CIRCUIT SWITCHING

Switched telecommunication networks can be broadly classified into

two groups:

 Circuit Switching

 Packet Switching

Switched
Telecommunication
network

Circuit Switched Packet Switched

networks networks

FD TDM Networks with Datagram

M Virtual
Networks
Circuits

Circuit Switching
For transmission of data beyond a local area, communication is

typically achieved by transmitting data from source to destination

through a network of intermediate switching nodes. The switching

nodes are not concerned with the content of the data; rather, their

purpose is to provide a switching facility that will move the data

from node to node until they reach their destination.

Figure below illustrates a simple network. The end devices that wish

to communicate may be referred to as stations. The stations may be

computers, terminals, telephones, or other communicating devices.

The switching devices are those whose purpose is to provide

communication as nodes, which is connected to each other in some

topology by transmission links. Each station attaches to a node, and

the collection of nodes is referred to as a communications network.

 Fig.1 Simple switching network

In the above Fig., data from station A intended for station F are sent

to node 4 (entry node). They may then be routed via nodes 5 (transit

node) and 6 (exit node) or nodes 7 and 6 to the destination.

Several observations are in order:

 Some nodes connect only to other nodes (e.g., 5 and 7). Their

sole task is the internal (to the network) switching of data.

Other nodes have one or more stations attached as well; in

 addition to their switching functions, such nodes accept data

from and deliver data to the attached stations.

 Node-node links are usually multiplexed, using either

frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) or time-division

multiplexing (TDM).

 It is always desirable to have more than one possible path

through the network for each pair of stations; this enhances

the reliability of the network.

Communication via circuit switching implies that there is a

dedicated communication path between two stations. That path is a

connected sequence of links between network nodes.

Communication via circuit switching involves three phases:

1. Circuit establishment: Before any signals can be transmitted, an

end-to-end (station-to-station) circuit must be established. For

example, station A sends a request to node 4 requesting a

connection to station E. Typically the link from A to 4 is a

dedicated line, so that part of the connection already exists.

 Node 4 must find the next leg in a route leading to node 6.

Based on routing information and measures of availability and,

perhaps, cost, node 4 selects the link to node 5, allocates a free

channel (using frequency-division multiplexing, FDM, or time-

division multiplexing, TDM) on that link and sends a message

requesting connection to E. So far, a dedicated path has been

established from A through 4 to 5. Because a number of stations

may attach to 4, it must be able to establish internal paths from

multiple stations to multiple nodes. The remainder of the

process proceeds similarly. Node 5 dedicates a channel to node

6 and internally ties that channel to the channel from node 4.

Node 6 completes the connection to E. In completing the

connection, a test is made to determine if E is busy or is

prepared to accept the connection.

2. Data transfer: Information can now be transmitted from A

through the network to E. The data may be analog or digital,

depending on the nature of the network. As the carriers evolve

to fully integrate digital networks, the use of digital (binary)

 transmission for both voice and data is becoming the domain

method. The path is A-4 link, internal switching through 4,4-5

channel, internal switching through 5, 5-6 channel, and

internal switching through 6, 6-E link. Generally, the

connection is full-duplex.

3. Circuit disconnect: After some period of data transfer, the

connection is terminated, usually by the action of one of the

two stations. Signals must be propagated to nodes 4, 5, and 6 to

deallocate the dedicated resources.

 Fig.2 Timing of Events in Circuit Switching

Delays in Circuit Switched Network

Connection establishment in circuit switched network involves

certain set-up time. It includes node processing delay / node delay

and propagation delay.

 Propagation delay: The time taken by a signal to propagate from

one node to the next node. This time is negligibly small.

  Node delay: The time taken by the node to perform necessary

processing as it switches the data.

There is almost no delay in the nodes during data transfer phase.

During peak traffic hours, connection set-up delay may increase

because the network resources may not be free but once the

connection is established there is no increase in delivery delay

through the network as the network resources are allotted for the

exclusive use.

Service features of the circuit switched data network are

summarized below:

 There are connection establishment, data transfer, and

connection release phases.

 There is connection set-up delay that increases with traffic.

 Destination address is specified only during connection

establishment phase.

 Data delivery delay constant irrespective of traffic.

Data rates at the source and destination are same.

  Transmission time: The time taken by a transmitter to send out a

block of data. For 10Mbps line, it takes 1s to transmit a 10M-bit

block of data.

Example:

Circuit switching was developed to handle voice traffic but now used

to handle data traffic. The best example of circuit-switching

network is public switched telephone network (PSTN).

The elements of PSTN are shown in Figure below. The PSTN

consists of:

 Subscriber terminals

 Local loops

 Switches (or exchanges or end office)

 Trunks
g

Fig.3 Elements of Telephone network

The Subscriber Terminal

In its simplest form, the subscriber terminal is the ordinary

telephone with a keypad to dial the numbers. There are two types of

dialing: (a) pulse dialing; and (b) DTMF dialing.

Pulse dialing: In pulse dialing, when a digit is dialed, a series of

pulses is sent out. When the user dials 1, 1 pulse is transmitted to the

exchange, when 2 is dialed, 2 pulses are sent, and so on; when 0 is

dialed, 10 pulses are sent. The exchange uses a pulse counter to

recognize the digits. Since pulses are likely to be distorted over the

medium due to attenuation, pulse recognition accuracy is not very

high. Many old switches and telephones support only pulse dialing,

though slowly pulse dialing is becoming outdated.

DTMF dialing: DTMF stands for Dual Tone Multi Frequency.

DTMF dialing is also known as tone dialing. When a digit is dialed,

a combination of two sine waves is sent. The various combinations of

tones are shown in Fig.4 below. When 1 is dialed, a combination of

697Hz and 1209Hz is sent from the terminal to the exchange. A

DTMF recognition chip is used at the exchange to decode the digits.

DTMF recognition is highly accurate and is becoming predominant.

Most present-day telephones support DTMF.

 Fig.4 DTMF Dialing

Local Loop

The local loop is a dedicated link between a subscriber terminal and

the switch. Present local loop uses twisted-pair copper wire as the

local loop. In the future, fiber is being planned to provide high data

rate to subscribers.
To reduce the cable laying work, digital loop carrier (DLC) systems

are being introduced. A digital loop carrier (DLC) is a system which

uses digital transmission to extend the range of the local loop farther

than would be possible using only twisted pair copper wires. A DLC

digitizes and multiplexes the individual signals carried by the local

loops onto a single data stream on the DLC segment.

The DLC system is shown in Figure. The telephone cables are

distributed from the DLC system, and the DLC is connected to the

digital switch using a single high-bandwidth cable.

Fig. Digital Loop Carrier System (DLC)

To reduce the installation and maintenance effort (finding out where

the cable fault is), wireless local loops are now being introduced.

Wireless local loops (WLLs) using CDMA technology are becoming

widespread. The advantages of WLL are (a) low maintenance costs

because no digging is required; (b) low maintenance costs because

equipment will be only at two ends (either the switch or the

distribution point and the terminal equipment; (c) fast installation.

Switch (Exchange or End Office)

The switching centers in the network. A switching center directly

supports subscribers is known as end office.

Call processing software resides in the switch. The functions of the

call processing software are:

 To keep track of the subscriber terminals and to feed the dial

tone when the subscriber goes off-hook (lifts the telephone).

  To collect the digits dialed by the subscriber. Note that the

subscriber may dial a few digits and then pause—the software

should be capable of handling such cases as well.

 Analyze the digits and switch the call to the right destination

by seizing the trunk.

 Feed various tones to the subscriber terminal (such as hunting,

busy, call hold, etc.).

 When the subscriber goes on-hook, free the trunk.

 Keep track of the call records (known as CDRs or call details

records) that contain call information such as date and time

when the call is made, the called party number, whether the

call is local/long distance, and duration of the call.

 Based on the CDRs, do an offline analysis to generate billing

information.

Trunks
Trunks interconnect the switches. Based on traffic considerations

the interconnection between the switches through trunks is decided.

Trunks carry multiple voice-frequency signals either in FDM or in

TDM. Nowadays, trunks are mostly digital and use PCM format for

carrying the voice traffic: speech is converted to PCM format,

multiplexed, and transmitted through the trunks.

Trunks are named as T1 carrier, E1 carrier. Each T1 carrier carries

24 voice channels. In Europe, the equivalent standard is referred to

as E1 trunk. Each E1 trunk supports 30 voice channels.

Because of high traffic, T1 carriers will not suffice. In such a case,

T2, T3, and T4 carriers are used. Higher capacity trunks are

obtained by multiplexing T1 carriers. Four T1 carriers are

multiplexed to obtain T2 carrier. Seven T2 carriers are multiplexed

to obtain T3 carrier. Six T3 carriers are multiplexed to obtain T4

carrier.

Note: In T1 carrier, a frame consists of 193 bits—192 bits

 corresponding to 24 voice channels' data and one additional

bit for framing. The frame duration is 125 microseconds.

Hence, the gross data rate of T1 carrier is 1.544 Mbps.

CIRCUIT ESTABLISHMENT IN PSTN

Subscribers connect directly to an end office, which switches traffic

between subscribers and between a subscriber and other exchanges.

The other exchanges are responsible for routing and switching

traffic between end offices; this distinction is shown in Figure. To

connect two subscribers attached to the same end office, a circuit is

set up between them in the same fashion as described before. If two

subscribers connect to different end offices, a circuit between them

consists of a chain of circuits through one or more intermediate

offices. In the figure, a connection is established between lines a and

b by simply setting up the connection through the end office. The

connection between c and d is more complex. In c's end office, a

connection is established between line c and one channel on a TDM

trunk to the intermediate switch. In the intermediate switch, that

channel is connected to a channel on a TDM trunk to d's end office.

In that end office, the channel is connected to line d.

Fig.5 Circuit establishment in PSTN

SWITCHING CONCEPTS

 Space Division Switch

 Time Division Switch

ROUTING IN CIRCUIT SWITCHED NETWORKS

 Alternate routing

 Adaptive routing

Alternate Routing

The essence of alternate-routing schemes is that the possible routes

to be used between two end offices are predefined. It is the

responsibility of the originating switch to select the appropriate

route for each call. Each switch is given a set of preplanned routes

for each destination, in order of preference. The preferred choice is

a direct trunk connection between two switches. If this trunk is

unavailable, then the second choice is to be tried, and so on. The

routing sequences (sequence in which the routes in the set are tried)

reflect an analysis based on historical traffic patterns, and are

designed to optimize the use of network resources. If there is only

one routing sequence defined for each source-destination pair, the

scheme is known as a fixed alternate-routing scheme. More

commonly, a dynamic alternate-routing scheme is used. In the latter

case, a different set of preplanned routes is used for different time

periods, to take advantage of the differing traffic patterns in

different time zones and at different times of day. Thus, the routing

decision is based both on current traffic status (a route is rejected if

busy) and historical traffic patterns (which determine the sequence

of routes to be considered). A simple example is shown in Figure.

The originating switch X, has four possible routes to the destination

switch, Y. The direct route (a) will always be tried first. If this trunk

is unavailable (busy, out of service) the other routes will be tried in a

particular order, depending on the time period. For example, during

weekday mornings, route b is tried next.

In Alternate Routing

 Possible routes between two end offices are predefined.

 Originating switch selects the best route for each call.

 Routes listed in preference order.

 Different sets of routes may be used at different times.

 Routing paths can be fixed(1route) or dynamic (multiple

routes, selected based on current and historical traffic).

Fig.11 Alternate routing from end office X to end office Y

Adaptive Routing
An adaptive routing scheme is designed to enable switches to react

to changing traffic patterns on the network. Such schemes require

greater management overhead, as the switches must exchange

information to learn of network conditions. Adaptive routing

describes the capability of a system, through which routes are

characterized by their destination, to alter the path that the route

takes through the system in response to a change in conditions. The

adaptation is intended to allow as many routes as possible to remain

valid (that is, have destinations that can be reached) in response to

the change.

Dynamic traffic management is a routing capability developed by

Telecom department of one country. DTM uses a central controller

to find the best alternate route choices depending on the congestion

in the network. The central controller collects status data from each

switch in the network every 10 seconds to determine preferred

alternate routes. Each call is first attempted on the direct path, if

any exists, between source and destination switches. If the call is

blocked, it is attempted on an alternate path.

Adaptive routing algorithm: When a node uses an adaptive routing

algorithm to decide the next node to which to transfer a CALL, it

examines the traffic conditions in order to determine a route which

is as near optimal as possible. For example, it tries to pick a route

which involves communication lines which have light traffic.

 Traffic reporting and analysis with new paths computed

periodically, adapts to net load, events.

 Need to use algorithms to determine paths dynamically based

on load/congestion.