Chapter 1 Introduction To Switching
Chapter 1 Introduction To Switching
Chapter 1 Introduction To Switching
Introduction to switching
Lecture 1
Introduction to Switching
The ITU-T defines switching as:
• "the establishing, on demand, of an individual connection from a
desired inlet to a desired outlet within a set of inlets and outlets for
as long as is required for the transfer of information".
Telecommunication Networks
Definition:
Transmission and switching infrastructure with the objective to provide
telecommunication services
Basic function:
A Sender of data (Source) selects a Destination for the data and .
Network provides a communication path between the two performing the
necessary switching
Why Switching?
Switches allow reduction in overall network cost by reducing
number and/or cost of transmission links required to enable a
given user population to communicate
Introduction to Switching - Transport
Routing networks
no connections established - no signaling
each data unit routed individually through a network
routing decision made dynamically or statically
Evolution of Switching Technologies
Manual systems
in the infancy of telephony,
exchanges were built up
with manually operated
switching equipment
Electromechanical systems
manual exchanges were replaced by automated electromechanical
switching systems
a patent for automated telephone exchange in 1889 (Almon B. Strowger)
step-by-step selector controlled directly by dial of a telephone set
register-controlled system in which number information is first
received and analyzed in a register – the register is used to select
alternative switching paths
more efficient routing of traffic through transmission network
increased traffic capacity at lower cost
Switching in the ancient past
Almon B. Strowger
Evolution of Switching Technologies
Computer-controlled systems
FDM was developed round 1910, but implemented in 1950’s (ca.
1000 channels transferred in a coaxial cable)
PCM based digital multiplexing introduced in 1970’s –
transmission quality improved – costs reduced further when
digital group switches were combined with digital transmission
systems
computer control became necessary - the first computer
controlled exchange put into service in 1960 (in USA)
strong growth of data traffic resulted in development of
separate data networks and switches – advent of packet
switching (sorting, routing and buffering)
N-ISDN network combined telephone exchange and packet
data switches
ATM based cell switching formed basis for B-ISDN
next step is to use optical switching with electronic switch
control - all optical switching can be seen in the horizon
Evolution of Switching Technologies
Evolution of Switching Technologies
Evolution of switching technologies
Challenges of modern switching
Support very different traffic profiles
constant and variable bit rates, bursty traffic, etc.
Scalability
number of input/output links, link bit rates, etc.
Reliability, Resilience
Cost
Throughput
Elements Of Communication Switching System
Types
In band signaling
Common channel signaling
In band signaling
voice information and signaling information travel on common paths
Mesh Network
number of links increases
exponentially – impractical
Switched Network
information transmitted
from source to destination
via different routes
Switching Hierarchy
Switching Technologies
Two different switching technologies
Circuit switching
Packet switching
Circuit Switching
Circuit switching:
A dedicated communication path between two stations (end-to-end)
The path is a connected sequence of links between network nodes.
On each physical link, a logical channel is dedicated to the connection.
How will the network handle this stream of packets as it attempts to route
them through the network and deliver them to the intended destination?
Two approaches
Datagram approach
Virtual circuit approach
Datagrams
Simple idea:
don’t set up a connection, just make sure each packet contains enough
information to get it to destination
Processing of a datagram:
switch creates a table, mapping destinations to output port (ignores input
ports)
when a packet with a destination address in the table arrives, it pushes it out
on the appropriate output port.
Datagrams
Each packet is treated independently, with no reference to packets
that have gone before.
Each node chooses the next node on a packet’s path
Doesn’t handle switch crashes well: have to teardown and reinitiate a new
circuit
Space-Division Switching
Circuit switching uses 3 technologies:
Space-division switches,
Time-division switches or
Combination of both.
Space-Division Switch
Crossbar
Multi-stage
Space-Division Switching
Crossbar Switch
Metallic crosspoint or semiconductor gate
Enabled or disabled by a control unit
Crossbar Switch
Each crosspoint has 2 states:
Bar State
Cross State
Outgoing
Circuits
Incoming
Circuits Inactive switch crosspoint
Active switch crosspoint
Space-Division Switch
The same switch matrix a few moments later
Outgoing
Circuits
Incoming
Circuits
Inactive switch crosspoint
Active switch crosspoint
Two-/Four-Wire Switches
Four-Wire Switches
Switching a four-wire connection
Rx
Circuit 5
Tx
Transmit P - wires
(Tx) pair
Circuit A
Receive
(Rx) pair
P - wires
Crosspoints
connected in
unison
Two-/Four-Wire Switches
Improving Utilization: Folding
Crossbar Switches - Limitations
Limitations
The number of crosspoints grows with the square of the number of attached
stations.
The failure of a crosspoint prevents connection between the two devices whose
lines intersect at that crosspoint.
In a crossbar, during each switching time, only one crosspoint per row or
column is active.
There is more than one path through the network to connect two endpoints,
increases reliability
The blocking feature illustrated: after setting up connections for 1-to-3 and 2-to-4,
the switch cannot establish connections for 3-to-6 and 4-to-5.
The blocking problem can be tackled by increasing the number or size of the
intermediate switches,
increases the cost.
Multistage crossbar
Advantage:
Reduction of crosspoints(Number of crosspoints < N2)
Try to make usage of crosspoints “more efficient”
Use one crosspoint for several internal paths
Robustness: Have several path for one input / output pair
Issues
Can suffer internal blocking unless sufficient number of second-level stages
Finding a path from input to output requires a depth-first-search
Scales better than crossbar, but still not too well
Tradeoff: Increased control complexity
At minimum three stages necessary to avoid internal blocking
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION TO SWITCHING
Lecture 2
• The figure-1 depicts plain old telephone system components from
calling to called terminal.
• Transmission system can be wired or wireless medium used to
transport information in various forms to withstand against various
path losses.
• Transmission link carry both user information (voice, data, message,
video) as well as signaling information.
• Medium of transmission can be guided or unguided. Based on this,
typical examples of transmission systems are microwave link,
satellite link, fiber optic line, coaxial line, 2-wire transmission line
etc.
The switching system offers various services to the subscribers. The
switching system is a collection of switching elements arranged and
controlled in such a way as to setup a communication path between any
two distant points or terminals.
Requires analog switches for its operation. Requires digital switches for its operation.
It does not require memory for its operation. It uses memory to store calling and called party information.
Time division switching
Shared Bus
Analog Time Division switching
The sampling frequency of each channel must satisfy Nyquist law ( 2*
bandwidth)
A real system uses a set of electronic switches instead of a rotating
arrow!
The switches are enabled (connect to bus) or disabled (disconnect from
bus) using a control unit
There are two types of control units
Cyclic Control
Memory-based Control
Cyclic Control
Two control units are required, one for the input lines and the other for
the output lines
The decoder uses the count value to enable a certain input/output
By synchronizing the input and output control units, we can connect
different inputs to different outputs
k = log2(N), N is the number of input/output lines
Memory Based Control
5 …
4
2
Modulo N 6 k to 2k
Counter 1 Decoder
k lines/bits 4 k lines/bits
3
0
Capacity of Time Division Switching System
The capacity (C) is given by:
C = (Time between samples in any line)/(Time to Tx sample (ts))
For memory based control
ts = ti + tm + td + tt
Where:
ti time to increment the counter
tm time to read the memory (zero for cyclic control)
td time to decode the address and select the input/output
tt time to transfer the sample through the bus
Time between samples = 1/sampling frequency
Limitations