DIGITAL SWITCHING

L1. EVOLUTION OF SWITCHING SYSTEMS

Introduction

To overcome the limitations of manual switching, automatic exchanges, having Electro-

mechanical components, were developed. Strowger exchange, the first automatic exchange having
direct control feature, appeared in 1892 in La Porte (Indiana). Though it improved upon the
performance of a manual exchange, it still had a number of disadvantages, viz., a large number of
mechanical parts, limited availability, inflexibility, bulky in size etc. As a result of further research
and development, Crossbar exchanges, having an indirect control system, appeared in 1926 in
Sundsvall, Sweden. The Crossbar exchange improved upon many short- comings of the Strowger
system. However, much more improvement was expected and the revolutionary change in field of
electronics provided it. A large number of moving parts in Register, marker, Translator, etc., were
replaced en-block by a single computer. This made the exchange smaller in size, volume and
weight, faster and reliable, highly flexible, noise-free, easily manageable with no preventive
maintenance etc.

The first electronic exchange employing Space-Division switching (Analog switching) was
commissioned in 1965 at Succasunna, New Jersey. This exchange used one physical path for one
call and, hence, full availability could still not be achieved. Further research resulted in
development of Time-Division switching (Digital Switching) which enabled sharing a single path
by several calls, thus providing full availability. The first digital exchange was commissioned in
1970 in Brittany, France.

Appearance of Electronic Exchanges

Since 1965, when the first electronic telephone exchange was installed, there had
been several changes in technology, each with its advantages and disadvantages, but
contributing, on the whole, to a better telephone service and reduced switching costs.

The first electronic exchange commissioned in 1965 was an Analog Stored Program Control (SPC)
local exchange, No. 1 ESS, by Bell Systems, USA, having electromechanical switching network.
It has 10,000 to 60,000 lines capacity, capable of carrying 600 Erla traffic and 30 call attempts per
second.

Again in the United States, the Bell Laboratory decided in the early 1970’s to develop
a tandem (transit) digit switch, since the inter-exchange transmission was rapidly growing
with increasing facilities.

The first digital electronic local exchange E 10 – A was commissioned in public telephone network
in France in 1970. It was developed jointly by the Centre National d’Etudes des
Telecommunications (CNET-National Telecommunications Research Centre) and the Societe
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Lannionnaise d’Electronique (SLE), a subsidiary of CIT – Alcatel. Subsequently, digital exchanges

from other manufacturers, like, Northern Telecom 9Canada), G.T.E. (USA), L.M. Ericsson
(Sweden), etc. appeared in the market.

The most rapid adaptation of digital switching took place from 1974 to 1976 in the field of
customer or PBX switching. Many companies, some of then new to the telephone switching field,
introduced successful products.

Table 1 Chronological Development of Electronic Exchange

Y Model Type
ear Company
ANALOG
1965 No. 1 ESS Local Bell Labs., USA
1969 No. 4A XB ETS Transit -do-
1972 D 10 Local and Transit NEC, Japan

1973 Metaconta Local LMT, France

1974 No. 1 ESS Local and Transit Bell Labs, USA
Centrex
EWSD Local Siemens, West Germany
PRX 205 Local Philips, Holland
1975 Proteo Local and Transit Proteo, Italy

1976 AXE Local PTT & LM Eicsson, Sweden

DIGITAL
1970 E 10 – A Local and Transit CIT & C NET, France

1976 No. 4 ESS Transit Bell Labs, USA

1978 AXE Local LM Ericsson, Sweden
1981 E 10 - B Local and Transit CIT Alcatel France

E 12 Transit CIT & CNET France

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ADVANTAGES OF ELECTRONIC EXCHANGE OVER ELECTROMECHANICAL

EXCHANGES

Electromechanical Exchanges - Electronic Exchanges

Category, Analysis, Routing, translation, etc;, Translation, speech path Sub’s Facilities, etc.,
done by relays. managed by MAP and other DATA.

Any changes in facilities require addition of Changes can be carried out by simple
hardware and/or large amount of wiring commands. A few changes can be made by
change. Flexibility limited. Subs himself. Hence, highly flexible.

Testing is done manually externally and is time Testing carried out periodically automatically
consuming. No logic analysis carried out. and analysis printed out.

Partial full-availability, hence blocking. Full availability, hence no blocking. A large

limited facilities to the subscribers.
Slow in speed. Dialing speed is max. 11 Ips
and switching speed is in l milliseconds.
Switch room occupies large volume.
number of different types of services possible
very easily.
Very fast. Dialing speed up to 11 digits /sec
possible. Switching is achieved in a few
microseconds.
Much lesser volume required floor space of
switch room reduced to about one-sixth.

Lot of switching noise. Almost noiseless.

Long installation and testing time. Short installation and testing period.
Large maintenance effort and preventive Remedial maintenance is very easy due to
maintenance necessary. plug-in type circuit boards. Preventive
maintenance not required.

Influence of Electronics in Exchange Design.

When electronic devices were introduced in the switching systems, a new concept of switching
evolved as a consequence of their extremely high operating speed compared to their former
counter-parts,

Electronic logic components on the other hand, can operate a thousand or ten thousand times during
a telephone signal. This led to a concept of using a single electronic control device to
simultaneously process a number of calls on time-sharing basis. Though such centralization of
control is definitely more economical. This development led to a form of centralized control in
which the same processor handled all the functions, i.e., call processing, operation and maintenance
functions of the entire exchange.

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In the earlier versions of electronic control equipment, the control system was of a very large size,
fixed cost unit. It lacked modularity.

The impact of electronics on exchanges is not static and it is still changing as a function of advances
in electronic technology.

Facilities provided by Electronic Exchanges.

Facilities offered by electronic exchanges can be categorised in three parts.

(i) Facilities to the Subscribers.
(ii) Facilities to the Administration.
(iii) Facilities to the Maintenance Personnel.

1.Facilities to the Subscribers.

MFC Push-button Dialing.

All subscribers in an electronic exchange can use push-button telephones, which use Dual Tone
Multi- frequency, for sending the dialed digits. Sending of eleven digits per second is possible, thus
increasing the dialing speed.

Toll (Outgoing Call) Restriction

The facility of toll restriction or blocking of subscriber line for specific types of outgoing traffic,
viz., long distance STD calls, can be availed of by all subscribers. This can be easily achieved by
keying-in certain service codes.

Abbreviated Dialing
Most subscribers very often call only limited group of telephone numbers. By dialing only prefix
digit followed by two selection digits, subscribers can call up to 100 predetermined subscribers
connected to any automatic exchange. This shortens the process of dialing all the digits.

Call Forwarding
The subscriber having the call forwarding facility can keep his telephone in the transfer condition in
case he wishes his incoming calls to be transferred to another telephone number during his absence.

Do Not Disturb
This service enables the subscriber to free himself from attending to his incoming calls. In such a
case, the incoming calls are routed to an operator position or a talking machine. This position or
machine informs the caller that called subscriber is temporarily inaccessible.

Conference Calls
Subscribers can set up connections to more than one subscriber and conduct telephone conferences
under the provision of this facility.

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Call Waiting
The ‘Call Waiting’ service notifies the already busy subscriber of a third party calling him. He is
fed with a special tone during his conversation. It is purely his choice either to ignore the third party
or to interrupt the existing connection and have a conversation with the third party while holding
the first party on the line.

Malicious Call Identification

Malicious Call Identification is done immediately and the information is obtained in the printout
form either automatically or by dialing an identification code.

Interception or Announcement.
In the following conditions, an announcement is automatically conveyed to calling subscribers.

1. Change of a particular number of transferred subscriber.

2. Dialing of unallocated codes.
3. Dialing of an unobtainable number.
4. Route congested or out of order.
5. Subscriber’s line temporarily out of order.
6. Suspension of service due to non-payment.

Automatic Wake Up.

Automatic wake up service or morning alarm is possible, without any human intervention.

Hot Line or Private Wire.

Hot line service enables the subscriber to talk to a specific subscriber by only lifting the handset.
This service cannot be used. along with normal dialing facility. The switching starts as soon as the
receiver is lifted.

Instrument Locking
A few subscribers may like to have their telephone sets locked up against any misuse. Dialing of a
secret code will extend such a facility to them.

2.Facilities to the Administration

Reduced Switch Room Accommodation

Reduction in switch room accommodation to about 1/6th to 1/4th as compared to Cross-bar system
is possible.

Faster installation and Easy Extension

The reduced volume of equipment, plug-in assemblies for interconnecting cables, printed cards and
automatic testing of exchange equipment result in faster installation (about six months for a 10,000
line exchange) Due to modular structure, the expansion is also easier and quicker

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Economic Consideration

The switching speed being much faster as compared to Cross-bar system, the use of principle of full
availability of trunk circuits and other equipment makes the system economically superior to
electromechanical systems.

Automatic test of Subscriber line

Routine testing of subscriber lines for Insulation, capacitance, foreign potential, etc., are
automatically carried out during night. The results of the testing can be obtained in the printout
form, the next day.

3.Maintenance Facilities

Fault Processing
Automatic fault processing facility is available for checking all hardware components and complete
internal working of the exchange. Changeover from a faulty sub-system to stand-by sub-system is
automatically affected without any human intervention. Only information is given out so that the
maintenance staff is able to attend to the faulty sub-system.

Diagnostics
Once a fault is reported by the system, ‘on demand’ programs are available which help the
maintenance staff to localise the fault, who can replace the defective printed card and restore the
faulty sub-system. The faulty card is attended at a centralised maintenance centre specifically
equipped for this purpose.

Statistical programs
Statistical programs are available to gather information about the traffic conditions and trunks
occupancy rate to assess and plan the solutions in cases of anticipated problems. This facility helps
the maintenance and administration personnel to maintain a specified level of grade of service.

Blocking
In case of congestion or breakdown of a specific route, facility of blocking such routes is available
in modes, such as
(i) Blocking of a specified percentage of calls in such a route either automatically or
manually.
(ii) Blocking a specific category of subscribers.

Overloading Security
Overloading of central processor in an electronic exchange can lead to disastrous results. To prevent
this, central processor occupancy is measured automatically periodically, when it exceeds a

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specified percentage, audio-visual alarms are activated, in addition to printing out the message.
Maintenance personnel have the following options.
(i) Block some of the facilities temporarily, or
(ii) Reduce the load by blocking some of the congested routes.

Constraints of Electronic Exchanges

Though there are a number of definite advantages of Electronic exchanges, over the
electromechanical exchanges, there are certain constraints, which should be considered, at the
planning stage for deciding between the two systems.

Power Supply
The power supply should be highly stable for trouble free operation as the components are sensitive
to variations beyond +10%. It is almost essential to have a stand-by power supply arrangement.

Total Protection from Dust

All possible precautions should be observed for ensuring dust-free environment.

Temperature and Humidity Control

Due to the presence of quiescent current in the components and because of their compactness, heat
generated per unit volume is highest in electronic exchanges. Moreover, as the component
characteristics drift substantially with the temperature and humidity, the air-conditioning load is
higher. Obviously, the air-conditioning system should be highly reliable and preferably there should
be a stand-by arrangement. The installation is also carried out in air-conditioned environment.

Static Electricity and Electromagnetic interference.

Due to the presence of static electricity on the body of persons handling the equipment, the stored
data may get vitiated. Handling of PCB’s therefore, should be done with utmost care and should be
minimised care should also be taken to protect the cards from exposure to stray electromagnetic
fields.

Faster Obsolescence

The changes in the field of electronics are almost revolutionary with the very fast improvements.
Hence, the current technology becomes obsolete at a very fast rate. The equipment becomes
obsolete before it can possibly complete one third of its life and it might be impossible to get spare
parts for the entire currency of the life of the system.

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