Switching and Intelligent Network
(EEEg8254)
Chapter 2 : Digital Switching Systems
AASTU
Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
1
Outline
Chapter 2 : Digital Switching Systems
• Introduction
• Evolution of Digital Switching System
• Digital Transmission
• Modes of Digital Transmission
• Space Division Switching
• Time Division Switching
• Two Dimensional Digital Switching
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Introduction
• A switching system is called digital when the input to and output from the
switching system can directly support digital signal.
• Many basic elements of the digital switching system and its operation are very
similar to the stored program control (SPC) switching system.
• Various facilities of digital switching and transmission is the reason why the
analog switching is slowly getting replaced by digital switching.
• The reliability of digital switching system is becoming increasingly important for
users of telephone services.
• Voice and/or data can be represented using digital signals efficiently than analog
signals.
• The cost of an analogue switch is roughly proportional to the number of cross
points, but the cost relationship in digital switching is different.
• The incorporation of digital switching and transmission technique into
telecommunications altered the whole telecommunication industries setup.
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Introduction
• The functions of the digital switching network is to connect pairs of channels.
• So that information arriving at the switching center in a particular channel on one
PCM multiplex system can be passed to some other channel on an outgoing
PCM multiplex systems.
• To achieve this switching, two processes referred to as time switching and space
switching are used.
• The principles of these two switching process will be discussed in this chapter.
• In digital data communication (analog or digital signal), a fundamental
requirement is that the receiver should know the starting time and duration of
each bit that it receives.
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Evolution of Digital Switching System
• The early version of electronic switching system is the stored program control (SPC).
• The SPC systems have temporary memory for storing transient call information and to
carry programming information.
• The SPC performs line control, trunk control, ancillary control, maintenance control
etc.
• The instructions required for performing these operations are resided in a single
processor.
• For reliability or high availability, the processor may be duplicated. Thus SPC uses a
centralized software and hardware architectures.
• A modern digital switching system employs a number of processors not uses
distributed software and hardware architectures.
• The digital switching system also referred as Electronic Switching System–III
generation is purely electronic in operation, the switching process is by time
division/digital transmission, the type of control is stored program common control
and the network uses pulse code modulation.
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Evaluation of Digital Switching System
Evaluation of digital switching
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Digital Transmission
• A digital signal is a discrete signal. It is depicted as discretely variable (on/off)
against the analog signal which is continuously variable.
• Each pulse (on/off) is known as binary digit (bit) the number of bits transmitted
per second is the bit rates of the signal.
• Digital signals are represented in many ways. the digital signal represented by
two voltages. Here 0 volts represents 0 in binary and + 5 volts represents 1 in
binary.
• A digital signal has the following characteristic
(a) holds a fixed value for a specific length of time
(b) has sharp, abrupt changes
(c) A preset number of values allowed.
Digital signal 7
Digital Transmission
• The process of converting analog signal into digital signals is called digitization.
• It involves the modulation process called pulse code modulation. With digital
transmission system, the quality of the system can be improved.
• The digital systems in comparison with the analog, provides a better switching
interface, enhance easier multiplexing and produce clear signals.
• To convert analog signals to digital signals, a coding system called pulse code
modulation (PCM) is used.
The process of digitization 8
Criteria For The Design Of Switching System
• Traditionally, the design for telephone switching center or equipment
requirement in a telecommunication system are determined on the basis of the
traffic intensity of the busy hour.
• The traffic intensity is defined as the product of the calling rate and the average
holding time.
• The busy hour is defined as that continuous sixty-minute period during which
the traffic intensity is highest.
• The calling rate is the average number of request for connection that are made
per unit time.
• If the instant in time that a call request arises is a random variable, the calling
rate may be stated as the probability that a call request will occur in a certain
short interval of time.
• The holding time is the mean time that calls last. Otherwise the average holding
time is the average duration of occupancy of traffic path by a call.
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Criteria For The Design Of Switching System
• Grade of Service: In telephone field, the so called busy hour traffic are used for planning purposes.
Once the statistical properties of the traffic are known, the objective for the performance of a
switching system should be stated. This is done by specifying a grade of service (GOS).
• GOS is a measure of congestion (over crowding) expressed as the probability that a call will be
blocked or delayed. Thus when dealing with GOS in traffic engineering, the clear understanding of
blocking criteria, delay criteria and congestion are essential.
• Blocking criteria: If the design of a system is based on the fraction of calls blocked (the blocking
probaility), then the system is said to be engineered on a blocking basis or call loss basis.
• Blocking can occur if all devices are occupied when a demand of service is initiated. Blocking criteria
are often used for the dimensioning of switching networks and interoffice trunk groups.
• For a system designed on a loss basis, a suitable GOS is the percentage of calls which are lost because
no equipment is available at the instant of call request.
• Delay criteria: If the design of a system is based on the fraction of calls delayed longer than a
specified length of time (the delay probability), the system is said to be a waiting system or
engineered on a delay basis.
• Delay criteria are used in telephone systems for the dimensioning of registers. In waiting system, a
GOS objective could be either the percentage of calls which are delayed or the percentage which are
delayed more than a certain length of time.
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Criteria For The Design Of Switching System
Congestion
• It is the condition in a switching center when a subscriber can not obtain a connection to the
wanted subscriber immediately. In a circuit switching system, there will be a period of congestion
during which no new calls can be accepted. There are two ways of specifying congestion.
1. Time congestion. It is the probability that all servers are busy. It is also called the
probability of blocking.
2. Call congestion. It is the proportion of calls arising that do not find a free server.
• Call congestion is a loss system and also known as the probability of loss while in a delay system it
is referred to as the probability of waiting.
• If the number of sources are equal to the number of servers, the time congestion is finite, but
the call congestion is zero.
• When the number of sources are large in comparison with servers, the probability of a new call
arising is independent of the number already in progress and therefore the call congestion is
equal to the time congestion.
• In general, time and call congestions are different but in most practical cases, the discrepancies
are small.
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Criteria For The Design Of Switching System
• Measure of GOS: GOS is expressed as a probability. The GOS of 2% (0.02) mean that 98%
of the calls will reach a called instrument if it is free.
• Generally, GOS is quoted as P.02 or simply P02 to represent a network busy probability of
0.02. GOS is applied to a terminal-to-terminal connection. For the system connection
many switching centers, the system is generally broken into following components.
(i) An internal call (calling subscriber to switching office)
(ii) An outgoing call to the trunk network (switching office to trunk)
(iii) The trunk network (trunk to trunk)
(iv) A terminating call (switching office to called subscriber)
• The GOS of each component is called component GOS.
• The GOS for internal calls is 3 to 5%, for trunk calls 1-3%, for outgoing calls 2% and for
terminating calls 2%. The overall GOS of a system is approximately the sum of the
component grade of service.
• In practice, in order to ensure that the GOS does not deteriorate disastrously. if the actual
busy hour traffic exceeds the mean, GOS are specified 10% or 20% more of the mean.
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Signaling In Telecommunication
Definition Of Signaling
• Signaling refers to a protocol or language used by the Network Elements (NEs) to
exchange information, thus providing and maintaining services. The name "signaling"
derives from traditional systems that used actual signals (pulses, DTMF, or MF tones) as
a means of communication. Today’s modern signaling systems exchange complex digital
messages between Network Elements.
Classification of Signaling
• Signaling systems may be classified based on several principal characteristics
1, In-band signaling
2, Out-of-band signaling
3, Line signaling
4, Register signaling
5, Channel-associated signaling
6, Common-channel signaling (SS7)
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Signaling In Telecommunication
Common-channel signaling (SS7)
• Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) is a common channel signaling (CCS) system
developed by ITU-T in response to a demand for more features and integrated
data services.
• It is a high-speed, out-of-band signaling system based on ITU-T recommendation
Q.700 series that has become a global standard for telecommunications.
• SS7 defines the architecture, procedures, and protocols for information exchange
over digital channels.
• It is designed to support call setups, routing, billing, database information, and
special service functions for PSTNs.
• The ITU-T definition of SS7 allows for national variants such as ANSI,
Bellcore(North America), ETSI (used in Europe) and several country dependent
variants.
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Signaling In Telecommunication
SS7 networks provide the following functionality
1. Basic call setup, management, billing and release
2. Enhanced call features such as call waiting, call forwarding, calling party
name/number display/ restriction/rejection, and three-way calling
3. Handling congestion and priority. wireless services such as PCS, GSM, wireless
roaming and mobile subscriber authentication
4. Local number portability (LNP)
5. Toll-free and toll services
6. Exchange of database information between NEs
7. Network management for efficient and secure worldwide telecommunications
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Signaling In Telecommunication
SS7 Signaling Points
There are three kinds of signaling points
in the SS7 network
1, SSP (Service Switching Point)
2, STP (Signal Transfer Point)
3, SCP (Service Control Point) SS7
Signaling
SS7 signaling points
SS7 Network Structure 16
Signaling In Telecommunication
Transmission Of Signaling Information
Signaling information can be transmitted by means such as:
• Duration of pulses(pulse duration bears a specific meaning).
• Combination of pulses.
• Frequency of signal.
• Combination of frequencies.
• Presence or absence of a signal.
• Binary code.
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Digital switching systems
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Space switching system
• The fundamental operation of a switch is to setup and release connection between
subscribers.
• It involves direct connection between subscriber loops at an end office or between
station loops at a PBX. The switches are hardware and/or software devices capable of
creating temporary connections between two or more subscribers.
• In space division switching, the paths in the circuit are separated from each other
spatially. It was originally designed for analog networks, but is used currently in both
digital and analog switching.
• For large group of outlets, considerable savings in total crosspoints can be achieved if
each inlet can access only a limited number of outlets. Such situation is called limited
availability.
• By overlapping the available outlet groups for various inlet groups, a technique called
‘‘grading’’ as established. Rectangular crosspoint array is an example of grading. For
longer trunk groups, large crosspoints were expensive and not used now-a-days. The
number of crosspoints required are M × N, where M is number of inlets and N is
number of outlets.
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
• It is inefficient to build complete exchanges in single stages. Single stage can
only be used to interconnect one particular inlet outlet pair.
• Also the number of crosspoints grows as the square of the inputs for grading,
• Also, the large number of crosspoints on each inlet and outlet line imply a large
amount of capacitive loading on the message paths.
• Therefore, it is usual to build exchanges in two or three stages to reduce the
number of crosspoints and to provide alternative paths.
• The sharing of crosspoints for potential paths through the switch is accomplished
by multiple stage switching.
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
Two-Stage Networks
Theorem
• For any single stage network, there exists an equivalent multistage network.
Example: Simple Two-stage NxN network
• A NxN single stage network with a switching capacity of K connections can be
realized by a two-stage network of NxK and KxN.
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
Two-Stage Networks
• First Stage: Any of the N inlets can be connected to any of the K outputs. NK
switching elements.
• Second Stage: Any of the K inputs can be connected to any of the N outlets. NK
switching elements.
• There are K alternative paths for any inlet/outlet pair connection.
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
Two-Stage Networks
Terminology
• Expanding network: M<N
• Concentrating network: M>N
• Square network: M=N
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
Two-Stage Networks
Architecture of General two-stage networks
• Multiple small size matrices are used in each stage.
• Easy to be realized in practice.
• Flexible in system design.
MxN two-stage network design
• Decomposition: M = p x r, N = q x s
[ M inlets are divided in to r blocks of p inlets]
[N outlets are divided in to s blocks of q outlets ]
• Switching matrices: p x s and r x q
• Full connectivity: There must be at least one out let from each block in the first stage
terminating as inlet on every block of the second stage.
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
Two-Stage Networks
Parameters
• Number of switching elements
S=psr+qrs=Ms+Nr
• Switching Capacity
i.e., the number of links between the first and
the second stages.
Sc = sr
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
Two-Stage Networks
Parameters
• Blocking probability
Blocking condition 1
• There are rxs calls in progress, and the (rs+1)-th
call arrives;
Blocking condition 2
• There is a call in progress from I-th block in the first
stage to the J-th block in the second stage, and
another call originating in the I-th block destined to
the J-th block.
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
Two-Stage Networks
How to choose values of r and s?
• Both S and Sc are proportional to r & s.
• Blocking probability PB is reversely proportional
to r & s.
Strategy: Tradeoffs should be made between cost
and quality of service.
• The values of r & s should be as small as possible
but give sufficient links to provide a reasonable
grade of service to subscribers.
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
Two-Stage Networks
Remarks on two-stage networks
• A standard way of designing blocking networks
with full Connectivity.
• The expanding and concentrating network
structures of small size can be implemented
easily.
• Alternative paths for establishing a connection
can be provided by two-stage networks, but with
more switching elements in Non-blocking
design.
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
The figure shows the three stage switching structure to accommodate 128 input and 128 output
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terminals with 16 first stage and last stage.
Space switching system
Multistage Switching
• The structure shown in Figure provides path for N inlets and N outlets. The N
input lines are divided into N/n groups of n lines each.
• Each group of n inputs is accommodated by an n-input, k output matrix. The
output matrices are identical to the input matrices except they are reversed.
• The intermediate stages are k in number and N/n inputs and N/n outputs. The
interstage connections are often called junctors. Each of the k paths utilizes a
separate center stage array.
• An arbitrary input can find k alternate output. Thus, multistage structure
provides alternate paths.
• Also the switching link is connected to a limited number of crosspoints. This
enables the minimized capacitive loading.
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
• One attractive feature of a single stage switch is that it is strictly nonblocking
• If the called party is idle, the desired connection can always be established by
selecting the particular crosspoint dedicated to the particular input/output pair
• When crosspoints are shared, the possibility of blocking arises
• In 1953, Charles Clos of Bell Lab demonstrated that if each individual array is
nonblocking, and if the number of center stages k is equal to 2n−1, the switch is
strictly nonblocking.
• Nonblocking condition: Connection through the three-stage switch requires
locating a center-stage array with an idle link from the appropriate first stage and
idle link to the appropriate third stage
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
Table : Number of crosspoints in a Non
blocking switch for B = 0.002 and p = 0.7
Three-stage switch matrix provides
significant reduction in crosspoints,
particularly for large switches.
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
• The savings in crosspoints becoming more pronounced with increasing N.
• When very large number of lines must be accommodated, switching structures with
more stages, even up to eight stages are used.
• Each first-stage array (switch) is of the size n × k
• An inlet can use any of k outputs
• k outputs are shared by all n inputs
• If the probability p that an inlet is busy is known, the probability P that interstage link
is busy can be determined as
• The probability that all k links are busy is given by
Where, p is utilization probability
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
Example
1, A three stage switching structure is to accommodate N = 128 input and 128
output terminals. For 16 first stage and 16 last stage, determine the number of
cross points for non-blocking.
2, If the number of crosspoints in the example is to be reduced by the factor of 3
with non- blocking what is the probability that a call will be blocked? Assume the
utilization probability p = 15%.
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Space switching system
Multistage Switching
READING ASSIGNMENT
• Blocking Probability Evaluation Techniques
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Time division switching system
• In space division switching, crosspoints are used to establish a specific connection
between two subscribers.
• The crosspoints of multistage space switches assigned to a particular connection is
dedicated to that connection for its duration. Thus the crosspoints can not be shared.
• Time division switching involves the sharing of crosspoints for shorter periods of
time. This helps for the reassign of crosspoints and its associated circuits for other
needed connections.
• Therefore, in time division switching, greater savings in crosspoints can be achieved.
• Hence, by using a dynamic control mechanisms, a switching element can be
assigned to many inlet-outlet pairs for few microseconds. This is the principle of
time division switching.
• The selection of inlet/outlet is controlled by various ways. The (a) cyclic control and
(b)memory based control are the important controls and described in the following
paragraphs.
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Time division switching system
• Time division switching uses time division multiplexing to achieve switching. Two popular
methods that are used in time division multiplexing are
(a) the time slot interchange (TSI) and
(b) the TDM bus.
• In ordinary time division multiplexing, the data reaches the output in the same order as they
sent. But TSI changes the ordering of slots based on the desired connections. The
demultiplexer separates the slots and passes them to the proper outputs.
• The TDM uses a control unit. The control unit opens and closes the gates according to the
switching need.
• The principle of time division switching can be equally applied to analog and digital signals.
For interfacing sampled analog signals but not digitized, the analog time division switches
are attractive.
• But for larger switches, there are some limitations due to noise, distortion and crosstalk
which normally occurs in PAM signals.
• Thus analog switching is now used only in smaller switching systems. In this section, the
analog time division switching and digital time division switching are described briefly.
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Time division switching system
Analog Time Division Switching
• The following figure shows a simple analog time division switching structure.
The speech is carried as PAM analog samples or PCM digital samples, occurring
at 125 μs intervals. When PAM samples are switched in a time division manner,
the switching is known as analog time division switching.
• If PCM binary samples are switched, then the switching is known as digital time
division switching.
• A single switching bus supports a multiple number of connections by
interleaving PAM samples from receive line interfaces to transmit line
interfaces. There are two cyclic control stores.
• The first control store controls gating of inputs onto the bus one sample at a
time.
• The second control store operates in synchronism with the first and selects the
appropriate output line for each input sample.
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Time division switching system
Analog Time Division Switching
The figure shows a simple analog time division switching structure.
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Time division switching system
Analog Time Division Switching
The figure shows a simple analog time division switching structure.
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Time division switching system
Digital Time Division Switching
• The digital time division multiplexed signals usually requires switching between time slots as
well as between physical lines.
• The switching between time slots are usually referred as time switching.
• Similar to analog time division switching the switching structure can be organized except the
use of memory block in place of the bus.
• This adds the serial to parallel and parallel to serial bit conversion circuitry’s as the input to
the memory block should be in parallel form.
• The serial to parallel and parallel to serial converter are used to write the data into the
memory and read the data out of memory.
• Basic operation: The basic requirement of time division switching is that the transfer of
information arriving at in a time slot of one input link to other time slot of any one of
output link. A complete set of pulses, arriving at each active input line is referred to as a
frame. The frame rate is equal to the sample rate of each line.
• In TSI operation, inputs are sequentially controlled and outputs are selectively controlled.
The RAM have several memory locations, each size is the same as of single time slot.
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Time division switching system
Digital Time Division Switching
Time slot interchange operation 43
Time division switching system
Digital Time Division Switching
Time slot interchange operation 44
Time division switching system
Digital Time Division Switching
• For convenience, two MDR(memory data register) are shown, but MDR is a single
register. Gating (passage control) mechanism is used to connect the inlet/outlet
to MDR.
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Functional diagram of time division time switching.
Time division switching system
Digital Time Division Switching
1 a
Read slots
2 b
according to
3 connection
d c … b a permutation b a … d c
24 23 2 1 24 23 2 1
Write
22
slots in
order of 23 c
arrival
24 d
Time-slot interchange
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Two Dimensional Digital Switching
• 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.
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Two Dimensional Digital Switching
Example: Channel 3 of the first TDM link is connected to Channel 17 of the last TDM
link
o Information in time slot 3 of the first input link is transferred to time slot 17 of the
last output link
o Return connection is required, and realized by transferring information from time
slot 17 of the last input link to time slot 3 of the first link
• Each connection requires space division switching and time division switching
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Two Dimensional Digital 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) or space time (ST)
switches respectively.
• Three stage time and space combinations of TST and STS configurations are
more popular and flexible.
• Very large digital switches includes many combinations of time and space
switches.
• Typical configurations are TSST, TSSSST, and TSTSTSTS. These switches support
40000 lines or more; economically.
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Two Dimensional Digital Switching
Time Stage
• To delay information in arriving time slots until the desired output time slots
occur, at that time the delayed information is transferred through the space stage
to the appropriate link
• Time stage may have to provide delays ranging from one time slot to a full frame.
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Two Dimensional Digital Switching
Space Stage
• Control store contains information needed to
specify the space stage configuration for each
individual time slot of a frame
• This control information is accessed cyclically
• Complexity (cost) can be lowered if groups of
input links are combined into higher-level
multiplexed signals before being switched
• To perform as much switching in the time stages
as possible
• Time stage switching is generally less expensive
than space stage switching (digital memory is
much cheaper than digital crosspoints (AND
gates)
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Two Dimensional Digital Switching
Multiple-Stage Time and Space Switching
• There are practical limits as to how many channels can be multiplexed into a common
TDM link for time stage switching .
• When these limits are reached, complexity can be further reduced only by using
multiple stages
• Separating the space stages by a time stage.
o Time stage between two space stages
o Space-Time-Space (STS) switch
• Separating the time stages by a space stage
o Space stage between two time stages
o Time-Space-Time (TST) switch
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Two Dimensional Digital Switching
STS Switching
• Each of the space switches is assumed to be a single stage (nonblocking) switch
o For large switches, space switches are implemented with multiple stages.
• Establishing a path through an STS switch
o Finding a time switch array with an available write access during the incoming time slot, and an
available read access during the desired outgoing time slot
• When each individual stage (S, T, S) is nonblocking, the operation is functionally
equivalent to the operation of a three-stage space switch.
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STS switching structure
Two Dimensional Digital Switching
TST Switching
• Information arriving in a TDM channel of an incoming link is delayed in the inlet time
stage until an appropriate path through the space stage is available
• At that time, the information is transferred through the space stage to the appropriate
outlet time stage
• Information is held until the desired outgoing time slot occurs
• Space stages operates in a time divided fashion, independently of the external TDM
links.
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The principle of TST switching.
Two Dimensional Digital Switching
TST Switching
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Two Dimensional Digital Switching
TST Switching
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Two Dimensional Digital Switching
STS and TST Comparisons
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Last Slide.
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