TheTelecommunications Network:AnOverview

DiscussionTopics:
Wedividethenetworkintolayersandbriefly describedifferentnetworktechnologiesthat areneededtoprovidevariouskindsofservice service. Anintroductiontothetheoryoftraffic engineering;thatis is,howmuchcapacitywe shouldbuildintothenetworkinorderto provideasufficientgradeofserviceforthe customers.

Introduction
WhatIsTelecommunications?
Telecommunicationshasbeendefinedasatechnologyconcernedwith communicatingfromadistance,andwecancategorizeitinvarious ways. ways

SignificanceofTelecommunications
Telecommunicationsnetworksmakeupthe most tcomplicated li t dequipment i t i inthe th world. ld Telecommunicationsserviceshavean essential ti limpact i tonthe th d development l tof fa community. The Th operations ti of famodern d community it are highlydependentontelecommunications. Telecommunications T l i ti plays l anessential ti lrole l on manyareasofeverydayliving.

BasicTelecommunicationsNetwork
Thebasicpurposeofatelecommunications networkistotransmituserinformationinany formtoanotheruserofthenetwork. Therearethreetechnologiesneededfor g thenetwork: communicationthrough
1. transmission, 2. switching,and 3. signaling.

Transmission
Transmissionistheprocessoftransporting informationbetweenendp pointsofasystem y ora network. Fourbasicmediaforinformationtransferfrom onepointtoanother:
1. Coppercables,suchasthoseusedinLANsand telephonesubscriberlines; 2. Opticalfibercables,suchashighdatarate transmissionintelecommunicationsnetworks; 3. Radiowaves,suchascellulartelephonesand satellitetransmission; 4. Freespaceoptics,suchasinfraredremote controllers. controllers

Switching
Onlyafewcableconnectionswereneeded betweenexchangesbecausethenumberof simultaneouslyongoingcallsismuchsmaller thanthenumberoftelephones. telephones

Figure:Abasic telecommunications l i i network.

Signaling
Signalingisthemechanismthatallows networkentities(customerpremisesor networkswitches)toestablish,maintain,and terminatesessionsinanetwork. Signalingiscarriedoutwiththehelpof specificsignalsormessagesthatindicateto the h other h end dwhat h is i requested dof fit i by b this hi connection. Signaling Si li is i anextremely l complex l matterin i a telecommunicationsnetwork.

SignalingCont.
Someexamplesofsignaling:
Off ffhookcondition:Theexchange g noticesthatthe subscriberhasraisedthetelephonehook(dcloop isconnected)andgivesadialtonetothe subscriber. Dial:Thesubscriberdialsdigitsandtheyare receivedbytheexchange. Onhookcondition:Theexchangenoticesthatthe subscriber b ib has h finished fi i h dthe th call ll( (subscriber b ib l loopis i disconnected),clearstheconnection,andstops billing. billing

SwitchingandSignaling
Tobuildtherequestedconnectionfromone subscribertoanother,thenetworkhas switchingequipmentthatselectstherequired connection.Exchange.

Figure: SPC(Storage ProgramControl) exchangeand signaling principlesused between exchanges.

SwitchingandSignaling(Cont.)
Signaling
Usuallythecallisroutedviamanyexchangesandthe signalinginformationneedstobetransmittedfromone exchangetoanother.Thiscanbedoneviachannelassociated signaling(CAS)orcommonchannelsignaling(CCS)methods

Figure:CAS between exchanges.

CommonChannelSignaling g g(CCS) ( )
Itisbasedontheprinciplesofcomputercommunications inwhichdataframescontaininginformationare exchangedbetweencomputersonlywhenrequired. Signalingframescontain,forexample,:
informationabouttheconnectiontowhichthemessage belongs, theaddressofthedestinationexchange,dialeddigits, and dinformation f about b whether h h subscriber b b Bh hasanswered. d

Onlyonedatachannelbetweentwoexchangesis required q toserveallestablishedcalls, ,thisisusually yone 64Kbpstimeslotofaprimary2 or1.5MbpsPCM frame.

CCS(Cont.)
AwidelyusedinternationalstandardofCCSiscalled CCS7,alsoknownassignalingsystemnumber7(SS7), CCITT#7,orITUT7,anditisusedinallmodern telecommunicationsnetworkssuchasISDNandGSM.

Figure g :CCS betweenexchanges.

SwitchingHierarchy
Thehierarchicalstructureofthenetworkhelpsoperators managethenetworkanditmakesthebasicprincipleof t l h telephone call llrouting ti straightforward; t i htf d the th call lli isrouted t d upinthehierarchybyeachexchangeifthedestination subscriberisnotlocatedbelowthisexchange. g

Figure:Anexample ofswitching hierarchy.

LocalAccessNetwork
Thelocalaccessnetworkprovidestheconnectionbetween thecustomerstelephoneandthelocalexchange. Ordinary O di telephone t l h and dISDNsubscribers b ib usetwo t wires, i a pair,asasubscriberloop,butforbusinesscustomersahigher capacityopticalfiberormicrowaveradiolinkmaybe required.

Figure:Anexample ofalocalaccess network.

LocalExchange
Local lorsubscriber b b l loopsconnectsubscribers b b tol local l exchanges,whicharethelowestlevelexchangesinthe switchinghierarchy. Thesearethemaintasksofthedigitallocalexchange:
o Detectoffhookcondition,analyzethedialednumber,and determineifarouteisavailable. o Connectthe h subscriber b b toatrunk kexchange h f forl longerdistance calls. o Connectthesubscribertoanotherinthesamelocalarea. o Determine D t i ifth thecalled ll dsubscriber b ib is i free f and dconnect tringing i i signaltoher. o Providemeteringandcollectchargingdataforitsown subscribers. subscribers o Convert2Wlocalaccessto4Wcircuitofthenetwork. o Convertanalogspeechintoadigitalsignal(PCM).

ASmallLocalExchangeiscalledremoteswitchingunit (RSU)

DistributionFrames
Allsubscriberlinesarewiredtothemain frame( (MDF), ), distributionf

TrunkNetwork
Anetworkwherehigherlevelsthanlocal exchangesareshownasasingleleveloftrunk exchanges. exchanges Highcapacitytransmissionpaths,usuallyoptical linesystems,withcapacitiesupto10Gbps, interconnecttrunkexchanges. Atransportnetworkhasalternativeroutes.If oneofthesetransmissionsystemsfails fails,switches areabletoroutenewcallsviaothertransmission systemsandtrunkexchangestobypassthefailed system. Thetrunkexchangesareusuallylocatedinmajor cities. cities

TrunkNetwork(Cont.)

Figure:Twolayernetworkandlinksbetween trunkandlocalexchanges.

InternationalNetwork
Eachcountryhasatleastoneinternationalswitching centertowhichtrunkexchangesareconnected.