CS 544: Topics in Networks

Dr. Moumita Patra

Dr. Manas Khatua
Syllabus
• Basic switching techniques
• Switch architectures
• Buffering strategies- Input and output queuing
• Performance analysis using queues
• Iterative matching algorithms
• QoS and packet scheduling
• IP packet classification algorithms

References
• 1. An Engineering Approach to Computer Networking by S. Keshav
• 2. The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis: Techniques for
Experimental Design, Measurement, Simulation, and Modeling, by Raj Jain
• 3. Network Routing by Deepankar Medhi and Karthikeyan Ramasamy
Evaluation format
• Teaching Mode: Combination of Online live sessions & Recorded
lectures

• Evaluations (tentative): Quiz (20 marks), Assignment(with viva) (15

marks), End-sem: (15 marks)
 Computer Networks

● Computer networks connects

two autonomous devices
(PCs/mobile phones, etc.)
● The devices can be
geographically located
anywhere.

4
 mobile network
The Internet
global
● Millions of connected devices ISP

PC
home
server network
regional
Wireless laptop ISP

smartphone

Hosts = end systems

Running network applications
institutional
network
5
 mobile network
Communication Links
global
ISP
● Wired links
● Wireless links home
network
● fiber, copper, radio, satellite regional
● transmission rate: different ISP
links can transmit data at
different rates

● Routers and Switches

● Forward chunks of data institutional
(packets) network
6
 mobile network
❖ Internet: “network of networks”
▪ Interconnected ISPs
global
❖ protocols control sending and receiving ISP
of data
▪ e.g., TCP, IP, HTTP, 802.11
home
❖ Internet standards network
▪ RFC: Request for comments regional
▪ IETF: Internet Engineering Task ISP
Force
▪ Internet standards are developed by
the IETF.
▪ The IETF standards documents are
called RFCs.

institutional
network 7
 mobile network
A “service view” of the Internet
global
ISP
❖ Infrastructure that provides
services to applications: home
▪ E.g- Web, VoIP, email, network
regional
games, e-commerce, social ISP
networking, etc.
▪ Applications are said to be
distributed
▪ Applications involve multiple
end systems that exchange
data with each other.
institutional
network
8
 mobile network
● Internet applications run
on end systems- not in global
the network core. ISP

home
❖ provides programming network
regional
interface to applications ISP
▪ allows sending and
receiving application
programs to “connect” to
Internet

institutional
network
9
 mobile network
Network Structure
global
● network edge: ISP

○ hosts: clients and home

servers network
regional
ISP
● access networks, physical
media:
● wired, wireless
communication links
● network core:
○ interconnected routers
institutional
○ network of networks network
10
Access networks and physical media

Q: How to connect end

systems to edge router?

❖ residential access
networks

❖ institutional access
networks (school,
company)

❖ mobile access networks 11

Introduction 1-11
Network core
▪ packet switching, circuit switching,
message switching, virtual circuit
switching

12
The Network Core
❖ mesh of interconnected routers
❖ packet-switching: hosts break
application-layer messages into
packets
▪ forward packets from one
router to the next, across
links on path from source to
destination
▪ each packet transmitted at
full link capacity

13
Introduction 1-13
 Host: sends packets of data
host sending function:
❖takes application message

❖breaks into smaller chunks, two packets,

known as packets, of length L bits L bits each
❖transmits packet into access
network at transmission rate R
2 1
▪ link transmission rate, aka
link capacity, aka link R: link transmission
bandwidth host rate

time needed to
packet L (bits)
transmission = transmit L-bit =
delay
packet into link R (bits/sec)
1-14
1-14
 Packet Switching: Store-and-forward
L bits
per packet
source 3 2 1
R bps R bps destination

❖ takes L/R seconds to transmit

(push out) L-bit packet into link
one-hop numerical
at R bps example:
❖ store and forward: entire packet ▪ L = 7.5 Mbits
must arrive at router before it ▪ R = 1.5 Mbps
can be transmitted on next link
▪ one-hop transmission
❖ end-end delay = 2L/R (assuming delay = 5 sec
zero propagation delay)
15
Introduction 1-15
Packet Switching: queueing delay, loss

A R = 100 Mb/s C

R = 1.5 Mb/s D
B
queue of packets E
waiting for output link

queuing and loss:

❖ If arrival rate (in bits) to link exceeds transmission rate of link for
a period of time:
▪ packets will queue, wait to be transmitted on link
▪ packets can be dropped (lost) if memory (buffer) fills up
16
Introduction 1-16
How do loss and delay occur?
packets queue in router buffers
❖ packet arrival rate to link (temporarily) exceeds output link capacity

❖ packets queue, wait for turn

packet being transmitted

(delay)

B
packets queueing (delay)
free (available) buffers: arriving packets
dropped (loss) if no free buffers
17
Introduction 1-17
Sources of packet delay
transmission
A propagation

B
nodal
processing queueing
dnodal = dproc + dqueue + dtrans + dprop

dproc: nodal processing dqueue: queueing delay

▪ check bit errors ▪ time waiting at output link
▪ determine output link for transmission
▪ typically < msec ▪ depends on congestion
level of router 18
Introduction 1-18
 Sources of packet delay
transmission
A propagation

B
nodal
processing queueing
dnodal = dproc + dqueue + dtrans + dprop
dtrans: transmission delay:
dprop: propagation delay:
▪ L: packet length (bits)
▪ d: length of physical link
▪ R: link bandwidth (bps)
▪ s: propagation speed in medium
▪ dtrans = L/R (~2x108 m/sec)
dtrans and dprop ▪ dprop = d/s
very different
19
Introduction 1-19
Packet loss
❖ queue (aka buffer) preceding link in buffer has finite
capacity
❖ packet arriving to full queue dropped (aka lost)
❖ lost packet may be retransmitted by previous node, by
source end system, or not at all
buffer
packet being transmitted
A (waiting area)

B
packet arriving to full buffer is lost
20
Introduction 1-20
 Alternative core: circuit switching
end-end resources allocated to,
reserved for “call” between
source & dest:
❖ In diagram, each link has four
circuits.
▪ call gets 2
nd circuit in top link
and 1st circuit in right link.
❖ dedicated resources: no sharing

▪ circuit-like (guaranteed)
performance
❖ circuit segment idle if not used
by call (no sharing)
❖ Commonly used in traditional
telephone networks
21
Introduction 1-21
Circuit switching: FDM versus TDM

Example:
FDM
4 users

frequency

time
TDM

frequency

time
Introduction 1-22
 Packet Switching
❖Resources are not reserved.
❖Resources are used on demand.
❖Message may have to wait for access to a communication link.
❖Allows more users to use the network.

Advantages over circuit-switching

❖Better sharing of bandwidth
❖Simple
❖Efficient
❖Less costly

23
Introduction 1-23
Packet switching versus circuit switching
is packet switching a “winner”?
❖ great for bursty data

▪ resource sharing
▪ simpler, no call setup
❖ excessive congestion possible: packet delay and loss

▪ protocols needed for reliable data transfer, congestion control

❖ Q: How to provide circuit-like behavior?

▪ bandwidth guarantees needed for audio/video apps

▪ still an unsolved problem

24
Introduction 1-24
Advantages of Circuit Switching

• No need to have a large header for packets.

• Every circuit has dedicated resources allocated to it.
• QoS is guaranteed.
• End-to-End delay= propagation delay+ transmission delay
• No queuing delay, so end-to-end delay is not variable.
• All data/frames are delivered in-order.
• Look-up time in forwarding table is small.
Disadvantages
• Insufficient support for bursty traffic.
• Unutilised slots in a frame are wasted.
• Connection set-up time may be high.
• Limited number of slots/frames.
• Not scalable to large number of bursty users.
• When a link along the path fails, circuit has to be re-established,
incurring high set-up costs.
Packet Switching Advantages
• Packet based routing/forwarding.
• Every packet has source and destination address.
• Each packet of a source-destination pair is routed independently.
• “Best effort” delivery.
Disadvantages
• QoS not guaranteed.
• Variable end-to-end delay.
• Large header size.
• No in-order delivery.
• Buffer required for store-and-forward transmission.
Message Switching
• Alternate to circuit switching.
• End users communicate by sending
and receiving messages (includes
entire data to be shared).
• Messages are the smallest
individual unit.
• Sender and receiver are not
directly connected.
• Intermediate nodes transfer data.
• Ensure that data is delivered.
• Enables efficient usage of network resources.
• Data channels are shared
• Traffic can be regulated easily with store-and-forward capability of
intermediary nodes

• Switches require large storage capacity as messages are stored

indefinitely at each intermediate node
• Delay increases, cannot be used for real time applications.
Virtual Circuit Switching
• A means of transporting data over a packet switched computer
network in a way that it appears to be a dedicated physical layer link.
• Uses the concept of virtual circuit.
• Also called “ connection-oriented” model.
• Needs to “set-up” call first , “teardown” when done.
• A VC consists of:
• A path from source to destination
• A VC number/identifier for each link
• Entries in the forwarding table in each switch along the path.
• A packet in a VC has VC number in its header.
• A VC may have different VC numbers on each link.
• Each intervening switch must replace the VC number of each
traversing packet with a new VC number.
• All packets belonging to the same source and destination travel the
same path but packets may arrive at the destination with different
delays if resource allocation is on demand.
• Switching at the DLL in a switched WAN is normally implemented
using virtual-circuit techniques.
Virtual Circuit Network
Concept of VCI
Forwarding table in a VC switch
Source to destination data transfer
Three phases in a virtual circuit:-
• VC setup
• Data transfer
• VC teardown- sender informs the network layer of its desire to
terminate the VC.

• Network layer informs the end system on the other side about call
termination.
• Forwarding tables in the path are updated.
Setup requests in a VC network
Setup acknowledgement in a virtual-circuit network
Teardown phase
• Source after sending all frames to destination, sends a special frame
called “teardown request”.
• Destination responds with teardown confirmation frame.
• All the forwarding tables in the path are correspondingly updated.
Features

• VCIs are not global in the switch network

• Link local scope – only has significance on given link
• VCI and interface uniquely define the virtual connection
• Outgoing packets may use a different VCI
• Virtual Circuits can be established before the circuit is
needed or on demand
 VC Summary
“source-to-destination path behaves much like telephone
circuit”
performance-wise
network actions along source-to-destination path

• Call setup, teardown for each call before data can flow
• Each packet carries VC identifier (not destination host ID)
• Every router on source-destination path maintains “state” for each
passing connection
• transport-layer connection only involved two end systems
• Link, router resources (bandwidth, buffers) may be allocated to VC
• to get circuit-like performance
Virtual Circuit Switching

• Two types:
• Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC)
• Network administrator configures the state
• Switched Virtual Circuit (SVC)
• Setup and teardown performed by the host
requiring the circuit at the time of use (“on-
demand”)
PVCs
• Administratively configured (manually/dedicated signaling protocol/
piggybacking on routing protocols)
• Last a long time
• Setting up the PVC's in a large network can be overwhelming
SVCs
• Dynamically set up on a “per-call” basis.
• Host A sends a setup message to switch linked to its interface (switch 1)
• Contains the complete destination address of host B
• This message needs to make its way all through the network to host B so that every
switch can update its VC table.
• Switch 1 receives the request
• Updates its VC table
• Sends it to switch 2
• This continues until the request reaches host B
• But how??
• Switches must know enough about network topology
• Host B now sends an ACK back to A
• This behaves the same as the original setup request
• Each switch receives the message
• Updates the VC tables
• Forwards the message on
• Every switch now knows the properties of the VC when the message
reaches host A.
• When A (or B) is done with the connection, it sends a teardown
message to the channel, say to switch 1
• Switch 1 forwards the packet to switch 2 and removes the VC entry
for host A
• Switch 2 does the same, etc.
• When the teardown message has reached host b, the connection has
been removed.
SVC Notes
• Takes 1 full RTT to set up the path
• Buffers are allocated in the switches as the connection is set
up
• Advanced sliding windows keep the remote nodes behaving
• Circuit setup requests are rejected if a node does not have
enough buffers
• Hop-by-hop flow control
Delay in a virtual circuit network
Virtual Circuits In Practice
• ATMs
• MPLS
Asynchronous Transfer Mode: ATM
• Teleco-driven
• Originally envisioned to use in all kinds of services, such as:
• Voice
• IP
• LAN, etc.
• Was designed for a network that must handle both traditional high
throughput data traffic and real time, low latency content such as,
voice and video.
• Used to unify both telephone and data networking
Why ATM?
• Telephone networks support a single QoS and is expensive to
setup
• Packet switched networks support no QoS but is flexible and
cheap
• ATM wants to use best of both, i.e., provides QoS and is
cheap.
Features
• Connection-oriented, uses virtual circuits
• Information is transmitted in small fixed-sized packets called cells
Fixed size because
• makes switch design easier
• Lookups are easy
• makes it scalable to high speed
• Fixed cell size- 53 bytes (48 payload + 5 header)
• Uses asynchronous TDM,i.e., cells are transmitted asynchronously
• Data/cells can be transmitted in any order
• Can carry multiple types of traffic
• Delivery of packets may not be guaranteed
• Uses statistical multiplexing
• Independent of transmission medium
Proposed use cases
• Connectivity in Internet backbones
• Aggregating residential broadband networks (cable, DSL, ISDN)
• Provides carrier infrastructure from the telephone and private line
networks
• Provides variable rate for telephone network backbone
 ATM Reference Model
• Control – responsible for generating
and managing signalling request
(connection management)
• User- deals with data transport, flow
control, error correction, and other user
functions
• Layer Management- manages layer-
specific functions (detection of failures
and protocol problems)
• Plane management- manages and
coordinates functions related to the
complete system
ATM Layers
• Reference model for ATM approximately maps to the 3 lowest layers
of OSI reference model:
• Network layer
• Data link layer
• Physical layer

ATM defines 3 layers-

• ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL)
• ATM Layer
• Physical Layer
ATM Protocol Layers

ATM Endpoint ATM Endpoint

ATM Switch
ATM Adaptation Layer ATM Adaptation Layer
ATM Layer
ATM Layer ATM Layer
Physical Layer Physical Layer
Physical Layer

Physical Medium
ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL)
• Enables ATM to accept any type of payload, both data frames and
streams bits
• Fragment them into small and fixed-size cells
• Reassemble cells
• Mapping apps (e.g: voice, data) to ATM cells
• Convergence sublayer – prepares data to ensure their integrity, providing
standard interface. Helps to offer different kinds of services to different
applications
• Segmentation and Reassemble sublayer (SAR)- Segments the payload into 48
byte cells and at the destination, reassembles them to recreate the original
payload.
ATM Layer
• Defines cell layout
• Defines header
• Routing
• Establishment and release VC
• Switching
• Multiplexing
• Congestion Control
ATM Reference Model
Physical Medium Dependent (PMD)- has two functions:
• Synchronizes transmission and reception by sending and receiving a
continuous flow of bits with associated timing information
• Specifies the physical media for the physical medium used, including
connector type and cable.

Transmission Convergence (TC)- has four functions:

• Cell delineation, generating cell boundaries
• Header error control (HEC) sequence generation and verification
• Cell rate decoupling, maintaining synchronization and inserting or
suppressing idle ATM cells to rate of valid ATM cells to the payload capacity
of transmission system.
• Transmission frame adaptation, packaging cells into frame acceptable to
the particular physical layer implementation
• ATM defines four versions of AAL:
• AAL1: Supports Constant Bit Rate (CBR) service, connection-oriented,
strict timing relationship between source and destination.
• AAL2: Provides Variable Bit Rate (VBR) service, connection oriented,
strict timing relationship. Allows multiplexing of short frames into one
cell. For e.g., - audio (compressed or uncompressed), video, or fax.
• AAL3/4: Supports both CBR and VBR service. Support connection-
oriented and connectionless data services.
• AAL5: Assumes that all cells belonging to a single message travel
sequentially and that control functions are included in the layers of
the sending applications. Provides connectionless VBR service.
ATM Services
Constant Bit Rate (CBR):
• CBR is used by a connections that requires a static amount of bandwidth that
is continuously available during the connection time.
• It appropriates for such applications, as telephone traffic, video conferencing,
interactive audio, TV
Rate-Non-Real Time Variable Bit Rate (nrt-VBR)
• Allows users to send traffic at a rate that varies with time depending on the
availability of user information. Application- email
Rate-Real Time Variable Bit Rate (rt-VBR)
• Intended for those applications which require tightly constrained delay and
delay variation
• Application: voice with speech activity detection (SAD) and interactive
compressed video
Available Bit Rate (ABR)
• Provides rate-based flow control
• Depending on the state of congestion in the network, the source is required
to control its rate
• Allows users to declare a minimum cell rate guaranteed to the connection by
the network
• Aimed at data traffic such as file transfer and email
Unspecified Bit Rate (UBR)
• Intended for non-real time application which do not require tightly
constrained delay and delay variation
• Widely used today for TCP/IP
 ATM Virtual Connection

1. Transmission Path (TP): the physical connection (wire, cable, satellite,…) between
an endpoint and a switch or between two switches
2. Virtual Paths (VPs): provides a connection or a set of connections between two
switches
3. Virtual Circuits (VCs): Cell networks are based on virtual circuits. All cells belonging
to a single message follow the same virtual circuit and remain in their original
order until they reach their destination.
VC must be set up across the ATM network prior to any data transfer.
Advantages
• Transmitted with predictability and uniformity
• Easy to be multiplexed with other cells, and routed through the cell
network
• With high speed of the links, small and fixed-size cells seem to arrive their
respective destinations in an approximation of continuous stream, despite
interleaving. E.g- phone call
• Simple buffer hardware
• Simpler cells scheduling
• Easier to allocate different bandwidths and delays to different VCs
• Easier to implement priority
• Suitable for time-critical information such as, voice or video
• Quicker recovery in case of circuit failure
Disadvantages
• Processing overhead as messages are segmented into cells
• Segmentation mismatch, as the last cell in a fragmented message may not be
fully used. This effect will decrease as the message length increases
• The expense, complexity and lack of interoperability with other technologies have
prevented ATM from becoming more prevalent
• Connection setup latency (ATM’s connection-oriented paradigm)
• Complexity of QoS: The complexity of the specification makes implementation
cumbersome and difficult. Many implementations do not support the full
standard.
• Assumption of Homogeneity: ATM is designed to be a single, universal
networking system. There is minimal provision for interoperating with other
technologies
Multi-Protocol Label
Switching (MPLS)
Overview
• Enhancement to IP packet forwarding
• Combines some of the properties of VCs with the flexibility and
robustness of datagrams
• MPLS enabled routers forward packets by examining relatively short,
fixed-length labels which have local scope, just like in VC network.
• A forwarding scheme designed to speed up IP packet forwarding (RFC
3031)
• Idea: use a fixed length label in the packet header to decide packet
forwarding
• Label carried in an MPLS header between the link layer header and network
layer header
• Support any network layer protocol and link layer protocol
MPLS Basics
• It is between Layer2 and Layer 3
• Is independent of Layer 2 and Layer 3 protocols
• Maps IP addresses to fixed length labels
• Supports ATM, Frame-relay and ethernet
Terminology
• LSR - Routers that support MPLS are called Label Switch Router
• LER - LSR at the edge of the network is called Label Edge Router (a.k.a Edge LSR)
• Ingress LER is responsible for adding labels to unlabeled IP packets.
• Egress LER is responsible for removing the labels.
• Label Switch Path (LSP) – the path defined by the labels through LSRs between two LERs.
• Label Forwarding Information Base (LFIB) – a forwarding table (mapping) between labels to
outgoing interfaces.
• Forward Equivalent Class (FEC) – All IP packets follow the same path on the MPLS network and
receive the same treatment at each node.
• Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC): A subset of packets that are all treated the same way by an
LSR
• A packet is assigned to an FEC at the ingress of an MPLS domain
Forwarding Equivalence Class
• A packet’s FEC can be determined by one or more of the following:
• Source and/or destination IP address
• Source and/or destination port number
• Protocol ID
• Differentiated services code point
• Incoming interface
• The concept of FECs provides for flexibility, scalability, and traffic
engineering

69
Working
• Incoming packets are assigned a “label” by a “label edge router (LER)”.
• Packets are forwarded along a “label switch path (LSP)” where each
“label switch router (LSR)” makes forwarding decisions based solely
on the contents of the label.
• At each hop, the LSR strips off the existing label and applies a new
label which tells the next hop how to forward the packet.
• Label Switch Paths (LSPs) are established by network operators for a
variety of purposes, such as to guarantee a certain level of
performance, to route around network congestion, or to create IP
tunnels for network-based virtual private networks.
 Add label at the remove label at
ingress LER the egress LER

LSR LSR LER

LER

IP IP #L1 IP #L2 IP #L3 IP

IP Label Label IP
Routing Switching Switching Routing
How it works?
• Packets enter MPLS Network at a “Label Edge Router” (LER)
• LER Affix a label to packet and forwards it to the MPLS network
• Label switches in the network at each hop makes forwarding decision solely
based on label. That decision is made based on a pre-established “Label
Switch Path” (LSP).
• Labels can be integrated with existing L2 info such as DLCI or ATM VCs.
MPLS Operation
Intf Label Intf Label Intf Label Intf
In In Out Out In In Out
3 50 1 40 3 40 1

FEC Intf Label 1

3 3
Out Out 1
a 1 50 2
40
1 2
50
3
2

73
MPLS summary
• forwarding equivalence class
• at ingress of MPLS network, IP packets are classified, tagged, and
routed
• at next router, tag is used to determine destination
• before leaving, tag is removed
MPLS Applications
• Traffic Engineering
• Virtual Private Network
• Quality of Service (QoS)
Traffic Engineering
• Traffic Engineering (TE) is the process of distributing traffic flows
through the network to achieve load balancing
• TE leads to:
• Reduced congestion
• Improved bandwidth utilization
• Two main approaches to adaptation
• Adaptive routing protocols
• Distribute traffic and performance measurements
• Compute paths based on load, and requirements
• At packet level or at circuit level
• Adaptive network-management system
• Collect measurements of traffic and topology
• Optimize the setting of the “static” parameters 76
• Traffic engineering deals with the application of probability and
optimization theories for the analysis and design of service systems.
• Analysis- calculate/estimate performance
• Design- evaluation of which resources to use and how much
• Service systems
• Input-output function with given quality specs, e.g.- protocol, router, server,
etc.
• Internet Traffic Engineering (ITE): deals with the issue of
performance evaluation and performance optimization of operational
IP networks.
• Enhancing the performance of an operational network at both the
traffic and resource levels are major objectives of ITE.
• Traffic oriented performance measures- delay, jitter, packet loss,
throughput, etc.
• Optimization aspects of traffic engineering can be achieved through –
capacity management and traffic management.
• Capacity management
• Capacity planning
• Routing control
• Resource management
• Traffic management
• Regulate traffic flow/flow control
• Queue management
• scheduling
The Telephone Network
A computer network?
• Specialized to carry voice
• Also carries, video, fax, telemetry data
• Internally use digital samples
• Important component of the telephone networking.
• Telephone network offers : switched voice service with small end-to-
end delays and call completion guarantee.
• QoS is achieved by setting up a circuit between two endpoints.
• Circuit- A path from a source to a destination with signals flowing
simultaneously in both directions.
• Network guarantees enough resources to each circuit to ensure that
the service quality is met.
The big picture

• Fully connected core

• simple routing
• telephone number is a hint about how to route a call
• but not for 800/888/700/900 numbers
• hierarchically allocated telephone number space
The pieces
1. End systems
2. Transmission
3. Switching
4. Signaling
1. End-systems
• Transducers
• key to carrying voice on wires
• Dialer
• Ringer
• Switchhook
2. Transmission
• Link characteristics
• information carrying capacity (bandwidth)
• information sent as symbols
• 1 symbol >= 1 bit
• propagation delay
• time for electromagnetic signal to reach other end
• light travels at 0.7c in fiber ~5 microseconds/Km
• NY to SF => 20 ms; NY to London => 27 ms
• attenuation
• degradation in signal quality with distance
• long lines need regenerators
• optical amplifiers are here
Transmission: Multiplexing
• Trunks between central offices carry hundreds of conversations
• Can’t run thick bundles!
• Instead, send many calls on the same wire
• multiplexing
• Analog multiplexing
• bandlimit call to 3.4 KHz and frequency shift onto higher bandwidth trunk
• obsolete
• Digital multiplexing
• first convert voice to samples
• 1 sample = 8 bits of voice
• 8000 samples/sec => call = 64 Kbps
Transmission: Digital multiplexing
• How to choose a sample?
• 256 quantization levels
• logarithmically spaced since this gives better resolution at low signal levels
• sample value = amplitude of nearest quantization level
• Time division multiplexing
• trunk carries bits at a faster bit rate than inputs
• n input streams, each with a 1-byte buffer, 1 output link
• output runs n times faster than input
• output interleaves samples
• Each set of n output samples along with some additional overhead bits constitute a
frame.
• Receiver can extract each constituent stream by synchronizing to frame boundaries
Transmission: Link technologies
• Many in use today
• twisted pair
• coax cable
• terrestrial microwave
• satellite microwave
• optical fiber
• Increasing amount of bandwidth and cost per foot
• Popular
• fiber
• satellite
The cost of a link
• Should you use the cheapest possible link?
• No!
• Cost is in installation, not in link itself
Transmission: fiber optic links
• Wonderful stuff!
• lots of capacity
• nearly error free
• very little attenuation
• hard to tap
• A long thin strand of very pure glass
Transmission: satellites
• Long distances at high bandwidth
• Geosynchronous
• 36,000 km in the sky
• up-down propagation delay of 250 ms
• bad for interactive communication
• slots in space limited
• Nongeosynchronous (Low Earth Orbit)
• appear to move in the sky
• need more of them
• handoff is complicated
• e.g. Iridium
3. Switching
• Problem:
• each user can potentially call any other user
• can’t have direct lines!
• Switches establish temporary circuits
• Switching systems come in two parts: switch and switch controller
Switching: what does a switch do?
• Transfers data from an input to an output
• many ports (up to200,000 simultaneous calls)`
• need high speeds
• Some ways to switch:
• space division
• if inputs are multiplexed, need a schedule (why?)
Switching
• Another way to switch
• time division (time slot interchange or TSI)
• also needs a schedule (why?)

• To build larger switches we combine space and time division switching

elements
4. Signaling
• Recall that a switching system has a switch and a switch controller
• Switch controller is in the control plane
• does not touch voice samples
• Manages the network
• call routing (collect dialstring and forward call)
• alarms (ring bell at receiver)
• billing
• directory lookup (for 800/888 calls)
Signaling
• One of the main jobs of switch controller: keep track of state of every
endpoint
• State transition diagram
 mobile network
The Internet
global
● Millions of connected devices ISP

PC
home
server network
regional
Wireless laptop ISP

smartphone

Hosts = end systems

Running network applications
institutional
network
98
Two key network-core functions
routing: determines source-
destination route taken by
packets
 routing algorithms
forwarding: move packets
from router’s input to
appropriate router output

routing algorithm

local forwarding table

header value output link
0100 3 1
0101 2
0111 2 3 2
1001 1

dest address in arriving

packet’sNetwork
headerLayer 4-99