TheTelecommunications

Network: An Overview
Network:AnOverview

Discussion Topics :
DiscussionTopics:
We
Wedividethenetworkintolayersandbriefly
divide the network into layers and briefly
describedifferentnetworktechnologiesthat
are needed to provide various kinds of service
areneededtoprovidevariouskindsofservice.
Anintroductiontothetheoryoftraffic
engineering; that is how much capacity we
engineering;thatis,howmuchcapacitywe
shouldbuildintothenetworkinorderto
provide a sufficient grade of service for the
provideasufficientgradeofserviceforthe
customers.

Basic Telecommunications Network

BasicTelecommunicationsNetwork
Thebasicpurposeofatelecommunications
networkistotransmituserinformationinany
formtoanotheruserofthenetwork.
Therearethreetechnologiesneededfor
g
communicationthroughthenetwork:
1. transmission,
2. switching,and
switching, and
3. signaling.

Transmission
Transmissionistheprocessoftransporting
informationbetweenendpointsofasystemora
p
y
network.
Fourbasicmediaforinformationtransferfrom
one point to another:
onepointtoanother:
1. Coppercables,suchasthoseusedinLANsand
telephonesubscriberlines;
2. Opticalfibercables,suchashighdatarate
transmissionintelecommunicationsnetworks;
3. Radiowaves,suchascellulartelephonesand
Radio waves, such as cellular telephones and
satellitetransmission;
4. Freespaceoptics,suchasinfraredremote
controllers.
controllers

Switching
Onlyafewcableconnectionswereneeded
between exchanges because the number of
betweenexchangesbecausethenumberof
simultaneouslyongoingcallsismuchsmaller
than the number of telephones
thanthenumberoftelephones.

Figure:Abasic
telecommunications
l
i i
network.

Signaling
Signalingisthemechanismthatallows
networkentities(customerpremisesor
networkswitches)toestablish,maintain,and
terminatesessionsinanetwork.
Signalingiscarriedoutwiththehelpof
specificsignalsormessagesthatindicateto
theotherendwhatisrequestedofitbythis
h
h
d h i
d f i b hi
connection.
Signalingisanextremelycomplexmatterina
Si li i
l
l
i
telecommunicationsnetwork.

SignalingCont.
Someexamplesofsignaling:
Offhookcondition:Theexchangenoticesthatthe
ff
g
subscriberhasraisedthetelephonehook(dcloop
isconnected)andgivesadialtonetothe
subscriber.
Dial:Thesubscriberdialsdigitsandtheyare
receivedbytheexchange.
Onhookcondition:Theexchangenoticesthatthe
subscriberhasfinishedthecall(subscriberloopis
b ib h fi i h d th
ll ( b ib l
i
disconnected),clearstheconnection,andstops
billing.
billing

SwitchingandSignaling
Tobuildtherequestedconnectionfromone
subscriber to another, the network has
subscribertoanother,thenetworkhas
switchingequipmentthatselectstherequired
connection.
connection.Exchange.
Exchange.

Figure:
SPC(Storage
ProgramControl)
exchangeand
signaling
principlesused
between
between
exchanges.

SwitchingandSignaling(Cont.)
Signaling
Usuallythecallisroutedviamanyexchangesandthe
signalinginformationneedstobetransmittedfromone
exchangetoanother.Thiscanbedoneviachannelassociated
signaling (CAS) or common channel signaling (CCS) methods
signaling(CAS)orcommonchannelsignaling(CCS)methods

Figure:CAS
between
between
exchanges.

CommonChannelSignaling(CCS)
g
g( )
Itisbasedontheprinciplesofcomputercommunications
inwhichdataframescontaininginformationare
exchangedbetweencomputersonlywhenrequired.
Signalingframescontain,forexample,:
information
informationabouttheconnectiontowhichthemessage
about the connection to which the message
belongs,
theaddressofthedestinationexchange,dialeddigits,
andinformationaboutwhethersubscriberBhasanswered.
d f
b
h h
b b
h
d

Onlyonedatachannelbetweentwoexchangesis
requiredtoserveallestablishedcalls,thisisusuallyone
q
,
y
64Kbpstimeslotofaprimary2 or1.5MbpsPCM
frame.

CCS(Cont.)
AwidelyusedinternationalstandardofCCSiscalled
CCS7,alsoknownassignalingsystemnumber7(SS7),
CCITT#7,orITUT7,anditisusedinallmodern
telecommunicationsnetworkssuchasISDNandGSM.

Figure:CCS
g
betweenexchanges.

SwitchingHierarchy
Thehierarchicalstructureofthenetworkhelpsoperators
managethenetworkanditmakesthebasicprincipleof
t l h
telephonecallroutingstraightforward;thecallisrouted
ll
ti
t i htf
d th
ll i
t d
upinthehierarchybyeachexchangeifthedestination
subscriberisnotlocatedbelowthisexchange.
g

Figure:Anexample
ofswitching
hierarchy.

TelephoneCallRouting
Callsthatarecarriedbythenetworkarerouted
accordingtoaplan,asetofrules.
Theroutingplanincludesthenumberingplanand
h
i
l i l d h
b i
l
d
networkconfiguration.
Theglobalrulesforthehighestlevelnumbering,
g
g
g,
countrycodes,andoverallnumbering(maximum
lengthandsoon)aregivenbyITUT.
It defines for example trunk or area codes and
Itdefines,forexample,trunkorareacodesand
operatorprefixesusedinsidethecountry.
Italsodefinesnationwideservicenumbers(e.g.,
emergenc n mbers)
emergencynumbers).
Attheregionallevel,thenumberingplanincludes
digitsallocatedtocertainswitchingoffices,exchanges,
andthesubscribernumbersforsubscribersconnected
toacertainswitch.

Switching Functionality for Routing

SwitchingFunctionalityforRouting

Figure:Telephonecallrouting.

LocalAccessNetwork
Thelocalaccessnetworkprovidestheconnectionbetween
thecustomerstelephoneandthelocalexchange.
OrdinarytelephoneandISDNsubscribersusetwowires,a
O di
t l h
d ISDN b ib
t
i
pair,asasubscriberloop,butforbusinesscustomersahigher
capacityopticalfiberormicrowaveradiolinkmaybe
required.

Figure:Anexample
ofalocalaccess
network.

LocalExchange
Localorsubscriberloopsconnectsubscriberstolocal
l
b b l
b b
l l
exchanges,whicharethelowestlevelexchangesinthe
switchinghierarchy.
Thesearethemaintasksofthedigitallocalexchange:
o Detectoffhookcondition,analyzethedialednumber,and
determineifarouteisavailable.
o Connectthesubscribertoatrunkexchangeforlongerdistance
h
b b
k
h
f l
calls.
o Connectthesubscribertoanotherinthesamelocalarea.
o Determineifthecalledsubscriberisfreeandconnectringing
D t
i if th
ll d b ib i f
d
t i i
signaltoher.
o Providemeteringandcollectchargingdataforitsown
subscribers.
subscribers
o Convert2Wlocalaccessto4Wcircuitofthenetwork.
o Convertanalogspeechintoadigitalsignal(PCM).

A
ASmallLocalExchangeiscalledremoteswitchingunit
Small Local Exchange is called remote switching unit
(RSU)

DistributionFrames
Allsubscriberlinesarewiredtothemain
f
(
),
distributionframe(MDF),

TrunkNetwork
Anetworkwherehigherlevelsthanlocal
exchangesareshownasasingleleveloftrunk
exchanges.
exchanges
Highcapacitytransmissionpaths,usuallyoptical
linesystems,withcapacitiesupto10Gbps,
interconnecttrunkexchanges.
Atransportnetworkhasalternativeroutes.Ifone
of these transmission systems fails switches are
ofthesetransmissionsystemsfails,switchesare
abletoroutenewcallsviaothertransmission
systemsandtrunkexchangestobypassthefailed
system.
Thetrunkexchangesareusuallylocatedinmajor
cities.
cities

TrunkNetwork(Cont.)

Figure:Two
Figure
: Twolayer
layernetworkandlinksbetween
network and links between
trunkandlocalexchanges.

InternationalNetwork(1)
Eachcountryhasatleastoneinternationalswitching
centertowhichtrunkexchangesareconnected.

InternationalNetwork(2)
( )
Highcapacityopticalsystemsinterconnect
internationalexchangesorswitchingcentersof
g
g
nationalnetworks.
Thefirstsubmarinecabletelephonesystemacrossthe
north Atlantic Ocean was installed in 1956 and it had
northAtlanticOceanwasinstalledin1956,andithad
thecapacityof36speechchannels.
Modernopticalsubmarinesystemshaveacapacityof
several hundred thousand speech channels and new
severalhundredthousandspeechchannelsandnew
highcapacitysubmarinesystemsareputintouseevery
year.
Submarinesystemsarethemainpathsfor
b
h
h f
intercontinentaltelephonecallsandInternet
communication.Satellitesystemsaresometimesused
asbackupsystemsinthecaseofcongestion.