TWO DIMENSIONAL DIGITAL SWITCHING Chapter 3

Combination of the time and space switches leads to a configuration that achieved both time
Slot interchange and sample switching across trunks. These structures also permit a large
Number of simultaneous connections to be supported for a given technology. Large digital
Switches require switching operations in both a space dimension and a time dimension.

The incoming and outgoing PCM highways are spatially separate. So the connection of
One line of local exchange obviously requires space switching to connect to the channel of
Outgoing highways. Thus the switching network must be able to receive PCM samples from
One time slot and retransmit them in a different time-slot. This is known as time slot interchange,
Or simply as time switching. Thus the switching network must perform both space and time
Switching.

The space switching and time switching may be accomplished in many ways. A two
Stage combination switch may be organized with time switch as first stage and the space switch
as the second stage or vice versa. The resulting configurations are referred as time space (TS)
Digital Switching Systems or space time (ST) switches respectively.

The general block diagram involving Time and Space Switching is shown as in fig below

The main task of the switching part is to interconnect an incoming time slot and an
Outgoing time slot. The unit responsible for this function is group switch. There are two types
of building block in the digital group switch. They are time switch and space switch.

In Fig. , the subscriber makes a local call to B. The control unit has assigned time
Slot 3 to the call on its way into the group switch, and time slot 1 on its way out of the group
Switch (to B). This is maintained during the entire call. Similarly B to A also carried out. The
Fundamental design and structure of the two switches explain Time and Space Switching.
Space and Time Switches

Space switch. Fig. shows a typical space switch. It uses a space array to provide switching
Generally the space switch consists of a matrix of M × N switching points where M is number
Of inlets and N is number of outlets. A connection between an inlet and an outlet is made by
The simple logic gates (AND gates). As logic gates are unidirectional, two paths through
switching matrix must be established to accommodate a two way conversation. The logic gate
array can serve for concentration, expansion or distribution depending on M is larger, smaller or
equal to N. Fig. Shows only one voice direction.

A number of M, of X slot multiplexers, provide the inputs and the outlets are connected
To N, X slot demultiplexers. The gate select memory has X locations. The word containing
Information about which cross point is to be enabled is decoded by the translator. During each
Internal time slot, one cross point is activated. In the shift to the next interval time slot, the
Control memory is incremented by one step, and a new cross point pattern is formed in the
Matrix.
Time switch. The time-slot interchange (TSI) system is referred to as time switching
(T-switching).. Fig. Shows the block diagram of time switch. Each incoming time slot is stored
in sequence in a speech memory (SM). The control memory (CM) determines in which order the
time slots are to be read from SM. This means that a voice sample may be moved from say
incoming time slot 3 to outgoing time slot 1.

Time-space (TS) Switching

This switch consists of only two stages. This structure contains a time stage T followed by a
Space stage S as shown in Fig. 5.22. Thus this structure is referred to as time-space (TS)
Switch. The space arrays have N inlets and N outlets. For each inlet line, a time slot interchanger
With T slots is introduced. Each TSI is provided with a time slot memories (not shown).
Similarly a gate select memory needs to be provided for the space array (not shown).

The transmission of signals carried out from sender to receiver through multiplexer
Input and demultiplexer output. The reverse communication also similar. Thus a hybrid
Arrangement is needed to isolate the transmitted signal from the received signal. The basic
Function of the time switch is to delay information in arriving time slots until the desired
Output time slot occurs.

The cyclic control and gate select memory contains the information needed to specify
The space stage configuration for each individual time slot of a frame. The time stage have to
Provide decays ranging from one time slot to a full frame. During each outgoing time slot,
Control information is accessed that specifies inter stage link number to output link. During
Other time slots, the space switch is completely reconfigured to support other connections.
STS and TST Switching

The TS structure is of blocking nature. Let A and B are the subscribers using different time
Slot on the same line want to connect to two subscribers C and D using same time slot on
Different lines. A and B can be moved to the same time slot but during that time slot, the inlet
Line can be connected to C’s line or D’s line but not both. This is the significant limitation of the
Structure. Moreover, time stage switching is generally less expensive than space stage switching
As digital memory is much cheaper than digital cross points (AND gates).

STS Switching. :
In STS switching, the time stage is sandwiched between two space arrays. The digital switching
system ITS 4/5 of USA (1976) uses the STS switching configuration. It handles 3000 trunks and
accommodates 1500 Erlangs of traffic. Fig. 5.23 shows the space-time-space (S-T-S) switching
network for M incoming and outgoing PCM highways.

Establishing a path through an STS switch requires finding a time switch array with an
Available units access during the incoming time slot and an available read access during the
Desired outgoing time slot. The input side space stage as well as the output side space stage is
Free to utilize any free time switch modules. In the diagram shown in Fig. 5.23, the time slot 2
is connected to the TSM 2 where the time slot allotted is 16 and passed to the (M – 1)th line of
Output space array. Thus the path is provided. This structure is of non-blocking nature.

TST Switching.
In TST switching the space stage is sandwiched between two times
Stage switches. Of all the multistage switching, TST is a popular one. Popular digital switching
Systems.
Some important features of TST switches are:
(i) Low blocking probability. An incoming channel time slot may be connected to an
Outgoing channel time slot using any possible space array time slot. Thus there are many
Alternative paths between two subscribers. This concept reduces the blocking probability of a
Three stage combination switch.
(ii) Stage independency. The space stage operates in a time-divided fashion, independently
Of the external TDM links. The number of space stage time slots L does not coincide
With the number of external TDM time slots T.
Introduction to Advances in Switching: