplexing involves light signals transmitted
through fibre -optic channels. The idea is the same: we are combining different
frequency signals. However, the difference is that the frequencies are very high. It
is designed to utilize the high data rate capability of fibre-optic cable. Very narrow
band of light signal from different source are combined to make a wider band of
light. At the receiver the signals are separated with the help of a de multiplexer as
shown in Fig. 2.7.5.
Multiplexing and de multiplexing of light signals can be done with the help of a
prism as shown in Fig. 2.7.6. From the basic knowledge of physics we know that
light signal is bent by different amount based on the angle of incidence and
wavelength of light as shown by different colours in the figure. One prism
performs the role of a multiplexer by combining lights having different frequencies
from different sources. The composite signal can be transmitted through an optical
fibre cable over long distances, if required. At the other end of the optical fibre
cable the composite signal is applied to another prism to do the reverse operation,
the function of a de multiplexer.

Figure 2.7.5Basic WDM multiplexing and demultiplexing

Figure 2.7.6 Multiplexing and de multiplexing of light signals with help of prisms

2.7.4 Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM)

In frequency division multiplexing, all signals operate at the same time with
different frequencies, but in Time-division multiplexing all signals operate with
same frequency at different times. This is a base band transmission system, where
an electronic commutator sequentially samples all data source and combines them
to form a composite base band signal, which travels through the media and is being
de multiplexed into appropriate independent message signals by the corresponding
commutator at the receiving end. The incoming data from each source are briefly
buffered. Each buffer is typically one bit or one character in length. The buffers are
scanned sequentially to form a composite data stream. The scan operation is
sufficiently rapid so that each buffer is emptied before more data can arrive.
Composite data rate must beat least equal to the sum of the individual data rates.
The composite signal can be transmitted directly or through a modem. The
multiplexing operation is shown in Fig. 2.7.7

Figure 2.7.7 Time division multiplexing operation

As shown in the Fig 2.7.7 the composite signal has some dead space between the
successive sampled pulses, which is essential to prevent inter channel cross talks.
Along with the sampled pulses, one synchronizing pulse is sent in each cycle.
These data pulses along with the control information form a frame. Each of these
frames contain a cycle of time slots and in each frame, one or more slots are
dedicated to each data source. The maximum bandwidth (data rate) of a TDM
system should be at least equal to the same data rate of the sources.
Synchronous TDM is called synchronous mainly because each time slot is pre
assigned to a fixed source. The time slots are transmitted irrespective of whether

the sources have any data to send or not. Hence, for the sake of simplicity of
implementation, channel capacity is wasted. Although fixed assignment is used
TDM, devices can handle sources of different data rates. This is done by assigning
fewer slots per cycle to the slower input devices than the faster devices. Both
multiplexing and de multiplexing operation for synchronous TDM are shown in
Fig. 2.7.8.

Figure 2.7.8Multiplexing and de multiplexing in synchronous TDM

Statistical Time-division Multiplexing
One drawback of the TDM approach, as discussed earlier, is that many of the time
slots in the frame are wasted. It is because, if a particular terminal has no data to
transmit at particular instant of time, an empty time slot will be transmitted. An
efficient alternative to this synchronous TDM is statistical TDM, also known as
asynchronous TDM or Intelligent TDM. It dynamically allocates the time slots on
demand to separate input channels, thus saving the channel capacity. As with
Synchronous TDM, statistical multiplexers also have many I/O lines with a buffer

associated to each of them. During the input, the multiplexer scans the input
buffers, collecting data until the frame is filled and send the frame. At the receiving
end, the de multiplexer receives the frame and distributes the data to the
appropriate buffers. The difference between synchronous TDM and asynchronous
TDM is illustrated with the help of Fig. 2.7.9. It may be noted that many slots
remain un utilised in case synchronous TDM, but the slots are fully utilized leading
to smaller time for transmission and better utilization of bandwidth of the medium.
In case of statistical TDM, the data in each slot must have an address part, which
identifies the source of data. Since data arrive from and are distributed to I/O lines
unpredictably, address information is required to assure proper delivery as shown
in Fig. 2.7.10.. This leads to more overhead per slot. Relative addressing can be
used to reduce overhead.

Figure 2.7.9 Synchronous versus asynchronous TDM

Figure 2.7.10 Address overhead in asynchronous TDM

Space-division switching
In Space-division switching, the paths in the circuit are separated with each other
spatially, i.e. different ongoing connections, at a same instant of time, uses
different switching paths, which are separated spatially. This was originally
developed for the analog environment, and has been carried over to the digital
domain. Some of the space switches are crossbar switches, Multi-stage switches
(e.g. Omega Switches). A crossbarswitch is shown in Fig. 4.1.4. Basic building
block of the switch is a metallic crosspoint or semiconductor gate that can be
enabled or disabled by a control unit.

Figure 4.1.4 Schematic diagram of a crossbar switch

Example: Xilinx crossbar switch using FPGAs. Itis based on reconfigurable
routing infrastructure. It is a high-speed high capacity nonblocking type switch
with sizes varying from 64X64 to 1024X1024 and data rate of 200 Mbps.
Limitationsof crossbar switches are as follows:
The number of crosspoints grows with the square of the number of attached
stations.
Costly for a large switch.

 The failure of a crosspoint prevents connection between the two devices whose
lines intersect at that crosspoint.
The crosspoints are inefficiently utilized.
Only a small fraction of crosspoints are engaged even if all of the attached
devices are active.
Some of the above problems can be overcome with the help of multistage space
division switches. By splitting the crossbar switch into smaller units and
interconnecting them, it is possible to build multistage switches with fewer
crosspoints.

Figure 4.1.5 A three-stage space division switch

Figure 4.1.6 Block nature of the switch

Figure 4.1.5 shows a three-stage space division switch. In this case the number of
crosspoints needed goes down from 64 to 40. There is more than onepath through
the network to connect two endpoints, thereby increasing reliability. Multistage
switches may lead to blocking. The problem may be tackled by increasing the
number or size of the intermediate switches, which also increases the cost. The
blocking feature is illustrated in Fig. 4.1.6. As shown in Fig. 4.1.6, after setting up
connections for 1-to-3 and 2-to-4, the switch cannot establish connections for 3-to6 and 4-to-5.
Why Digital:
We have have several advantages in digital compared to analog .Hence we shift
from analog to digital.following are the reasons why we are choosing digital
Easy of Multiplexing
Easy of Signalling
Use of Modern Technology
Integration of transmission and switching
Signal Regeneration by using repeaters
Performance monitorability
Accomodation of other services
Operability at low S/N Ratio
Easy of Encryption.