1

ECEG 6316-Trends in Communications and

Network Technologies

2. Fundamentals of Telecom
Technologies
 Fundamental Concepts and Technologies:
Taxonomy of Networks
2

 Communication networks can be classified based on

the way in which the nodes exchange information:

Communication
Network

Circuit-Switched Packet-Switched
Network Network

Datagram Virtual Circuit

Frequency Time Division Network Network
Division Multiplexing
Multiplexing
Wavelength
Division
Multiplexing
 Circuit Switching [1]
3

 In a circuit-switched network, a dedicated

communication path (“circuit”) is established
between two stations through the nodes of the
network

 The dedicated path is called a circuit-switched

connection or circuit

 A circuit occupies a fixed capacity of each link for

the entire lifetime of the connection. Capacity unused
by the circuit cannot be used by other circuits

 Data is not delayed at the switches

 Circuit Switching [2]
4

 Circuit-switched communication involves three phases:

1. Circuit Establishment
2. Data Transfer
3. Circuit Release
 “Busy Signal” if capacity for a circuit not available

 Most important circuit-switching networks:

◼ Telephone networks
◼ ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Networks)
 Circuit Switching [3]
5

C
B D
1 circuit 2 2
3

A 7 6 E

circuit 1
 Packet Switching [1]
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 Data are sent as formatted bit-sequences, so-called packets

Packets have the following structure:

◼ Header and Trailer carry control information

 Each packet is passed through the network from node to node
along some path (Forwarding/Routing)
 At each node the entire packet is received, stored briefly, and
then forwarded to the next node (Store-and-Forward
Networks)
 Packet transmission is never interrupted
 A Packet Switch
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input output
queues queues

switch
fabric

memory
 Statistical Multiplexing
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 Packet transmission on a link is referred to as

statistical multiplexing
 Thereis no fixed allocation of packet transmissions
 Packets are multiplexed as they arrive

Packets from different

streams
Transmission
1
line
2 1 N 2 1

output buffer
N
 Datagram Packet Switching
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 The network nodes process each packet independently

If Host A sends two packets back-to-back to Host B over a datagram packet
network, the network cannot tell that the packets belong together. In fact, the
two packets can take different routes

 Implications of datagram packet switching:

◼ A sequence of packets can be received in a different order
than it was sent
◼ Each packet header must contain the full address of the
destination
 Virtual-Circuit Packet Switching [1]
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 Virtual-circuit packet switching is a hybrid of circuit

switching and packet switching
 All
data is transmitted as packets
 Emulates a circuit-switched network

 All packets from one packet stream are sent along

a pre-established path (=virtual circuit)
 Guarantees in-sequence delivery of packets
 Note: Packets from different virtual circuits may be
interleaved
 Virtual-Circuit Packet Switching [2]
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 Communication with virtual circuits (VC) takes place in

three phases:
1. VC Establishment
2. Data Transfer
3. VC Disconnect

 Note: Packet headers don’t need to contain the full

destination address of the packet

 Circuit-switched and virtual-circuit packet-switched

networks are said to provide a connection-oriented
service.
 Packet Forwarding and Routing
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 There are two parts to the routing problem:

1. How to pass a packet from an input interface to the
output interface of a router (packet forwarding).
2. How to calculate routes (routing algorithm).

 Packet forwarding is done differently in datagram

and virtual-circuit packet networks

 Route calculation is similar in datagram and

virtual-circuit packet networks
 Datagram Packet Switching
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C
A.1
C.2
B C.1
C.1 A.2 D
C.2 A.3
1 2
C.1
C.2 3
A.1
A.3 C.2
A.2 A.1
5
A.3 A.2

4 A.2

A A.1 7 A.2 6 E
A.2
A.3
 Virtual-Circuit Packet Switching
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C.2 C
C.1 A.1
VC 2 C.1 A.2
B C.2 A.3
D
1 2
C.2
C.1 3
A.1 C.1
A.2 C.2
5 A.3

A.1
A.2
A.3
4

A A.1 VC 1 7 6 E
A.2
A.3
 Comparison
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Circuit Switching Datagram Packet VC Packet

Switching Switching
 Dedicated transmission  No dedicated  No dedicated
path transmission path transmission path
 Continuous transmission  Transmission of  Transmission of
packets packets
 Path stays fixed for
entire connection  Route of each packet  Path stays fixed for
is independent entire connection
 Call setup delay
 No setup delay  Call setup delay
 Negligible transmission
delay  Transmission delay  Transmission delay
for each packet for each packet
 No queuing delay
 Queuing delays at  Queueing delays at
 Busy signal switches switches
overloaded network
 Delays increase in  Delays increase in
 Fixed bandwidth for overloaded networks overloaded networks
each circuit
 Bandwidth is shared  Bandwidth is shared
 No overhead after call by all packets by all packets
setup  Overhead in each  Overhead in each
packet packet
 Multiple Access Techniques
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 Multiple Accessing Techniques : with possible conflict

and conflict- free
 Random access
 Frequency division multiple access (FDMA)
 Time division multiple access (TDMA)

 Spread spectrum multiple access (SSMA) : an example

is Code division multiple access (CDMA)
 Space division multiple access (SDMA)
 FDMA
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 In FDMA, each user is allocated a unique frequency

band or channel. During the period of the call, no
other user can share the same frequency band.
 FDMA
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 All channels available to all the users. Channel assignment is

carried out on a first-come first- served basis.
 The number of channels, given a frequency spectrum,
depends on the modulation technique and the guard bands
between the channels . These guard bands allow for
imperfect filters and oscillators and can be used to minimize
adjacent channel interference.
 FDMA is usually implemented in narrowband systems.
 TDMA

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 TDMA systems divide the channel time into frames. Each

frame is further partitioned into time slots. In each slot
only one user is allowed to either transmit or receive.
 Unlike FDMA, only digital data and digital modulation
must be used.
 Each user occupies a cyclically repeating time slot, so a
channel may be thought of as a particular time slot of
every frame, where N time slots comprise a frame.
 Features
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 Multiple channels per carrier or RF channels.

 Burst transmission since channels are used on a
timesharing basis. Transmitter can be turned off
during idle periods.
 Narrow or wide bandwidth – depends on factors
such as modulation scheme, number of voice
channels per carrier channel.
 High ISI – Higher transmission symbol rate, hence
resulting in high ISI. Adaptive equalizer required.
 TDMA Frame
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One TDMA Frame

Preamble Information Trail Bits

Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot 3 … Slot N

Guard Sync Control

Bits Bits Bits
Information CRC

One TDMA Slot

A Frame repeats in time

 SSMA
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 Spread spectrum systems : The desired signal is

transmitted over a bandwidth which is much larger
than the Nyquist bandwidth. It is first developed for
military applications for
 Security

 Undetectability: minimum probability of being

detected
 Robust against intentional jammers
 Applications

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 Security
 Robust against unintentional interference
 It is not bandwidth efficient when used by a single user
but has the capability to overcome narrowband jamming
signals (cannot overcome AWGN or wideband jamming
signal) and multi-path.
 Providing multiple access
 If many users can share the same spread spectrum
bandwidth without interfering with one another,
bandwidth efficiency improved but will affect the
capability to overcome jamming.
 Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
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 In CDMA, the narrowband message signal is multiplied by a

very large bandwidth signal called spreading signal (code)
before modulation and transmission over the air. This is called
spreading.

 CDMA is implemented via DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread

Spectrum). DSSS is a more general term.

 Message consists of symbols

 Has symbol period and hence, symbol rate
 CDMA Advantages

25 Low power spectral density.
 Signal is spread over a larger frequency band
 Other systems suffer less from the transmitter
 Interference limited operation
 All frequency spectrum is used
 Privacy
 The codeword is known only between the sender
and receiver. Hence other users can not decode
the messages that are in transit
 Reduction of multipath effects by using a larger
spectrum
 CDMA Principle
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 Processing Gain
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◼ Main parameter of CDMA is the processing gain that is defined
as:
Bspread Bchip
Gp = =
R R
Gp: processing gain
Bspread: PN code rate
Bchip: Chip rate
R: Data rate

◼ IS-95 System (Narrowband CDMA) has a gain of 64. Other

systems have gain between 10 and 100.
❑ 1.228 Mhz chipping rate

❑ 1.25 MHz spread bandwidth

 SDMA
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 Use spot beam antennas

 The different beam area can use TDMA, FDMA, CDMA
 Sectorized antenna can be thought of as a SDMA
 Adaptive antennas can be used in the future (simultaneously
steer energy in the direction of many users)
 Features:
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 A large number of independently steered high-gain

beams can be formed without any resulting
degradation in SNR ratio.
 Beams can be assigned to individual users, thereby
assuring that all links operate with maximum gain.
 Adaptive beam forming can be easily implemented
to improve the system capacity by suppressing co
channel interference.
 WDM, CWDM and DWDM
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 WDM technology uses multiple wavelengths to transmit

information over a single fiber
 Coarse WDM (CWDM) has wider channel spacing (20
nm) – low cost
 Dense WDM (DWDM) has dense channel spacing (0.8
nm) which allows simultaneous transmission of 16+
wavelengths – high capacity
 WDM and DWDM
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 First WDM networks used just two wavelengths,

1310 nm and 1550 nm
 Today's DWDM systems utilize 16, 32,64,128 or
more wavelengths in the 1550 nm window
 Each of these wavelength provides an independent
channel (Ex: each may transmit 10 Gb/s)
 The range of standardized channel grids includes 50,
100, 200 and 1000 GHz spacing
 Wavelength spacing practically depends on:
 laser line width
 optical filter bandwidth
 Digital Exchanging (Switching)
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 One characteristic important to digital

communication is the ease and variety of methods
available for switching
 Switching signals from one line to another is known
as space switching to distinguish it from time
switching
 Requirements
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 Capacity of switch is the maximum rate at which it can move

information, assuming all data paths are simultaneously active
 Primary goal: maximize capacity
 subject to cost and reliability constraints

 Circuit switch must reject call if can’t find a path for samples
from input to output
 goal: minimize call blocking

 Packet switch must reject a packet if it can’t find a buffer to

store it awaiting access to output trunk
 goal: minimize packet loss
 A generic switch
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 Multiplexors and demultiplexors
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 Most trunks time division multiplex voice samples

 At a central office, trunk is demultiplexed and
distributed to active circuits
 Synchronous multiplexor
N input lines
 Output runs N times as fast as input
 Time division switching
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 Key idea: when demultiplexing, position in frame

determines output trunk
 Time division switching interchanges sample position
within a frame: time slot interchange (TSI)
 Space division switching
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 Each sample takes a different path through the

switch, depending on its destination
 Time-space switching
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 Precede each input trunk in a crossbar with a TSI

 Delay samples so that they arrive at the right time
for the space division switch’s schedule