BASIC CONCEPTS OF PRIMARY

MULTIPLEXING

By
M. Rama Murthy
Instructor,
Transmission Systems Lab,
IRISET
MULTIPLEXING IS THE PROCESS OF
INTERLEAVING N INDEPENDENT
INFORMATION SIGNALS IN TO A
CONTIGUOUS SIGNAL i.e N INDEPENDENT
PARALLEL SIGNALS INTO A SERIAL SIGNAL
IN A SEQUENTIAL MANNER FOLLOWING A
SET OF RULES AS RECOMMENDED BY
ITU(T).
THE INTERLEAVING PROCESS MAY
BE IN

FREQUENCY DOMAIN

TIME DOMAIN

OPTICAL DOMAIN
FREQUENCY DOMAIN

IN FREQUENCY DOMAIN A GIVEN

BANDWIDTH OF FREQUENCIES IS DIVIDED
INTO A NUMBER OF FREQUENCY SLOTS
HAVING A BANDWIDTH OF 4 KHz EACH.

THIS IS CALLED FREQUENCY DIVISION

MULTIPLEXING (FDM)
TIME DOMAIN
IN TIME DOMAIN A GIVEN TIME
INTERVAL IS DIVIDED INTO A NUMBER
OF TIME INTERVALS OF EQUAL
DURATION CALLED TIME SLOTS.
THIS IS CALLED TIME DIVISION
MULTIPLEXING (TDM)
OPTICAL DOMAIN

IN OPTICAL DOMAIN, A GIVEN BAND OF

WAVELENGTHS IS DIVIDED AMONG A
NUMBER OF INFORMATION SIGNALS
WITH SUITABLE SPACING. EACH
INFORMATION SIGNAL IS ASSIGNED A
SPECIFIC WAVELENGTH.

THIS IS CALLED WAVELENGTH

DIVISION MULTIPLEXING.
TIME DIVISION MULTIPLEXING
IN TIME DIVISION MULTIPLEXING,
EACH INFORMATION SIGNAL IS
SAMPLED AT A RATE EQUAL TO OR
GREATER THAN TWICE THE
BANDWIDTH OF THE INFORMATION
SIGNAL.

FOR SPEECH SIGNAL THE

BANDWIDTH IS 4 KHz. HENCE THE
SAMPLING RATE OR SAMPLING
FREQUENCY IS 8 KHz.
THEREFORE THE TIME INTERVAL
AVAILABLE FOR SAMPLING IS 125
MICRO-SECONDS.
THIS TIME INTERVAL IS DIVIDED
INTO N NUMBER OF TIME
INTERVALS OF EQUAL DURATION
CALLED TIMESLOTS.
EACH INFORMATION SIGNAL
COMING FROM THE USER IS
CALLED A CHANNEL.
EACH USER INFORMATION SIGNAL
(VOICE) IS SAMPLED ONCE IN EACH
125 MICRO-SECONDS DURATION
WHICH IS CALLED A SAMPLE. FOR
FAITHFUL REPRODUCTION OF THE
INFORMATION AT THE RECEIVING
END A MINIMUM OF 8000 SAMPLES
FOR EACH INFORMATION SIGNAL
ARE REQUIRED TO BE
TRANSMITTED IN A DURATION OF
ONE SECOND.
EACH SAMPLE OF EACH CHANNEL
IS QUANTIZED AND ENCODED INTO
AN EIGHT BIT SIGNAL. THUS A
SAMPLE IS REPRESENTED BY AN
EIGHT BIT BINARY CODE. THIS
PROCESS IS CALLED TDM-PCM i.e.
TIME DIVISION MULTIPLEXING
USING PULSE CODE MODULATION
AND THE SIGNAL SO GENERATED IS
CALLED THE PCM SIGNAL.
THEREFORE FOR GENERATING A
PCM SIGNAL THE FOLLOWING
STEPS ARE INVOLVED.
 FILTERING
 SAMPLING
 QUANTIZATION
 ENCODING
TYPES OF INFORMATION SIGNALS
 VOICE
 DATA

DATA SIGNALS ARE REQUIRED TO

BE STRUCTURED INTO EIGHT BIT
SIGNALS. NO NEED OF FILTERING,
SAMPLING, QUANTIZING AND
ENCODING.
AFTER CONVERTING THE SIGNALS
INTO EIGHT BIT SIGNALS FROM
EACH OF THE VOICE AND DATA
CIRCUITS THEY ARE STRUCTURED
OR ORGANISED IN A SEQUENTIAL
ORDER INTO A TIME FRAME,
CALLED PCM FRAME.
FOR THE GENERATION OF PCM TIME
FRAME TWO SYSTEMS ARE IN USE.

T1 SYSTEM FOLLOWED BY USA,

CANADA AND JAPAN.

E1 SYSTEM FOLLOWED BY

EUROPEAN COUNTRIES AND INDIA.

T1 SYSTEM IS A MULTIPLEXING

STRUCTURE OF 24 CHANNELS AND
E1 SYSTEM IS 30 CHANNELS.
THE PCM TIME FRAME FOR E1
SYSTEM CONSISTS OF 32 TIME
INTERVALS WHICH ENABLES TO
MULTIPLEX 30 VOICE OR DATA
CIRCUITS OR A COMBINATION THERE
OF.
EACH TIME INTERVAL IS CALLED A
TIME SLOT.

THE DURATION OF TIME SLOT IS 3.9

MICRO-SECONDS.

THE DURATION OF PCM TIME FRAME

IS 125 MICRO-SECONDS.

EACH TIME FRAME IS A

MULTIPLEXING STRUCTURE OF 30
CIRCUITS.
OUT OF 32 TIME SLOTS 30 TIME SLOTS
ARE ALLOCATED FOR INFORMATION
SIGNALS COMING FROM 30 CIRCUITS
AND TWO TIME SLOTS ARE RESERVED
EXCLUSIVELY FOR DEDICATED
SERVICES.
THEY ARE:

 FRAME ALIGNEMENT SIGNAL OR

WORD (FAS/FAW)
 NOT FRAME ALIGNEMENT SIGNAL
(NFAS)
 MULTI-FRAME ALIGNMENT SIGNAL
OR WORD (MFAW/MFAS)
 SIGNALLING INFORMATION OF 30
VOICE CIRCUITS
 TS0 TS1 TS2 …. …… …… …… …… TS16 … … … … … TS30 TS31
. … … … … …

FRAME-0
ALLOCATION OF TIME SLOTS
TS-0 FOR FAS/FAW
TS-16 FOR MFAS/MFAW
TS-1 TO TS-15 AND TS-17 TO TS-31 ARE
FOR 1ST SAMPLES OF CH-1 TO CH-30
 TS0 TS1 TS2 …. …… …… …… …… TS16 … … … … … TS30 TS31
. … … … … …

FRAME-1
ALLOCATION OF TIME SLOTS
TS-0 FOR NFAS/NFAW
TS-16 FOR SIGNALLING INFORMATION
OF CH-1 AND CH-16
TS-1 TO TS-15 AND TS-17 TO TS-31 ARE
FOR 2ND SET OF SAMPLES OF CH-1 TO
CH-30
 TS0 TS1 TS2 …. …… …… …… …… TS16 … … … … … TS30 TS31
. … … … … …

FRAME-2
ALLOCATION OF TIME SLOTS
TS-0 FOR FAS/FAW
TS-16 FOR SIGNALLING INFORMATION
OF CH-2 AND CH-17
TS-1 TO TS-15 AND TS-17 TO TS-31 ARE
FOR 3RD SET OF SAMPLES OF CH-1 TO
CH-30
IN THIS MANNER A MULTIFRAME
STRUCTURE IS FORMED WHICH
CONTAINS A SET OF 16 FRAMES. IN
THIS STRUCTURE TS-0 OF ALL EVEN
NUMBERED FRAMES WILL CARRY
FAS/FAW SIGNAL AND ALL ODD
NUMBERED FRAMES WILL CARRY
NFAS/NFAW SIGNAL.
TS-16 OF FRAME ZERO WILL CARRY
MFAS/MFAW SIGNAL.
FRAME -1 TO FRAME-15 WILL CARRY
THE SIGNALLING INFORMATION OF ALL
30 CHANNELS AS SHOWN IN THE
ABOVE STRUCTURE
 TS0 TS1 TS2 …. …… …… …… …… TS16 … … … … … TS30 TS31
F-0 . … … … … …

TS0 TS1 TS2 …. …… …… …… …… TS16 … … … … … TS30 TS31

F-1 . … … … … …

TS0 TS1 TS2 …. …… …… …… …… TS16 … … … … … TS30 TS31

F-2 . … … … … …

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

TS0 TS1 TS2 …. …… …… …… …… TS16 … … … … … TS30 TS31

F-15 . … … … … …

MULTI-FRAME STRUCTURE
FAS
X 0 0 1 1 0 1 1
Bit 1: X Reserved for international use.
It is normally set to 1
NFAS
X 1 A Sa4 Sa5 Sa6 Sa7 Sa8

Bit 1: X Reserved for international use. It is

normally set to 1
Bit 2: is set to 1
Bit 3: A shows the remote alarm indication
Bits 4 to 8: are additional spare bits
Sa BITS
•CAN BE USED IN SPECIFIC POINT –
TO - POINT APPLICATIONS WITHIN
NATIONAL BORDERS. WHEN THESE
BITS ARE NOT USED AND ON LINKS
CROSSING AN INTERNATIONAL
BORDER THEY SHOULD BE SET TO 1.
•BIT Sa4 MAY BE USED AS A MESSAGE-
BASED DATA LINK FOR OPERATIONS,
MAINTENANCE AND PERFORMANCE
MONITORING. THIS CHANNEL
ORIGINATES AT THE POINT WHERE THE
FRAME IS GENERATED AND
TERMINATES WHERE THE FRAME IS
SPLIT UP.
THE MULTIPLEXER AT THE RECEIVING
END WILL SYNCHRONIZE ON TO THE
INCOMING BIT STREAM FROM THE
MULTIPLEXER AT THE TRANSMITTING
END UNDER THE FOLLOWING
CONDITIONS:
•CORRECT FAS 10011011, IS
RECEIVED IN TIME SLOT 0 OF A
FRAME.
•BIT 2 IN TIME SLOT 0 (NFAS) OF THE
NEXT FRAME RECEIVED MUST BE 1,
i.e 1 1 A SA4 SA5 SA6 SA7 SA8
•FAS, 10011011, IS RECEIVED IN TIME
SLOT 0 OF THE SUBSEQUENT FRAME.
THE MULTIPLEXER IS
SYNCHRONIZED ON TO THE
INCOMING FRAMES ONLY IF ALL THE
THREE CONDITIONS ARE FULFILLED.
TS-16 of Frame Zero

0 0 0 0 X Y X X

MFAS/MFAW NMFAS/NMFAW
Multiframe alignment signal = 0 0 0 0

Not Multiframe alignment signal

X = reserved bit normally set to 1

Y = distant multiframe alarm bit
INTERCHANGE OF SIGNALING IN THE
FORWARD AND BACKWARD
DIRECTIONS IS ACCOMPLISHED USING
BITS THAT ONLY CHANGE STATE
SLOWLY. IT IS THEREFORE SUFFICIENT
TO TRANSMIT THESE RELATIVELY
STATIC SIGNALING BITS AT A RATE OF 2
Kbit/s FOR EACH CHANNEL.
AS A RESULT, THE 64KBIT/S CAPACITY
OF TIME SLOT 16 IS DIVIDED
BETWEEN 30 CHANNELS AND TWO
AUXILIARY CHANNELS FOR
SYNCHRONIZATION AND ALARMS. A
SIGNALING MULTIFRAME IS FORMED
WHICH COMPRISES 16 NORMAL PCM
FRAMES, NUMBERED AS F 0 TO F 15
EACH SIGNALING TIME SLOT OF THE
MULTIFRAME HAS A TRANSMISSION
CAPACITY OF 4 K bit/s. EACH OF
THESE TIME SLOTS IS SUBDIVIDED TO
INCLUDE TWO CHANNEL’S SIGNALING
INFORMATION, GIVING A SIGNALING
RATE PER CHANNEL OF 2 K bit/s.
64 K bit/s: 16 SIGNALLING TIME SLOTS =
4 K bit/s PER TIME SLOT

Signalling time slot

4 Kbit/s
Ch-N 2 Kbit/s CH-N+15 2 Kbit/s
FROM THE ABOVE DISCUSSION IT IS
CLEAR THAT THE INFORMATION SIGNALS ,
SIGNALLING INFORMATION, FAS, MFAS
AND NFAS ARE STRUCTED INTO A
MULTIFRAME. THIS MULTIFRAME
CONTAINS 4096 BITS AND IS
TRANSMITTED IN A DURATION OF 2 MILLI-
SECONDS AFTER PERFORMING LINE
CODING.
THEREFORE THE NUMBER OF
BITS TRANSMITTED IN A
DURATION OF ONE SECOND IS
2048000 i.e 2.048 M bits/s WHICH
IS THE TRANSMISSION RATE OF
THE SYSTEM.
A SYSTEM WHICH IS CAPABLE OF
TRANSMITTING THE MULTIPLEXED SIGNAL
OF 30 INFORMATION SIGNALS AT A RATE OF
2.048 M bits/s IS CALLED AS 30 CH PRIMARY
MULTIPLEXING SYSTEM.
A PRIMARY MULTIPLEXING SYSTEM TO
TRANSMIT AND RECEIVE MULTIPLEXED
SIGNALS OF 30 CHANNELS SOME
HARDWARE IS REQUIRED. THIS
HARDWARE IS MADE AVAILABLE IN THE
FORM OF MODULES BY VARIOUS
MANUFACTURERS.
THE MODULES REQUIRED ARE:

USER INTERFACE MODULES

MULTIPLEXER MODULE (S)
LINE CODER
POWER SUPPLY MODULE
USER INTERFACE MODULE
USER INTERFACE MODULES ARE
CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THE TYPE
OF CIRCUIT i.e VOICE OR DATA AND THE
TYPE OF SIGNALLING ADOPTED IN THE
VOICE CIRCUITS.
THE MOST IMPORTANT SIGNALLING
ADOPTATIONS ARE:
E & M SIGNALLING
LOOP SIGNALLING
DTMF SIGNALLING
BASED UPON THIS, THE USER
INTERFACE MODULES ARE:
E & M INTERFACE MODULE
EXCHANGE INTERFACE MODULE
SUBSCRIBER INTERFACE MODULE
HOTLINE INTERFACE MODULE
DATA INTERFACE MODULE
THE PRIMARY MULTIPLEXING SYSTEMS
ARE CLASSIFIED INTO TWO TYPES.

TERMINAL MULTIPLEXER
D/I MULTIPLEXER
TERMINAL MULTIPLEXER

A TERMINAL MULTIPLEXER
MULTIPLEXES ALL THE 30 VOICE/DATA
CIRCUITS INTO A STANDARD PCM
SIGNAL OF 2.048 M bit/s AND
INTERFACES ONE DIRECTION FOR
TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION. THIS
TYPE OF MULTIPLEXING SYSTEM IS
USED AT THE END STATIONS.
DROP-INSERT MULTIPLEXER

A DROP-INSERT MULTIPLEXER
MULTIPLEXES ALL THE 30 VOICE/DATA
CIRCUITS INTO TWO STANDARD PCM
SIGNALS OF 2.048 M bit/s EACH AND
INTERFACES TWO DIRECTIONS FOR
TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION. THIS
TYPE OF MULTIPLEXING SYSTEM IS
USED AT THE INTERMEDIATE
STATIONS.
 MUX 2.048 M bit/s

INTERNAL BUS

USER
INTERFACES

TERMINAL MULTIPLEXER
 2.048 M bit/s MUX 2.048 M bit/s

INTERNAL BUS

USER
INTERFACES

D/I MULTIPLEXER
THANK YOU