General Telecom

Telecom Concepts 2000

Handout

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08

 Status Released
Change Note

Short Title Telecom Concepts 2000

All rights reserved. Passing on and copying of this
document, use and communication of its contents
not permitted without written authorization from Alcatel.

2 / 187 770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08

 Contents

Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.1 Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.2 Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.3 Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Text Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3 The Core Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1 Network Structures and Topologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1.1 Point to Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.1.2 Star Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.1.3 Meshed Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.1.4 Ring Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.1.5 Tree Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.2 Links : Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.2.1 Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) . 28
3.2.2 Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) . . . 30
3.2.3 Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) 33
3.2.4 Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2.5 Repeaters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.3 Nodes : Switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3.1 Switching Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3.2 Cross Connection (XC), Add Drop Mux
(ADM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.3.3 Circuit Switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.3.4 Packet Switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.3.5 Signalling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4 Access Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.1 Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.2 Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4.3 Analogue Line Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.4 ISDN Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.5 Concentrating Remote Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.6 Digital Subscriber Line, ADSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.7 Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.8 Fiber in the Loop (FITL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.9 Microwave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.10 GSM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

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4.10.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.10.2 Network Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.10.3 Mobile Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.10.4 Other Mobile Evolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.11 GSM 1800 / GSM 1900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.12 DECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.13 Bluetooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.14 UMTS, Third Generation Mobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.15 Satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.15.1 Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) . . . . . . 99
4.15.2 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.15.3 Satellite Frequencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.15.4 Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.16 Satellite Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.17 Internet Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5 Customer Premises Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.1 Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.1.1 Analog Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.1.2 ADSI/CLASS Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
5.1.3 ISDN Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.1.4 Facsimile, Fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.1.5 Mobile Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.2 Pager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.3 Private Exchange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.3.1 Virtual Private Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.4 Computer, Computer Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.4.1 Analog Modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.4.2 ISDN Modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.4.3 GSM Modem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.4.4 Local Area Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.5 Personal Digital Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.6 Network Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5.7 Screenphone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5.8 Internet Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5.9 Web-TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
6 Network Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.1 Supplementary Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.1.2 Services Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.1.3 Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
6.2 Centrex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

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6.3 Intelligent Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

6.3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.3.2 Services Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.3.3 Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
6.4 Internet Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.4.1 Internet Access Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.4.2 FireWall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
6.4.3 Proxy Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6.4.4 Internet Telephony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
6.5 Mobile Telephony Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
6.6 Quality of Service (QOS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
7 Network Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
7.1.1 Telecom Network Management (TMN) . . 143
7.1.2 Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Appendix A Analog versus Digital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Appendix B Analog to Digital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Appendix C Multiplexing - Concentration . . . . . . . 166
Appendix D Time - Frequency - Code . . . . . . . . . . 167
Appendix E Modulation & Coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Appendix F Asynchronous, Plesiochronous,
Synchronous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Appendix G Real Life Networks and their Features 172
Appendix H Connection-Oriented vs.
Connectionless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Appendix I Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Appendix J The Race for Bandwidth . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Appendix K a Protocol Stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Appendix L A Call Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Appendix M the Frequency Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Appendix N MultiMedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Appendix O Links to Further Information . . . . . . . . 186

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Figures
Figure 1 Text structure maps on 5 aspects of Telecom Networks . . . . . 14
Figure 2 Point to Point network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Figure 3 Star network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Figure 4 Meshed Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Figure 5 Ring Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Figure 6 Backbone Network : example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Figure 7 Protection Switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Figure 8 Self Healing Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Figure 9 Hierarchical Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Figure 10 Hierarchical Networks : example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Figure 11 example 1 : the first Internet plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Figure 12 example 2 : todays complex networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Figure 13 example 3 : Map with European Fiber links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Figure 14 Basic E1 structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Figure 15 Multiplexing Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 16 Multiplexing Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Figure 17 Coupling PDH and SDH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Figure 18 Back to Back versus Add-Drop Multiplexer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 19 Combining WDM and TDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Figure 20 Space Switching : 4*5 space-switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Figure 21 Time Switching : 4*4 time-switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Figure 22 Time Space Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Figure 23 Cascading switching elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 24 Folded View, Reflection Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Figure 25 User Information versus Signalling Information . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Figure 26 Hierarchical Structure of the Telephone Network . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure 27 Hierarchical Structure of the Telephone Network :
Multi-Carrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 28 ATM Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 29 STM versus ATM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 30 IP Packet (IPv4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Figure 31 ATM versus IP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Figure 32 IP, ATM and SDH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Figure 33 Separation of Signalling Network and User Data Network . 56
Figure 34 Modular Structure of CCS #7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Figure 35 Network evolution with Access Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Figure 36 Network evolution with Access Nodes : view from the sky . . 61
Figure 37 Access to Several Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Figure 38 MultiService Access Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Figure 39 (Unshielded) Twisted Pair, 4 pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Figure 40 Coaxial Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Figure 41 Optical Fiber (8 fibers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Figure 42 Radio : Microwave Dish and other antenna's . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Figure 43 Analogue Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

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Figure 44 ISDN Basic Rate Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Figure 45 ISDN Primary Rate Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Figure 46 ADSL Frequency Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Figure 47 Discrete Multi-Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Figure 48 Internet Access Provider, ADSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Figure 49 Different DSL techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Figure 50 IP on ATM over ADSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Figure 51 ADSL Access on ATM core Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Figure 52 ADSL Network Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Figure 53 Hybrid Fiber Coax evolution : Full Coax Star Network . . . . . 80
Figure 54 Hybrid Fiber Coax evolution : Optical Backbone, Coax Tail 80
Figure 55 Typical spectrum allocation for Cable-Access . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Figure 56 Fiber in the Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Figure 57 Local Multipoint Distribution Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Figure 58 Example of Frequency Planning : groups of 7 frequencies . 86
Figure 59 GSM Frequency/TDM Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Figure 60 GSM Network Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Figure 61 Network Elements for Short Message Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Figure 62 Network Elements for WireLess Access Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Figure 63 GPRS Network Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Figure 64 DECT Frequency/TDM Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Figure 65 Positioning of Bluetooth in Bandwidth versus Distance . . . . . 97
Figure 66 Satellite Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Figure 67 Parabolic dish to GeoStationary Satellite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Figure 68 Globalstar logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Figure 69 SkyBridge logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Figure 70 Iridium logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Figure 71 Internet Access via combination Modem / Satellite . . . . . . . . 105
Figure 72 Internet Access : Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Figure 73 Alcatel 21XX, Analog Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Figure 74 Alcatel 2810, ISDN Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Figure 75 Mobile Phone (Alcatel One Touch Easy db-W@p . . . . . . . . 113
Figure 76 Ethernet LAN without / with a Hub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Figure 77 Token Ring LAN without / with a Hub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Figure 78 3COM Palm V and Alcatel One Touch Com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Figure 79 Alcatel 'Web Touch' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Figure 80 Centrex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Figure 81 Intelligent Network Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Figure 82 Internet Access Provider, Analog or ISDN Dial-Up . . . . . . . . 135
Figure 83 Internet Access Provider, ADSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Figure 84 Internet Access Provider, Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Figure 85 FireWall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Figure 86 Proxy Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Figure 87 Voice over IP, all functionality in the terminals . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Figure 88 Voice over IP, functionality in Gateways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Figure 89 Management Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

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Figure 90 SNMP Protocol Stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Figure 91 32 QAM : Quadrature Amplitude Modulation . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Figure 92 ITU logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Figure 93 ETSI logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Figure 94 Bellcore logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Figure 95 ATM Forum logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Figure 96 ISO logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Figure 97 Bandwidth growth predictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Figure 98 Protocol Stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Figure 99 ISDN Local Call Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Figure 100 Frequency Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Figure 101 One Touch Com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Figure 102 Overlapping Businesses, MultiMedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

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Tables
Table 1 Voice versus Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Table 2 Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Table 3 SDH Containers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Table 4 SDH Multiplex Signals, STMn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Table 5 PDH versus SDH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Table 6 Types of Switching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Table 7 Routing/Connection Table Contents : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Table 8 STM versus ATM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Table 9 Types of Access Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Table 10 Active/Passive Optical Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Table 11 Satellite Frequency Bands, a comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Table 12 Analogue versus Digital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Table 13 Connection Oriented versus Connection-Less . . . . . . . . . . . 174

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 9 / 187

Contents

10 / 187 770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08

 Preface

Preface
The purpose of this Telecom Concepts 2000 course is to introduce
you to the basic principles and techniques used in the Telecom
business. As this area is quite large, the introduction goes wide,
rather than deep : all relevant concepts are explained, principles
are generalized, overviews and comparisons are made. For more
details, the course points you, where-ever possible, to additional
more in-depth information.
As the Telecom business undergoes a rapid evolution, not to say a
revolution, this material needs constant updating. If you'd like to
contribute a comment, suggestion or anything else, you are
welcome to send it to : gete@bec.bel.alcatel.be

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 11 / 187

Preface

12 / 187 770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08

 1 Introduction

1 Introduction
Telecom systems provide a service to their users which is all about
transporting information. In the past there were mainly two
distinct types of information :

voice, also called speech

data
As we are heading towards a multi-media communicating world,
the difference between these two types becomes blurred or no
longer relevant. Therefore this text will no longer categorize all
telecom technologies in either the voice-world or the data-world.
Rather this text will try to describe these technologies or principles
in the order in which you would act if you were to build such a
system or network yourself :
a) the Core Network
b) the Access Network
c) the Terminals
d) the Services
e) the Network Management
However, some basic understanding of the specifics and
differences of voice and data communication is important.
Therefore both are introduced here.

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 13 / 187

1 Introduction

Network Management

Services
Terminal Access Core Network
Network

Access Network Core Network

Figure 1 Text structure maps on 5 aspects of Telecom

Networks

1.1 Voice
The majority of all telecommunication today uses Digital
techniques, and the dominance of digital is so strong that in this
text we will neglect Analog communication almost completely. (For
an explanation, comparison of analog versus digital, refer to
appendix A)
When communicating voice digitally, the soundwaves in the air
must be digitalized. This is done by Sampling the soundwaves :
measuring their shape, and converting this measurement into
numbers. These numbers are a digital form of the voice signal. At
the receiver, the measurement-values (called samples) are used
to reconstruct the original soundwave.
To be able to reconstruct the voice with sufficient quality, the
number of samples taken (called the Sampling-rate) and the
accuracy of each sample (called the Resolution) must be sufficient.
This is a trade-off, because the more samples, the more digital
numbers needs to be transmitted, and this costs money. As a
good compromise for understandable voice, the telecom
community agreed to take 8000 samples per second, each 8 bits
precise. This will not result into perfect audio-quality, but it is
enough to understand the person on the other side of the line.
As you are converting the soundwaves to digital numbers, you
create a continuous stream of information flow : every second
you generate - transport - terminate 8000*8 = 64000 bits. This

14 / 187 770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08

 1 Introduction

amount is called the Bit-rate. As a result a single digital voice

connection is often referred to as a 64 kbps
(kilo-bits-per-second). This continuous stream lasts as long as
the phone conversation lasts, typically a few minutes.

Note As a comparison, an audio CD signal uses 44100 samples per

second, each 16 bit precision, and two channels (left+right) to
provide stereo. You will agree that CD sound quality is much
better than a phone-line, but the price for this is that you need to
transport 1.411 Mbps for the CD (mega-bits-per-second),
where only 64 kbps for a telephone line.

Note From this explanation, it is clear why telephone calls are usually
charged as a function of the duration : each second 64000 bits
need to be handled by the telecom system, the longer the call
lasts, the more total bits need to be handled.

1.2 Data
When computers or machines communicate with each other, they
usually don't send a continuous stream of information. Typically a
computer needs some limited input data, then processes this, and
then responds with a limited amount of result data. Therefore
data communication is using the concept of information packets
: a group of information bits. So one computer sends a packet of
input to the other computer, which processes it, and then returns a
packet with the results.

1.3 Comparison
The two above communication mechanisms are fundamentally
different, and it is important to understand this in order to
understand the future evolution of the telecom industry.
Although this is no strict rule, today the majority of voice is
transported using synchronous circuit switching, whereas the
majority of data uses packet switching. (These terms will be
explained in more detail later) Given this simplification, circuit
switching (voice) and packet switching (data), can be compared as
follows :

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1 Introduction

Table 1 Voice versus Data

Circuit Switching : Voice Packet Switching : Data

Fixed time between samples Undefined time between
packets
Bitrate is multiple of 64 kbps Bitrate can be anything
Bitrate is fixed during 'the call' Bitrate can vary dynamically

Note The aspect of transporting voice or data is called the Service : the
function you deliver to the end-user. The aspect of using circuit
or packet switching to accomplish this is called the Transport Mode
or also Bearer Capability. Strictly speaking transport mode and
service are independent of each other : a service can be realized
using different transport modes, and different services can be
realized using the same transport mode.

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 2 Text Structure

2 Text Structure
This text is divided into five chapters, and a set of appendices.
See also Figure 1.

Chapte The chapters cover the most important telecom technologies and
concepts in the following order :

the Core Network : this is the part of the network that
provides information transfer at high speeds over long
distances. It is shared by all users of the network. When
comparing with the roads network, the core network maps
onto the Highways. When thinking about the classical
telephone network, the Core Network is the international
telephone network, whereby all telephone exchanges are
interconnected. The Core Network is also called the
BackBone.

the Access Network : this is the part of the network that
allows the user to get him onto the core network. Compare it
to the roads network where you have smaller access roads
between you and the highways. Highways don't pass next to
each house. Most of the access network is only used by a
limited number of users, some of it is dedicated to just a
single user. When thinking of the classical telephone network,
the Access Network would be your telephone connection from
your home to your local exchange.

the Customer Premises Equipment : this is the equipment
which the end user uses. Simple examples are a telephone, a
mobile phone, a computer with modem, a local network of
computers, etc.

the Network Services : when we have a network (by
installing a core network, access network and terminals) this
network can be used for several different functions. As an
example, when you have the classical telephone network, you
can use it (a.o.) to :
 make voice communications between two persons
 let the network wake you up, by making a call to you at a
specified time.
So different services can be offered, using the same network
infrastructure. In this chapter the services made available to
the end-user are described. The services or features which
are important for the network provider, are described together
with the description of each of the technologies.

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 17 / 187

2 Text Structure

the Network Management : when we have a network (by

installing a core network, access network and terminals) this
network must also be operated : you must constantly check
for errors, add new customers, increase capacity, reconfigure,
etc. The network operator is the one who is directly involved
in Network Management, however for the end user, a
well-managed network provides services such as reliability,
low signal distortion, low information loss, etc.

Appendi In addition to the five main chapters, there is a set of Appendices.

They each cover a specific item which is more generic and is used
in several different telecom systems. Therefore they are grouped
at the back, and the chapters will point to them.

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 3 The Core Network

3 The Core Network

The core network refers to a (public or private) infrastructure that
provides the connections between communicating users. This
infrastructure contains network nodes and transmission links.
Examples of core networks" are :

the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN),

Public (and Private) Data Networks,

the Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (B-ISDN),

the Internet.

Purpo The main purpose of the Core Network is to :

transport information fast over long distances,

transport information at low cost,

transport information with minimal amount of errors.
As for the low cost aspect, note that Core Networks are always
shared by many users. So the cost of these networks is also
shared by many users and therefor, even if the networks
themselves are typically very expensive, per user they are
economical, due to the large number of users.

3.1 Network Structures and Topologies

Because networks typically grow in an organic way, each network
is different. However, some basic principles for the structure of
networks can be sorted out :

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3 The Core Network

3.1.1 Point to Point

The simplest form of a 'network' is a point-to-point connection
between two terminals. Although not much of a real network, it is
the basic building block of more complex networks and many
networks start as a simple point to point, later growing to more
complex structures. Some examples are :

direct connection between two computers,

radio connection between satellite and ground-control
station.

direct connection between two sub-networks.
The advantages of a point-to-point connection are :

simple routing, addressing, etc.

secure : no intermediate 'nodes'

Figure 2 Point to Point network

3.1.2 Star Network

Another simple way to interconnect more than two terminals is a
Star network. One Network Element forms the center of it, all
other terminals are on radii of the star. Some examples are :

private telephone network : Private Branch Exchange (PABX)

mainframe computer with terminals

Figure 3 Star network

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 3 The Core Network

The advantages of a star network are :

simple routing, addressing in the center of the star.

simple next step from a point-to-point network : add the
network center device, then add terminals.
A disadvantages of a star network is its reliability : if the device in
the center of the star fails, all terminals are out of service.

3.1.3 Meshed Network

In a meshed network, every node is connected to all the other
nodes. It is a collection of point to point links between a collection
of nodes. You can easily see that when the number of nodes
grows, the number of links grows quadratically (n*(n-1)/2). So
fully meshed networks, are only found when there are a limited
number of nodes in the network.
A big advantage of a meshed network is its reliability : even when
some links would break, there are always alternative
interconnections between a pair of nodes. A price for this
reliability or redundancy is that the nodes are more complex :
each node needs to be able to route information further to the
destination.

Figure 4 Meshed Network

3.1.4 Ring Network

Ring networks simplify the interconnection of a large number of
nodes : each node interconnects to only two neighbor nodes,
resulting into only n links. This is not only reducing equipment

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 21 / 187

3 The Core Network

and installation costs, but also simplifies operation of such a

network.

University Campus Backbone,

Metropolitan Area Networks,

'Token ring' computer networks.

Figure 5 Ring Network

Figure 6 Backbone Network : example

A disadvantage of the ring network is the lower reliability : a

single broken link can open the ring and put the network out of
service. There exist however solutions to this : with Protection
Switching the Active fibres can be protected against failures by a
Spare fibre. Other mechanisms use a double ring, and the nodes
can isolate a failing segment, restoring the ring. Such networks
with 'automatic' repair in case of faults are also called
Self-Healing Networks.

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 3 The Core Network

Node Node
Active fibre

Spare fibre

Figure 7 Protection Switching

Node
Fiber cut

Node Node
Restoration

Node

Figure 8 Self Healing Ring

3.1.5 Tree Network

With a very large number of nodes, each network becomes
complex to manage. To simplify a network, a hierarchical tree
concept with different levels can be used : the highest level is the
backbone, on the backbone the nodes are actually subnetworks.
Each network, consists again of subnetworks, etc.
Examples :

Telephone network

Internet

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 23 / 187

3 The Core Network

Backbone Network

Regional
Network 1
Regional
Network 3

Regional
Network 2

Figure 9 Hierarchical Networks

Figure 10 Hierarchical Networks : example

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 3 The Core Network

Figure 11 example 1 : the first Internet plan

Figure 12 example 2 : todays complex networks

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 25 / 187

3 The Core Network

Figure 13 example 3 : Map with European Fiber links

Conclus In real life, a network will almost never be as simple as one of the
above basic topologies, but rather consist out of a combination of
them. However, as a conclusion we can see that all networks
consist of Nodes interconnected with Links.

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 3 The Core Network

3.2 Links : Transmission

xin All telecom technologies which interconnect nodes with links,
Multiple
deploy some form of Multiplexing. Multiplexing is a technique to
transport several information-flows over the same carrier.
Multiplexing reduces the cost, because all individual data-flows,
share the cost of the common carrier. There exist a number of
different techniques to do multiplexing, and they are explained
and compared in Appendix D :

Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)

Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)

Code Division Multiplexing (CDM)
Furthermore these multiplexing techniques can be combined into
more complicated schemes : for example the Global System for
Mobile Communications (GSM) uses a combination of
FDM-TDM.
The building block for building a multiplex is a Channel (CH). A
sequence of channels is combined into a so-called Frame. A very
popular multiplex structure is shown in Figure 14 : 32 channels
are combined into a frame. The frame repeats itself 8000 times
per second.

frame synchronization (optional) signalling

CH 0 CH 1 CH 15 CH 16 CH 17 CH 31

1 Frame = 125 sec

Figure 14 Basic E1 structure

Multiplexing is different from Concentration, this difference is

explained in Appendix C.

Hierar Today's multiplexing systems can send a huge number of

information-channels over a single medium. In order to keep it
manageable, a hierarchy is used :

basic information channels are multiplexed into a so-called
first-order multiplex, sometimes also called lower-order.

a number of the first order multiplex signals are again
multiplexed into a second-order multiplex.

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 27 / 187

3 The Core Network

this mechanism repeats itself a number of times : small

signals are combined into bigger, combined into bigger,
combined into the final multiplex signal.

Basic First Order

Signals Multiplex
Second Order
Multiplex

Third Order
Multiplex

Figure 15 Multiplexing Hierarchy

Information transmission systems typically span different countries

and continents, and employ equipment from different
manufacturers. therefore all these systems must be compatible. To
guarantee this, international standards are defined. (See
Appendix I)

3.2.1 Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH)

The Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) multiplex system uses
Time Division Multiplexing (TDM). Three different variants have
been standardized for Europe, North-America and Japan.

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 3 The Core Network

Table 2 Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy

order Europe North-America Japan

1st E1 T1 24 * 64 kbps,
32 * 64 kbps, 24 * 64 kbps, 1.544 Mbps
2.048 Mbps 1.544 Mbps
2nd E2 T2
4 * 2.048 Mbps 4 * 1.544 Mbps
8.448 Mbps 6.312 Mbps
3rd E3 T3
4 * 8.192 Mbps, 7 * 6.312 Mbps
34.368 Mbps 44.736 Mbps
4th E4 T4
4 * 34 Mbps, 3 * 44.736 Mbps
139.264 Mbps 139.264 Mbps

Note From one order to the next order multiplex is not exactly an
integer factor, because the PDH system includes a little of
Overhead information in each step :

bits for Frame Synchronization : to mark the boundaries of the

frame

bits for stuffing : bits which can be used or skipped in order to
compensate for the slight differences in clocks used in the
network.
In the early days of PDH, the inter-continental communication
traffic was still relatively small, and so the differences between
Europe, North America and Japan where not a big problem.
However, as this traffic grew, the incompatibility became a serious
disadvantage.
Another important aspect of PDH lies in the word plesiochronous :
plesiochronous means 'almost' synchronous. The timing
reference used by all nodes in the network are 'almost'
synchronous to each other.
A good analogy are our wrist-watches : they all indicate the
same time, almost the same, because, down to the seconds, they
are all slightly different.

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 29 / 187

3 The Core Network

When the timing references are all slightly different,

interconnection becomes more complicated, just like making an
exact appointment becomes more difficult when all wrist-watches
indicate different times.
This complexity limits the PDH bit-rates to the fourth order 140
Mbps. It also makes it impossible to extract the E1 out of an E4,
without first extracting the E3..E2. It results in the so called
Back-to-Back multiplexing.

Third Order
Multiplex

Second Order
Multiplex

First Order
Multiplex

Basic
Signals

Figure 16 Multiplexing Hierarchy

A lot of PDH is still installed and operated today. However given

the limitations, todays new networks are all using the more
advanced SDH system.

3.2.2 Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH)

From the experience of PDH, and the push of new technological
developments, a new multiplex system was defined : Synchronous
Digital Hierarchy (SDH). SDH improves PDH in the following
ways:

It is standardized as a worldwide standard. As a matter of
fact Europe (SDH) and North-America (SONET) had different
standards, but they were defined in a more compatible way.
This allows easy connection of SDH and SONET.

SDH simplifies interconnection of nodes, by using a single
reference clock for a whole group of nodes, a so-called
SDH-'island'. This clock is generated by a Primary Reference
Clock and distributed through the whole SDH-network.

given the simpler interconnection, SDH allows to multiplex to
higher bitrates.

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 3 The Core Network

given the large installed base of PDH equipment, SDH is

made in such a way that it is backward compatible with
existing PDH. This means that existing PDH can be
interconnected with new SDH :
 PDH signals can be sent 'inside' a higher speed SDH
signal,
 SDH islands can be interconnected using PDH links.

Synchronous : no introduction of additional overhead.

PDH Source PDH Sink

SDH Network

PDH Link
SDH Network 1 SDH Network 2

Figure 17 Coupling PDH and SDH

SDH added more network management functions : networks

grew bigger and bigger, and decent network management
became a necessity :
 detecting and measuring bit errors
 labelling and naming the multiplex components
 alarm indications
 protection mechanisms, eg. Automatic Protection
Switching (APS)

Table 3 SDH Containers

SDH Containers bitrate

VC11 1.544 Mbps
VC12 2.048 Mbps
VC2 8 Mbps
VC3 34 Mbps
VC4 140 Mbps

In SDH, the signals are named Synchronous Transport

Module (STM). For example, the Unit signal is the STM-1. This

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 31 / 187

3 The Core Network

signal is then multiplexed into higher orders STM-n. The

components of the STM-1 are called Virtual Container (VC). The
most important Virtual Containers contain the standard PDH
signals.

Table 4 SDH Multiplex Signals, STMn

Multiplex order bitrate

STM-1 / STS-3 155.52 Mbps
STM-4 / STS-12 622.08 Mbps
STM-16 / STS-48 2.488 Gbps
STM-64 / STS-192 10 Gbps
STM-256 / STS-768 40 Gbps

Note The different multiplex orders are also referred to as OC-n,

where n is the order-number of the STS multiplex (this is the
typical naming in the USA) :

STM-1 = OC-3

STM-16 = OC-48

Note Multiplexing a number of STM-1 into higher levels (STM-4,

STM-16, ..) introduces no additional overhead.

AddMultiplexin Another important advantage of SDH is the possibility to directly

Drop
access lower-order signals within a high-order multiplex : the
SDH overhead includes a number of Pointers and by applying the
pointer-processing, the multiplexer can find any contributing
signal (tributary) in the multiplex signal. This feature allows then
to make simpler Add Drop Multiplexers.
As a result from this, SDH networks are often deployed in
ring-topologies : a boackbone ring, with at each station, an
Add-Drop Multiplexer contributing traffic to the ring.

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 3 The Core Network

Back to Back Multiplexer (PDH)

Add-Drop Multiplexer (SDH)

Figure 18 Back to Back versus Add-Drop Multiplexer

Table 5 PDH versus SDH

PDH SDH
Plesiochronous Synchronous
Different Hierarchies One Higher order Hierarchy
Fixed Hierarchy Flexible Hierarchy
Limited management features Extended management features
Stuffing Bits -> complicated Very limited bit-stuffing ->
multiplexing simpler
No pointers to frame-bound Pointers to frame-boundary
ary -> back-to-back multi -> Add-Drop multiplexing
plexers

Alcatel
Product
&
http://www.alcatel.com/products
Lin
search in categories SDH", Sonet", Backbone Service
Provider"

3.2.3 Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM)

Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is in fact a form of
frequency multiplexing : wavelength = reciprocal of frequency. It
combines several colors of light onto the same optical fiber. Each
of the individual colors can be any signal, but typically the signal
components are SDH signals, eg. STM-16. Therefor, WDM is not
a direct replacement or successor of SDH or PDH, but rather a
complementary new technology which can be combined with
existing ones to further increase bandwidth capacity.
Example of combination of SDH and WDM :

SDH : STM-16 = 2.488 Gbps

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3 The Core Network

WDM : 40 wavelengths, also called 40 's

total capacity : 40 * 2.488 = 100 Gbps
WDM is one of the first functions of what is becoming a whole
new technological area : the Optical Networking. Its rapid
development being fueled by the exponential increasing demand
for bandwidth, next to multiplexers, other optical functions like
cross connects, add-drop muxes, etc. are being developed.

Alcatel
Product
&
WDM Products : http://www.alcatel.com/products
Lin
ITU-T Standards : G.692

Flash animation explaining DWDM
http://www.alcatel.com/telecom/snd/keytech/wdm/index.htm
The bandwidth carried by a WDM signal is the product of the
number of lambdas and the bandwidth of each lambda signal. As
such, the WDM signal can increase its capactity in two ways :
increasing the number of lambdas, and increasing the bitrate of
each member-signal. This results in an even faster increase of
bandwidth capacity. In the next figure, each a*b bps refers to a
lambdas, each at b bps.

Fiber
Capacity
[Gbps]

1000 40*10 Gbps 128*2.5 Gbps

96*2.5 Gbps
8*10 Gbps
100
16*2.5 Gbps
8*2.5 Gbps
10 4*2.5 Gbps
2*2.5 Gbps

1 2.5 Gbps
565 Mbps

0.1 140 Mbps

Year
1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004

Figure 19 Combining WDM and TDM

see Appendix J for an article about the race for bandwidth.

3.2.4 Media
Different media can be used for the high-speed
interconnection-links :

Fiber

34 / 187 770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08

 3 The Core Network

Coaxial Cable

Radio

Laser-light
The most common deployed medium today is fiber, more precisely
glass-fiber, because of its relative low cost, resistance to
interference and huge bandwidth capacity. Fiber technology is
rapidly evolving. Fibers with smaller losses, smaller dispersion,
better handling, etc. are being developed.
Under certain circumstances, other media may be preferred :

Radio : with radio, the bandwidth is more limited (eg. STM1
or 155 Mbps) but you don't have to route kilometers of fiber :
just raise a tower, for example every 50 km.
 when you want very rapid deployment (days),
 want to have a network for only a limited time
 when the terrain is very hostile (mountains, rivers, etc)
 when the terrain is not free accessible (roads, buildings,
land-owners)

Coax : Coaxial Cable has also less bandwidth potential than
fiber, but can be deployed for :
 short distances, 100m or less
 at the border of the network, lower bandwidths could be
required, yielding coax as economically preferred.

Laser : a beam of Laser-light can be focused over long
distances, through the air. It can be used for interconnection
over short distances only, but can be deployed as fast as
radio. Furthermore Laser is not susceptible to interference,
but requires line-of-sight.
These media are described in more detail in chapter 4.2.

3.2.5 Repeaters
When signals are sent over fibers or coax for long distances, the
signals attenuate and must be re-amplified. This function is
called a repeater. Nothing happens to the flow of information,
and to the network topology the repeaters are not important.
With today's fibers, a distances-span of a few hundred kilometers
can be realized without repeaters. For long haul links, the
repeaters are needed and form a part of the network
infrastructure cost.

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3.3 Nodes : Switching

When sending information through the core network, it typically
has to traverse several nodes. Inside the nodes, the incoming link
has to be connected to the outgoing link. Several techniques exist
to do this. Below these concepts are listed, ordered by the
life-time of the connection they make.

Table 6 Types of Switching

Connection Life Time* Switching Concept

typically more than 1 hour Cross Connect
Add Drop Multiplexer
between 1 hour - 1 second Circuit Switch
typically less than 1 second Packet Switch

Note Connection Life Time refers to the duration of the connection

inside the switching node. Even for packet switched systems, an
end-to-end connection may exist for longer times, eg. hours.

3.3.1 Switching Techniques

Switching information is physically performed using
Space-switching, Time-switching, or a combination of Both.

Space
Switching In Space switching, a number of physically distributed inputs are
connected to a number of physically distributed outputs by the
means of Switches. (hence the origin of the name 'switching').
When there are m inputs and n outputs, you need m*n switches.
Typically each user has an input and an output, and then m=n
and equals the number of users. To make a bidirectional
connection, usually two switches need to be closed.

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 3 The Core Network

Space Switch

Figure 20 Space Switching : 4*5 space-switch

Space switches are limited by the physical density of the input and
output ports.

Switching
Time Time switching occurs in the dimension of time : the individual
users are all on the same physical medium, but multiplexed in
time. Typically the Time Division Multiplex (TDM) structure consists
of a number of channels, occurring in a cyclic pattern. In many
telecom systems this pattern repeats at 8000 times per second.
When doing time switching, information received on one
particular time-slot or channel is sent out on another time-slot
/ channel.

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3 The Core Network

Time
Switch
In Out

Time Division Multiplex

In CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4

Out CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4

Figure 21 Time Switching : 4*4 time-switch

Time switches are limited by the frequencies of the TDM

input/outputs.

Time
Space
Switching Both mechanisms described above are usually combined in order
to maximize the density in both physical and frequency domain.
As an example, the A1000 S12 switch element uses 16*16 Space
switching, combined with 32 channels TDM signals in order to
build a 512*512 channels switch element.
Any time-slot/channel (of 32) from any port (of 16) can be
switched to any other time-slot/port.

In Out

PORT CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 PORT
1 1
Time-Space
PORT
Switch PORT
CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4
2 2

PORT CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 PORT
3 3

PORT CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 CH 1 CH 2 CH 3 CH 4 PORT
4 4

Figure 22 Time Space Switch

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 3 The Core Network

Table 7 Routing/Connection Table Contents :

Port Channel Connect to :

1 1 Port 2, Ch 3
2 4 Port 4, Ch 2
4 1 Port 4, Ch 4

Switching
Stages Even with a combination of Space- and Time-switching, a single
switching element cannot handle all ports from a large exchange.
The solution to this is to interconnect several switching elements in
a cascade. These are called Switching Stages. In figure 23, it is
shown how a 4*4 switching element can be made, using four 2*2
switch elements. In order to set up a connection from input to
output, a connection in 2 switch elements must be made. For
even bigger capacities, the concept can be applied recursively, the
'new' 4*4 element can be combined to form (eg.) a 16*16
element. As such by increasing the number of stages, an arbitrary
large switch can be built, of course at the cost of more and more
'basic' switch elements.

Resulting 4*4 Switch Element

First Stage Second Stage

2*2 2*2
Switch Switch
Element Element

2*2 2*2
Switch Switch
Element Element

Figure 23 Cascading switching elements

Poin Because in most systems Inputs and Outputs are paired, the
Reflection
system is represented symmetrical in a so-called Folded view.
The folding line of such a folded system is called the Reflection
Point : information travels into the switch up to the reflection point,
and then travels back out to the destination output.

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3 The Core Network

First Stage Second Stage

4*4
Switch
Element
4*4
Switch
4*4 Element
Switch
Element

4*4
Switch
Element
4*4

Reflection Point
Switch
4*4 Element
Switch
Element

Figure 24 Folded View, Reflection Point

Redundan A switching system must always be designed in a reliable way :

even a single fault should not lead to a service degradation. For
switching systems this redundancy is usually obtained from one of
two approaches :

the switching matrix is provided in two copies, often called A-
and B-matrix. Each connection is set up over both matrices
in an independent way. If one matrix fails, the other one still
services the connection. (eg. Alcatel 1000 E10)

the switching matrix is built with stages of Orthogonal Planes.
(eg. Alcatel 1000 S12)

3.3.2 Cross Connection (XC), Add Drop Mux (ADM)

When the connections made in the nodes, typically last hours or
more, we call the nodes Cross Connects, or in some special case
Add-Drop Multiplexers.
Connections are made manually through operator actions
Examples :

Communications connections established between
sport-stadium and broadcasting services for the coverage of
the Olympic games, the world cup football, the world expo,
etc.

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 3 The Core Network

3.3.3 Circuit Switching

When a connection is only needed for a duration from (typically)
seconds to hours, it becomes too much a burden to have the
connections set up manually through an operator. In that case a
Circuit Switch can do that automatically. This kind of switching is
called Call-by-Call switching".
One extra function required for a switch, is to communicate
directly with the end-user, called Signalling. Signalling is a
meta-communication, that controls the real user to user
communication : through signalling, the user instructs the network
what kind of connection to set up and to what destination.

User Information Connection

Signalling Information Connection

Figure 25 User Information versus Signalling Information

An important aspect of a circuit switched connection is that it

consists of a dedicated, end-to-end path. A channel is reserved
strictly for the end-user during the whole duration of the call.
This is sometimes referred to as a physical connection in contrast
to a virtual connection from a packet switch.

Hierar For large public networks, it is impossible to connect all

subscribers to a single exchange. So regional areas will be
covered by several exchanges, and all of these must be
interconnected to provide a worldwide network. This
interconnection can be a fully meshed network, but from a certain
size, this becomes also unmanageable, and a hierarchical
network is used. In this hierarchy, there are the following levels :

Local : at the 'lowest' level, the Local Exchange collects the
subscribers, using access networks (see Section 4). The local
exchange can be recognized by the fact that it has a
Subscriber Database with all information about its subscribers.

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Transit/Toll : Several local exchanges are interconnected

through Transit exchanges, also called Toll exchanges. In a
very large network, several layers of Transit/Toll can be
provided. Each Transit/Toll layer collects a number of
exchanges from the lower layer, and interconnects to other
exchanges in the same layer, as well as to a higher layer.
These Transit/Toll exchanges do not 'know' individual
subscribers.

International Gateway : At the highest National level is the
International Gateway Exchange : the exchange which is at
the boundary between the national toll/Transit network, and
the international network.

International : The highest level is the International Exchange.
For example for the telephone network, there are a limited
number of international exchanges : London, New York, ...

Tandem : a tandem exchange is a special case that does not
fit perfectly in the hierarchy. It provides interconnections
within a certain layer, but no connections to higher levels. It is
a bypass of the hierarchy for more efficient interconnection of
certain areas.

International

International
Gateway

Tandem

Transit - Toll

Local

Figure 26 Hierarchical Structure of the Telephone Network

In some countries there are several transit networks (or core

networks) called Carriers, each one operated/provided by a
different company. In such a network structure, the user must be

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 3 The Core Network

able to use any of the transit networks. In this case, there is an

additional level in the hierarchy :

InterExchange Carrier : all Carriers access the local
exchanges via this special transit exchange.

Note In the US, the names Transit, toll and Tandem are used in a less
strict and interexchangeable way.

Carrier 1 Carrier 2 Carrier 3

Tandem

InterExchange
Carrier

Local

Figure 27 Hierarchical Structure of the Telephone Network :

Multi-Carrier

DisAdvant Some critiques of the current Public Switched Telephone

Network (PSTN) are the following :

It is Narrowband (NB), i.e. it can deliver bitrates up to a few
kbps.

It is half-integrated, i.e. different services must be provided
by different networks, e.g. PSTN, Datanetworks, Cable
Television Network (CATV), ...

It is 64 kbps based. Although this bitrate is quite adequate to
provide telephony, it can not support new services like
videophony.
Therefore, the tendency of the future (which is progressing very
slowly) is to come to 1 unified, multi-service B-ISDN

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3.3.4 Packet Switching

When computers are communicating, they don't need a strictly
reserved channel. Because computers communicate with packets
of information, they can share a single channel with other
computers. A switch being able to switch information packets is
called a Packet Switch.

Connection
Oriented Some packet switches still need the user to set up a connection
using signalling, so that the packet switches in the network know
how to send the packet to the destination. They are called
Connection Oriented Packet Switches. Before sending the first real
packet of information, the user must first send some signalling
packets to set up a connection, then send his user payload and
afterwards release the connection.

Connectio Other packet switches operate ConnectionLess. They are

pre-programmed to analyze the final destination address, and
forward the packet in the right direction.

Note Appendix H explains the difference between Connection-Oriented

and Connectionless operation.

Pack
ets Frame There exist different terms to name the information packets :
versus

Cells, eg. ATM Cells

Frames, eg. Frame Relay

Packets, eg. IP Packets, X.25 Packet
These names reflect a difference in how much processing is
needed to handle the packet in the packet switch, versus how
much is done in the end terminals :

Cells : only require a minimum of processing in the nodes.
Cells also have fixed lengths.

Frames : medium processing in the nodes

Packets : intensive processing in the nodes : error correction,
retransmission, flow control, resequencing...
In the early days of computer communication, the links had poor
quality, and the end terminals were very expensive (main frame
computers), in which case Packet switching was the best solution.
today, the network is of much better quality, and the end terminals
are cheaper (PCs), so Cell switching achieves the same results,
while being simpler, cheaper and faster.

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Exampl Some examples of Packet Switching techniques are :

X.25

Frame Relay

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)

Internet Protocol (IP)
Their key characteristics are worked out here in a bit more detail.

X.25
X.25 is the name of an International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) standard describing a packet switching system.
The X.25 system offers :

Error-Free delivery of data packets to the destination

Delivery of data packets without loss.

In-sequence delivery of data packets.

Flow-Control Procedures

Bit-rates up to 64 Kbit/sec.

Packets up to 4096 bytes, however, typical packets will be 128
bytes. (each network specifies the maximum supported packet
length)

The packet switching protocol is connection-oriented.
X-25 is a mature technology. The X.25-related protocols are
among the most used packet protocols and offer worldwide
interconnectivity.

Chargi The provider of a network requires that you pay for the usage of
his network infrastructure. This is called Charging. For different
types of networks, there are different ways of charging developed.
For example, for the telephone network, you will have to pay as a
function of :

duration of the call

distance between originator and receiver
However for packet switched networks, this is not the best way to
charge : because of the 'packet' nature of the information, you
may be connected for several hours, only exchanging packets

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3 The Core Network

during some minutes. In this case, the charging will be on Volume

: the amount of packets sent.

Note In fact, the X-25 protocol describes the interface between the user
and the network, the so-called User-to-Network Interface
(UNI). In addition, the X.75 protocol has been defined for
communication on the Network-to-Network Interface (NNI).

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Frame Relay
As the quality of the network improved, it became a burden to do
all the error checking, retransmitting, etc. in each node, as there
was hardly any error in the network. A first simplification led to
Frame Relay (FR). In fact, no more processing is performed
anymore, on the packet level, which explains the name Frame
Relay.
Frame Relay was originally designed in1981 as a NB ISDN packet
mode bearer service, but the main driving force was the demand
for the interconnection of Local Area Networks. Although the
functionality of the FR network, and consequently its services, is
more limited than in a packet switching network, this is more than
compensated for by the higher bit rates.
The most important aspect of the reduced functionality of FR is the
lack of error correction. Error detection is performed and
erroneous frames are discarded, with the result that not all the
information is delivered to the destination.
Thus, what the FR network offers is :

In-sequence delivery of data frames.

Higher Throughput

Lower Delay

bit rates of 45 Mbps (US) or 2 Mbps (Europe).

The Frame Relay protocol is connection-oriented.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode

ATM is a form of connection-oriented cell-switching. ATM-cells
are Fixed-size packets, 53 bytes long. The cell is divided into a
Header and a Payload part. The header is standard, the payload
part can contain whatever information : speech, video, text, data,
graphics, ... ATM offers a uniform method for the transport of
these multiple services, i.e. the contents of the payload completely
transparent to the network (there is even no error control).
Therefore, ATM is recommended by ITU-T as the technology to
be used in the future B-ISDN.

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3 The Core Network

5 Bytes 48 Bytes

HEC
CLP
VCI
VPI

PTI
Header User Payload
Figure 28 ATM Cell

On an ATM link, a continuous stream of cells is transmitted. A

specific user can send at any moment in time, which explains the
term asynchronous". Therefore, the receiver can not distinguish
information (coming from different users ) by means of the
timeslots. To solve this, the ATM cell header carries a Virtual Path
Identifier (VPI) / Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI).

Synchronous Transfer Mode (STM)

ch 1 ch 2 ch 3 ch 4 ch 1 ch 2 ch 3 ch 4 ch 1 ch 2 ch 3 ch 4

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)

A B A C A A B

Idle cells

Figure 29 STM versus ATM

ATM operates in the connection-oriented mode, i.e. a setup of a

virtual connection must be performed first.

An important effect of this setup phase, is that it is possible to
have some guaranty of service, the minimum performance of
the connection can be negotiated. (for example the Cell Loss
Ratio (CLR) )

Another effect of the connection-oriented mode is that the
sequence of ATM cells will be preserved.
ATM allows extreme fast switching, up to the Gbps range, because
of

the connection-oriented nature,

the simple protocol stack (no error control, no flow control, no
reassembly in intermediate nodes),

the fixed size of the cells.
However the connection setup/release requires some time, some
signalling, and is due to the large feature-set quite complex.

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Also the number of terminals providing an ATM interface (PC, WS,

Multimedia-phone, etc..) is still very limited. In a Local Area
Network (LAN) (PC-network) environment, it is currently only
justified for high-end workstations.

Streng ATM cels have the following strengths :

small bandwidth granularity : you dontt have to buy
bandwidth in chunks of 64 kbps : any number of 'cells per
second' is allowed, resulting into any possible bitrate.

allows variable bitrates

allows flexible multiplexing of different 'streams' onto a single
carrier. Possible allows Statistical Multiplexing : eg.
multiplexing 1000 virtual connections of 1 Mbps Max. each
onto a carrier of 150 Mbps. As not all of the 1000 virtual
connections require the full 1 Mbps at the same time, 1000 *
1 fits into 150.

Fast switching because of simple, small, fixed-size
cell-format, and because of connection oriented nature. This
then allows ATM to deliver real-time services such as speech,
video, ...

Weaknes Despite the strengths of ATM technology, today it is not yet very
widespread, and is is seriously threatened by a competing
technology : IP. The limited success of ATM is probably due to
several factors, (technical and non-technical) but here are some
of the difficulties with ATM :

Connection Oriented nature makes it quite complex for the
terminal : he has to talk a complex signalling language
dialogue to setup a connection.

ATM switching itself is quite simple, but additional functions
on top of that are quite complex : resource management,
operations and mainenance, adaptation layers, flow
control,...
Figure 29 shows a comparison between ATM and 'traditional'
circuit switching or Synchronous Transfer Mode (STM).

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Table 8 STM versus ATM

STM ATM
Reservation of Physical chan Reservation of Virtual channels
nels
Fixed number of channels Variable number of channels
Fixed bitrate of channels Variable bitrate of channels
Large granularity of bitrates Small granularity of bitrates
Resources are permanently re Resources only used if some
served, even if nothing is trans thing is really transmitted
mitted
Overhead 1/27 (STM-1) Overhead 5/53 (ATM Cell)

ATM cells can be transmitted without any other transmission

system (called a 'cell based interface'), but they can also be
transmitted in SDH frames, PDH frames, over an ADSL link, ....
Charging for ATM-connectivity is not yet available. Most systems
today are private networks (Local Area Networks), for which there
is no need for charging. In the future charging could be a
function of time, provided bandwidth and effective data volume.

Alcatel
Product
&
http://www.alcatel.com/products
Lin

IP
IP means Internet Protocol. IP is very popular because many
popular applications use it : email, WWW-browser, ftp,
Newsgroups.
IP is a form of connection-less packet switching. IP packets are
variable in size. An IPv4 (version 4) header is 20 bytes, the IPv4
payload can vary between 0 and 65535 bytes. Typical packet
sizes are 576 or 1500 bytes.

Note today, IP version 4 is the most common used IP. However, a future
version of the IP protocol is being standardized, the so-called
IPv6, or 128-bit IP : An IPv6 (version 6) header is 40 bytes, the
IPv6 payload can vary between 0 and 65535 bytes.

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 3 The Core Network

20 Bytes 0..65535 Bytes

Header User Payload

Figure 30 IP Packet (IPv4)

As an IP-network is connection-less, it is more computing

intensive for the nodes to route the packets. On the other hand
there is no need to set up a connection. Routing decisions will be
based upon the destination IP address carried in the IP header.
This IP address has to be unique in the network. Today (IPv4) the
IP address is 32 bits wide, allowing a theorethical 4 billion
possible addresses. IP addresses are represented in a so-called
dotted notation, which splits the 32 bits into 4 bytes, and each
byte has a value from 0 to 255. Example : 138.203.048.001
An IP network operates in the best effort" mode : no guarantee is
given if and when an IP packet will reach its destination. This
makes it somewhat more difficult for the terminals.
Most IP networks are charged as flat fee (fixed monthly price), or
connection time.

Evolut IP is 30 years old. Nevertheless, there is a fast evolution of the

protocol, fueled by the succes of internet applications. The
following are fast developing areas in the IP world :

IPSEC : a mechanism to improve security in the Internet. A
security protocol will provide cryptographic security services
that support combinations of authenticication, integrity, access
control and confidentiality.

IP Multicast : Multicast is a protocol that enables the same
information to be sent from a server to a number of clients.
By avoiding duplicate sending of the same information, it
improves efficiency. This makes the Internet more acceptable
for applications that are similar to conventional TV broadcast.

IPv6 : The current Internet addressing scheme is being
updated. The growth in the Internet has led to a shortage of
addresses. IPv6 increases the length of the addresses.

IP QoS : A lot of effort is going on to provide some quality of
service in IP networks, thus also allowing real-time services,
e.g. Voice over IP (VoIP). 2 models are defined :

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IntServ : Integrated Services providing QoS in an

ATM-like way, reserving bandwidth to a particular
destination, by means of the Resource Reservation
Protocol (RSVP).

DiffServ : The difficulties of large-scale implementation
of RSVP have led to alternative suggestions for solving the
problem of securing sufficient bandwidth. The
Differentiated Services model is based on the idea of
tagging individual packets with an indication of their
priority.

ATM versus IP
ATM and IP are to some extent overlapping (and as such
competing) technologies, as well as complementary. A lot of
research is going on which technology is the best answer to our
current and future needs.
ATM and IP originate from a different Business : ATM from
Telecom, IP from computer networks. Both these businesses have
their own history, legacy and practices.
IP is currently very successful, and extremely fast-growing. There
is a lot of support for it, thanks to the (relatively) simple and
proven protocol stack. 20 years of legacy do not seem to burden
new innovations, and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
standardization body seems to work decent, steadily and
efficiently.
ATM has been developed as a Broadband Multimedia technology
from scratch. This way it is not at all compromised by backward
compatibility to legacy systems. On the other hand, the
complexity (and cost) of many aspects of this new technology were
under-estimated : policing, call acceptance control, OAM, ...

IP : virtuous circle ATM : vicious circle

Slow Take-Up

High Growth Rapid Lack of

Innovation Applications

High cost of
Ownership

Figure 31 ATM versus IP

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IP, ATM and SDH

For 'applications' to communicate to each other, there exist today
several possibilities. This can be represented in a protocol stack
graph as shown in Figure 32.

The 'Optical/Physical' layer takes care of the actual
transmission of the bits at the lowest level. All systems need
this,

The SDH layer can be included : it provides the
standardization and the management features of SDH
(protection switching, bit error detection, signal labels, ...)

The ATM layer can be included when high-speed switching is
needed : ATM can provide high-quality, high bandwidth
'pipes' of information transfer. The pipes can be any
bandwidth with any Quality of Service.

The IP layer can be included for the service integration : many
existing applications allow to exchange information via IP
packets.

Applications

1. 2. 3. 4.

IP

ATM

SDH

Optical Layer (WDM) / Physical Layer

Figure 32 IP, ATM and SDH

As a result of this, Figure 32 shows four ways to combine all these:

1. The application generates IP packets, and transmits them
directly onto a physical medium. This is under development,
as the IP and Optical layer need to be completed with some
maintenance features.
2. The application generates IP packets, and transmits them in
SDH containers onto a physical medium. Very popular, but
still lacking a guaranteed real-time service.

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3. The application generates IP packets, packages a number of

streams into ATM virtual connections. The ATM cells are
transmitted in SDH containers onto a physical medium. Quite
flexible, but also complex. Also there is some overlap
between the protocol stack layers, which leads to some
inefficiency and higher cost.
4. The application generates ATM Cells. The ATM cells are
transmitted in SDH containers onto a physical medium. This
is the stack proposed by the ATM community. Because it is
still quite complex, and because there is very little applications
being able to interface to an ATM protocol stack, this solution
is not yet that successful.

Conclus Today, telecom observers estimate that the future could be 80% IP
and 20% ATM. Most applications will use the IP protocol. Inside
the network, traffic can be optimized by using (a subset of) ATM :
semi-permanent connections between subnetworks and routers.

3.3.5 Signalling
Signalling can be categorized in two types : Signalling inside the
network, and signalling between the user and the network.
The signalling between user equipment and the network is called
User to Network Interface (UNI) signalling. The signalling inside
the network, i.e. between 2 exchanges is called the Network to
Network Interface (NNI) signalling. Different protocols are
defined because of a number of reasons :

Different addressing identification for channels, because of
higher degree of multiplexing for the NNI.

NNI signalling is protected, versus UNI is not protected.

NNI signalling is multi-service, versus UNI is single-service.

Historical reasons
The older signalling systems can only communicate a limited
number of events, states and digits. The newer signalling systems
are very flexible, because they use messages (packets of
information) between the network elements.
A sequence of these messages is called a Scenario. See appendix
L for a simple, typical call setup/release scenario.

User to Network Interface Signalling (UNI)

Following is a list of popular UNI signalling systems :

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Analog Subscriber Signalling System (ASSS) : one of the

functions of the analog signalling system, is to transport digits
dialled by the subscriber to the exchange. In the early days
this was done using a Pulse system : short interruptions of the
line circuit. Today the more advanced Dual Tone Multiple
Frequency (DTMF) system is used, where each digit is
represented by a mix of two tone-frequencies.

ISDN Digital Subscriber Signalling System 1 (DSS1)

B-ISDN Digital Subscriber Signalling System 2 (DSS2)

Network Node Interface Signalling (NNI)

Following is a list of popular NNI signalling systems :

Channel Associated Signalling (CAS)

ISDN User Part (ISUP)

B-ISDN User Part (B-ISUP)

Common Channel Signalling System #7

To transport ISUP signalling messages in a reliable way, a
transport mechanism called Common Channel Signalling System
#7 (CCS #7) was developed. In the mean time this transport
mechanism has been extended with many other features, and has
become the dominant system for signalling and other control
communication. Therefore it is described in a little more detail in
this chapter.

Signalling Transfer Point

Signalling Network

User Payload Network

Figure 33 Separation of Signalling Network and User Data

Network

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CCS #7 has become the dominant signalling system (and will

most probably stay it in the future) because of a number of its
characteristics :

Its modular structure, which makes it :
 multi-purpose, e.g. signalling for calls, for IN, for
charging and billing information, for TMN, ...
 expandable
 future-safe

It uses a common channel for the signalling of different users,
as is shown in figure 33. Moreover, the paths of the
signalling information and the user information can be
different.
This complete separation of the signalling network offers
some advantages :
 more efficient use of signalling links
 a much higher protection can be foreseen for the
signalling network, than for the user data, e.g. by using
Signalling Transfer Points (STPs)
 more advanced protocols can be implemented, e.g.
look-ahead signalling.

Application Layers

Intelligent
Mobile Network (MRVT)
Application Application (SRVT)
Part (MAP) Part (INAP)
B-ISDN Telephone ISDN User Base OSI
User Part User Part Part (ISUP) Station
(B-ISUP) (TUP) Subsystem
Application
Part Transaction Capabilities
(BSSAP) ApplicationPart (TCAP)

Transport Layers

Signalling Connection Control Part SCCP)

Message Transfer Part (MTP)

Figure 34 Modular Structure of CCS #7

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 3 The Core Network

Message Par The Message Transfer Part (MTP) is capable of sending messages
Transfer
over the network. Error Correction and Flow Control functions are
provided to ensure reliable information transfer.

Connection The Signalling Connection Control Part (SCCP) increases the

Signalling
Par functionality of the MTP. It supports a more efficient routing
Control
algorithm (connection-oriented) as well as extended addressing
capabilities.
All user parts rely on the MTP, but not necessarily on the SCCP.

Transac Recently a new common part was introduced to support new

Capabil telecom services, such as the Global System for Mobile
Par communications (GSM) and the Intelligent Network (IN). Known as
Applicatio
the Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP), it supports
remote operations in a real-time environment.

Telephone Par Telephone User Part (TUP): signalling for telephony.

User
ISDN Par ISDN User Part (ISUP): signalling in the ISDN network.
User
BISDN Par Broadband ISDN User Part (B-ISUP): signalling in the B-ISDN
User
network.

MTPRouti MTP Routing Verification Test (MRVT): procedures to test that data
Tes in the MTP routing tables is consistent.
Verificati
Routi SCCP Routing Verification Test (SRVT): various procedures to verify
SCCP
Tes the routing functions performed by the SCCP.
Verificati
On top of the SCCP connection oriented an OSI stack can run.
Typically this is required for Operations and Maintenance and in
the TMN (Telecommunications Management Network).

Application The Mobile Application Part (MAP) is used to exchange call state
Mobile
Par information not only between Mobile Switching Centers (MSC), but
also between a Mobile Switching Center and its associated Visitor
Location Register and Home Location Register.

Base Subsystem The Base Station Subsystem Application Part (BSSAP) is used for
Station
Par signalling between the Base Station Subsystem and the Mobile
Applicatio
Switching Center.

Network The Intelligent Network Application Part (INAP) is used to

Intelligent
Par exchange messages between the Services Switching Point and the
Applicatio
Service Control Point during a service call.

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 4 Access Networks

4 Access Networks

4.1 Objectives
the
Last
Mile Access networks are to solve the so-called Problem of the Last
Mile". The Access network must bridge the distance between the
user (at home, at work, on the move, etc.) and the core network.
The main difference between core network and access network is
that the access part of the network, is used only for a single (or
small number of) subscriber, where the core network is shared by
thousands of subscribers. This makes the Access Network much
more cost-sensitive. It is for example still too expensive to bring
optical fiber to all homes directly.

Note Other names for Access Network are : subscriber loop, local loop,
subscriber line.

As a result of this different costing, the main targets of an Access

Network are :

Providing existing services, on new infrastructure, in a more
cost-effective way. (a cost-improvement for existing services)

Providing new services on existing infrastructure, thus for the
same cost. (re-using existing infrastructure to keep the cost
down)

Providing new services on new infrastructure.
Table 9 groups some access network concepts according to these
criteria. They will be explained in more detail below.

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4 Access Networks

Table 9 Types of Access Networks

Existing Service New Service

Existing XDSL
Infrastructure HFC
New V5.x GSM
Infrastructure HFC DECT
LMDS

User
Density An important factor when dimensioning an access network, is the
physical distribution of the users in space. Density can be high,
low, users can be clustered or evenly spread. Following is a list of
'design-parameters' for deploying an access network :

operator's existing infrastructure,

service(s) to be provided,

traffic requirements,

estimated growth and new services,

user density,

user clustering,

accessibility of the terrain,

Network
Structure The Access Node is an additional network element in the network
hierarchy. (see Figure 35) On the other hand, network builders
want to simplify the networks, to reduce the operation cost. The
Access Node can achieve this because it reduces the number of
Local exchanges. This results in a trend where networks evolve
from a large number of small locals, to a small number of large
locals, using access nodes to collect the users. An Access Node is
smaller and simpler than an Exchange. It requires less
maintenance.

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 4 Access Networks

to Transit Level

100 Local
10 Local
Exchanges,
Exchanges,
2.000
20.000
subscribers
Subscribers

Access
Nodes

Users
Figure 35 Network evolution with Access Nodes

Traditional MultiExchange topology

Exchange with 5k subscribers
Exchange Serviced Area

10 5
10
5
20
20 5
20
3
5
10

Access Nodes based topologyy

Access Node with 5k subscribers
Access Node Serviced Area
5
5 1
5 0.5 5
0.5 0.5
0.5
30 1 1 5
1
1 78
5
1 0.5
5
0.5
5 1 5
1
0.5

Figure 36 Network evolution with Access Nodes : view from the

sky

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4 Access Networks

Liberali Access Nodes also simplify the network design in a

Multi-operator market. Each user should be free to choose
whichever telecom-service-provider he wants. On the other
hand, the access to the user is so expensive, that it is certainly not
economical to provide a separate access from each service
provider to each user.

Transit Level

Voice Network
Provider 1 Voice Network Data Network
Provider 2 Provider 1

Access
Nodes

Users
Figure 37 Access to Several Networks

With Access Networks, different aspects of Telecom Services can

be splitted over several providers :

one provider operates the access.

one or more other providers operate the core network.
In some countries the government-owned network provider is to
provide the access network, where as the network behind that is
liberalized. In the US. different companies are licensed to service
different parts of the network :

regional Bells : Access

AT&T : Core Transit Network
Some time later, additional core network companies, called Long
Distance Carriers have been added : MCI-Worldcom, Sprint, ...
Which service provider is choosen by the user can be statically
configured in the Access Node. It can also be choosen
dynamically, by dialling a carrier prefix. Even if no Access Node
exists, long distance calls can still be made via a long-distance
operator, selected via a prefix.

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 4 Access Networks

Local
Loop
Unbundling One step further in the liberalization process, is to give new
service providers, (high-speed internet providers) direct access to
the subscribers local loop. This is referred to as unbundling of the
local loop.

Multise Further, a unique Access Node can provide all the services from
the different networks to the different users at their offices and at
their homes. This is the multiservice aspect. Integration of a
flexible mix of NB and BB services on a single platform : POTS,
ISDN, Data, Leased Lines, BB.

Multiven As explained, open interfaces allow interoperability with any

switching exchange.

Multisce Access Nodes can support different topologies in the access

network : star, tree, ring or a mix, depending on the nature of the
subscribers you want to connect. Fiber can reach them (FFC,
FTTB, FTTH). access nodes capacity can range in size up to 2000
users per node (typically 100 - 600 subscribers per access node)
This is shown in figure 38.

TV
Mixed subscriber

Business
subscriber
Telephony Access
Network : Residential
subscriber
Star,
Ring,
MultiService
Internet Tree,
Access Node
Mixed

Other...

MultiScenario Local Loop

MultiService MultiVendor Unbundling

Figure 38 MultiService Access Networks

Alcatel
Product
&
http://www.alcatel.com/products. Search in 'Competitive Access
Lin Providers'

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4 Access Networks

4.2 Media
In the access networks, a multitude of different media are used.
On one hand because there is existing infrastructure from the
past, on the other hand because new services install additional
new media. Most access networks use a Combination of :

twisted pair

coaxial cable

optical glass-fiber and plastic fiber

radio
The Combination of media results from the fact that the two
segments are very different, and thus optimized differently :

the part between the user and the Access Node, also called
the Tail.

the part between the Access Node and the Core Network.

Pai Twisted pair is the oldest and cheapest medium. Originally used
Twisted
for telephone lines, it was reused for data-networks, and XDSL
technologies create an extra life-cycle for Twisted Pair. The pair is
twisted, in order to reduce the interference with the environment.
Usually more than one pair is combined into a single cable : from
2 to hundreds of pairs. Twisted pair comes in an Unshielded and
Shielded variant. For the latter, the whole bunch of pairs, (or each
pair individually) is additionally shielded from interference with a
metal cover. Th unshielded variant is called Unshielded Twisted
Pair (UTP), sometimes with an additional number indicating the
type of wire used. Example UTP-5 is a common type of twisted
pair wire used for local area networks.
The advantage of Twisted Pair is that it is cheap, and most of all,
that it is already installed to all of our houses. Re-using the
existing Twisted Pair infrastructure, as XDSL does, avoids the cost
of routing new media to the subscriber.
Typical throughputs of twisted pair are in the range 100 kbps
(ISDN) to 100 Mbps (Ethernet).

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 4 Access Networks

Figure 39 (Unshielded) Twisted Pair, 4 pairs

Coaxial
Cable Coaxial Cable (nicknamed Coax) is a single wire, protected from
interference and signal loss by a metal cover. This allows higher
frequency signals to be transported compared to twisted pair.
Coax is more expensive than Twisted pair, but allows more
bandwidth as well. As with Twisted Pair, many Coax is already
installed, and can be re-used, avoiding installation costs. For
example the Cable-TV network, brings a Coax to most of the
homes in cities.
Typical throughputs of coaxial cable are in the range 10 Mbps
(Ethernet) to 1 Gbps (digital TV broadcast).

Figure 40 Coaxial Cable

Optical
Fiber Optical fiber has many advantages as a signal carrier (for that
reason it is widely deployed in core networks) :

very high bandwidth capability. (Terabits/s or more)

resistant to interference, noise, crosstalk, etc.

it is made from cheap materials (sand), although the handling
is more expensive.
Fiber is also an interesting medium for the network builder
because its bandwidth is currently only limited by the Terminations.
This means that a given Fiber carries today (eg.) 2.5 Gbps,
because the Laser-transmitter, and receiver-diode are limited to
this speed. The Fiber actually allows much more than 2.5 Gbps.
As soon as better transmitters/receivers are developed, the

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4 Access Networks

capacity of the same Fiber can be upgraded to (eg.) 10 Gbps or

40 Gbps. This is actually happening with Wavelength Division
Multiplexing in the Core Network. (see Chapter 3.2.3).
The Disadvantage of Fiber is the cost of bringing it to the
subscriber : this requires trenches to be digged through streets,
etc. which implies a high labor cost. The Fiber cable itself is not
so expensive, so as soon as it is decided to bury Fibers,
immediately a group of Fibers (eg. 100) is laid, resulting in a lot
of spare capacity. This way you don't need to dig into the streets
again in the short future. The Fibers which are currently not yet
used, are called Dark Fibers, because no light is sent through
them yet.

Figure 41 Optical Fiber (8 fibers)

Several research activities are ongoing to further improve the

quality and capacity of fiber-systems. Fiber-link lengths are
currently limited by (ao.) dispersion : the smoothing out of pulses.
An interesting concept to overcome this is the soliton. It is an
optical pulse, which has such a shape that it is in-sensitive to
dispersion.
http://soliton.ucsd.edu/
http://soliton.ucsd.edu/links.html
Another domain of innovation is Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) :
fibers which are made of plastic instead of glass.

Radi Radio can be used in a 'Point to Point' or in a Broadcasting way of

communicating :

Point to Point : Microwave links, Satellite - Groundstation
link, etc.

Broadcasting : Radio/TV-broadcasting, Mobile telephony,
etc.
The advantages of radio are :

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 4 Access Networks

no medium to be installed, (it works in vacuum) so lower

installation costs. This can be a particularly important
advantage in hostile environments like mountains, swamps,
etc.

short installation time, short reconfiguration time.

in the broadcasting case, terminals can be Mobile.
Radio has however some severe limitations : (Therefor radio is
usually only deployed for applications really requiring mobility or
for environments where wiring is more expensive)

Point-to-Point radio-links require Line of Sight : the
sender- and receiver-antenna must be able to see each
other. Because the earth is a sphere, for a long link this
requires relay-stations every 50 km or so. Objects blocking
the line-of-sight also block the communication : new
buildings, trees, flying craft, ...

the radio-medium is shared by everyone :
 it is not so secure, everyone can listen-in on your
transmission,
 it is susceptible to interference. Everyone can send at the
same time in the same frequency band,
 its bandwidth is limited. Given the fact that there is only
one spectrum for everyone, governments have regulated
the usage of this. They define the spectrum into several
bands, each for a particular application. Although there
is no real upper-limit to the spectrum, these bands are
limited. For example, a typical SDH point to point link is
limited to STM-1, 155 Mbps.

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4 Access Networks

Figure 42 Radio : Microwave Dish and other antenna's

Note MCI is an abbreviation for Microwave Communications

Incorporation : started as a microwave radio based network
provider, they have expanded into many other telecom markets.
http://www.wcom.com/

Note Negroponte switch : Professor Negroponte (MIT MediaLab) noted

that concerning wired and wireless, the world seems to evolve in a
remarkable way : information which used to be broadcasted
through radio (TV, Radio) is now being distributed through Wires
(Cable TV). On the other hand, information that used to be
'wired' like telephone, is becoming more and more wireless via
radio (Mobile phones). This observation is called the Negroponte
switch. This observation may not stand for the long term : when
demand for bandwidth grows to more than just telephony, wired
provides a much more cost-effective solution. Also low-cost may
be more important to users than mobility. http://www.media.mit.edu/

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4.3 Analogue Line Access

A simple, low-cost twisted pair from the local exchange (or from
the Access Node) to the subscriber is all you need for analogue
telephony. Millions of these lines are installed worldwide, some of
them operating for many decennia. See figure 43 and 44 for
comparison with ISDN

4.4 ISDN Access

The Integrated Digital Services Network (ISDN) is a concept
defined in the late 70's as a first attempt to define a single
uniform network for all services. Part of the standards describe
the Access part of the network, not only the physical layer, but up
to the protocols. ISDN defines two types of Access :

Basic Rate Access (BRA), in the US also called Basic Rate
Interface (BRI). It consist of 2 user payload channels, each 64
kbps, and 1 signalling channel of 16 kbps. The user
channels are know in the standards as B-channels, and the
signalling channel as D, so the BRA is sometimes referred to
as 2B+D.

Primary Rate Access (PRA), in the US also called Primary Rate
Interface (PRI). It consists of 30 user payload channels of 64
kbps, and 1 signalling channel of 64 kbps. (another
channels is used for synchronization and is not available to
the user). The PRA is also referred to as 30B+D. The physical
layer bandwidth is 2.048 Mbps, the user has 1.92 Mbps
available.

Note On top of the B and D channels, ISDN also specifies an

S-channel, used for synchronization.

The Basic Rate Access requires a Network Termination (NT) at the

subscribers premises. A number of terminals can be connected to
this box, allowing several devices (Telephones, Fax, Computer, ..)
to share the access. Existing analog line terminals (telephone,
fax, modem) can still be connected through a so-called Terminal
Adapter (TA).

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4 Access Networks

Users requiring more bandwidth, such as computers, or private

exchanges, will connect through a Primary Rate Access, as shown
in figure 45.

Note The D channel of Basic Rate Access and Primary Rate Access are
different in bandwidth (16 resp. 64 kbps). This bandwidth is
somewhat proportional to the amount of user channels (B) that
have to be controlled, and is found to be sufficient in both access
types.

Note ISDN is more than just an Access Network : it is also about

services. This services aspect will be described in chapter 6.

Subscriber Premises Local Exchange Office

Analogue Line

Analog
Telephone
Local
Exchange

Figure 43 Analogue Access

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 4 Access Networks

Subscriber Premises Local Exchange Office

S-Bus

ISDN Digital
Telephone(s)

U Interface

ISDN
NT
Local
Exchange

ISDN Fax

Analog Terminal
Telephone Adapter

Owned by Subscriber Owned by Network Provider

Figure 44 ISDN Basic Rate Access

Subscriber Premises Local Exchange Office

Primary Rate Access

Local
Exchange

Primary Rate Access

ISDN
Private Local
Exchange Exchange

Figure 45 ISDN Primary Rate Access

ISDN
Features Using ISDN as Access has the following advantages :

Multi-Service : voice, data, fax, ...

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4 Access Networks

Higher speeds than analogue : 64 kbps, 128 kbps, 1920

Kbps.

High speed Signalling : 16 Kbps D-channel.

SubAddressing : several terminals onto a single access.

Easy implementation of Supplementary Services (see also
chapter 6.1)

On/Dynamic With the above features, ISDN can be well employed as an Access
Always
ISD for voice and data. In the so-called Always-On / Dynamic
ISDN (AOD ISDN) the user is connected fulltime using only the 16
Kbps D-channel. This is sufficient for low-bitrate data-services,
such as email, chat, etc. When you need more bandwidth (for a
data-transfer, or for a voice call) one or more B-channels are
opened. Using the fast signalling possibilities of the D-channels,
this can happen very fast. This is an efficient way of using the
ISDN network, and with the right charging strategy could become
an interesting way to provide internet access.

Alcatel
Product
&
http://www.alcatel.com/products search in ISDN
Lin
ISDN : http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~dank/isdn/

4.5 Concentrating Remote Users

There is a trend in the telecom networks, going from a network
with many smaller exchanges to a network with a few big
exchanges. (see also Figure 35) This is (among others) to reduce
the operation costs.
When collecting more subscribers to a local exchange, they must
be collected from a larger radius around the exchange, which
gives rise to more cabling. As a solution to this there are access
nodes, locally collecting/concentrating users, and then bringing
them to the exchange in an efficient way.
In some cases, the number of twisted pairs available was
exhausted, and network providers searched for a solution to
service more subscribers over the available twisted pairs.
The Accesses behind the Access Node are typically analogue lines,
or Basic Rate Accesses, or a combination of them.

RTS The first systems were proprietary solutions :

the Alcatel Remote Terminal Subscriber Unit (RTSU)

the Alcatel Remote Concentrator Unit (ARCU)

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V5. More and more, operators demand standard products with open
interfaces One of the most successful products of this open
standard type is the V5.x access node. There are two types :

V5.1 : multiplexed non-concentrated. 30 subscribers on a 2
Mbps access.

V5.2 : concentrated, multiplexed : typically 200 subscribers
on a 2 Mbps access.

4.6 Digital Subscriber Line, ADSL

Digital subscriber lines apply modern digital techniques on twisted
pair medium to deliver new services over existing infrastructure.
The bandwidth and quality of a typical analog telephone line is
relatively low (300..3400 Hz). This is mainly because there is a
wide variety of types, lengths, qualities, etc of twisted pairs used,
and an analog line must assume the worst case common
denominator of all.
However, today's more powerful signal processing and computing
techniques allow to build equipment that adapts to each particular
twisted pair, optimizing the use of it case by case, and resulting in
much higher throughputs.
For the Telecom operator, the advantages are :

no additional cable-cost : uses existing telephone line.

telephone network is not used for data-services, like
accessing the Internet. Telephone networks are dimensioned
for phonecalls, not for accessing the Internet. for example the
average phonecall duration is 100 seconds, when 'surfing'
the Internet this is much longer, resulting in congestion in the
telephone network.
Advantages for the end-user :

high throughput : up to Mbps

telephone is still available when surfing the Internet,
telephone and data-services can be used at the same time.

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4 Access Networks

POT ADSL
S
ban
d

Upstream Downstream
800 kbps 8 Mbps

Frequency
[Hz]

Figure 46 ADSL Frequency Spectrum

Multi-Tone Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT) is an advanced form of Frequency

Discrete
Multiplexing. The total bandwidth of the twisted pair cable, is
divided into a large set of small bands. For each band the line
terminals determine what is the quality of each individual
sub-band, by testing it. Better quality means less noise and
interference, and that results into less bit-errors. Another way to
look at this is that for the same amount of bit-errors, a
good-quality frequency sub-band allows to transmit more bits
per second.
After measuring the quality of all the sub-bands, it is decided for
each band how much bits-per-second can be sent over this. For
the total twisted pair, this results in a total bandwidth capacity,
much higher than the classical analog telephone line. As each
twisted pair is different, its possibilities are also different, resulting
into typical capacities from 1 Mbps to tens of Mbps.
For example, for ADSL, the DMT technique partitions the
frequency band 5 KHz to 1.1 MHz in to 255 sub-bands of 4.3
kHz. Each sub-band uses its own modulation scheme. See
Appendix E for more info on modulation.

POTS sub-bands
Quality, Throughput [bps]

band

Frequency
[Hz]

Figure 47 Discrete Multi-Tone

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 4 Access Networks

HDS XDSL is a family name for a number of similar techniques. The x

is a placeholder for several variants of Digital Subscriber
Line (DSL). The first one which was deployed was High Speed
Digital Subscriber Line (HDSL) It is a symmetrical technique : the
same bandwidth is available in both directions. HDSL is typically
deployed in the network where 2.048 Mbps are needed, but only
twisted pair (no coax or fiber) is available.

ADS Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is the best known

variant of XDSL : The main principles are the same, but the
bandwidths are divided Asymmetrical : more bandwidth is made
available from network to user (Downstream) then from network to
user (Upstream). This matches with typical residential applications
such as :

Video-on-Demand (VOD) : video, typically a few Mbps
going downstream, with the user control (selecting the video,
play, stop, rewind, etc) only a few kbps going upstream.

Internet : WEB-contents going downstream is megabytes,
user requests are only a few hundred bytes.
ADSL does not make changes to use of the twisted pair as an
access to an analog phone : The new services come on top of the
existing Plain Old Telephony Service (POTS), or, in the newer
version, on top of ISDN.

Computer Internet
Router
ADSL ADSL
Modem Modem
(NT) (LT)

Telephone Network
(PSTN)
Telephone Local
Exchange

Figure 48 Internet Access Provider, ADSL

Adaptive
ADSL A future evolution will be Adaptive ADSL. In the current system,
the capabilities of the twisted pair are measured once, before
taking the ADSL-line into service. This is called Automatic Rate
Adaptive at Startup. Should the capacity of the line change
drastically after it is put into service, the ADSL Modem will restart

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 75 / 187

4 Access Networks

and then adapt to the new line conditions. This will result in a 15
seconds outage.
Further improvement is possible, when these measurements are
done continuously, resulting in the maximum capacity of the line
at that time to be made available. This is called Automatic Rate
Adaptive at On-Line. An additional complexity is that is requires
applications aware of flow-control : the applications must adapt
to the bandwidth which is available.
Todays ADSL modems are Rate Adaptive at Startup, not yet Rate
Adaptive On-Line. However, each time the modem starts up, he
reserves a small amount of spare capacity. This margin can be
used to adapt to small changes in the line conditions. This
technique is called Bit Swapping.

ADSL
onISDN First generations ADSL provide a large bandwidth on top of a
standard Analog Line Access. New developments have extended
this to ADSL on ISDN Basic Rate Access.
ADSL on ISDN Access is very similar to ADSL on analog lines.
However, since IDSN uses more bandwidth for the Telephony, less
bandwidth is available for the ADSL-part. This results in a 15%
lower throughput for the ADSL data.

ADSL
Lite The throughput of ADSL is directly determined by the 'quality' of
the twisted pair. For this reason, ADSL positions the Splitter and
ADSL NT where your telephone line enters your house. This
however required then that you build two networks in your house :
a telephone network (POTS) and a data-network (for example,
Ethernet). sometimes it would be convenient to have just the
telephone network, and tap the ADSL data at any position where
you have a telephone. This is possible with ADSL Lite : the Splitter
and ADSL NT are placed at the telephone plug, not where the line
enters your house. One drawback however, is that the
data-capacity of the ADSL Lite is substantially lower, 1 Mbps or
lower.
ADSL Lite will be available in Distributed Splitter technology, and
even Splitter-less technology

VDS Digital subscriber lines make a trade-off between bandwidth and

distance : the shorter the line, the higher the throughput. As a
result of this, a number of variants of DSL-techniques are being
developed, from long distance - low bandwidth to short distance
- high bandwidth.
Another parameter is the division of Upstream/Downstream
bandwidth. This can be :

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 4 Access Networks

symmetrical : the same in each direction,

asymmetrical, fixed

asymmetrical, dynamic : the total bandwidth,
upstream+downstream is fixed, but at any time this total can
be assigned in a certain ratio to either direction.
New DSL variants using these new techniques are called Very High
Speed Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL).

Bandwidth

15 Mbps VDSL

6 Mbps ADSL

HDSL
2 Mbps

500 m 5.6 Km 10 Km

Length of Access line

Figure 49 Different DSL techniques

ADSL
Access
Node The ADSL system covers the physical layer. But on top of this, a
protocol stack is needed, as the one described in Figure 32. The
Alcatel solution transports the application information over the
ADSL using ATM-cells. Because most (PC) applications connect
to an IP protocol stack, there is IP on ATM.

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4 Access Networks

Applications

IP

ATM

Physical Layer: ADSL

Figure 50 IP on ATM over ADSL

Coupling this ADSL access to the core network is done at the ATM
level. This ATM-network is then coupled to the Internet or other
core networks. As long as communications stay on the
ATM-based part of the core network, very-high speed and high
quality is guaranteed. Through time this ATM-part can grow
gradually.

ATM

ATM Core
Network
ADSL ADSL
Client Modem Modem Server
(NT) (LT)

Data Access Network Adapter

(DANA)

Other Core Networks

Server

Figure 51 ADSL Access on ATM core Network

Alcatel
Product
&
http://www.alcatel.com/products Search on ADLS
Lin
The ADSL Forum : http://www.adsl.com/

http://www.xdsl.com/services/analyses/trox/

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 4 Access Networks

Figure 52 ADSL Network Termination

4.7 Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC)

'Hybrid Fiber Coax' uses a combination of Fiber and Coaxial
cable. It can be installed as a new network, but is typically the
result of the evolution of the Cable-TV network :

Originally Cable-TV networks were all coax.

Then operators optimized the network for quality and capacity
by converting the Backbone to Fiber. The last branch (tail) of
the network, is still coax running through the street to each of
the homes.

After the backbone became fiber, operators started
interconnecting several regional networks, into bigger
networks.

Operators converted their uni-directional networks (TV
distribution DownStream) to bi-directional networks. This
required additional equipment in the fiber backbone, and
upgrade of equipment in the remaining coaxial part

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 79 / 187

4 Access Networks

Corner of the street one 'T' per user

Figure 53 Hybrid Fiber Coax evolution : Full Coax Star Network

Coax Cell

Figure 54 Hybrid Fiber Coax evolution : Optical Backbone,

Coax Tail

Typical HFC networks have :

100 to 500 users per Coax-cell,

Coax-cells range 250 to 400 m.
On the Hybrid Fiber Coax network, specific bands of bandwidth
are reserved for the different services. Also there is only one coax,
to be shared by a group of subscribers, so a device is needed to
multiplex the access of several users. This is called a Cable
Modem.
Services provided on this HFC network are (typically) :

Cable-TV

new Digital TV channels, sometimes 'on demand'

Analog or ISDN Telephony

Internet Access

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 4 Access Networks

Cable networks are usually organized in 6 MHz bands. One such

band can carry a TV-channel, 30 Mbps of data, or a number of
narrowband speech channels.
Hybrid Fiber Coax networks provide an alternative to Twisted Pair
for telephony : as most homes are already wired for Cable-TV, a
second operator can have an access network deployed within a
short time. Examples are the UK, and also Telenet in Belgium.
http://www.telenet.be/index.english.htm

Downstream
Set top Box return

Data, eg. Internet

Cable Telephony
Supervision

f [MHz]
5 8 10 17 26

118 47 450 480 500 862

Cable-TV

Digital Video
Data, eg. Internet
Cable Telephony
FM Radio

Services
Upstream

Figure 55 Typical spectrum allocation for Cable-Access

Alcatel
Product
&
http://www.alcatel.com/products Search in HFC
Lin

4.8 Fiber in the Loop (FITL)

'Fiber in the Loop' indicates that there is Fiber used somewhere in
the Access Network. Typically the following three cases are
distinguished, depending on how close you come with the fiber to
the subscriber :

Fiber to the Curb (FTTC) : this brings fiber to the 'corner of the
street'. At this place, an access node collects enough users
and bandwidth to justify the fiber. This is done through coax,
radio, twisted pair, etc.

Fiber to the Building (FTTB) : In a next step, fiber could be
routed all the way to office buildings, skyscrapers, etc.

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4 Access Networks

Fiber to the Home (FTTH) : In the final step, fiber is routed to

individual homes. This provides a simple solution with lots of
bandwidth capacity, but is also the more expensive.
A typical FITL network provides :

a few tens of users,

narrowband and broadband services,

network to user distances typically 10 - 20 km,

typical bit rates: 622 Mbps downstream, 155 Mbps upstream.

Curb Building Home

FTTC

FTTB

FTTH

Figure 56 Fiber in the Loop

Optical Passive Optical Networks (PON) are point-to-multipoint fiber

Passive
Networ networks : the fiber is mechanically sliced at one end into a large
number of sub-fibers. Each user is connected to one sub-fiber.
Passive Optical Networks provide a low cost solution for the
splitting/multiplexing function. As a result, for the same cost they
provide a further penetration of the optical part. Disadvantages
of Passive Optical Networks are the higher complexity of the
terminals, and lower security.
the term Passive refers to the fact that there are no electronic
components at the splitting point. (in contrast to a multiplexer or
concentrator)

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 4 Access Networks

Table 10 Active/Passive Optical Networks

Advantages Disadvantages
Active More flexible in Band Expensive optical compo
Optical width management nents in splitter
Network
Passive Splitter is simple, passive More complex security :
Optical 'device' all information is Broad
Network casted to all users
Upstream access uses a
shared medium : requires
access mechanism

Developments
New Passive optical networks serving up to 2000 connected users over
a range up to 100 km are currently being studied. They are
referred to as SUPERPONs.

Note Strictly speaking, Hybrid Fiber-Coax is also a case of Fiber in the

Loop.

4.9 Microwave
In some areas, the cost of burying cable or fiber is very high. This
due to environmental factors (mountains, rivers, ...) or legal (land
is owned by competitors, etc.) In such case, wireless access can
provide an economical alternative.

PointPoin To bridge the distance between the backbone network and the
to
cluster of users, a point to point microwave link can be used.
They could be PDH, or STM-1 SDH, or also sub-rate SDH.
Sub-rate SDH is a new development for SDH standards with
lower bitrates, but also at lower costs. They can provide
economical solutions to the 'problem of the last mile'. Examples
are STM-0 (1 VC3, 34 Mbps), sSTM-2n (1 or more VC2, 6
Mbps), sSTM1k (1 or more VC12/VC11, 2 Mbps).

LMDS Local Multipoint Distribution Services (LMDS) is a radio-based

access system : A fixed base-antenna (typically on a high
building or tower) called Hub, services a number of users which
are also fixed. (customer antenna on top of building). The access
has a broadband capacity : it can be used for all kinds of telecom
services :

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 83 / 187

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POTS or ISDN telephony

Data services such as LAN interconnect, ATM, IP networks,
etc.

Digital Video broadcasting
And potential customers are :

Businesses

Schools, Libraries, Health care providers

Residential consumers
Each Hub is at the center of cell, a few kilometers in size,
containing hundreds or thousands of users. Interconnections
between hubs is typically done through fiber-optic core networks.
The radio-frequencies used are in the range 28 GHz to 42 GHz.
This requires 'line-of-sight' between hub and end-user. The
word Local in LMDS refers to the relative short distance, or small
cell-size. The words Multipoint Distribution refers to the point to
multipoint nature.

Hub

Hub

Hub

Figure 57 Local Multipoint Distribution Services

Wired
vs. Tai The last part of the access can be either wired or wireless . In
Wireless
case users are sufficiently dense clustered, the Tail can be twisted
pair, coax, ADSL, etc. In case of sparse user distribution, and/or
problems to deploy wires, the tail can also be a radio technology,
eg. GSM or DECT, or an older analog mobile standard.
An example of 'Point to Point Microwave' with 'Wireless Tail' is the
implementation for GSM base-stations along the French
Autoroutes : due to the (mostly) deserted area, the base-stations

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are connected to the mobile network with microwave point to

point links.

4.10 GSM

4.10.1 Introduction
Today's most popular standard for Mobile Access is Global System
for Mobile Communications (GSM) (during its development,
however, the abbreviation GSM meant 'Groupe Speciale Mobile')
A mobile network with public access is called the Public Lands
Mobile Network (PLMN). This is in contrast to private mobile
networks, used by Police, Transportation companies, etc.

Cellu GSM is a Cellular system : this means that the whole area to be
covered, is subdivided into a number of cells. Each cell has
installed an antenna and services a certain (limited) number of
users. The smaller the cells, the lower the power needed to
transmit signals through the air. This is important for portable
mbile communication. Also, the smaller the cell, the higher the
user density, so typically cells in the city center are smaller than
cells in a rural area. For GSM the cell size radius varies from
300m to 35 km.
The cells are typically represented as hexagonal, but this is only
because hexagons are simple shapes that connect nice together to
cover a certain area. In real life, the cell boundary is determined
by the area where the antenna signal from the cell equals that of
the adjacent cells. Due to the actual terrain conditions, cells may
have quite irregular shapes.

Figure 58 Example of Frequency Planning : groups of 7

frequencies

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Users can walk around freely from one cell to another. Even when
not communicating, the GSM set stays in contact with the
Base-station, and constantly looks for the nearest (strongest
signal) base-station. As such also the network knows where the
user currently is.

Handov Users can walk around freely from one cell to another, during a
communication. This requires the system to Hand Over the call
with all its resources from one cell to the other. This feature is
called Handover. Handover is sometimes also called seamless
handover, stressing the fact that calls will not be interrupted when
moving from cell to cell. Today mobile networks do not allow
International Handover : moving between cells from different
networks

Roamin When you move from a cell owned by one network provider to a
cell owned by another provider, this is called Roaming. It is then
necessary that these providers have a mutual Roaming Agreement.
One of the aspects of the agreement is how the charging/billing
between both providers will be settled.
In the past, most roaming was International Roaming, ie. from a
network in one country, to another network in another country.
Recently however, also National Roaming has been deployed :
roaming between networks in the same country. This can
particularly useful for new operators : they can focus on providing
network capacity in high density areas (cities, highways), and still
offer full national coverage to their customers, through a roaming
agreement with an existing operator.

Specific

Multiplex : combination of Frequency- and
Time-multiplexing.

Frequency band : 890 - 915 MHz Uplink, 935 - 960 MHz
Downlink

Carrier spacing : 200 kHz (a 'Carrier' the main radio-signal
which is modulated. Here is refers to a part of the 25 MHz
band.)

Number of carriers : 124. uplink and downlink channel are
in bands 45 MHz apart.

Timeslots : 8 timeslots

User speech is encoded as 13 kbps (rather than 64 kbps),
using more advanced compression techniques. Using 13
kbps instead of 64 kbps, allows more simultaneous calls
through the same frequency band.

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When using GSM for data connections, the bitrate is 9.6 kbps
or 12 kbps.

Frequency
[MHz]
960 Downstream Band

935
Upstream Band
915

Frame
890
Time
Timeslots : 8 124 sub-bands, each 200 KHz
wide
Figure 59 GSM Frequency/TDM Structure

Frequency
Planning If all cells would use all possible frequencies at the same time, this
would lead to interference problems at the boundaries of the cells.
In order to avoid this, it is not allowed to use the same frequency
in adjacent cells. So when deploying a GSM network, some
Frequency Planning must be done. This is sometimes also called
Frequency Re-Use, a little misleading because it actually means
frequencies cannot be re-used in adjacent cells. In cells far
enough apart, frequencies can be the same, since the signal from
the far away cell is sufficiently attenuated, not to cause
interference problems.
When network providers work in parallel in the same area, they
must divide the available frequencies among each other. For
example in Belgium, both mobile network providers Proximus and
Mobistar each are assigned 60 of the 124 frequency sub-bands.

Note It is a european law, that the 900 MHz GSM must be assigned to
at least 2 independent operators.

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4.10.2 Network Elements

a GSM network consists of two parts :

the Base Station Subsystem (BSS) : This is actually the part
which is relevant to Access.

the Network Subsystem (NS) : this part is a typical Core
Network, however with a few additions specific to mobility.

Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

Mobile
Station The user equipment (the mobile phone set) is called a Mobile
Station (MS). Each Mobile Station is identified by a unique
International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI). Each user
of the mobile network is identified by his Subscriber Identity
Module (SIM) The smart-card holding the SIM is called the
SIM-card.

Base
Transce The Base Transceiver Station (BTS) contains the antenna's,
Stat transmitters and receivers. Its coverage area defines the cell.

Base
Station
Controller Base Station Controller (BSC)controls a group of Base Transceiver
Stations for power control, handover, etc.

Transco The Transcoder (TC) building block adapts the bitrates between
the Base Station and then Network Subsystem :

13 kbps - 64 kbps for voice

rate adaptation for data : 12 kbps - 64 kbps

Network SubSystem (NSS)

Switching The Mobile Switching Centre (MSC) is a real exchange, serving a
Mobile
Cent number of Base Station Controllers. The MSC is responsible for :

call control : setup, routing, control and termination of the
calls

management of inter-MSC handover

supplementary services

charging and accounting

The MSC is connected to the location and equipment registers
and to other MSCs in the same GSM network. An MSC can
also act as gateway towards other GSM networks and
towards other public networks (PSTN, ISDN and data
networks).

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Home
Location The Home Location Register (HLR) contains information about
Regis subscribers which 'home' is in this part of the network.

Visitors
Location The Visitors Location Register (VLR) holds information relating to
Regis subscribers visiting this part of the network.
This way the subscribers profile information is stored in two parts :
one part is always stored in the 'home' part of the network : the
network where you are subscribed to a provider. The other part is
stored moves along the network as you move around, and is
stored in the Visitors Location Register of the visited network.

Center The Authentication Center (AUC) contains the individual subscriber

Authenticatio
identification keys (also contained in the SIM), and provides
subscriber data to the HLR and VLR for authentication.

Equipment
Identity The Equipment Identity Register (EIR) stores information about
Regis mobile stations in use and can bar calls from a mobile station if it
is stolen, not type-approved or has faults that can disturb the
network.

to Transit Level
Network Subsystem
Authentication Centre

Equipment Identity
Mobile Switching Register
Centre
Home Location Register

Visitor Location Register

Transcoder

Base Station Controller

Base Transceiver Station

Base Station Subsystem

Figure 60 GSM Network Structure

Alcatel
Products
and
GSM Products : http://www.alcatel.com/products Search on GSM
Lin
http://www.proximus.be

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4 Access Networks

http://www.mobistar.be/nl/M/network.html

http://www.gsmworld.com/gsminfo/gsminfo.htm

4.10.3 Mobile Data

Up to now, mobile networks really focused on Voice. Fax and
Modem are possible, but the throughput is limited, eg. 9.6 Kbps
for GSM, versus 56Kbps for PSTN-modems.
However, as already explained in the introduction, there is a clear
trend voice - data convergence". For mobile communications
this convergence is happening in 4 steps :

Short Message Service (SMS)

Wireless Access Protocol (WAP)

General Packet Radio System (GPRS)

Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS)
The main difference between these four is that, step by step, they
provide more bandwidth and more advanced services.

Short
Message
Service This system allows to send small text-based messages between
mobile telephones. It is possible to connect the system to ther
networks, using a Gateway, for example to send messages from
the Internet to mobile telephones. The service is explained in
more detail in section 6.5. Figure 61 shows the additional
network elements needed.

Alcatel
Products
and
GSM Products : http://www.alcatel.com/products Search on GSM
Lin
some websites allow you to send SMS from the web-page to
a mobile user : http://www.netbel.be/site/uk/sms/index.asp

Note the Short Message Service - Centre often has also a connection
to the Voice Mail System, so that a mobile user can be informed of
a received voice mail, via an SMS message.

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to Transit Level
Network Subsystem

Mobile Switching Voice Mail System

Centre

IP Network
Short Message System
Centre (SMS-C)

Base Station Subsystem

Figure 61 Network Elements for Short Message Service

Wireless
Access The purpose of the Wireless Access Protocol is to provide access
Proto from mobile phones to data networks, mainly the Internet. WAP
requires some additional network elements (see figure 62) as well
as some extra software in the mobile phone, the so-called WAP
protocol stack.

to Transit Level
Network Subsystem other
Internet
Services
Mobile Switching
Centre

Internet
WAP Gateway

WAP Service

Base Station Subsystem

Figure 62 Network Elements for WireLess Access Protocol

General
Pack
Radio
et General Packet Radio System. Once the Mobile user has a
Syst Gateway to the Internet, he can start using more and more
services. This will soon reveal the bandwidth bottleneck that SMS
and circuit switched connections have. A solution to this is
General Packet Radio System : it adds to the Mobile network, a
packet switched data-communication. A GPRS-aware mobile
phone, allows to combine up to 8 timeslots (see figure 59) of each
maximum 22.8 kbps to provide a maximum of approx. 160 kbps.

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This bandwidth must be shared by all users of that same

frequency, both by the voice-users and data-users !

Note GPRS and WAP are Complementary technologies : GPRS gives a

mobile user a 'high-speed' data-connection. WAP allows to use
this data-connection for accessing the Internet.

Alcatel
Product
&
http://www.alcatel.com/products Search on GPRS
Lin
http://www.gprsworld.com

http://www.ericsson.se/gprs

to Transit Level
Network Subsystem

Mobile Switching
Centre

Home Location Register

Transcoder Gateway GPRS

Support Node
(GGSN)
Internal
Internet
Network
Serving GPRS
Support Node
(SGSN)
Base Station Controller

Base Transceiver Station

Base Station Subsystem
Figure 63 GPRS Network Structure

Mobile Finally the third generation mobile system will bring broadband
Universal
Telecommunic mobile access, as well as a whole architecture focused on services.
Syst More info on UMTS can be found in section 4.14, however, the
standards are not yet completely finalized, and different vendors

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have different ideas of what this next generation mobile system

should be.

4.10.4 Other Mobile Evolutions

Enhanced
Full
Rate At the first standardization of GSM, the engineers choose to code
a single voice signal, into a channel of 13 Kbps. This was the best
compromise between capacity (number of users) and
voice-quality. Note that 13 Kbps requires some compression
because standard voice uses 64 Kbps.
In the mean time, compression techniques have improved, and
todays technology can do better :

the same voice-quality can be compressed to 6.5 Kbps, and
as a result, a double amount of users can be services for the
given bandwidth. This technique is called Half Rate Channel.

a Better voice quality can be provided for the same 13 Kbps.
This is called Enhanced Full Rate (EFR).

Frequen Slow Frequency Hopping (SFH) is also a technique to improve the

Slow
Hoppin signal quality. Due to interferences (eg. reflections on buildings in
cities), there are places with poor reception for certain frequencies.
Instead of using a single frequency band for the whole call, Slow
Frequency Hopping continuously changes (rotates) the used
frequency. In a certain location, some of these frequencies may
be disturbed, but other will be good. The result is that the
received voice quality is more equally spread over all locations.
As some older GSM telephones do not yet support SFH, there are
always some frequency-bands excluded from the rotation
scheme.

4.11 GSM 1800 / GSM 1900

With the growing number of mobile users, and the growing
number of mobile network providers, the capacity of the 900 MHz
GSM band will eventually be exhausted. A solution to this is GSM
1800/ GSM 1900. It is the allocation of a second frequency band
in the 1800 MHz range (1900 MHz for the American continent,
where 1800 MHz was already allocated). Technical properties of
GSM 900 and GSM 1800/1900 are very similar : the main
differences are :

1800 or 1900 MHz frequencies are used, and typically
smaller power (1W, 0.25W), resulting into smaller cells.

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4 Access Networks

the 1800/1900 MHz band is wider than the 900 MHz,

allowing 3 times as much frequencies, so also 3 times as
much users : 374 frequencies for GSM1800, 299 for
GSM1900.

cell sizes : 100 m to a few Km.

Note In the early days of its design, the GSM1800/1900 system was
also known as DCS 1800 / DCS 1900 : Digital Cellular
System (DCS), and also as PCN 1900

If more than two Mobile Networks are provided in an area,

usually the younger networks deploy GSM1800. For example in
Belgium, the third network provider 'KPN  Orange' uses GSM
1800. Also some first operators are using GSM 1800 (on top of
GSM900) to increase their network capacity. As an example
Proximus, the first mobile operator in Belgium is offering dual
band (900 and 1800) operation.

Alcatel
Product
&
GSM Products : http://www.alcatel.com/products
Lin
CDMA Products : http://www.alcatel.com/products

http://www.be.orange.net/kpn.html

http://www.uk.orange.net/index.html

http://www.proximus.be

http://www.mobistar.be

4.12 DECT
The Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication (DECT) system
specifies a wireless access system for local environments to access
wide area network services, such as the PSTN, ISDN and mobile
networks. It consists of a communication protocol and an air
interface standard.
Typical applications are:

Private Exchanges with wireless handsets,

Residential systems,

Wireless Local Area Networks,

wireless access to public telecom networks, also called
Cordless Telephone Mobility (CTM)
Features of DECT systems are :

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mobility up to 250 meters outdoors, 25 to 50 m indoors,

Air interface is digital, resulting into speech quality equivalent
to or better than that of a wired telephone.

Cellular system, with very high user densities / Micro Cells : in
a business environment, each floor/room of a building can be
a cell.

fast installation of communication infrastructure, due to
wireless access.

DECT Base station and small Private Branch Exchange (PABX)
can be integrated for residential applications.

possibilities to also use it as Wireless Local area Network :
several voice channels can be combined into a single bearer.
For data this up to 552 kbps.

Specific

Multiplex : combination of Frequency- and
Time-multiplexing.

Frequency band : 1880 - 1900 MHz

Carrier spacing : 1.728 MHz

Number of carriers : 10

Timeslots : 24 timeslots, each timeslot unidirectional,

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Frequency
[MHz] Base Station Transmits Terminal Station Transmits
Downstream Link Upstream Link
1900

Frame
1880
Time
Timeslots : 2 * 12 Sub-band :
1.728 MHz wide
Figure 64 DECT Frequency/TDM Structure

Note A DECT terminal continuously monitors the available carrier

channels to select the one which provides the highest quality
communication. The control part is not involved in the selection,
which makes the system very flexible. This is also the reason why
no frequency planning is required in micro-cellular DECT
systems.

4.13 Bluetooth
Bluetooth is the codename for a technology specification for small
form factor, low-cost, short range radio links between mobile
PCs, mobile phones and other portable devices. The Bluetooth
Special Interest Group is an industry group consisting of leaders in
the telecommunications and computing industries that are driving
development of the technology and bringing it to market.

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Figure 65 Positioning of Bluetooth in Bandwidth versus Distance

Bluetooth will enable users to connect a wide range of computing

and telecommunications devices easily and simply, without the
need to buy, carry, or connect cables. It delivers opportunities for
rapid ad hoc connections, and the possibility of automatic,
unconscious, connections between devices. It will virtually
eliminate the need to purchase additional or proprietary cabling
to connect individual devices. Because Bluetooth can be used for a
variety of purposes, it will also potentially replace multiple cable
connections via a single radio link.It creates the possibility of using
mobile data in a different way, for different applications such as
"Surfing in the sofa", "The instant postcard", "Three in one phone"
and many others. It will allow them to think about what they are
working on, rather than how to make their technology work.

Note Bluetooth technology is intended for short range wireless

communication, where usually transmitter and receiver are both
'owned' by the end-user. From this point of view you could also
classify it as a technology used in Customer Premises Equipment.

Lin
bluetooth home page : http://www.bluetooth.com

Web-Based Training course on Bluetooth, by Ericsson :
http://bluetooth.ericsson.se/support/online.asp

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4.14 UMTS, Third Generation Mobile

The first generation mobile system was the Analog Cellular
system. It was quite successful in the US (Advanced Mobile Phone
System (AMPS)), unlike its very limited success in Europe.
The second generation mobile systems are the ones based on
digital techniques, GSM and the US counterparts Personal
Communication System (PCS), Digital AMPS (D-AMPS). These
systems are extremely successful in Europe, Asia and also in the
US, albeit that the availability of a satisfactory analog system, and
the non-adoption of the GSM standard results in a slightly slower
deployment.
One of the main limitations of the second generation systems is
the limited bandwidth, especially for data-communications. Eg.
via a GSM set, data-connections can only achieve up to 9.6
Kbps. This is where the next generation (the third generation)
mobile systems wants to improve : providing the user with mobile
access of typical 384 Kbps over 2 Mbps to even 10 Mbps in some
proposals.
The third generation mobile system is also called Universal Mobile
Telephone System (UMTS).

4.15 Satellite
The main problem that remains with the above mobile networks,
is the coverage : only at places with sufficient (potential) users it is
economically worthwhile to place base stations. Unpopulated
areas like desert, forests, at sea, etc. will not be covered.
Using satellites, a network can be built that really covers the whole
earth.

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Figure 66 Satellite Systems

4.15.1 Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO)

Geostationary satellites are rotating around the earth at an
altitude of ca. 36000 km. This high altitude causes the satellite to
rotate quite slowly : 1 rotation per 24 hours. Because the earth
rotates around its axis as well, for a GEO-satellite above the
equator, this means it appears to stand still when seen from the
earth. The advantages of communication systems using
GEO-satellites are :

high altitude allows to cover a large part of the earth.
Typically only 3 satellites are needed for full coverage.

antennas to the satellite can be fixed parabolic dish antennas.
Disadvantages are :

due to high altitude, more power is needed to send signals to
the satellite, making it impractical for portable devices.

due to long distance (high altitude), a long round-trip delay
occurs when using these satellites (250 ms). This delay is
impractical for voice communication or for fast computer
communication.

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Figure 67 Parabolic dish to GeoStationary Satellite

4.15.2 Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

Low-Earth orbit satellites are much closer to the earth, typically
600 to 800 km. As a result they rotate faster, typically once every
2 hours. The advantages of communication systems using
LEO-satellites are :

due to 'low' altitude, less power is needed to send signals to
the satellite,

small round-trip delay (<30 ms), allowing fast data
communication, responsive systems.
Disadvantages are :

low altitude covers only a small part of the earth. Typically 50
or more satellites are needed for full coverage. This large
group of satellites, nicely distributed over the earths sky is
called a Constellation.

satellites rotate faster than the earth : antennas can not be
fixed, and hand-over mechanism is needed such that your
communication is always mapped on the closest satellite.

satellites will also fly over low- or unpopulated areas.
When having a large number of satellites close to the earth,
another advantage is that per user, more bandwidth will be
available.

4.15.3 Satellite Frequencies

Satellites can use different frequency bands, again with some pro
and contra's for each band :

100 / 187 770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08

 4 Access Networks

Table 11 Satellite Frequency Bands, a comparison

Band Frequency Pro Contra Example

[GHz]
L 1.53-2.7 radiowaves large parts of Globalstar
penetrate this band are Iridium
buildings already used.
Ku 11.7-12.7 lots of band large parts of SkyBridge
(down) width and this band are
14-17.8 good building already used.
(up) penetration

Ka 18-31 lots of band requires pow Teledesic

width available erful transmit Celestri
ters
Spaceway
subject to rain
fade

4.15.4 Systems
Below four concrete systems are briefly described. The past years,
many plans for global satellite systems have been proposed.
However, the first of these 'satellite constellation' systems, Irirdium,
has brought the telecom world back to reality due to its many
startup problems :

a number of technical problems with the voice quality,

satellite telephony seems to be too expensive, Iridium is not
realizing the forecasted number of subscribers

the market for satellite telephony is becoming smaller due to
the faster growth of Public Lands Mobile Networks : the areas
not covered by GSM (and similar) systems is smaller than
expected.
For two of these systems, Alcatel participates : SkyBridge and
GlobalStar.

Figure 68 Globalstar logo

Globals Globalstar is a satellite-based, wireless telecommunications

system designed to provide voice, data, fax, messaging and other

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telecommunications services to users worldwide. Users of

Globalstar will make or receive calls using hand-held or vehicle
mounted terminals similar to today's cellular phones. Calls will be
relayed through Globalstar's 48 satellite constellation, in a 1,414
kilometer (approximately 900 mile) orbit above the earth, to a
groundstation and then through local terrestrial wireline and
wireless systems to their end destinations.
GlobalStar is in operation since begin 2000.
http://www.globalstar.com

Figure 69 SkyBridge logo

SkyBri SkyBridge wants to bring High-speed local access to

multi-media broadband services, for business as well as
residential users, all over the world. Typical applications will be
Internet, Video-conference, Distance Learning and Entertainment.
SkyBridge will use a constellation of 80 satellites in the Ku band,
orbiting at an altitude of 913 miles (1,469 km). This low earth
orbit allows the short signal propagation time - 30 milliseconds
- needed for the provision of real-time interactive services.
Approximately 200 gateway stations are planned for worldwide
coverage. Each gateway will have a 234 miles radius (350 km)
coverage.
The total worldwide capacity of the system will be 215 Gbps
(backbone) and each user can have n*20 Mbps downstream
(satellite to user) and n*2 Mbps upstream (user to satellite). n is
the number of channels used, the system allows to combine
several of these together.
SkyBridge does not use inter-satellite links, but rather 'reflects' all
traffic to the earth and uses terrestrial fiber-optic networks.
SkyBridge plans operation in the year 2002.
http://www.skybridgesatellite.com

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Figure 70 Iridium logo

Iridi With 66 satellites forming a cross-linked grid above the Earth,

the Iridium system is the first low-Earth-orbiting system for
wireless telephone service. Only 780 km (485 miles) high, these
satellites work differently from those at a much higher orbit
(36,000 km) in two major ways. First, they are close enough to
receive the signals of a handheld device; and second, they act like
cellular towers in the sky - where wireless signals can move
overhead instead of through ground-based cells.
The Iridium system will employ a combination of Frequency
Division Multiple Access and Time Division Multiple Access
(FDMA/TDMA) signals multiplexing to make the most efficient use
of limited spectrum. The L-Band serves as the link between the
satellite and Iridium subscriber equipment. The Ka-Band serves
as the link between the satellite and the gateways and earth
terminals.
Iridium services provide telephony and paging coverage virtually
anywhere in the world:

Iridium World Satellite Service provides a direct satellite link
for both incoming and outgoing communications in remote
areas, poorly covered regions, and locations outside
terrestrial networks.

Iridium World Roaming Service allows you to roam across
multiple wireless protocols, allowing you to keep one
telephone number and receive one telephone bill for calls
made anywhere on earth.

The Iridium World Page Service provides global alphanumeric
messaging.
Today the Iridium project is in trouble and will likely be ended
shortly : due to the expensive handsets, and expensive talk-time
(9$ per minute), it only gained a some 57000 subscribers
worldwide, not enough to be profitable. The Iridium partners are
now looking to reuse the satellites for a different purpose, but if
that doesn't work out, the satellites will be terminated by burning
them in the earth atmosphere.
http://www.iridium.com

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Telede The Teledesic Network is a high-capacity broadband network that

combines the global coverage and low latency of a
low-Earth-orbit (LEO) constellation of satellites, the flexibility and
robustness of the Internet, and "fiber-like" Quality of Service
(QOS). Essentially an "Internet-in-the-Sky," the Teledesic
Network brings affordable access to interactive broadband
communication to all areas of the Earth, including those areas
that could not be served economically by any other means.
Most users will have two-way connections that provide up to 64
Mbps on the downlink and up to 2 Mbps on the uplink.
Broadband terminals will offer 64 Mbps of two-way capacity. This
represents access speeds up to 2,000 times faster than today's
standard analog modems.
The Teledesic Network will consist of 288 operational satellites,
divided into 12 planes, each with 24 satellites. As the satellite
planes orbit north-to-south and south-to-north, the Earth
rotates underneath.
http://www.teledesic.com

4.16 Satellite Data

Due to their broadcasting possibilities, satellites can also be used
for data-broadcasting. One example is the Internet Access
provided by Hughes :
1. PC sends browser request via 'traditional' modem to service
provider,eg. 28800 bps)
2. Service provider retrieves information from Internet-server,
using eg. T1/E1 connection, 1.5 - 2 Mbps
3. When retrieved, the data is sent from service provider to
satellite (together with the information goes an identification
of the requestor)
4. Satellite broadcasts the info, it is picked up by a PC with
dish-antenna receiver. Typical speed is 400 kbps.
http://www.direcpc.com

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Internet

PSTN

Figure 71 Internet Access via combination Modem / Satellite

4.17 Internet Access

A user can access the public voice network in many different ways,
as was described in the previous section :

Analog Line

ISDN

GSM

DECT

Satellite

Hybrid Fibre Coax

etc..
As a matter of fact, almost all these types of access, also allow to
access the Internet. However, for the Internet Access, there is
some additional terminology which needs to be explained.

Dial-up
orPermane
your computer or computer-network is full-time connected.
This is the case for universities, medium to large companies,
government organizations, etc.. This is also called
Always-On".

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you connect to the Point of Presence (PoP) via a dial-up

connection. Today, many residential users use email and
occasionally World Wide Web (WWW)-browsers. For these
applications, a permanent connection is not really necessary,
and often too expensive. You can establish a temporary
connection for the duration of your information transfer. This
is traditionally called Dial-Up".

Network
Structure In general, the Internet Access network, consists of the following
parts (see Figure 72) :

a public access network : this can be the PSTN, your
Cable-TV, GSM, ADSL, LMDS, etc... This is provided by a
Telecom provider, Cable-TV provider, etc.

a Point of Presence (POP) : this is the other end of the
connection over the public access network. For example, you
call via the modem of your computer, over the PSTN to a
modem in the Point of Presence. The part behind the POP is
normally invisible to the end user.

an access provider network. Usually there is no straight
connection from the Point of Presence to the Internet
Backbone : the provider will combine several POPs via a
provider network, and connect them to the backbone via one
or more internet Service providers.

the provider offering the Point of Presence and the
(intermediate) access provider network, is called an Internet
Access Provider (IAP).

The internet access provider network is connected to the
internet backbone through an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
This consists of 3 elements :
 an (intermediate) internet service provider network,
 a number of servers providing Internet Services, such as
email, newsgroups, web-pages, ...
 a gateway : a device coupling the internet service
provider network to the Backbone. The gateway typically
provides router functions, together with other functions,
eg. a firewall.

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internet service internet access

provider (ISP) provider (IAP)

Service Access Public

Internet
Provider Provider Access
Core Network
Network Network Network

client

Point of
GateWay Presence
(POP)

Internet Service
Provider Services

Figure 72 Internet Access : Terminology

In some cases, each part of the network can be provided by a

different provider. In other cases Internet Access provider (IAP)
and Internet Service provider (ISP) are one and the same. Finally,
the whole access can be offered by a single provider, playing all 3
roles. Some examples :

Using Belgacom Turboline ADSL (IAP) you still need to
subscribe with (eg.) Skynet as ISP

Using Telenet / Pandora, you subscribe with one operator for
both IAP (Telenet) and ISP (Pandora)

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 5 Customer Premises Equipment

5 Customer Premises Equipment

5.1 Phone

5.1.1 Analog Telephone

This is still the most widespread type of phone worldwide. Analog
phones are inexpensive due to years of cost-improvement : it can
be built around a single integrated circuit, like for example the
Alcatel Maximum Integration Phone Set (MIPS).
Todays analog phone has features like :

Calling Line Identity, analog

Number Memories,

Re-dial

Handsfree use

etc.
Analog phones can signal the digits using one of two ways :

Pulse mode : each digit is represented as a number of short
interruptions on the line, eg digit '4' consists of 4 interruption
pulses, each 100 ms.

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Tone mode : a system called Dual Tone Multiple

Frequency (DTMF) : each digit is signalled using a
combination of 2 frequencies out of a set of 4+4. This allows
16 combinations, 0..9, '*' , '#' and A,B,C,D.
http://www.conservinc.com/HYPERTEXT/MT/dtmf.HTM

Note Many services available to ISDN are brought to analog phones.

However, since signalling capabilities of an analog phone are
limited, using these analog phone services is slightly more
complex.

Figure 73 Alcatel 21XX, Analog Telephone

5.1.2 ADSI/CLASS Telephone

Custom Local Area Signalling Services (CLASS), and Analog
Display Services Interface (ADSI) are two types of analog phones
that facilitate the use of supplementary services by adding a
display providing interactive guidance.
The CLASS telephone has the service codes for supplementary
services hard-coded into the telephone.
The ADSI phone acts as a terminal which keeps a connection with
an ADSI-server. This server provides the text on the display, and
interpretes the selections of the user.
http://www.astadsi.com/

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5.1.3 ISDN Telephone

ISDN phones are similar to Analog ones, but almost always have
a display to show messages to the user, a feature used by several
ISDN services. The set usually also has a number of
programmable keys, to provide shortcuts to the ISDN
Supplementary Services.
In the early days of ISDN, there were small differences in the
implementation of the standard from country to country. As a
result, ISDN-phones could not be used worldwide as easily as
analog phones do.

Figure 74 Alcatel 2810, ISDN Telephone

5.1.4 Facsimile, Fax

A Fax-machine contains 3 parts :

an Image Scanner : it scans any image on paper into a set of
pixels which are black or white.

a Printer : it prints the image back on paper.

a Modem (see chapter 5.4.1 ) : via the modem the scanned
information is transmitted via the telephone network from one
fax-machine to the other.
A fax scans the image on the page you want to send. Then it
makes a phonecall to the receiver machine, and negotiates a
format to send the information. Then the image-information is
sent, in a compressed way, stored on the receiver machine, and
printed there.
Several generations of fax-machines exist, differing in how they
transfer information over the telephone network : the newer the
fax, the more advanced the compression and modem techniques,

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and the faster the pages can be sent. Following are common
types :

Group III : speeds up to 9600 bits per second, resulting in 10
o 15 seconds per page throughput.

Group IV : uses an ISDN B-channel : 64 kbps, and less than
5 seconds per page.
When you have the three building blocks for a fax (scanner,
printer, modem) you are able to perform the functions of Printer,
Scanner ,Copier, Modem and Fax. Recently such 5 in 1 office
machines have been introduced on the market.

5.1.5 Mobile Phone

As explained in chapter 4.10 and later, several types of Mobile
standards exist:

Analog types

Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephone

GSM

other standards in the USA, Japan, etc.
Even with these differences, the end-user features of the mobile
handset are very similar :

Small display to guide supplementary services, display with
messages, etc.

a set of Navigation Keys to navigate through all the features,

a telephone directory, with 100 numbers or more,

different ringing melodies to indicate different calling parties,

microphone and speaker extensions to use it in a handsfree
way.

Note Using mobile phones while driving a car is dangerous, even when
using a handsfree set : because the drivers concentration is not
100% dedicated to driving, studies show that the risk of accidents
increases by a factor 4. In some countries, using mobile phones
while driving a car is forbidden.

Dual
Band As explained in chapter 4.10 and 4.11, GSM networks use
different frequency bands : 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 1900 MHz.
When travelling with your (eg.) 1800 MHz band GSM to a country
that has only 900 MHz mobile networks, your phone will not
work. This clearly limits your mobility. Therefore Dual Band or

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Multi Band phones are being developed, having the possibility to

use more than one frequency band. This requires of course
additional High Frequency (HF) electronics, so the phone will be a
little bit more expensive.

Dual
Mode One step further than Dual Band is Dual Mode. This is a phone
combining different technologies, for example DECT and GSM :
when you are in your office, within the coverage of your DECT
private mobile network, the phone uses the private network. when
you are out of the office, (out of the coverage of the private
network) the phone switches to GSM, using the public network.
Another example is GSM / Satellite : when leaving the coverage of
the GSM network, you can fall back on the worldwide coverage of
a satellite network, being more expensive however.
Dual Mode phones are even more complex than dual band, and
will probably only be used for specific applications, not as a
general consumer product.

Alcatel
Produc
http://www.alcatel.com/consumer/mobilephone/index.htm

Figure 75 Mobile Phone (Alcatel One Touch Easy db-W@p

5.2 Pager
Pagers are small compact devices that can receive messages sent
using radio-transmission. Originally pagers are simplex : only
receiving information, but newer generations provide duplex

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communication. Pagers can be built as small is integrated into a

wristwatch.

5.3 Private Exchange

Many companies have private telephone exchanges. Internal
communications are free, and usually these exchanges provide
additional business-oriented features that are not available (yet)
in the public network.
The numbers of subscribers serviced by a private exchange can
range from as small as 10 to several thousands.
Small private exchanges, typically less than 10 lines, are also
deployed in homes. They allow to have phones in different
rooms, a connection for fax and modem, etc.
Residential DECT often also provides a private exchange functions,
whereby one base-station can serve up to (eg.) six mobile
phones. Free communications can be made between the sets.

Note A public exchange can also emulate a private exchange. This is

described in chapter 6.2 on Services.

Alcatel
Produc
Small PABX : Alcatel 2740, Alcatel 2750

Large PABX for Business, Hotel, Hospital : Alcatel 4400

5.3.1 Virtual Private Network

Multi-site companies can interconnect their private exchanges, as
well as their private data-networks, through the public network.
Many cases this is still done with so-called leased lines.

5.4 Computer, Computer Network

5.4.1 Analog Modem

An analog modem uses a standard analog telephone line to
communicate data. The advantage is that such a telephone line
and these modems are (virtually) a world wide standard, so that a
traveller can use them anywhere. The throughput of these
modems is however limited :

Older modems had throughputs of 9600 bps, 14400 bps (the
speed also used by many fax machines) and 28800 bps.

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Newer modems use compression and more complex

modulation schemes to increase throughputs to 33600 bps
and recently 56000 bps. The last modems of the so-called
56K Flex or V.90 standard, only have this high throughput in
one direction : downloading. Also the throughput is not
guaranteed, depending on the quality of the telephone line.
When making a connection with two modems, the maximum
speed of the connection, is limited by the slowest of both modems.
Fortunately most modems are backward compatible with lower
speeds, and as such will still work together with older modems.
The connection-bitrate will be determined by the slowest modem.
In newer modems, the connection-bitrate can even be reduced
by the modems in case of a poor quality telephone-line. (this is
also used in Fax-machines).
Modems come in many shapes : as an extension card for the PC,
as a PCMCIA extension card for portable PC's or as a separate
set-top device.
Modems are being integrated into more and more devices,
allowing such device to communicate over standard telephone
lines.
http://www.56k.com/

5.4.2 ISDN Modem

ISDN Modems have higher throughput, 64, 128 or 144 kbps,
depending on the combination of the 2 B + D channels. Strictly
spoken ISDN-Modems are not really modems, because the ISDN
S-Bus provides a digital channel. However, in analogy with
analog modems, the computer cards or boards that interface to
this bus are called modems.
ISDN Modems are not backward compatible with analog lines,
and since ISDN is not yet available worldwide, ISDN Modems are
less applicable for portable computers.

5.4.3 GSM Modem

Modems exist that can connect over mobile phones, for example
GSM. Technically they are somewhere in-between analog
modems and ISDN : they use digital transmission, but the speeds
are nevertheless limited to eg. 9600 bps. This because a mobile
network limits the bandwidth of a channel, to allow more users at
the same time. Because of the limited throughput, these modems
are used only in specific applications where the mobility is
mandatory, eg. a travelling salesman who wants to reach the

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company network from his car. One of the features of the third
generation mobile network is to improve data-communication,
therefore it will provide much larger bandwidths, eg. 2 Mbps.

5.4.4 Local Area Network

Individual computers can be interconnected using Local Area
Networks (LAN). These networks are usually completely private,
the reason why they are described in this chapter. However, the
main principles explained in the chapter on core networks also
apply to these local area networks :

they are organized as ring, star, or other network structures,

they consist of links interconnecting nodes,

the nodes are packet-switches, either connection-oriented
or connection-less.
In this chapter, the most popular standards for local area networks
are described, as well as some additional concepts specific to
these networks.

CSMA-CD On simple LANs, computers are all connected in parallel sharing

a common communication channel : it is said the they share the
medium. As a result they must somehow agree how to share the
channel, such that no two computers talk at the same time. These
techniques are called Media Access Control (MAC).
A simple mechanism to organize this is called Carrier Sense
Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA-CD) : every
computer that wants to talk, listens until all other computers are
quiet. Only then it starts talking.
This still yields a chance that 2 computers start talking at the same
time, resulting into a so-called Collision. To detect this, a
computer keeps listening even when he is talking. When there is a
collision, he will hear two computers, not just himself. As soon as
this happens, the computers will suspend transmitting, at least for
a random time. Because this random time is different for all
machines, they will usually not start again at the same time.
However when there is a large number of computers wanting to
send, each collision may be followed by another, and as a result
no one can get through anymore. This is called a jammed
network.
The popular Ethernet uses CSMA-CD as sharing mechanism. It
is available in speeds of 10 Mbps (10BaseT), 100 Mbps and
Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gbps). Experiments are done with 10 Gbps
Ethernet.

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Token
Ring The Token Ring network was developed to overcome the problem
of jammed networks. On the network, a token is circulating.
Only the computer who currently holds the token is allowed to
transmit, this way clearly avoiding any collision. A computer that
doesn't want to transmit, passes the token to its neighbor.

Hub The concept of a Bus and a Ring are useful as topologies, (logical
structures), but as a physical layout they have disadvantages :
whenever a computer has to be added to the network, the bus or
ring has to be opened, resulting in a temporary unavailability of
the network. In computer network terms, the network would be
down. A more practical way to operate a network is using a Hub.
This device allows computers to be physically connected as a star
network, while logically they are still a bus or ring.

Bus

Hub
Figure 76 Ethernet LAN without / with a Hub

Ring Hub

Figure 77 Token Ring LAN without / with a Hub

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Repeat When the distance between the computers exceeds the

specifications of the LAN network type, a repeater can break the
network up into two smaller networks, each again meeting the
size-limit. The repeater is simply amplifying the signals, copying
the data packets from one sub-network to the other, and vice
versa.

Brid When interconnecting networks of different technologies, a device

is needed that Bridges the technology-gap. It also copies packets
from one network to the other, but adapts from one technology to
the other as well.
Some bridges only copy packets if the Destination address of the
packet is on the other side. They can learn which address is on
which network, by looking to the Source addresses. These bridges
are called Self-learning bridges and are actually almost a router

Rout A router differs from a bridge in two aspects :

it can connect to more than two networks,

it routes packets to their destination, by only copying to the
network that holds the computer indicated by the packet
destination address.

Lan
Switch The term LAN Switch refers to a router in which most functions
are implemented in hardware.

Thin
Servers This term refers to devices which are mostly pre-configured, and
ready-to-use from the box. Rapid installation time and simple
configuration (low cost of ownership in general) are the main
advantage of these devices. Many of these devices are
self-learning, self-healing, etc. Typical functions are
Web-servers, Routers, Firewalls, etc..

5.5 Personal Digital Assistant

aPersonal Digital Assistant (PDA) is a small, portable device, which
can hold and organize your personal information such as :

phonenumbers

addresses

agenda with meetings, events, ..

to-do list

etc.

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Many of the newer generation devices have networking

capabilities :

Modems, to connect via telephone networks dial-up to
information servers.

GSM (or similar) to connect via wireless networks,

Infrared Data Association (IrDA) infrared ports, to connect to
PCs, or Mobile phones, etc.

In the future, these devices will also have Bluetooth wireless
connectivity.

Figure 78 3COM Palm V and Alcatel One Touch Com

5.6 Network Computer

A Network Computer looks like any computer, but does not have
permanent storage, like a harddisk. Rather it always has a
network connection, through which it can load applications
and/or data. This connection can be a modem, ADSL-modem,
Cable-modem or similar. The network computer needs a lot of
bandwidth, because application and data must be downloaded.
Advantages of the network computer are :

the user need not install software himself, need not worry
about upgrading software : a complete up-to-date
application is downloaded instantly when he needs it.

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the user doesn't need to buy (expensive) software which he

will only use a few times : he can pay per use.
However, promoted by (mainly) Sun and Oracle, network
computers are not yet very successful, due to the following
disadvantages :

they are not significantly cheaper than standard personal
computers, since they contain the same building blocks,
except for a relatively cheap harddisk.

they are not so mobile, they can only work when connected to
the network. When connected they need lots of bandwidth,
resulting in costs there as well.

users still like to have control over their own Personal
computer, rather than being dependent upon a network.
http://www.nc.com/

5.7 Screenphone
The screenphone is a mix between a telephone and a
WEB-browser. This concept is somehow also an evolution of the
ADSI or CLASS services. Marketing studies show that many
people find a telephone very familiar, but are uncomfortable with
a personal computer. The screenphone integrates a simple
computer into a telephone.
It can be used for normal phone-calls, but also has a modem, a
(retractable) keyboard and a display, which allows it to connect to
WEB-servers, and be used as a browser. This will facilitate
on-line services such as :

home-banking,

booking for theater, film, etc.

checking stocks

etc.
The screenphone also has a smart-card reader, so it can be used
for on-line shopping : after selecting an article you can pay by
inserting your electronic money smartcard, and the article will be
sent to you.

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Figure 79 Alcatel 'Web Touch'

5.8 Internet Phone

The Internet Phone uses Voice-over-IP technology, to offer voice
service over the Internet. The phone makes a Local call to the
nearest Internet Access Provider. (in some countries, this call is
even for free, eg. USA) The long distance is covered by the
Internet or by other IP carrier-networks.
The voice is converted into IP packets in the telephone itself thus
avoiding this conversion in the Access or Core network. It is
estimated that in the future, internet phones can be manufactured
for cost comparable to todays analog telephones, 10$.
http://www.aplio.com/

5.9 Web-TV
Web-TV is a device that integrates an Internet Browser with a
television. This way it combines the best of both :

high downstream bandwidth of the TV : high quality pictures

interactivity of the Internet
Web-TV places an additional box between your Cable-TV,
Internet Access and TV. This box is (usually) set on top of your TV,
and therefore called Set-Top Box.

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The TV-program contains additional information about

'hyperlinks' (carried in much the same way as the teletext system)
and these are shown high-lighted on the screen. The user can
then 'click' this link to additional information with his remote
control (or a remote keyboard) and this way start to interact with
the Web-TV program. Examples of interaction are :

jump to the Web-site of a company showing a advertisement

order a product demonstrated on TV

televote

look up more info on an athlete during a sports program, an
actor during a movie, ...

print the weather forecast after watching it on TV

...
http://www.webtv.net/

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6 Network Services
This chapter describes what you can do with a network, rather
than how it is structured. As a simple example, once you have
the telephone network, you can make phone-calls, but you can
also use the same infrastructure to implement a Wake-Up Call.
All the things the network can do for you are called Services.

6.1 Supplementary Services

6.1.1 Introduction
The first type of services are called Supplementary Services. They
are additional features on top of the Basic Call : a simple
two-party duplex voice connection.
Since the basic call for digital telephony is over 15 years old, it is
very mature, and as such most competition (between
manufacturers, as well as between network/service providers) is
now in the area of supplementary services.
As an example, Belgacom (Belgian incumbent operator) offers you
the 'Comfort Services' package, a packet of 5 supplementary
services at the cost of 85 BEF/month. Similarly Telenet (Belgian
second operator) offers you the possibility to pick service by
service.
http://www.belgacom.be/catalog/en/services/additionalservices/thecomfortservic
es/default.htm
http://www.telenet.be/thuis/thuis6.htm (NL)
Way over 100 supplementary services have been defined, and it is
not the intention to describe the complete list here. However they

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can be grouped into categories, and some examples of each

category will be given as a first introduction to them.
Each of these services has also an abbreviation by which they are
know in the standardization bodies. On the other hand, some
network/service providers invent new names for existing services,
to simplify them to their customers, or to distinguish themselves
from competitors.
In the area of supplementary services, 3 important terms are :

Activation / De-Activation : for example for Call
Forwarding, before a meeting you activate your calls being
forwarded to a secretary. After the meeting, you de-activate
the forwarding, your calls will no longer be forwarded.

Invocation : when someone calls you during the meeting, his
call will effectively be forwarded, called the Invocation of the
service.

Interrogation : when you don't remember exactly whether a
service is activated or not, you can interrogate (ask) the
system about the current status.
An important factor of complexity for supplementary services are
the Interactions between services : services have to behave
differently when several of them are invoked at the same time :

'Calling Line Identity Presentation' and 'Calling Line Identity
Restriction' cannot be executed at the same time...

'Hold' service will need to work differently when 'Three-Party
Call' is already invoked.

6.1.2 Services Overview

Number Identification Services
This group of services is all about finding out who are the parties
involved in calls :

Malicious Call Identification (MCI)

Calling Line Identification Presentation (CLIP)

Calling Line Identification Restriction (CLIR)

Called Line Identification Presentation (CALIP)

Called Line Identification Restriction (CALIR)

Connected Line Identification Presentation (COLP)

Connected Line Identification Restriction (COLR)

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Addressing Related Services

The purpose of these services is to simplify the addressing of
parties : you don't have to remember or dial long strings of digits.

Abbreviated Address (AA)

Fixed Destination Call (FDC)

HotLine

Call Waiting and Call Completion Services

The purpose of these services is increase the number of successful
calls (and as such the revenue of the provider). Many calls are
unsuccessful because the called party is busy or not answering.

Call Waiting (CW)

Call Completion on Busy Subscriber (CCBS)

Call Forwarding, Call Redirection Services

These services allow some user-flexibility in the routing of the
calls towards him. They can be unconditional, or depending on
conditions such as 'on busy subscriber', 'on no answer', time of
day, etc...

Call Forwarding Unconditional (CFU)

Call Forwarding on Busy Subscriber (CFBS)

Call Forwarding on No Reply (CFNR)

Follow me

Explicit Call Transfer (ECT)

Charging Services
Services to improve the visibility of the subscriber on the charges
related to calls and/or services.

Home meter

Advice of Charge at Begin

Advice of Charge During Call

Advice of Charge at End (AOC-E)

Restriction Services
These services restrict users to certain telephony services.

Incoming Calls Barred (ICB)

Outgoing Calls Barred (OCB)

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Do Not Disturb

Multi-Party Services
These services permit telephone calls among three or more
persons.

Three Party Call (3PTY)

Conference Call (CONF)

Meet-me Conference (MM-CONF)

6.1.3 Implementation
The supplementary services mentioned above only have the scope
of the local exchange. (see also 6.3 to contrast this to Intelligent
Network). As such the supplementary services realized in this way
are also called Embedded supplementary services. They are
completely implemented in each individual local exchange, and
as such the implementation is not standardized, except for the
signalling which is controlling the services.

6.2 Centrex
For small companies the investment in a private exchange is not
always justified. In this case the public exchange can emulate a
private exchange. A group of users of the public exchange are
treated specially : they have (on top of their public number) a
private numbering plan, with which they can make 'company
internal' calls.
It is possible to extend the Centrex function over several
exchanges. This is called Wide-Area Centrex and is usually
realized using the Intelligent Networks mechanism.

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Local
Exchange

public :240 56 56

public :240 56 00

public :240 23 45 public :240 25 67 public :240 12 78

private :1 private :2 private :3

Figure 80 Centrex

6.3 Intelligent Networks

6.3.1 Introduction
The above Supplementary Services have a scope only for the Local
Exchange of the involved subscriber : different exchanges in the
network do not have to work together to realize these services.
There is however another group of services for which the scope is
the Whole Network : for these services, more, or all exchanges in
the network need to cooperate to realize the services. These
services are called Intelligent Network Services, and the networks
that have them are called Intelligent Networks (IN). In the US they
are called Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) services.
Services and switching functions have historically been integrated
very closely together in the telephone exchange (see the above
Supplementary Services). This situation changes with the
introduction of Intelligent Networks where the intelligence, (the
logic needed to implement a certain service) is completely
separated from the switching.

6.3.2 Services Overview

Company Network oriented

Personal numbering plan.

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6 Network Services

Virtual Private Network : multi-site companies can realize a

company-wide private telephone network using the Virtual
Private Network service. All the private exchanges, as well as
some public lines are mapped to a private numbering plan.

Wide area Centrex : a Centrex is a private exchange function
realized on a public exchange. (see also chapter 6.2). When
the users of the Centrex span multiple public exchanges, it is
called a Wide Area Centrex. All the different local exchanges
work together coordinated by the IN service.

Closed user group.

Customer defined and Supplementary Services

Personalized services

Centralized database services

Screening

Customized presentation features

Virtual Card Services

Validation services

Credit card call : This service allows the service user to charge
the call to a particular credit card account. Generally, the
service user's password is checked before the call is set up. In
an IN based network, the service can be activated from any
type of telephone set, even if it is not equipped with a card
reader. Credit card companies require access to the
database to insert new credit card numbers or delete
non-existing or temporarily suspended numbers.

Calling card

Account charged call

Alternate billing

Mass Calling Services

Mass calling services manage the bursts of traffic on the public
network that are generated by radio and television polls or
contests.

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Opinion poll, Televoting : This service enables the caller to

vote or give an opinion by telephone. These services are
typically used during television or radio broadcasts. Calls are
blocked on SSP level to prevent the SCP to go in overload.
The blocked calls to each number that can be voted on, are
counted. Via the statistics function on the SMP an operator
can look at the value of the counters.

Competition services

Number Translation & Routing

Number translation and routing services distribute dialled calls to
a predefined destination. Routing is flexible and can depend on
parameters such as time, day, origin of call, traffic load and caller
input.

Advanced Freephone : Most telephone administrations
support a freephone service. Calls to a Freephone number
are not charged to the caller but to the freephone service
subscriber, that is, the called party.The service offers a range
of advanced features. For example, the destination of a
Freephone call can vary depending on the time or on the date
of the call. Similarly, the call destination can differ according
to the geographical location of the calling party. The
freephone subscriber can make changes in the service
database to modify the routing information.

Universal access number : This is a number that can be
assigned to a particular subscriber. When someone calls this
number, the call is routed to one of several predefined
destinations, depending on the date and the time.

Automatic call Distribution

Split charging : The caller pays only for a local call, the rest of
the call charge is paid by the called party.

Number portability : A subscriber can move from one place to
another without loosing his telephone number. Also moving
between different operators is supported.

Flexible rerouting

Personal Mobility
Personal mobility services make it possible that calls are routed to
any fixed or mobile point in the network, so that the subscriber
can be reached by telephone at any time or place.

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6 Network Services

Personal Number : A personal number enables a service

subscriber to be assigned a private number which can be
used to contact him wherever he is in the network. When the
subscriber is out of the office (or away from home), he can
register his current location with the IN. All calls are then
routed automatically to the new location. The service
subscriber can also preprogram a list of the destinations
where he can be contacted during the day, including the times
he will be at those locations.

Universal personal telecommunication

Personal communication services

Personalized Services

Premium Rate (kiosk service): Caller pays for extra
information (e.g. the weather forecast) that a certain company
offers. The profits of the call are split between the operator
and the company that offers this information.

Centralised database services

Screening

Customised presentation features

Internet Services

Browse and Talk

Pay per Surf

Customer Defined Supplementary Services

Customer defined and supplementary services enable the
customer to invent services that meet his specific needs by
putting together several features.

6.3.3 Implementation
Because the exchanges (or Network Elements (NE)) in the network
can be from different manufacturers, Intelligent Networks are
structured according to ITU standards.

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 6 Network Services

Other Network

Intelligent Network

Service Management Point (SMP)

Service Creation
Environment (SCE) Service Control Point (SCP)

Service
Service Core Network Switching
Switching Point (SSP)
Point (SSP)

Service Intelligent
Switching Peripheral (IP)
Point (SSP)
Core Network
to Users
Figure 81 Intelligent Network Structure

Service Poin The Service Switching Point (SSP) is an enhanced digital telephone
Switching
exchange. It contains the normal call handling and call control
software like any other exchange, but it additionally also provides
an interface with a central controller called the Service Control
Point using a CCS #7 signalling link. The SSP is the access point
in the telephone network for IN services. When a service call is
initiated, the SSP recognizes it as such and activates the SCP.
Inside the SSP we will find some extra code that enables us to
interact with the Service Control Point, but this extra code will be
service independent.
The SSP is operated by the network operator of the telephone
network.

Periphe The Intelligent Peripheral (IP) is a device providing functions

Intelligent
complimentary to the switching of the Service Switching Point :

announcement generation

digit reception

speech recognition

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6 Network Services

speech synthesis
An Intelligent Peripheral can be implemented as a standalone unit
or integrated within an Service Switching Point.

Service Poin The Service Control Point (SCP) is the network element where the
Control
'service intelligence' is located :

Service code, in the form of Service Logic Programs (SLP)

Service Database Access

Service related Data

Service Management
Together with the switch (the SSP) it will be involved in the
real-time handling of the call. When activated by the SSP, the
Service Control Point takes over the Control functions : the SCP will
be the master, the SSP the slave.
The Service Control Point can have several supplementary services
installed. A particular service is always controlled by a single SCP.
For security reasons, however, services can be replicated over 2 or
more SCP's.
The SCP is implemented on a computer. This can be an Alcatel
machine (A8300 series in release 1.X) or another vendor's
machine. (Compaq DEC Alpha Server or SUN in release 2.X)

Management The Service Management Point (SMP) is the function from which
Service
Poin you Manage the network :

gather alarms, statistics and call tickets

monitor the network via specific Graphical User
Interfaces (GUI)

contain the reference database

it is the machine from which you install new services on the
different SCP's

keep the data consistent in the different SCP's that have
replicated services

collecting charging to be sent to an external Billing Centre
The user interface to the SMP typically uses a client-server
approach : a Web Browser or a proprietary protocol.
The SMP is not involved in the real-time call handling.
You will have one SMP in your network and this will be a computer
such as a Compaq DEC Alpha Server or SUN.

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Creation The Service Creation Environment (SCE) is a development

Service
Environm environment for the creation and customisation of IN services.
Services are designed off-line on this environment. When ready
for deployment, they are forwarded to the Service Management
Point. Finally they are then downloaded and installed to the
Service Control Point.
The SCE consists of 2 parts:

a graphical user interface, in which the services are designed
using reusable building blocks (Service Independent Building
Blocks)

the compiler

SSP
SCP
- Interface This interface carries all the messages between the SSP and the
SCP during execution of a service call :

This interface is based on the No.7 Common Channel
Signalling protocol using MTP, SCCP, TCAP and INAP. (see
chapter 3.3.5)

This interface is a standard to ensure that SSP's and SCP's
from different vendors can interwork

The messages on this interface control the real-time flow of
the call

6.4 Internet Services

Intra The technology for the Internet established a number of de-facto
standards for computer communication : TCP/IP, HyperText
Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) etc.
Soon companies realized they could reduce the cost of their
computer network, by reusing the Internet principles. However,
they wanted to protect their private data, and so they made a
private version of the Internet for internal communication. This
network is called the Intranet.

Extra Still companies want also the be present on the World Wide Web
(so called Web-exposure) and provide a second site, this time on
the public internet, where they provide their public information.
Certain companies use the Internet extensively as customer
communication channel, and on their Extranets you can buy
online, or follow-up the processing of your service.

http://www.dell.com

http://www.amazon.com

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6 Network Services

6.4.1 Internet Access Provider

In order to be connected to the Internet, there are two possibilities:

your computer or computer-network is full-time connected
to the Core Network. This is the case for universities, medium
to large companies, government organizations, etc.

you connect to the Core Network via some Access Network.
Depending on how intensive you use the Internet, this access
can be a Full Time connection, or only a Temporarily
connection.
Today, many residential users use email and occasionally World
Wide Web (WWW)-browsers. For these applications, a
permanent connection is not really necessary, and often too
expensive. In that case the Telephone Network can provide the
Access to the Internet :

Analog
orISDN
your computer uses a Modem to send its information over
telephone lines,

you make a telephone connection with your Internet Access
Provider, usually this is a local call, if your Internet Access
Provider has a Point of Presence (the place you make a
phonecall to) in your area.

at your Access Provider there is a second modem (often part
of a so-called Modem Pool), connected to a Router which is
permanently connected to the Internet.
This kind of Access is also called Dial-Up, because you make a
phonecall to connect you to the Internet. Typically you have to pay
a fixed monthly fee to the Internet Access Provider (for using his
equipment : modems, routers, ...). Sometimes there is a fixed part,
and a connection-time dependent part. On top of all this you
still have to pay a phonecall to your Telephone Network Provider.
He sees your Dial-Up connection just as any phonecall. In some
countries, there are special telephone tariffs towards Internet
Access Providers. In some countries local calls are for free or at
fixed charge anyway.

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 6 Network Services

Internet

Router

Modem

Analog
Computer Modem
Telephone Network (PSTN)

Local
Exchange
ISDN NT
Computer

Figure 82 Internet Access Provider, Analog or ISDN Dial-Up

Some problems with the Dial-Up Internet Access are :

Limited Bandwidth : 56 kbps with analog modems, 64 kbps
or 128 kbps with ISDN,

While Accessing the Internet, no telephone traffic is possible
anymore.

You are not connected permanently : you cannot really act as
an information Server, whenever you need the Internet, you
need to connect, which takes some time...

ADSL
or
Cable As a possible solution to all these drawbacks, a user can access
the internet with ADSL or Cable. The resulting bandwidths are
Mbps instead of kbps. Also the Data-connection is in parallel
with the telephone (and other) services, so there is no problem in
being On-Line 24/24 - 7/7.

Note ISDN provides partly a solution to these limitations : with a Basic

Rate Interface there are 2 B-channels, so you could use one
B-channel for Data, and the second for Voice. Also a new
feature is Always On/Dynamic ISDN, providing a low-bandwith
permanent connection.

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6 Network Services

Computer Internet
Router
ADSL ADSL
Modem Modem
(NT) (LT)

Telephone Network
(PSTN)
Telephone Local
Exchange

Figure 83 Internet Access Provider, ADSL

TV

Cable-TV Network

Computer
Router
Cable Cable
Modem Modem
Internet

Telephone Telephone Network

(PSTN)
Local
Exchange

Figure 84 Internet Access Provider, Cable

Note Access Networks that provide the user Mbps instead of kbps, do
not make the whole Internet a hundred times faster: In the
Download direction, there is a fast channel, but the Upload
direction, and the Server Response Time are still the same.

6.4.2 FireWall
The fact that the Internet is not owned by a single organization is
one of its succes factors. However, a disadvantage resulting from
this is the difficulty to make it a secure network. Companies
connecting their computer networks to the Internet are a target to
hackers from all over the world.

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The most secure solution is to have mission-critical applications

and confidential information on an isolated network.
Another solution is the so-called FireWall, named after the walls
that have to prevent a fire from spreading around to other parts of
the building. A FireWall is a computer at the boundary between
the Internet and Intranet. It runs a solid communications protocol
stack, and restricts the kind of connections from Internet to
Intranet and vice versa.
For example, it can prohibit File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
transactions from Internet to Intranet, while allowing them in the
opposite direction.

Intranet Internet

FireWall

Figure 85 FireWall

6.4.3 Proxy Server

A Proxy Server is also a computer in the network. Rather than the
client accessing the server directly, he asks the Proxy Server. The
Proxy Server can then check the request and do a number of
actions :

Log data like client address, server address, time and date,

Validate access rights,

Act as a cache for the server data,

reroute request to other server,

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6 Network Services

Proxy Server

Client Intranet Internet

FireWall

Client

Server Server

Figure 86 Proxy Server

6.4.4 Internet Telephony

Internet Telephony was born out of the following discrepancy :

international or long-distance phonecalls are expensive. In
general in telephony, the cost of the call is depending on the
Duration and the Physical Distance between the parties.

internet access is usually a flat monthly fee, no matter how
long you use it, no matter at what physical distance the
servers you are accessing, are located.
So it was investigated whether it was possible to make phonecalls
over the Internet, which would result in calls which are (almost) for
free, independent from the duration and distance.
The technology is now know as Voice-over-IP (VoIP). Speech is
compressed, packaged into IP packets and routed through the
Internet or another IP network. However, due to the fact that
these networks are Packet Switching networks, it is more difficult to
get a satisfactory speech quality : there is a lot of delay, (so echo
cancelling is needed) and lost packets result in lost speech
fragments.
Voice over IP networks could be built from all new network
components, but also reuse the existing access infrastructure. In
the latter case, Gateways are needed between the existing PSTN
and the Voice-over-IP network.

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 6 Network Services

MultiMedia MultiMedia
Computer Computer

Internet

Figure 87 Voice over IP, all functionality in the terminals

Internet

VoIP GateWay VoIP GateWay

Telephone Network (PSTN)

Telephone

Figure 88 Voice over IP, functionality in Gateways

6.5 Mobile Telephony Services

Prepaid
Cards The prepaid SIM card plays an important role in the calling card
services portfolio. You buy a card with a certain Calling Value, eg.
$20 and insert it into the mobile handset. The telephone number
is printed on the SIM-card. Calls can be made immediately.
When your calling value is consumed, you can buy another card,
or have the first one reloaded with new value, in which case you
can also keep the telephone number.
The prepaid SIM card is typically implemented using Intelligent
Networks.
Features for the operator / network provider :

guaranteed payment before using the service

stimulated change-over to full subscription

reduces service administration
Features for the end user :

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6 Network Services

no subscription needed : you can buy such a card in a foreign

country and use it, avoiding to subscribe a long term contract,
or expensive international calls via your home-contract.

budget control
http://www.proximus.be/en/services/paygo.htm
http://www.mobistar.be/nl/tariff/tempo.html

Short
Message
System The Short Message System (SMS) provides a mechanism for
transmitting 'short' messages to and from wireless handsets. The
service makes use of a Short Message Service Center (SMSC)
which acts as a Store and Forward system for the messages. A few
key properties of SMS are :

up to 160 characters, or 140 bytes

guaranteed delivery to the destination

out-of-band transfer

duplex
For the operator / network provider, the SMS has the following
advantages :

Increased call completion

Easy mechanism for simplifying services such as Advice of
Charge, Directory services, ...

Possibility to provide value-added information such as
notifications, stock-info, etc..
Typical end-user applications are :

Notification services : notification upon receipt of voice
mail, fax, email in your mailbox. Reminders for appointments
and events.

E-mail interworking : send and receive email from your
mobile set.

Information services : (see below)
 weather reports
 traffic information
 entertainment information
 financial information : stock quotes, exchange rates,
banking, brokerage
 directory services

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 6 Network Services

Information
Services A mobile phone-user cannot take the yellow pages directory with
him. As an answer to this, the Information Services have been set
up :
You dial a simple number, give the name of the product or service
you want to find, and mention the region where you want it. Then
a large database is queried searching for the information you
need.
Additional features :

the service may be for free, actually sponsored by the
companies/services in the database.

the information can be sent to you in a message to your Short
Message System (SMS)
http://www.proximus.be/en/services/scoot.htm

6.6 Quality of Service (QOS)

In general the term Quality of Service (QoS) refers to the idea that
for each service a subscriber pays, he wants to receive a certain
minimum quality. This minimum quality is then specified for a
number of properties, such as :

the Bit Error Ratio (BER) : how likely is it for the network to
introduce errors into your information.

the End-to-End delay on your information, and (when
applicable) the variation on that delay.

the probability that your connection will be 'lost' due to a fault
from the network

...
Usually not all these parameters are specified individually for each
use of the network. Rather a number of 'standard' combinations
is made which cover frequently used services :

speech connection : BER<10-6, Delay<25 ms, ...

data connection : BER<10-9

video : BER 10-3, Delay variance < ???

....

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 7 Network Management

7 Network Management

7.1 Introduction
Building a network is one thing, but a network is a complex
system, almost a 'living' system, and as such requires continuous
management :

Extension

Reconfiguration

Performance Measurements

Fault Isolation

...
This is the task of the Network Management (NM) System. Today
there are 2 main standards for network management :

Telecom Management Network (TMN) : a set of standards
developed in the traditional telecom business. (Voice
communication).

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) : a set of
standards developed in the data-communication business.
(Data communication, Internet).

7.1.1 Telecom Network Management (TMN)

The basic concept behind the Telecom Management
Network (TMN) is to provide an organized architecture to manage
and operate a network. This network contains :

various types of Network Elements (NE) ,possibly from many
different vendors. This is the equipment to be managed :

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7 Network Management

 transmission systems,
 switching systems,
 multiplexers,
 signalling terminals,
 file servers
When managed, such equipment is generally referred to as
Network Elements (NEs).

Operation System (OS) (not operating systems !) which are
the Managing and controlling elements in the network.
The usage of standards has to ensure that all equipment from any
manufacturer can be controlled by a network management system
from any other manufacturer.

Functi Following functions are provided by the Telecom Management

Network :

Fault Management : Detect, locate and correct running
anomalies of the telecommunication network and of its
environment.

Configuration Management : Control and identify network
elements (NE), collect data generated by these elements and
provide them configuration data.

Accounting Management : Measure the network service
use, and determine the costs of this use.

Performance Management : Evaluate and analyses the
behavior of telecommunication equipment and the network or
network element efficiency.

Security Management : Assure the securisation procedures
management.

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 7 Network Management

Telecom Management Network

Operation System Operation System

Data Network

Network Elements

Transmission Transmission Transmission

Exchange Exchange Exchange

Figure 89 Management Network

Architecture
Layered To deal with the complexity of the telecommunications
management, the management functionality may be considered
to be partitioned into logical layers.

Element Management Layer : Manages each network
element on an individual or group basis and supports an
abstraction of the functions provided by the Network Element
Layer. It has one or more element OSF and/or MFs that are
individual responsible for some subset of network element
functions.

Network Management Layer : has the responsibility of the
management of a network as supported by the Element
Management Layer
 The control and co-ordination of the network view of all
network elements within its scope or domain,
 The provision, cessation or modification of network
capabilities for the support of service to customers,
 The maintenance of network capabilities,
 Maintaining statistical, log and other data about the
network and interact with the service manager layer on
performance, usage, availability, etc.

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7 Network Management

Service Management Layer : is concerned with the

contractual aspects of services that are being provided
customers or available to potential new customers. Some of
the main functions of this layer are service order handling,
complaint handling and invoicing.
 Customer facing and interfacing with other
administrations,
 Interaction with service providers,
 Maintaining statistical data (e.g. QoS),
 Interaction between services.

Business Management Layer : This layer has responsibility
for the total enterprise.
 Supporting the decision-making process for the optimal
investment and use of new telecommunications resources,
 Supporting the management of AO&M related budget,
 Supporting the supply and demand of OA&M related
manpower,
 Maintaining aggregate data about the total enterprise.

Standard
Interfaces Some standard interfaces are :

The Q3 interface

The Qx interface

The F interface

The X Interface

7.1.2 Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a protocol suite
consisting of three specifications :

RFC 1155: the Structure of Management Information (SMI)

RFC 1213: the Management Information Base (MIB).

RFC 1157: the SNMP protocol itself.
From the SNMP point of view the world consists out of three
different entities:

The Network Management Station (NMS).

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 7 Network Management

The Network Element (NE) : the devices to be managed. They

include the SNMP agent. An SNMP agent will respond to the
requests coming from the SNMP manager and will also send
traps towards the SNMP manager.

The SNMP protocol itself which is polling based.
Figure 90 shows the protocol stack used in case of SNMP. It uses
the UDP/IP (a variant of TCP/IP). The routing function of the IP
layer allows to place the Network Management anywhere in the IP
network.
Each Network Element includes a database which is called
Management Information Base (MIB). Standards define the
structure of this database, and many vendors publish the details of
their equipments Management Information Base, such that
Network Management Applications can know how to control the
Network Elements.
Using the SNMP protocol the SNMP manager can read and write
in this database. The operations include:

GET

GET-RESPONSE

GET-NEXT

SET

TRAP

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7 Network Management

Network Management Network Element

Centre

SNMP Management SNMP Managed

Application Objects

GETRESPONSE

GETRESPONSE
GETNEXT

GETNEXT

TRAP
GET

TRAP

GET
SET

SET
SNMP Manager SNMP Manager
UDP UDP
IP IP
Link Link

Figure 90 SNMP Protocol Stack

Some examples: if the operator issues a command to read the

linkstatus of a NE, the NMC will sent an SNMP GET towards the
NE. The status is retrieved from the MIB database and the result is
sent towards the NMC using an SNMP GET RESPONSE. The
operator can read the result in a graphical window. Similar the
operator can change the configuration (name, location, ...) in
which case the NMC will send an SNMP SET. A last example is
when there is an alarm in the NE. In this case the NE will send
this unsolicited event towards the NMC using a trap. For this to
work, the NMC's IP address must be configured in advance in
each NE.

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 Abbreviations

Abbreviations
3PTY Three Party Call
AA Abbreviated Address
ADSI Analog Display Services Interface
ADSL Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line
AIN Advanced Intelligent Network
AM Amplitude Modulation
AMPS Advanced Mobile Phone System
AOC-E Advice of Charge at End
AOD ISDN Always-On / Dynamic ISDN
APS Automatic Protection Switching
ARCU Alcatel Remote Concentrator Unit
ASSS Analog Subscriber Signalling System
ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
AUC Authentication Center
B-ISDN Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network
B-ISUP B-ISDN User Part
B-ISUP Broadband ISDN User Part
BER Bit Error Ratio
BRA Basic Rate Access
BRI Basic Rate Interface
BSC Base Station Controller
BSS Base Station Subsystem
BSSAP Base Station Subsystem Application Part
BTS Base Transceiver Station
CALIP Called Line Identification Presentation
CALIR Called Line Identification Restriction
CAS Channel Associated Signalling
CATV Cable Television Network
CCBS Call Completion on Busy Subscriber
CCS #7 Common Channel Signalling System #7
CDM Code Division Multiplexing

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Abbreviations

CFBS Call Forwarding on Busy Subscriber

CFNR Call Forwarding on No Reply
CFU Call Forwarding Unconditional
CLASS Custom Local Area Signalling Services
CLIP Calling Line Identification Presentation
CLIR Calling Line Identification Restriction
CLR Cell Loss Ratio
COLP Connected Line Identification Presentation
COLR Connected Line Identification Restriction
CONF Conference Call
CSMA-CD Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection
CTM Cordless Telephone Mobility
CW Call Waiting
D-AMPS Digital AMPS
DCS Digital Cellular System
DECT Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication
DMT Discrete Multi-Tone
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
DSS1 Digital Subscriber Signalling System 1
DSS2 Digital Subscriber Signalling System 2
DTMF Dual Tone Multiple Frequency
DVD Digital Versatile Disc
ECT Explicit Call Transfer
EFR Enhanced Full Rate
EIR Equipment Identity Register
FDC Fixed Destination Call
FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing
FM Frequency Modulation
FR Frame Relay
FTP File Transfer Protocol
GPRS General Packet Radio System
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
GUI Graphical User Interfaces

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 Abbreviations

HDSL High Speed Digital Subscriber Line

HF High Frequency
HLR Home Location Register
HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol
IAP Internet Access Provider
ICB Incoming Calls Barred
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IMEI International Mobile Station Equipment Identity
IN Intelligent Networks
INAP Intelligent Network Application Part
IP Internet Protocol
IP Intelligent Peripheral
IrDA Infrared Data Association
ISDN Integrated Digital Services Network
ISP Internet Service Provider
ISUP ISDN User Part
ITU International Telecommunication Union
LAN Local Area Network
LMDS Local Multipoint Distribution Services
MAC Media Access Control
MAP Mobile Application Part
MCI Malicious Call Identification
MIB Management Information Base
MIPS Maximum Integration Phone Set
MM-CONF Meet-me Conference
MPEG Motion Picture Expert Group
MRVT MTP Routing Verification Test
MS Mobile Station
MSC Mobile Switching Centre
MTP Message Transfer Part
NB Narrowband
NE Network Elements
NE Network Element

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Abbreviations

NM Network Management
NMS Network Management Station
NNI Network to Network Interface
NS Network Subsystem
NT Network Termination
OCB Outgoing Calls Barred
OS Operation System
PABX Private Branch Exchange
PCS Personal Communication System
PDA Personal Digital Assistant
PDH Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy
PLMN Public Lands Mobile Network
PM Phase Modulation
POF Plastic Optical Fiber
PON Passive Optical Networks
POP Point of Presence
POTS Plain Old Telephony Service
PRA Primary Rate Access
PRI Primary Rate Interface
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
QoS Quality of Service
RFC Request For Comment
RSVP Resource Reservation Protocol
RTSU Remote Terminal Subscriber Unit
SCCP Signalling Connection Control Part
SCE Service Creation Environment
SCP Service Control Point
SDH Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
SFH Slow Frequency Hopping
SIM Subscriber Identity Module
SLP Service Logic Programs
SMI Structure of Management Information

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 Abbreviations

SMP Service Management Point

SMS Short Message Service
SMS Short Message System
SMSC Short Message Service Center
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol
SRVT SCCP Routing Verification Test
SSP Service Switching Point
STM Synchronous Transport Module
STM Synchronous Transfer Mode
STPs Signalling Transfer Points
TA Terminal Adapter
TC Transcoder
TCAP Transaction Capabilities Application Part
TDM Time Division Multiplexing
TDM Time Division Multiplex
TMN Telecom Management Network
TUP Telephone User Part
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication System
UMTS Universal Mobile Telephone System
UNI User to Network Interface
UTP Unshielded Twisted Pair
VC Virtual Container
VCI Virtual Channel Identifier
VDSL Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line
VLR Visitors Location Register
VOD Video-on-Demand
VoIP Voice over IP
VoIP Voice-over-IP
VPI Virtual Path Identifier
WAP Wireless Access Protocol
WDM Wavelength Division Multiplexing
WWW World Wide Web

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Abbreviations

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 Glossary

Glossary
In case a term cannot be found here, you can consult good online
Telecom Glossary and Abbreviations-lists at :
http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs-1037/

Wireless
3G Third-Generation Wireless system : The 3G Wireless is a
broadband mobile communications system evolving from
second-generation digital cellular wireless communication
systems, to facilitate data and video applications.
AAL ATM Adaptation Layer : A layer above the ATM Layer, providing
additional functions to the payload inside the ATM cell. four AALs
are standardized : AAL1, AAL2, AAL3/4, AAL5.
Access
Node A piece of equipment, grouping a number of telecom users, and
providing them access to one or more core networks.
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line : is a new method of
transmitting digital data at high bit-rates (multi-mega-bit per
second) over the existing installed twisted-pairs of the access
network.
AMI Alternate Mark Inversion. A line-coding technique which
represents '1'-bits by pulses ('marks') and '0'-bits by zero
signal. Pulses can be positive or negative, and are alternated,
such that there are an equal amount of positive and negative
pulses. In order to signal special conditions, explicit violations of
this alternating can be used.
AMPS Advanced Mobile Phone Standard : AMPS is an analogue
mobile system standard, which has a very large installed base in
US.
Analogue
signal A type of signal that encodes data transmitted over wire or
through the air, and is commonly represented as an oscillating
wave. An analog signal can take any value in a range, and
changes smoothly between values. An analog signal can
transmit analog or digital data. For example, a radio station
sends analog music data using analog systems, while a modem
transmits digital data using analog signals.
ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode : the technology used for
broadband communication services and is now accepted by ITU
as the technology for B-ISDN. ATM is also accepted as the
technology to interconnect computers over ATM LANs.
ATM
Forum A standardization organization, formed by Computer and
Communications companies to standardize ATM networks.
AUC Authentication Center : It provides authentication and
encryption parameters that verify the user's identity and ensure
the confidentiality of each call. The AUC protects network
operators from different types of fraud found in today's cellular
world.

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Glossary

Backbone The part of the communications network intended to and

designed to carry the bulk of traffic. Provides connectivity
between subnetworks in an enterprise-wide network.
Bandwidth The difference between the highest and lowest frequencies
assigned to a communication channel or used on a transmission
medium. The higher the bandwidth, the more the data
throughput and thus the capacity.
B-channel A B channel is a 56-kbps or 64-kbps channel that carries user
data.
bit Binary digit. The smallest unit of information a computer can
process, representing one of the two possible values (usually
indicated by "1" or "0").
BRA
/BRI Basic Rate Access / Basic Rate Interface : An ISDN subscriber
line, consisting of two 64 kbit/s B channels, or "bearer" channels,
and one 16 kbit/s D channel, used for both data and signalling
purposes.
Bridge A device that connects and passes data, between two network
segments based on the destination field in the packet header.
Bridging
Table A bridging table identifies destination addresses known to exist in
a network. It is built dynamically by a learning bridge as it
passes data in a network.
Broadband In digital environments this term refers to bandwidth above 2
Mbps.
CAP Carrierless Amplitude/Phase Modulation : the principle of
CAP is similar to QAM. The main difference is the
implementation. Where QAM uses a carrier frequency for the
symbol generation, CAP uses a filter pair (Hilbert).
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access : CDMA is a wireless
communications technology that uses spread-spectrum
communication. In a CDMA system, a narrowband message
signal is multiplied by a spreading signal, which is a
pseudo-noise code sequence that has a rate much greater than
the data rate of the message.
CCITT Consultative Committee on International Telegraphy and
Telephony.
CENTREX A function of a public telephone exchange to behave as a private
exchange.
Circuit A connection between end points over a physical medium.
CODEC COder / DECoder : a device used to convert analogue signals to
digital and back.
Compression Compression is a technique that reduces the quantity of
bandwidth or bits required to encode a block of information.
Compression saves transmission time and capacity, and can free
up storage space on in-demand data lines. Compressed data
can be compromised in quality, but the advantages of bandwidth
savings are frequently worth the trade-off.

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 Glossary

CPE Customer Premises Equipment : Terminal equipment located

on the customer premises.
CTM CTM is a public access over DECT. It allows a single handset to
be used at home, in the office and in public areas where
coverage is provided. Roaming using a single number is possible.
CTS Cordless Telephone System : CTS enable GSM users to make
and receive calls over the fixed network via a CTS Fixed Part. The
CTS-Fixed Part (CTS-FP) is connected directly to the fixed
network.
D-AMPS Digital Advanced Mobile Phone Standard : US digital cellular
standard designed to coexist with analogue cellular AMPS system.
D-AMPS also employs FDMA/TDMA technology like GSM, and is
also known as IS-54/136.
DECT Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications : DECT
provides wireless access to any type of telecommunication
network.
Digital
Data Data that can have only a limited number of separate values.
The time of day represented by a digital clock, or the temperature
represented by a digital thermometer are examples of digital
data; the digital values do not change continuously, but remain at
one discrete value and then change to another, discrete value.
Digital
Signal A type of signal that encodes data transmitted over a wire using a
limited number of discrete values. The value of the data encoded
in a digital signal depends upon the state of the signal during a
particular time period.
DMT Discrete Multi-Tone : is a form of multicarrier modulation.
DMT divides time into regular "symbol periods", each of which
will carry a fixed number of bits. The bits are assigned in groups
to signalling tones of different frequencies. For each symbol
period QAM modulation is used. Depending upon the quality of
the channel more or less bits are inserted (4QAM, 64QAM, ...).
If there is ingress noise in one of the channels, the channel is
closed and the bits are assigned to other channels to keep the bit
rate constant.
DSL Digital Subscriber Line. An subscriber network access using
advanced digital techniques in order to increase the bandwidth
capacity of the line.
DTE Data Terminal Equipment : As defined in the RS-232
specification, equipment to which DCE (Data Communications
Equipment ) is connected, such as personal computers or data
terminals. DTE often refers to application equipment, such as a
videoconference terminal or LAN bridge or router, while DCE
refers to equipment such as network access equipment.
Ethernet A local area network that connects devices like computers,
printers, and terminals.

770 00438 1100 VHBE Ed. 08 157 / 187

Glossary

FCC Federal Communications Commission. An organization in the

USA organizing the allocation of frequency-spectrum, and
electrical compatibility and safety.
FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing : A technique in which the
available bandwidth is divided into frequency channels. Each
frequency channel carries information for a separate
communication.
FR Frame Relay : A form of packet switching, but using smaller
packets and less error checking than traditional forms of packet
switching (such as X.25). Now a new international standard for
efficiently handling high-speed, bursty data over wide area
networks.
Gateway Gateways are points of entrance to and exit from a
communications network. Viewed as a physical entity, a gateway
is that node that translates between two otherwise incompatible
networks or network segments. Gateways perform code and
protocol conversion to facilitate traffic between data highways of
differing architecture. In OSI terms, a gateway is a device that
provides mapping at all seven layers of the OSI model. A
gateway can be thought of as a function within a system that
enables communications with the outside world.
GPRS General Packet Radio Service : GPRS is a high capacity data
service developed on GSM networks. Packet technology is used
to provide efficient transmission inside one high-speed channel
(speed up to 144 kbps).
GSM Global system for Mobile Communications : GSM is a
European originated mobile communication standard. It is a
second-generation digital cellular standard, based on
FDM/TDMA and operates in the 900MHz, 1,800MHz and
1,900MHz frequency bands.
Handover During calls mobile users are continuing to move. As a result,
they might get out of reach of the radio system currently serving
him. In this way, the network makes a handover. The call is given
to another radio system. This is done completely transparently
for the end user.
HDSL High-speed Digital Subscriber Line : is a technique which
allows to transmit 2.048 Mbps over two or three UTPs. Distances
vary from 2 to 5 km depending upon the copper-pair section
and the number of pairs (two or three).
HLR Home Location Register : It is a large static database
containing information about the subscribers who have
subscribed with associated operator.
HSCSD High Speed Circuit Switched Data : HSCSD is a high capacity
data service developed on GSM networks by setting up (circuit
switched) a number of parallel channels as one circuit.

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 Glossary

IMT-2000 International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 : The

IMT2000 third generation wireless standard(s), will provide
universal coverage and will enable seamless roaming across
multiple networks. The third generation systems will be
developed to provide not only voice services, but also
high-speed data services to provide new applications, such as
wireless Internet access.
IN Intelligent Networks : Powerful environment supporting the
creation of tailor-made services for any network. The service(s)
are tailor-made, not a service from a catalogue but service
defined by customer at time of contract signature. These services
are available on top of any network. Intelligent Networks
provides the glue between different networks.
IP Internet Protocol. A format of exchanging information using
packets. These packets are variable size and connection-less in
nature.
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network : Integrated Services
Digital Network. A system that provides simultaneous voice and
high-speed data transmission through a single channel to the
user's premises. ISDN is an international standard for
end-to-end digital transmission of voice, data, and signaling.
LAN Local Area Network : A network that interconnects devices over
a geographically small area, typically in one building or a part of
a building. The most popular LAN type is Ethernet.
Leased
Lines A dedicated and non-switched circuit, typically supplied by a
telecom operator, that permanently connects two or more user
locations.
MAC Media Access Control : A system of rules used to move data
from one physical medium to another.
Modem MOdulator/DEModulator : A DCE (Data Circuit-Terminating
Equipment) installed between a DTE (Data Terminal Equipment)
and an analog transmission channel, such as a telephone line. A
DTE refers to a device that an operator uses, such as a computer
or a terminal. The DCE connects the DTE to a communications
channel, such as a telephone line. A modem takes digital data
from a DTE, translates (or modulates) the 1s an 0s into analog
form, and sends the data over the channel. The receiving
demodulates the analog signal into digital data and sends it to
the DTE to which it is attached.
MPEG Motion Pictures Expert Group. An organization defining
standards on formats for storage, compression and transmission
of audio-visual information.

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Glossary

OSI Open Systems Interconnection : A reference model used to

describe layers of a network and the types of functions expected
at each layer. The OSI model is used as a standard, letting
developers of networks and communication systems rely on the
presence of certain functions at certain places in a standard
system.Top to bottom, the seven layers
are:applicationpresentationsessiontransportnetworkdata
linkphysicalThe physical and data link layers have to do with
hardware, wires, signals on wires, and basic addressing
functions, such as media access control (MAC). In the network
layers, information from different networking protocols is
distinguished (example: internet protocol (IP)). In the transport
layer, data is packaged for transport in a size and organization
appropriate for its intended environment (example: control
protocol (TCP) works. The session, presentation, and application
layers keep information streaming in and convert it to a usable
format.
PACS Personal Access Communications System : PACS is a US
based cordless communication system.
PBX Private Branch Exchange : A private exchange, used in business
environments.
PDC Personal Digital Communication : It is a strictly Japanese
national mobile system standard. This second generation mobile
system uses the access FDMA/TDMA method.
PHS Personal Handy System : PHS is a Japanese based cordless
communication system.
POTS Plain Old Telephone Service : is another name for the well
known analogue telephone service on a twisted pair.
PLMN Public Land Mobile Network : The PLMN network established
and operated by an Administration or its licensed operator(s), for
the specific purpose of providing land mobile communication
services to the public. It provides communication possibilities for
mobile users. For communication between mobile and fixed users
interworking with a fixed network is necessary.
Protocol A set of rules governing message exchange over a network or
internetwork.
PCM Pulse Code Modulation : PCM is a method of taking an analog
voice signal and encoding it into a digital bit stream. First, the
amplitude of the voice conversation is sampled.
Router An interconnection device that can connect individual LANs.
Unlike bridges, which logically connect at OSI layer 2, routers
provide logical paths at OSI layer 3. Like bridges, remote sites
can be connected using routers over dedicated or switched lines
to create WANs.

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 Glossary

QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation : this is a

two-dimensional modulation technique. By changing the
amplitude and the phase of a carrier frequency, it is possible to
transmit multiple bits in one symbol. In other words, each
amplitude and phase (one symbol) corresponds to a certain
bit-sequence. In this way up to ten bits (1024QAM) and more
can be inserted in one symbol.
QoS Quality of Service. A set of parameters, describing the quality a
user can expect from the service he is using. Typical parameters
are 'bit error ratio', 'cell loss ratio', etc.
SMDS Switched Multimegabit Data Service. A packet-based network
service allowing the creation of high-sped data networks .
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol : A standard way for
computers to share networking information. In SNMP, two types
of communicating devices exist: agents and managers. An agent
provides networking information to a manager application
running on another computer. The agents and managers share a
database of information, called the Management Information
Base (MIB).
Soliton An optical pulse having a shape, spectral content, and power
level designed to take advantage of nonlinear effects in an
optical fiber waveguide, for the purpose of essentially negating
dispersion over long distances.
SONET Synchronous Optical Network. A standard for multiplexing
information and transmitting it over large distances at high
speed. Sonet is the US version of SDH.
Switched
Circuit A temporary connection between end points, established for the
duration of a call, over which two parties exchange data. The
circuit is disconnected when the call ends.
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol :A family of
protocols that defines the format of data packets sent across a
network, and is the communications standard for data
transmission between different platforms.
Thick
Ethernet A local area network that connects devices like computers,
printers, and terminals. Ethernet operates over twisted-pair or
coaxial cable at speeds at 10 or 100 Mbps.A term that describes
a type of Ethernet cable. Thick Ethernet, or thicknet, is .4"
diameter coaxial cable for Ethernet networks.
Ethernet
Thin A term that describes a type of Ethernet cable. Thin Ethernet, or
thinnet, is .2" diameter coaxial cable for Ethernet networks
TDM Time Division Multiplex : A technique for transmitting a
number of separate and independent data, voice and/or video
signals varying in speeds simultaneously over one
communications medium by quickly interleaving a piece of each
signal one after another.

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Glossary

UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service : UMTS are the

third-generation mobile communications standards, proposed
by the European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI), to
enable high-speed data and multimedia services over wireless
platform.
UTP Unshielded Twisted Pair : Two copper wires, each encased in its
own color-coded insulation, are twisted together to form a
twisted pair. Multiple twisted pairs are packaged in an outer
sheath, or jacket, to form twisted-pair cable. By varying the
length of the twists in nearby pairs, the possibility of interference
between pairs in the same cable sheath can be minimized.
VLR Visitor Location Register : The VLR is a dynamic database
closely associated with the MSC. It contains information on all
subscribers currently roaming in the network covered by the MSC.
W AN Wide Area Network : WANs are large networks in which
connections between different cities or nations are made.
X.21 A set of CCITT specifications for an interface between DTE and
DCE for synchronous operation on public data networks.
Includes connector, electrical, and dialing specifications.

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 Appendix A Analog versus Digital

Appendix A Analog versus Digital

The main difference between analog and digital information is :

for analog signals an infinite numbers of signal values are
allowed

for digital signals, only a finite number of signals are allowed.

Signals...
Smoke Let's clarify this with a first example : imagine you want to
transport information using shapes (a little like the smoke signals
that the Indians used). When you do this in an analog way, any
possible shape you can imagine (infinite number) is allowed.
When you do this in a digital way, only a limited number (finite) is
allowed, eg. circles, triangles and squares. When you transmit
your information (= your shape) it will be distorted by its
environment. Just like the wind distorts the smoke signals made by
the Indians.
Now the problem of the receiver. In an analog system, the
receiver cannot distinguish which part of the shape belongs to the
original sent shape, and which part is due to distortion. This is
because any shape was allowed. In the digital system, you know
that only a select set of shapes is allowed, so even if the received
shape is a little distorted, you can select the shape with the best
match. This way you can remove the distortion, and reconstruct a
perfect signal.
Conclusion : Digital Transmission can correct errors.

Note The digital receiver can only reconstruct the perfect signal, if the
distortion is not too much : it has to match received distorted
signals with the originals, and only if the distortion is limited, the
matching will be correct. The more the distortion, the more the
receiver will 'guess' the wrong original shape, resulting in an error
as well.

Electronics
Digital Digital electronics are so successful, because they transmit
information, with only two possible signal values :

On : represented by (eg.) 5 V voltage

Off : represented by (eg.) 0 V voltage
Even if the signal is distorted, eg. the 5V is attenuated to 4V, the
receiver can easily guess whether it was On or Off, by choosing
the closest matching value.

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Appendix A Analog versus Digital

Table 12 Analogue versus Digital

Representation Analogue Digital

Information Representation Representation

Analog Pure Analogue, Sampling

Information Baseband
Digital Information Modulation Pure Digital

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 Appendix B Analog to Digital

Appendix B Analog to Digital

Sampling
Quantization
, When converting an Analog signal to a digital signal, the analog
signal is first Sampled : it is measured at fixed interval times. Then
this measurement is converted to a number, with a certain
precision (eg 8 bits = 256 levels), this is called Quantization.
When converting the infinite possibilities of the analog signal, to
one of the finite digital values, there is always a small error made
: the digital value is an approximation of the analog signal. This
error is called the quantization error.

Delta
Modulation When sampling and converting to digital, it is sometimes more
efficient to indicate only the changes from step to step, rather than
the whole signal value.

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Appendix C Multiplexing - Concentration

Appendix C Multiplexing - Concentration

xin Multiplexing is a technique to combine a number of lower speed
Multiple
signals onto a single higher speed signal.
It is like a road with four lanes at 30 km/h being converted onto a
single lane at 120 km/h. The complementary mirror function of
multiplexing is de-multiplexing : decomposing the single
higher-speed signal back to its component lower-speed signals.
An important aspect of a multiplexer is the fact that the throughput
(or bandwidth capacity) is the same before and after the
multiplexing : for each composing signal, there is some space in
the multiplexed signal.
A typical example is to multiplex 32 voice channels of 64 kbps into
a single 2.048 Mbps signal.

When the composing signals of a multiplex are signals which are

not full-time used, some of the capacity is waisted, also in the
multiplexed signal. For example, ordinary telephone lines are
only used at most 15% of the time. 85% of the time, the telephone
is not used, and the channel is said to be Idle. In the above
example, 5 of the 32 channels would carry voice, 27 would be
idle. This is clearly not optimal. The solution is Concentration.

Concentra Concentration is a technique to convert a large number of

channels which are 'lightly' used, (eg. only 15% of the time) into a
smaller number of more intensively used channels.
As a typical example 200 telephone channels, used at 15%, can
be concentrated into 32 channels used at 93.75%
(200*0.15/32).
Concentration requires more functionality, as it needs to map
channels not just one to one in a fixed way, but more dynamically,
depending on their idle/busy status : only the Busy channels are
switched.
When concentrating, it is always possible that a blocking occurs :
when in the group of (eg.) 200 channels, 50 users want to make a
call at the same time, only the first 32 will be served, leaving 18
unserved.
Many times, concentration and multiplexing are combined : first
concentration to increase the average usage of the channels, then
these channels are multiplexed together. This guarantees a
high-usage of the multiplex and efficient use of the bandwidth.

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 Appendix D Time - Frequency - Code

Appendix D Time - Frequency - Code

When multiplexing, there are three basic techniques which can be
applied :

Sending individual information one after the other which is
called Time Division Multiplex (TDM)

Sending individual information modulated at different carrier
frequencies, called Frequency Multiplexing (FDM)

Sending individual information at the same time, using the
same frequency band, but Scrambled with different encryption
codes. This last technique is called Code Division Multiple
Access (CDMA)
Furthermore, combinations are possible, eg. GSM uses a
FDM-TDM combination.

TDM Time Division Multiplexing combines multiple signals, by

transporting them one after the other. Because voice and other
sources, generate a continuous stream, all those streams must be
chopped in fragments (called channels or timeslots), and then one
fragment of all sources is combined into something called a
Frame. Since most voice is based on 8 KHz sampling (= 125s)
most frames have also this 125 s timing.
An analogy for TDM is a group of people in a room, talking one
after the other.

FDM Frequency Multiplexing uses different carrier frequencies to shift its

component baseband signals into different bands.
A simple example of Frequency Multiplexing is
radio-broadcasting, where a number of stations are using the
same common air-medium but using different carrier
frequencies.
Another example of FDM is Wavelength Division Multiplexing
(WDM) : Frequency (f) and Wavelength () are related as f=c/,
with c the propagation speed in the medium. Because the
frequencies of visible light are so high, it is more practical to refer
to them with wavelengths. Eg. 800 nm equals 3.75E14 Hz.
Multiplexing different colors (= wavelengths) of light, is essentially
FDM, albeit in a very high frequency range.
An analogy for FDM is two women talking to each other, and two
men, also talking to each other at the same time. Since the
women's voice has a higher pitch than a men's voice, each
listener can filter the conversation he wants to hear.

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Appendix D Time - Frequency - Code

CDMA CDMA allows to transmit different signals at the same time, in the
same frequency band. Each information stream is encoded with a
key, called chip-sequence. This encoding converts each single
bit, into a group of bits, eg. 64 or 128 bits.
At the receiver side, the information is decoded using a matching
key. all keys are chosen such that when decoding with the
matching key, results in the original signal, but when decoding
with the wrong key results into a zero signal.
When all users send their information, encoded with their own
keys, these signals are added. When decoding this sum of
signals, al the components encoded with other keys yield zero,
and only the component with the matching key comes out.
An analogy for CDMA is a group of people in a room, talking at
the same time in a different language. Again by filtering (and
understanding !) a particular language, you can listen to a certain
conversation.

Combinat These different multiplexing techniques can be combined, to

further increase the number of simultaneous communications :

SDH (= TDM) + WDM (=FDM)

GSM : TDM + FDM

DECT : TDM + FDM

...

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 Appendix E Modulation & Coding

Appendix E Modulation & Coding

When sending a signal over a medium, (twisted pair, coax, fiber,
radio) the digital signal could be directly controlling the transmitter
in a simple way :

sending a '1' : switch 5V on the wires

sending a '0' : switch 0V on the wires
This method is called non-Return to Zero coding, and is simple,
straightforward, but not the most efficient :

it sends a DC component on the wires, which is sometimes
harmful or even impossible

it is not using the available bandwidth of the medium in the
most optimal way.

it doesn't allow the clock to be recovered : if you would
transmit a large amount of zeroes, the signal would be all
the time 0V, not allowing to count the pulses and recognize
the bits.

with some noise, bits can easily get wrong : some interference
could turn 0 Volt into something closer to 5 Volt, leading to
one or more Bit Errors.
To improve this situation, two techniques are used :

Line Coding allows to balance the DC, to prevent bit errors,
and to recover the bits, even if they are all zero, or all one....

Modulation allows to use in a more precise way the amount
of available bandwidth.

Codin Coding techniques can encode the signal you want to send, the
so-called Baseband Signal by using more complicated pulses,
such that the DC component is zero, and that clock can always be
recovered. A more modern way to do coding is Scrambling : bits
are 'mixed up' by a scrambler into a seemingly chaotic sequence,
and then de-scrambled at the receiver.

Modulat Modulation means 'controlling a specific property of a carrier

signal at the rate of the baseband signal'. Things that can usually
be modified are :

the Amplitude of a signal : Amplitude Modulation (AM)

the Frequency of a signal : Frequency Modulation (FM)

the Phase of a signal : Phase Modulation (PM)

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Appendix E Modulation & Coding

a combination of these, eg. Quadrature Amplitude

Modulation (QAM), a combination of PM and AM.
When modulating a Carrier frequency with a baseband signal, the
frequency spectrum of the baseband, is shifted to center around
the carrier frequency.

90

10111 10011 00110 00010

00111
10010 10101 10001 00100 00101

10110 10100 10000 00000 00001 0001

1

180 0

11011 11001 11000 01000 01100 0111

0

11111 11101 11100 01001 01101 01010

11010 11110 01011 01111

270
Figure 91 32 QAM : Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

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 Appendix F Asynchronous, Plesiochronous, Synchronous

Appendix F Asynchronous, Plesiochronous,

Synchronous
To be completed

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Appendix G Real Life Networks and their Features

Appendix G Real Life Networks and their Features

G.1 Public Switched Telephone Network, PSTN
G.2 Internet
G.3 Cable-TV, CATV
G.4 Broadband ISDN, B-ISDN
To be completed

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 Appendix H Connection-Oriented vs. Connectionless

Appendix H Connection-Oriented vs.

Connectionless
When working in Connection oriented mode, before sending the
first user information, a connection between both users is set up.
This set up includes agreements about which kind of information
transfer, and which route it will follow. After the actual transfer of
information, the connection must also be released, all the
resources associated to it must be freed again.
Working Connectionless means that there is no connection setup
phase : the user information is sent immediately to the network.
Because the network is not 'prepared' to this, more work needs to
be done for each piece of information to be sent. also, different
pieces cannot be correlated together, and as such may be
handled in different ways : they could for example follow a
different route.

Analo Imagine that a trip is made from here to the beach. The army
would do this the connection-oriented way : they first send a Jeep
with explorers, finding a route to the beach, and setting up driving
instructions (special arrows) on each cross-road (= the switches).
Then the bulk of the army drives to the beach, not thinking about
which route, just following the arrows set up by the explorers. As
a result they all follow the same route (as a convoy) and also
arrive in sequence.
when a group of families want to do the same trip, they could go
there the connection-less way : they agree upon a destination
address (and deadline for arrival) and then each drive individually
to the beach. Each of them makes driving decisions on their own,
they may follow different routes and they may also arrive out of
sequence. some may arrive too late, because they are stuck in a
traffic jam.

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Appendix H Connection-Oriented vs. Connectionless

Table 13 Connection Oriented versus Connection-Less

Connection-Oriented Connectionless
All packets follow the same Packets need not follow the
path same path : multi-path
Sequence of packets is pre No sequence-integrity : pack
served ets can arrive out of sequence
Setup and Release of a connec no setup or release : all routing
tion required before resp. after possibilities defined at system
the actual information transfer configuration or system startup.
Intermediate nodes are not Each node Interprets full des
concerned about final destina tination address.
tion, only execute their small
part of the connection.
Faster, simpler routing More complex routing

In some cases the different layers of a communication protocol

stack can be a different connection-type :

Connection-Oriented protocol over Connection-less. This
means that two communicating devices on the network are
involved in a continuous communicating. They set up this
'connection' to each other, and maintain it for some time,
even if at the lower level, the information is carried over
packets which are all routed Connection-less.
Examples :
 TCP on IP
 SCCP on MTP

Connection-Less over Connection Oriented. This means that
end-to-end, terminals are communicating by just sending
messages, without first setting up a connection between each
other. The messages however are routed from node to node
onto dedicated connection between these nodes. Usually
these connection are semi-permanent.
Examples :
 IP on ATM
 IP on SDH

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 Appendix I Standards

Appendix I Standards
Telecom systems reach worldwide, and good compatibility
between different systems is an economical must. This
compatibility is organized through Standardization : certain
organizations who define and publish standards according to
which all systems must comply.
Several organizations, called standardization bodies, exist. The
most important ones will be briefly introduced in this appendix.
Alcatel has a WEB-site collecting the on-line access to most
standards :

Figure 92 ITU logo

1. ITU-T : International Telecommunication Union, section

Telecommunication. This organization was called CCITT, but
renamed to ITU. ITU publishes so-called recommendations,
that recommend what behavior a compatible system should
have. Most telecom customers however, regard the ITU
recommendations as minimum requirements : it is hard to sell
systems that do not comply with ITU standards.
ITU publishes its results in books, every 4 years typically, and
every edition the back of the book has a different color. This
way, people refer to the blue book, the red book.
ITU standards are numbered according to a scheme with one
letter, a dot and a number. Examples :

G.703 : 2 Mbps PCM Physical Layer

Q.1200 : Intelligent Networks

Figure 93 ETSI logo

2. ETSI : European Telecommunication Standards Institute. ETSI

continues the standards set by ITU but focuses on the
European context.

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Appendix I Standards

Figure 94 Bellcore logo

3. BellCore. BellCore is the American counterpart for ETSI.

BellCore defines a number of telecom standards applicable to
the (North-) American continent.
Having several incompatible standards is as bad as having no
standards, and therefor ETSI and BellCore usually adopt all
ITU recommendations, and then standardize specific further
details, applicable to the local continent. ETSI and BellCore
do not always align, and sometimes this makes telecom
manufacturers life hard.

Figure 95 ATM Forum logo

4. ATM Forum : In the early days of Asynchronous Transfer

Mode (ATM), a number of Computer (not Telecom)
companies, complained that the standardization-process of
the ITU was too slow, and they decided to organize
themselves in a new smaller and faster organization : the ATM
forum. Being founded by the main Computer-industry
players, today also all Telecom companies contribute to it,
and the ATM forum has become a quite large standardization
body itself as well.

Figure 96 ISO logo

5. ISO : the International Standards Organization, is probably

the world's largest standardization body. It is however not
dedicated to telecom only. However for a number of
electrical, security, environmental, and other matters its
standards do apply to telecom systems.

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 Appendix I Standards

6. IETF : the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) governs the

standardization of the Internet : the protocols, addressing
structure, etc.. Standards are proposed in so-called Request
For Comment (RFC) documents, available to the public on the
Internet.

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Appendix J The Race for Bandwidth

Appendix J The Race for Bandwidth

The past 100 years, telecom was primarily oriented towards voice.
During this time most growth, sales and profit was originating
from installing the well-known voice telecom systems.
The last years however, there is a significant growth for data
communications. Large companies are interconnecting their
computer networks, and the whole world starts using the World
Wide Web more and more.
Analysts studying the telecom market, predict a growth :

for Voice : 10% / year

for Data : between 30% and 50% / year
This means that data-traffic is growing much faster than voice,
and that some moment in time, data traffic will outgrow
voice-traffic. There is some uncertainty about when this has
happened, but there is an agreement that it is somewhere around
the year 2000.

Figure 97 Bandwidth growth predictions

This evolution will mean a revolution to the telecom business : a

change from voice-dominance to data-dominance will take
place in only a few years time. Eventually in future, voice will be a
relatively small fraction of all traffic, maybe as small as 1%.

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 Appendix K a Protocol Stack

Appendix K a Protocol Stack

Many telecom systems use a so-called Protocol Stack. The
purpose is to split up a complicated task into a chain of simpler
tasks.
Let's take an analogy : a doctor wants to send a medical report to
a colleague, located in another country. Although the doctor
could take care of all details himself (translation, booking for
transportation, delivery of the report, etc.) he would probably
'sub-contract' part of the job, himself only taking care of the
medical writing.

Doctor Source Doctor Destination

1. 6.
Translator Translator
2. 5.
Parcel Delivery Parcel Delivery
3. 4.
Transport

Figure 98 Protocol Stack

The following steps describe a layered approach for this task :

1. When the doctor has his report ready, it needs some
translation, possibly to a common language, eg. English.
This job is done by the Translation layer : it receives the report
from the doctor, and outputs a translated report.
2. This output then goes to a parcel delivery service, eg. Federal
Express. They take any package, and can deliver this
guaranteed worldwide.
3. FedEx again subcontracts the transportation of the parcel to
other companies : they rent cargo-space from an airplanes
company, a truck transportation company, a railway
company.
4. The transportation company delivers the parcel to FedEx
somewhere close to the destination.
5. FedEx delivers the package to a local translator, who
translates the report back to the language of the receiver.
6. The translator delivers the translated report to the receiving
doctor.
What are now the advantages of this approach ?

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Appendix K a Protocol Stack

Each Layer is specialized for a single particular task, and can

be optimized for this.

Each layer needs only to know what are its interfaces to the
above and below layer : the doctor only interfaces with the
translator, and does not need to know what is happening
below that. The transportation companies only deal with the
parcel-delivery companies, and do not know any details
what is above that.

Each layer could be replaced with another layer, given they
have the same interfaces. Example, if FedEx is on strike, they
could be replaced with DHL, the doctors not even knowing
this.
There are of course also some drawbacks to this approach. You
can imagine that getting this report sent, requires quite some
paperwork, each of the independent companies doing it different,
etc.. So if you just want to deliver some report to your colleague
next door, it would probably be cheaper, and faster to just hand it
to him.

Note Two very popular (and therefor) important protocol stacks are the
OSI-stack, and the TCP/IP-stack. The details of these lead too
far for this introductory text. You can refer to Computer Networks,
Tanenbaum, for more details.

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 Appendix L A Call Scenario

Appendix L A Call Scenario

This picture shows the flow of events in a typical call scenario. On
the left is the Calling Party, on the right the Called Party and in the
middle the Network. Time flows from top to bottom. The call
starts with a 'Setup' request from the calling party to the network,
asking to set up a call. The network then answers this with a
Acknowldege'....

SETUP Set-up
Calling SETUP ACKNOWLEDGE Network Called
Party Party
INFORMATION

CALL PROCEEDING

SETUP

CALL PROCEEDING

ALERTING
ALERTING CONNECT

CONNECT

CONNECT ACKNOWLEDGE
CONNECT ACKNOWLEDGE

DISCONNECT Release
DISCONNECT
RELEASE
RELEASE
RELEASE COMPLETE
RELEASE COMPLETE

Figure 99 ISDN Local Call Scenario

An example of a call scenario for ATM UNI v3.1 can be played at

http://www.ultranet.com/~dhudek/junidemo1.shtml (JAVA enabled
browser needed).

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Appendix M the Frequency Spectrum

Appendix M the Frequency Spectrum

A lot of communication techniques use electromagnetic waves. To
prevent interference, disturbance from one communication to the
other, all these applications got assigned a certain frequency
band. Below are some of the most important frequencies and
frequency-bands listed :

20 .. 20000 Hz : Audio frequencies,

20 KHz .. 100 KHz UltraSone

87.5 .. 108 MHz : FM Radio BroadCasting

512 KHz .. 1600 KHz : AM Radio Broadcasting

300 .. 3400 Hz : analog telephone

50 MHz .. 500 MHz Television Broadcasting

900 MHz : GSM Mobile Telephony. 890 .. 915 MHz Uplink,
935 .. 960 MHz Downlink.

GSM 1800 : 1710 .. 1785 MHz Uplink, 1805 .. 1880 MHz
Downlink.

DECT : 1880 .. 1900 MHz

1GHZ .. 10 GHz : MicroWave frequencies (5 * 10^11 Hz)

Infra Red : 5*10^11 - 3 * 10^14 Hz

Light : 900 nm .. 800 nm

Ultra Violet : 10^15 - 5*10^17 Hz

X-Rays / rongten : 5 * 10^17 - 5*10^19 Hz

Gamma Rays : 5*10^18 Hz - up

audio FM Radio
InfraRed

ultrasonic TV light
AM Radio UltraViolet
GSM

GSM1800

DECT

MicroWave

10 100 1K 10K 100K 1M 10M 100M 1G 10G 100G 1T 10T 100T Frequency [Hz]

Figure 100 Frequency Chart

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 Appendix N MultiMedia

Appendix N MultiMedia
MultiMedia is a buzzword, and because it is being used in so
many contexts, it gets a vague or fuzzy meaning. One very limited
definition of MultiMedia, is :
Information consisting of different media, such as text, graphics,
audio, video.
In this appendix we want to give a view on what is MultiMedia
from a Telecom Business perspective.
Some 20 years ago there were clearly distinct businesses for :

Telecom : telephone networks. Important companies were (not
exhaustive) Siemens, Bell ITT, Lucent, ...

Consumer : TVs, Household appliances, etc.... Important
companies were Philips, Sony, NEC, ...

Computer : Mainframe computers. Important companies
were IBM, DEC, HP, ...
In the last 20 years, each of these business areas has expanded,
developing new technologies and products :

Telecom : ISDN, Mobile, Internet...

Consumer : Walkman, CD, video, Camcorder, ...

Computer : Personal Computers, Local Area Networks,
HardDisks, ...
As a result, these businesses start to overlap, and the overlap area
itself is a new business area with an interesting combination of
Telecom, Computer and Consumer features.
Some examples are :

Telecom
&Computer
Computers with built in (voice) modems,

Computers able to do video-conferencing,

Network Computers,

Mobile Phone Organizers (One Touch Com, Nokia
Communicator)

Email

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Appendix N MultiMedia

Figure 101 One Touch Com

Computer
&Consumer
CD-ROM, -Recordable, -Rewritable

Digital Versatile Disc (DVD)

Telecom
Consumer
&
Prepaid Card for Mobile Phone, sold in supermarket

DECT Private Exchange

Telecom,
Compute
&
Web Touch
Consum
Worldwide databases, such as CDDB

Web-TV

MP3 player : a device playing Motion Picture Expert
Group (MPEG) layer 3 (mp3) encoded audio. Music in this
format can be downloaded from providers on the Internet.
In this view, MultiMedia is :
A new business area, combining technologies from Telecom,
Computer and Consumer industries.
The challenge will be to survive as a player in this new area, amid
a competition which is not only Telecom, but also Computer and
Consumer companies.

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 Appendix N MultiMedia

Figure 102 Overlapping Businesses, MultiMedia

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Appendix O Links to Further Information

Appendix O Links to Further Information

TelecomR
esearch This site focuses on Wireless and Access, on which there are many
articles and tutorials. The site has also a number of Resource
Links, pointing to :

Manufacturers

Tutorials
http://www.telecomresearch.com/

Telecom. This site focuses on Telecom Business aspects : announces new

Total
products, new contracts, company reorganizations, etc... A
mailing can keep you up to date.
http://www.totaltelecom.com/

TeleChoice This site provides a set of reports on different telecom

technologies.
http://www.telechoice.com/content/reports.asp

Othe The list of resources on the Web is endless, but lots of interesting
material is grouped at :
http://www.data.com/tutorials/
http://www.gbmarks.com/ref.htm
http://china.si.umich.edu/telecom/telecom-info.html

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 Appendix O Links to Further Information

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