TRANSMISSION

PARAMETERS
AND PRIVATE
LINE CIRCUITS
ENGR. ALBERT
ANTHONY DELGADO
 Transmission Parameters
Transmission parameters apply to dedicated
private-line data circuits that utilize the private
sector of the public telephone network circuits with
bandwidths comparable to those of standard voice-
grade telephone channels that do not utilize the
public switched telephone network. (Tomasi, 2015)
 Private-line circuits
Private-line circuits are direct connections between
two or more locations. On private-line circuits,
transmission facilities and other telephone
company-provided equipment are hardwired and
available only to a specific subscriber. Most
private-line data circuits use four-wire, full-duplex
facilities.
 Private-line circuits
Signal paths established through switched lines are
inconsistent and may differ greatly from one call
to another. In addition, telephone lines provided
through the public switched telephone network are
two wire, which limits high-speed data
transmission to half-duplex operation.
 Advantages of Private-line data circuits over
using the switched public telephone network:
1. Transmission characteristics are more consistent
because the same facilities are used with every
transmission.
2. The facilities are less prone to noise produced in
telephone company switches.
 Advantages of Private-line data circuits over
using the switched public telephone network:
3. Line conditioning is available only on private-line
facilities.
4. Higher transmission bit rates and better performance
is appreciated with private-line data circuits.
5. Private-line data circuits are more economical for
high-volume circuits.
 TRANSMISSION PARAMETERS
CATEGORIES
1. Bandwidth parameters
 Attenuation distortion
 Envelope delay distortion
 TRANSMISSION PARAMETERS
CATEGORIES
2. Interface parameters
 Terminal impedance
 In-band and out-of-band signal power
 Test signal power
 Ground isolation
 TRANSMISSION PARAMETERS
CATEGORIES
3. Facility parameters
 Noise measurements
 Frequency distortion
 Phase distortion
 Amplitude distortion
 Non-linear distortion
 BANDWIDTH PARAMETERS

The only transmission parameters with limits

specified by the FCC are the attenuation
distortion and envelope delay distortion.
 BANDWIDTH PARAMETERS

Attenuation distortion is the difference in

circuit gain experienced at a particular
frequency with respect to the circuit gain of
a reference frequency.
 BANDWIDTH PARAMETERS
Attenuation distortion is the difference in
circuit gain experienced at a particular
frequency with respect to the circuit gain of a
reference frequency. This characteristic is
sometimes referred to as frequency response,
differential gain, and 1004 Hz deviation.
 BANDWIDTH PARAMETERS
Envelope delay distortion is an indirect
method of evaluating the phase delay
characteristics of a circuit.
 LINE CONDITIONING

Line conditioning is the process of improving the

basic telephone channel. The basic voice-band
channel (sometimes called a basic 3002 Hz
channel) satisfies the minimum line conditioning
requirements.
 LINE CONDITIONING

The two special types of line conditioning

for subscriber loops: C-type and D-type.
 C-type line conditioning

C-type conditioning pertains to line impairments for

which compensation can be made with filters and
equalizers. The grade of conditioning a subscriber
selects depends on the bit rate, modulation technique,
and desired performance of the data modems used on
the line.
 CLASSIFICATIONS OF C-TYPE LINE
CONDITIONING
C1 and C2 conditioning pertain to two-point and multipoint
circuits.
C3 conditioning is for access lines and trunk circuits associated
with private switched networks.
C4 conditioning pertains to two-point and multipoint circuits with
a maximum of four stations.
C5 conditioning pertains only to two-point circuits.
 PRIVATE SWITCHED NETWORKS

Private switched networks are telephone

systems provided by local telephone
companies dedicated to a single customer,
usually with a large number of stations.
 PRIVATE SWITCHED NETWORKS

An example is a large corporation with offices

and complexes at two or more geographical
locations, sometimes separated by great distances.
Each location generally has an on-premise private
branch exchange (PBX).
 PBX

A PBX is a relatively low-capacity switching

machine where the subscribers are generally
limited to stations within the same building or
building complex. Common-usage access lines
and trunk circuits are required to interconnect
two or more PBXs.
 Fig. 1
Basic and
C-type
conditioning
requirements
 Fig. 2
Graphical presentation
of the limits for
attenuation distortion
for a basic 3002
telephone circuit
 Fig. 3
Graphical
presentation
of the limits
for attenuation
distortion for
a C2
conditioned
telephone
circuit
Fig. 2 over Fig.
3
 EXAMPLE
A 1004 Hz test tone is transmitted over a telephone circuit at 0 dBm and
received at -16 dBm.
Determine:
a. The 1004-Hz circuit gain.
b. The attenuation distortion requirements for a basic circuit.
c. The attenuation distortion requirements for a C2 conditioned circuit.
 Phase-versus-Frequency Relationship
A linear phase-versus-frequency relationship is a
requirement for error-free data transmission - signals
are delayed more at some frequencies than others.
Delay distortion is the difference in phase shifts with
respect to frequency that signals experience as they
propagate through a transmission medium.
 PROPAGATION TIME

The time delay encountered by a signal as it

propagates from a source to a destination is
called propagation time.
 PHASE DELAY

The delay measured in angular units, such as

degrees or radians. The absolute phase delay is
the actual time required for a particular
frequency to propagate from a source to a
destination through a communications channel.
 PHASE DISTORTION

The difference between the absolute delays

of all the frequencies is phase distortion.
 ENVELOPE DELAY

Envelope delay is an alternate method of evaluating the

phase-versus-frequency relationship of a circuit.
 ENVELOPE DELAY

Envelope delay is the time required to propagate

a change in an AM envelope (the actual
information-bearing part of the signal) through a
transmission medium.
 ENVELOPE DELAY
To measure envelope delay, a narrow band
amplitude-modulated carrier, whose frequency is
varied over the usable voice band, is transmitted
(the amplitude-modulated rate is typically between
25 Hz and 100 Hz). The reference frequency of a
typical voice-band circuit is typically around 1800
Hz.
 ENVELOPE DELAY

Therefore, to correct delay distortion, equalizers are

placed in a circuit to slow down the frequencies that
travel the fastest more than frequencies that travel the
slowest. This reduces the difference between the
fastest and slowest frequencies, reducing the phase
distortion.
1750

Fig 4
Graphical representation of the limits for
envelope delay in a basic telephone channel
 Fig 5
Graphical representation of the limits for envelope
delay in a telephone channel with C2 conditioning
 EXAMPLE 1

An EDD test on a basic telephone channel indicated

that an 1800-Hz carrier experienced the minimum
absolute delay of 400 us. Therefore, it is the reference
frequency. Determine the maximum absolute envelope
delay that any frequency within the 800-Hz to 2600-Hz
range can experience.
 EXAMPLE 2

An EDD test on a C2 conditioned telephone channel

indicated that an 1800-Hz carrier experienced the
minimum absolute delay of 200 us. Therefore, it is the
reference frequency. Determine the maximum absolute
envelope delay that any frequency within the 1000-Hz to
2600-Hz range can experience.
 D-TYPE LINE CONDITIONING

D-type conditioning neither reduces the noise on

a circuit nor improves the signal-to-noise ratio. It
simply sets the minimum requirements for
signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and nonlinear
distortion.
 D-TYPE LINE CONDITIONING

D-type conditioning is sometimes referred to

as high-performance conditioning and can be
applied to private-line data circuits in
addition to either basic or C-conditioned
requirements.
 D-TYPE LINE CONDITIONING

1. D1 conditioning
- specifies requirements for two-point circuits
2. D2 conditioning
- specifies requirements for multipoint circuits
 D-TYPE LINE CONDITIONING
D-type conditioning is mandatory when the data
transmission rate is 9600 bps because without D-
type conditioning, it is highly unlikely that the
circuit can meet the minimum performance
requirements guaranteed by the telephone
company.
 D-TYPE LINE CONDITIONING
D-type conditioned circuits must meet the following
specifications:
Signal-to-C-notched noise ratio: ≥28 dB
Nonlinear distortion
Signal-to-second order distortion: ≥35 dB
Signal-to-third order distortion: ≥40 dB
 NONLINEAR DISTORTION

Nonlinear distortion is an example of correlated noise

and is produced from non-linear amplification.
Nonlinear distortion produces distorted waveforms that
are detrimental to digitally modulated carriers used
with voice-band data modems, such as FSK, PSK, and
QAM.
 NONLINEAR DISTORTION
Two classifications of nonlinear distortion are
harmonic distortion (unwanted multiples of the
transmitted frequencies) and intermodulation
distortion (cross products [sums and differences]
of the transmitted frequencies, sometimes called
fluctuation noise or cross-modulation noise).
 NONLINEAR DISTORTION

Harmonic and intermodulation distortion, if of

sufficient magnitude, can destroy the integrity of
a data signal. Harmonic distortion is measured by
applying a single-frequency test tone to a
telephone channel.
 NONLINEAR DISTORTION
Harmonic distortion is classified as second, third,
nth order, or as total harmonic distortion. The actual
amount of nonlinearity in a circuit is determined by
comparing the power of the fundamental with the
combined powers of the second and third harmonics.
Harmonic distortion tests use a single-frequency
(704-Hz) source.
 Fig 6
Harmonic distortion
 Fig 7
Intermodulation
Distortion
 INTERFACE PARAMETERS

The two primary considerations of the

interface parameters are electrical
protection of the telephone network and its
personnel and standardization of design
arrangements.
 INTERFACE PARAMETERS
1. Station equipment impedances should be 600Ω resistive
over the usable voice band.
2. Station equipment should be isolated from ground by a
minimum of 20 MΩ dc and 50 kΩ ac.
3. The basic voice-grade telephone circuit is a 3002 channel;
it has an ideal bandwidth of 0 Hz to 4 kHz and a usable
bandwidth of 300 Hz to 3000 Hz.
 INTERFACE PARAMETERS
4. The circuit gain at 3000 Hz is 3 dB below the specified in-band
signal power.
5. The gain at 4 kHz must be at least 15 dB below the gain at 3 kHz.
6. The maximum transmitted signal power for a private-line circuit is
0 dBm.
7. The transmitted signal power for dial-up circuits using the public
switched telephone network is established for each loop so that the
signal is received at the telephone central office at
-12 dBm.
 Fig 8
Interface Parameter Limits
 FACILITY PARAMETERS
Facility parameters represent potential
impairments to a data signal. These
impairments are caused by telephone company
equipment and the limits specified pertain to
all private-line data circuits using voice-band
facilities, regardless of line conditioning.
 FACILITY PARAMETERS

1. 1004-Hz variation, 7. single-frequency

2. C-message noise, interference,

3. impulse noise, 8. frequency shift,

4. gain hits and dropouts, 9. phase intercept

distortion, and
5. phase hits,
10. peak-to-average ratio
6. phase jitter,
 1004-Hz variation

The telephone industry has established 1004 Hz

as the standard test-tone frequency; 1000 Hz was
originally selected because of its relative location
in the passband of a standard voice-band circuit.
 1004-Hz variation
The frequency was changed to 1004 Hz with the
advent of digital carriers because 1000 Hz is an exact
submultiple of the 8-kHz sample rate used with T
carriers. Sampling a continuous 1000-Hz signal at an
8000-Hz rate produced repetitive patterns in the PCM
codes, which could cause the system to lose frame
synchronization.
 1004-Hz variation
The purpose of the 1004-Hz test tone is to
simulate the combined signal power of a standard
voice-band data transmission. The 1004-Hz
channel loss for a private-line data circuit is
typically 16 dB. A 1004-Hz test tone applied at
the transmit end of a circuit should be received at
the output of the circuit at -16 dBm.
 1004-Hz variation
Long-term variations in the gain of the
transmission facility are called 1004-Hz variation
and should not exceed +4 dB. Thus, the received
signal power must be within the limits of -12
dBm to -20 dBm.
 C-MESSAGE NOISE

C-message noise measurements determine the average

weighted rms noise power. Unwanted electrical signals
are produced from the random movement of electrons
in conductors. This type of noise is commonly called
thermal noise because its magnitude is directly
proportional to temperature.
 C-MESSAGE NOISE

Because the electron movement is

completely random and travels in all
directions, thermal noise is also called
random noise, and because it contains all
frequencies, it is sometimes referred to as
white noise.
Fig 9 Terminated C-noise test setup
Fig 10 C-notched noise test setup
 IMPULSE NOISE

Impulse noise is characterized by high-

amplitude peaks (impulses) of short duration
having an approximately flat frequency
spectrum.
 IMPULSE NOISE
The primary cause of impulse noise is man-made
sources, such as interference from ac power lines,
transients from switching machines, motors,
solenoids, relays, electric trains, and so on. Impulse
noise can also result from lightning and other
adverse atmospheric conditions.
 IMPULSE NOISE
Empirically, it has been determined that an impulse hit
will not produce transmission errors in a data signal
unless it comes within 6 dB of the signal level as shown
in Figure 11. Impulse hit counters are designed to register
a maximum of seven counts per second. This leaves a
143-ms lapse called a dead time between counts when
additional impulse hits are not registered.
Fig 11 C-notched noise and impulse noise
 IMPULSE NOISE

Impulse noise objectives are based primarily on

the error susceptibility of data signals, which
depends on the type of modem used and the
characteristics of the transmission medium.
 IMPULSE NOISE

When impulse noise tests are performed, a 2802-

Hz holding tone is placed on a circuit to ensure
loaded circuit conditions. The counter records the
number of hits in a prescribed time interval
(usually 15 minutes).
 IMPULSE NOISE

An impulse hit is typically less than 4 ms in

duration and never more than 10 ms. Telephone
company limits for recordable impulse hits is 15
hits within a 15-minute time interval.
 GAIN HITS AND DROPOUT
A gain hit is a sudden, random change in the gain
of a circuit resulting in a temporary change in the
signal level. Gain hits are classified as temporary
variations in circuit gain exceeding +3 dB, lasting
more than 4 ms, and returning to the original
value within 200 ms.
 GAIN HITS AND DROPOUT
The primary cause of gain hits is noise
transients (impulses) on transmission
facilities during the normal course of a
day.
 GAIN HITS AND DROPOUT
A dropout is a decrease in circuit gain (i.e.,
signal level) of more than 12 dB lasting
longer than 4 ms. Dropouts are characteristics
of temporary open-circuit conditions and are
generally caused by deep fades on radio
facilities or by switching delays.
Fig 12 GAIN HITS AND DROPOUT
 PHASE HITS

Phase hits (slips) are sudden, random

changes in the phase of a signal. Phase hits
are classified as temporary variations in the
phase of a signal lasting longer than 4 ms.
 PHASE HITS

Generally, phase hits are not recorded unless

they exceed ±20° peak. Phase hits, like gain
hits, are caused by transients produced when
transmission facilities are switched.
Fig 13 Phase Hits and Phase Jitter
 PHASE JITTER
Phase jitter is a form of incidental phase
modulation - a continuous, uncontrolled variation
in the zero crossings of a signal. Generally, phase
jitter occurs at a 300-Hz rate or lower, and its
primary cause is low-frequency ac ripple in power
supplies.
 PHASE JITTER
The number of power supplies required
in a circuit is directly proportional to the
number of transmission facilities and
telephone offices that make up the
message channel.
 PHASE JITTER
Each facility has a separate phase jitter
requirement; however, the maximum
acceptable end-to-end phase jitter is 10° peak
to peak regardless of how many transmission
facilities or telephone offices are used in the
circuit.
 SINGLE-FREQUENCY
INTERFERENCE
Single-frequency interference is the presence of one or
more continuous, unwanted tones within a message
channel. The tones are called spurious tones and are
often caused by crosstalk or cross modulation between
adjacent channels in a transmission system due to
system nonlinearities.
 SINGLE-FREQUENCY
INTERFERENCE
Spurious tones are measured by terminating the
transmit end of a circuit and then observing the
channel frequency band. Spurious tones can cause
the same undesired circuit behavior as thermal
noise.
Fig 14 SINGLE-FREQUENCY
INTERFERENCE
 FREQUENCY SHIFT

Frequency shift is when the frequency of a

signal changes during transmission. For
example, a tone transmitted at 1004 Hz is
received at 1005 Hz.
 FREQUENCY SHIFT
Analog transmission systems used by telephone
companies operate single-sideband suppressed carrier
SSBSC) and, therefore, require coherent demodulation.
With coherent demodulation, carriers must be
synchronous- the frequency must be reproduced
exactly in the receiver.
 FREQUENCY SHIFT
If this is not accomplished, the demodulated
signal will be offset in frequency by the difference
between transmit and receive carrier frequency.
The longer the circuit, the more analog
transmission systems and the more likely
frequency shift will occur.
Fig 15 FREQUENCY SHIFT
 PHASE INTERCEPT DISTORTION
Phase intercept distortion occurs in
coherent SSBSC systems, such as those
using frequency-division multiplexing
when the received carrier is not reinserted
with the exact phase relationship to the
received signal as the transmit carrier
possessed.
PHASE INTERCEPT DISTORTION
This impairment causes a constant phase
shift to all frequency which is of little
concern for data modems using FSK, PSK,
or QAM. Because these are practically the
only techniques used today with voice-band
data modems, no limits been set for, phase
intercept distortion.
 PEAK-TO-AVERAGE RATIO
The difficulties encountered in measuring phase
distortion or envelope delay distortion led to the
development of peak-to-average ratio (PAR) tests.
A signal containing a series of distinctly shaped
pulses with a high voltage-to-average voltage ratio
is transmitted.
 PEAK-TO-AVERAGE RATIO
Differential delay distortion in a circuit has a
tendency to spread the pulses, thus reducing the
peak voltage-to-average voltage ratio. Low peak-
to-average ratios indicate the presence of
differential delay distortion measurements are less
sensitive to attenuation distortion than EDD tests
and are easier perform.
 Fig 16
Summary of
Facility Parameters