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Permalink Reply by Babita Singh on January 19, 2012 at 23:58

Circuit switching, Message Switching and Packet Switching...

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Permalink Reply by NITESH SINGH PAWAR on January 20, 2012 at 0:07

The assemblies of switching and control devices provided so that any station in a communications system may be connected as desired with any other station. A telecommunications network consists of transmission systems, switching systems, and stations. Transmission systems carry messages from an originating station to one or more distant stations. They are engineered and installed in sufficient quantities to provide a quality of service commensurate with the cost and expected benefits. To enable the transmission facilities to be shared, stations are connected to and reached through switching system nodes that are part of most telecommunications networks. Switching systems act under built-in control to direct messages toward their ultimate destination or address.

Most switching systems, known as central or end offices in the public network and as private branch exchanges (PBXs) when applied to business needs, are used to serve stations. These switching systems are at nodes that are strategically and centrally located with respect to the community of interest of the served stations. With improvements in technology, it has become practical to distribute switching nodes closer to stations. In some cases to serve stations within a premise, switching is distributed to take place at the stations themselves. A smaller number of systems serve as tandem (intermediate) switching offices for large urban areas or toll (long-distance) offices for interurban switching. These end and intermediate office functions are sometimes combined in the same switching system. See also Private branch exchange.

Switching system fundamentals

Telecommunications switching systems generally perform three basic functions: they transmit signals over the connection or over separate channels to convey the identity of the called (and sometimes the calling) address (for example, the telephone number), and alert (ring) the called station; they establish connections through a switching network for conversational use during the entire call; and they process the signal information to control and supervise the establishment and disconnection of the switching network connection.

In some data or message switching when real-time communication is not needed, the switching network is replaced by a temporary memory for the storage of messages. This type of switching is known as store-and-forward switching.

Signaling and control

The control of circuit switching systems is accomplished remotely by a specific form of data communications known as signaling. Switching systems are connected with one another by telecommunication channels known as trunks. They are connected with the served stations or terminals by lines.

In some switching systems the signals for a call directly control the switching devices over the same path for which transmission is established. For most modern switching systems the signals for identifying or addressing the called station are received by a central control that processes calls on a time-shared basis. Central controls receive and interpret signals, select and establish communication paths, and prepare signals for transmission. These signals include addresses for use at succeeding nodes or for alerting (ringing) the called station.

Most electronic controls are designed to process calls not only by complex logic but also by logic tables or a program of instructions stored in bulk electronic memory. The tabular technique is known as action translator (AT). The electronic memory is now the most accepted technique and is known as stored program control (SPC). Either type of control may be distributed among the switching devices rather than residing centrally. Microprocessors on integrated circuit chips are a popular form of distributed stored program control. See also Computer storage technology; Integrated circuits; Microprocessor.

Common channel signaling (CCS) comprises a network of separate data communication paths used for transmitting all signaling information between offices. It became practical as a result of processor control. To reduce the number of data channels between all switching nodes, a signaling network of signal switching nodes is introduced. The switching nodes, known as signal transfer points (STPs), are fully interconnected with each other and the switching offices they serve. All links and signal transfer points are duplicated to ensure reliable operation. Each stored-program-control toll switching system connects to the two signal transfer points in its region.

Switching fabrics

Space and time division are the two basic techniques used in establishing connections. When an individual conductor path is established through a switch for the duration of a call, the system is known as space division. When the transmitted speech signals are sampled and the samples multiplexed in time so that high-speed electronic devices may be used simultaneously by several calls, the switch is known as time division.

Most switching is now automatic. The switching fabric frequently comprises two primary-secondary arrangements: first, the line link (LL) frames on which the telephone lines appear and, second, the trunk link (TL) frames on which the trunks appear. A switching entity may grow to a maximum of 60 line link and 30 trunk link frames. Each line link frame is interconnected with every trunk link frame by a network of links called junctors. Each line link frame has a basic capacity for 290 telephone lines and may be supplemented in 50-line increments to a maximum of 590 lines. The size used in a particular office depends upon the calling rate and holding time of the assigned lines.

Electronic switching

Stored program control has become the principal type of control for all types of new switching systems throughout the world, including toll, private branch, data, and Telex systems. Two types of data are stored in the memories of electronic switching systems. One type is the data associated with the progress of the call, such as the dialed address of the called line. Another type, known as the translation data, contains infrequently changing information, such as the type of service subscribed to by the calling line and the information required for routing calls to called numbers. These translation data, like the program, are stored in a memory which is easily read but protected to avoid accidental erasure. This information may be readily changed, however, to meet service needs. The flexibility of a stored program also aids in the administration and maintenance of the service so that system faults may be located quickly.

Untethered switched services

Modern mobile radio service has a considerable dependency on switching. The territory served by a radio carrier is divided into cells of varying geographical size, from microcells that might serve the floors of a business or domicile to cells several miles across that provide a space diversity for serving low-power radios.

Switching systems reach each radio cell site that detects, by signal strength, when a vehicle is about to move from one cell to another. The switching system then selects a frequency and land line for the communication to continue on another channel in a different cell without interruption. This is known as cellular mobile radio service and is used not only for voice but also facsimile and other forms of telecommunication. See also Mobile radio.

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