Module 2

Circuit and Packet Switching

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 Internet as a black box
Application Application
Transport Transport
Network Network
Data link Message Message Data link
Physical Physical

Internet
A B

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Internet as a combination of LANs and WANs
connected together

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• .

Switched Communications Networks

• the passage of a message from a source to a destination involves many
decisions
• When a message reaches a connecting device, a decision needs to be
made to select one of the output ports through which the packet needs to
be send out.

• Types of switching to be discuss

• Circuit switching
• Packet Switching

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 Example for Circuit and Packet Switching
• A good example of a circuit-switched network is the early
telephone systems in which the path was established between
a caller and a callee when the telephone number of the callee
was dialed by the caller. When the callee responded to the call,
the circuit was established. The voice message could now flow
between the two parties, in both directions, while all of the
connecting devices maintained the circuit. When the caller or
callee hung up, the circuit was disconnected. The telephone
network is not totally a circuit-switched network today.
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 Example for Circuit and Packet Switching
• The network layer is designed as a packet-switched network.

• Individual datagrams are then transferred from the source to the

destination.

• The received datagrams are assembled at the destination before

recreating the original message.

• The packet-switched network layer of the Internet was originally designed

as a connectionless service, but recently there is a tendency to change this
to a connection-oriented service.

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 Circuit Switching
• A circuit-switched network consists of a set of switches
connected by physical links. A connection between two
stations is a dedicated path made of one or more links.
• However, each connection uses only one dedicated channel on
each link. Each link is normally divided into n channels by using
FDM or TDM.

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Circuit Switching

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 Circuit Switching
• Circuit switching takes place at the physical layer

• Before starting communication, the stations must make a reservation for the
resources to be used during the communication.

• Data transferred between the two stations are not packetized (physical layer
transfer of the signal). The data are a continuous flow sent by the source station
and received by the destination station, although there may be periods of silence.

• There is no addressing involved during data transfer. The switches route the data
based on their occupied band (FDM) or time slot (TDM). Of course, there is end-to-
end addressing used during the setup phase.
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 Circuit Switching- Phases
• The actual communication in a circuit-switched network
requires three phases: connection setup, data transfer, and
connection teardown.
• Setup Phase
• Data transfer Phase
• Tear down Phase

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 Circuit Switching- Technology in Telephone
Networks
• The telephone companies have previously chosen the circuit
switched approach to switching in the physical layer; today the
tendency is moving toward other switching techniques.

• For example, the telephone number is used as the global

address, and a signaling system (called SS7) is used for the
setup and teardown phases.

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 Packet Switching

Network
A connectionless
packet-swtiched network
R1 R2

Sender Network

R4

R3 R5 Out of order Receiver

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 Packet Switching

• digital networking communications method that groups all transmitted

data – regardless of content, type, or structure – into suitably sized blocks,
called packets.

• Packet switching features delivery of variable-bit-rate data streams

(sequences of packets) over a shared network.

• When traversing network adapters, switches, routers and other network

nodes, packets are buffered and queued, resulting in variable delay and
throughput depending on the traffic load in the network.

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 Packet Switching
• Packet switching contrasts with another principal networking
paradigm, circuit switching, a method which sets up a limited
number of dedicated connections of constant bit rate and
constant delay between nodes for exclusive use during the
communication session.

• In case of traffic fees (as opposed to flat rate), for example in

cellular communication services, circuit switching is
characterized by a fee per time unit of connection time, even
when no data is transferred, while packet switching is
characterized by a fee per unit of information.

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 Two major packet switching modes exist
1. Connectionless packet switching, also known as datagram switching
2. Connection-oriented packet switching, also known as virtual circuit
switching.
• In the first case each packet includes complete addressing or routing
information. The packets are routed individually, sometimes resulting in
different paths and out-of-order delivery. The forwarding decision is
based on the destination address of the packet
• In the second case a connection is defined and pre allocated in each
involved node during a connection phase before any packet is
transferred. The forwarding decision is based on the label of the packet.

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 Connectionless Packet Switching Network-
Datagram Switching
Network
A connectionless
packet-swtiched network
R1 R2
4 3 2 1 2

Sender 1
Network
4
2
3
R4 1
3 3
4 1 3 4 2
R3 R5 Out of order Receiver

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 Forwarding Process in Connectionless Network
Legend
Routing table
SA: Source address
Destination DA: Destination address
Output
address interface
A 1
B 2

H Send the packet

3 out of interface 2
Destination
address

SA DA Data SA DA Data
1 2

3 4

A routing table is a set of rules, often viewed in table format, that is used to determine where
data packets traveling over an Internet Protocol (IP) network will be directed. All IP-enabled
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devices, including routers and switches, use routing tables.
 Delay in Connectionless
Network
Destination
Souce

Total delay
2

Time Time Time Time

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A Connection Oriented Packet Switched
Network – Virtual Circuit Legend
4 3 2 1 Packets
Network
Virtual circuit
A connection-oriented
packet-switched network
R1 R2
4 3 2 1
Sender 4
R5
3 Network
2
1
4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
R3 R4
Receiver

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 Forwarding Process in a Connection oriented
Network Routing Table
Incoming Outgoing
Legend
SA: Source address
Port Label Port Label DA: Destination address
1 L1 2 L2 L1, L2: Labels

L1 SA DA Data L2 SA DA Data
1 2

3 4
Incoming Outgoing
label label

The forwarding decision is based on the label of the packet.

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), which can be used for IP over
virtual circuits. Each circuit is identified by a label. 21
 Sending request packet in a virtual-circuit
network Incoming
A to B
Outgoing
Legend
A to B Request packet
Network Port Label Port Label
Virtual circuit
1 14 3

1 R2
R1 2
A to B
1 4
3
A
R5 Network
2 A to B

1 2 3 2 3 4
A to B A to B
3 1 4
R3 R4 B

Incoming Outgoing Incoming Outgoing

Port Label Port Label Port Label Port Label
1 66 3 1 22 4
A to B A to B
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 Setup acknowledgement in a virtual-circuit
network A to B Legend
Incoming Outgoing Acknowledge packet
Network Port Label Port Label Virtual circuit
1 14 3

4 R1 R2
2
14 4
1
3
A R5 Network
3 66 66

1 2 2 2 3 1
22 77
3 22 1 4
R3 R4 77
B

Incoming Outgoing Incoming Outgoing

Port Label Port Label Port Label Port Label
1 66 3 1 22 4
A to B A to B

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 Flow of one packet in an established virtual
circuit Incoming
A to B
Outgoing
Legend

A B Data Datagram
Port Label Port Label
Network 66 Virtual circuit
1 14 3

R1 R2
2
14 A B Data
1 4
A 3
R5 Network
66 A B Data

1 2 2 3
22 A B Data 77 A B Data
3 1 4
R3 R4

Incoming Outgoing Incoming Outgoing

Port Label Port Label Port Label Port Label
1 66 3 22 1 22 4 77
A to B A to B

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 Delay in a connection-oriented network
Source Destination

1
Setup

3
Total delay

Transmission
time
4

5
Teardown

Time Time Time Time

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 Comparison of Circuit Switching and Packet
Switching
Parameter Circuit Switching Packet Switching
Routing scheme Route selected during call setup Each packet routed
independently
Multiplexing scheme Circuit multiplexing/ TDM,FDM Packet multiplexing shared
media access networks,
Statistical Multiplexing
Addressing scheme Hierarchical numbering plan Hierarchical address space
Information representation Analog voice or PCM coded Binary information
voice
End terminal Telephone, modem Computer
Transmission system Analog and digital data over Digital data over different
different transmission media transmission media
Traffic Real time interactive Heavy traffic
Application Telephone network for bi- Internet for datagram and
directional, real time transfer of reliable stream service between 26
voice signals computers
 Delay
Latency (Delay) defines how long it takes for an entire message
to completely arrive at the destination from the time, the first bit
is sent out from the source.

•Transmission delay
•Propagation delay
•Queuing delay
•Processing delay
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Total Delay = Transmission delay + Propagation delay +
Queuing delay + Processing delay

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 Implementing Network Software
• Network architectures and protocol specifications are essential
things, but a good blueprint is not enough to explain the
phenomenal success of the Internet:
• Some of the issues involved in implementing a network
application on top of the Internet , such programs are
simultaneously an application (i.e., designed to interact with
users) and a protocol (i.e., communicates with peers across the
network).

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 Implementing Network Software- Application
Programming Interface (Sockets)
• The place to start when implementing a network application is the
interface exported by the network.
• Since most network protocols are implemented in software
(especially those high in the protocol stack), and nearly all
computer systems implement their network protocols as part of
the operating system, when we refer to the interface “exported by
the network,” we are generally referring to the interface that the
OS provides to its networking subsystem. This interface is often
called the network application programming interface (API).

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 Implementing Network Software- Application
Programming Interface (Sockets)
• The main abstraction of the socket interface, not surprisingly,
is the socket. A good way to think of a socket is as the point
where a local application process attaches to the network.
• The interface defines operations for creating a socket,
attaching the socket to the network, sending/ receiving
messages through the socket, and closing the socket.

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 Implementing Network Software- Application
Programming Interface (Sockets)
• Socket creation Steps
• Step 1: create a socket, which is done with the following
operation:
int socket(int domain, int type, int protocol)
• Step 2 : depends on whether you are a client or a server. On a
server machine, the application process performs a passive
open the server says that it is prepared to accept
connections, but it does not actually establish a connection

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 Implementing Network Software- Application
Programming Interface (Sockets)
The server does this by invoking the following three operations:
• int bind(int socket, struct sockaddr *address, int addr len)
•int listen(int socket, int backlog)
•int accept(int socket, struct sockaddr *address, int *addr len)

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 Implementing Network Software- Application
Programming Interface (Sockets)
On the client machine, the application process performs an
active open; that is, it says who it wants to communicate with by
invoking the following single operation:
int connect(int socket, struct sockaddr *address, int addr len)

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 Implementing Network Software- Application
Programming Interface (Sockets)
Once a connection is established, the application processes
invoke the following two operations to send and receive data:
int send(int socket, char *message, int msg len, int flags)
int recv(int socket, char *buffer, int buf len, int flags)
The first operation sends the given message over the specified
socket, while the second operation receives a message from the
specified socket into the given buffer. Both operations take a set
of flags that control certain details of the operation

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 Networking Parameters(Transmission
Impairment, Data Rate and Performance)
Transmission Impairment
Signals travel through transmission media, which are not perfect.
The imperfection causes signal impairment. This means that the
signal at the beginning of the medium is not the same as the
signal at the end of the medium. What is sent is not what is
received. Three causes of impairment are attenuation, distortion,
and noise

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Transmission Impairment - Attenuation
Attenuation means a loss of energy. When a signal, simple or composite,
travels through a medium, it loses some of its energy in overcoming the
resistance of the medium. That is why a wire carrying electric signals gets
warm, if not hot, after a while. Some of the electrical energy in the signal is
converted to heat. To compensate for this loss, amplifiers are used to amplify
the signal.
Decibel
To show that a signal has lost or gained strength, engineers use the unit of
the decibel. The decibel (dB) measures the relative strengths of two signals
or one signal at two different points. Note that the decibel is negative if a
signal is attenuated and positive if a signal is amplified.

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 Transmission Impairment - Attenuation

P2
dB  10 log10
P1
Variables PI and P2 are the powers of a signal at points 1 and 2, respectively.

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 Transmission Impairment - Attenuation
Example: Suppose a signal travels through a transmission
medium and its power is reduced to one-half. Find the
attenuation (loss of power).
Solution: dB=10 log (P/2P)= -3 dB
Example: A signal travels through an amplifier, and its power is
increased 10 times Find the amplification (gain of power).
Solution: dB=10 log (10P/P)= 10 dB

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 Transmission Impairment - Distortion
• Distortion means that the signal changes its form or shape.
• Distortion can occur in a composite signal made of different
frequencies. Each signal component has its own propagation speed
(see the next section) through a medium and, therefore, its own
delay in arriving at the final destination. Differences in delay may
create a difference in phase if the delay is not exactly the same as
the period duration.
• In other words, signal components at the receiver have phases
different from what they had at the sender. The shape of the
composite signal is therefore not the same
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 Transmission Impairment - Noise
• Noise is another cause of impairment. Several types of noise, such
as thermal noise, induced noise, crosstalk, and impulse noise, may
corrupt the signal. Thermal noise is the random motion of
electrons in a wire which creates an extra signal not originally sent
by the transmitter. Induced noise comes from sources such as
motors and appliances.
• To find the theoretical bit rate limit, we need to know the ratio of
the signal power to the noise power. The signal-to-noise ratio is
defined as:
SNR = average signal power/ average noise power
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 Types of Noise
• Thermal Noise/ White Noise - Thermal noise is the electronic noise generated
by the thermal agitation of the charge carriers (usually the electrons) inside an electrical
conductor at equilibrium, which happens regardless of any applied voltage.
• Induced Noise - Induced noise is the noise generated in a circuit by a varying
magnetic or electrostatic field produced by another circuit.
• Crosstalk Noise - Crosstalk is a type of noise signal that corrupts the actual signal
while transmission through the communication medium.
• Impulse Noise - Impulse noise is a category of noise that includes unwanted, almost
instantaneous (thus impulse-like) sharp sounds (like clicks and pops)—typically caused by
electromagnetic interference, scratches on disks, gunfire, explosions, and synchronization
issues in digital audio.

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 Data Rate
A very important consideration in data communications is how
fast we can send data, in bits per second over a channel. Data
rate depends on three factors:
1.The bandwidth available
2.The level of the signals we use
3.The quality of the channel (the level of noise)
Two theoretical formulas were developed to calculate the data
rate: one by Nyquist for a noiseless channel, another by Shannon
for a noisy channel.
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Data Rate - Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate

1
Two level signal
0

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 Data Rate - Noiseless Channel: Nyquist Bit Rate

Example:
Consider a noiseless channel with a bandwidth of 3000 Hz
transmitting a signal with two signal levels. The maximum bit
rate can be calculated as
BitRate =2 x 3000 x log2 2 =6000 bps

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Data Rate - Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity

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Data Rate - Noisy Channel: Shannon Capacity

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 Performance
• One important issue in networking is the performance of the
network-how good is it?
Important Parameters: Bandwidth, Throughput, Delay and Jitter.
Bandwidth:
In networking, we use the term bandwidth in two contexts.
• The first, bandwidth in hertz, refers to the range of frequencies in a
composite signal or the range of frequencies that a channel can pass.
• The second, bandwidth in bits per second, refers to the speed of bit
transmission in a channel or link.
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What is the required bandwidth of a low-pass channel if we need
to send 1 Mbps by using baseband transmission?

Solution
The answer depends on the accuracy desired.

a.The minimum bandwidth, is B = bit rate /2, or 500 kHz.

b.b. A better solution is to use the first and the third harmonics
with B = 3 × 500 kHz = 1.5 MHz.
c.Still a better solution is to use the first, third, and fifth
harmonics with B = 5 × 500 kHz = 2.5 MHz.
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 Examples
• The bandwidth of a subscriber line is 4 kHz for voice or data.
The bandwidth of this line for data transmission can be up to
56,000 bps using a sophisticated modem to change the digital
signal to analog.
• If the telephone company improves the quality of the line and
increases the bandwidth to 8 kHz, we can send 112,000 bps by
using the same technology as mentioned in previous Example

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Throughput:
• The throughput is a measure of how fast we can actually send data
through a network.
• the bandwidth is a potential measurement of a link; the throughput is an
actual measurement of how fast we can send data.

For example, we may have a link with a bandwidth of 1 Mbps, but the devices
connected to the end of the link may handle only 200 kbps. This means that we cannot
send more than 200 kbps through this link. Imagine a highway designed to transmit
1000 cars per minute from one point to another. However, if there is congestion on the
road, this figure may be reduced to 100 cars per minute. The bandwidth is 1000 cars
per minute; the throughput is 100 cars per minute.

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• A network with bandwidth of 10 Mbps can pass only an average of
12,000 frames per minute with each frame carrying an average of
10,000 bits. What is the throughput of this network?

The throughput is almost one-fifth of the bandwidth in this case

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• Latency (Delay)
The latency or delay defines how long it takes for an entire message to completely arrive at the
destination from the time the first bit is sent out from the source. We can say that latency is made of
four components:
propagation time,
transmission time,
queuing time
processing delay.
Latency =propagation time +transmission time +queuing time + processing delay.
Propagation Time Propagation time measures the time required for a bit to travel from the source to the
destination. The propagation time is calculated by dividing the distance by the propagation speed.
Propagation time = Distance / Propagation speed
The propagation speed of electromagnetic signals depends on the medium and on the frequency of the
signal.

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• Transmission Time In data communications we don't send just 1
bit, we send a message. The first bit may take a time equal to the
propagation time to reach its destination; the last bit also may take
the same amount of time. However, there is a time between the
first bit leaving the sender and the last bit arriving at the receiver.
The first bit leaves earlier and arrives earlier; the last bit leaves
later and arrives later. The time required for transmission of a
message depends on the size of the message and the bandwidth of
the channel. Transmission time =Message size /Bandwidth

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• Queuing Time: The third component in latency is the queuing
time, the time needed for each intermediate or end device to
hold the message before it can be processed. The queuing
time is not a fixed factor; it changes with the load imposed on
the network. When there is heavy traffic on the network, the
queuing time increases. An intermediate device, such as a
router, queues the arrived messages and processes them one
by one. If there are many messages, each message will have to
wait.
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Bandwidth – delay product

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• Jitter Another performance issue that is related to delay is
jitter. We can roughly say that jitter is a problem if different
packets of data encounter different delays and the application
using the data at the receiver site is time-sensitive (audio and
video data, for example). If the delay for the first packet is 20
ms, for the second is 45 ms, and for the third is 40 ms, then the
real-time application that uses the packets endures jitter.

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Problems on Attenuation

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Problems on Noise

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Data rate - Calculation

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Thank You

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