William Stallings Data and Computer Communications 7th Edition

Chapter 10 Circuit Switching and Packet Switching

Switching Networks
Long distance transmission is typically done over a network of switched nodes Nodes not concerned with content of data End devices are stations
Computer, terminal, phone, etc.

A collection of nodes and connections is a communications network Data routed by being switched from node to node

Nodes
Nodes may connect to other nodes only, or to stations and other nodes Node to node links usually multiplexed Network is usually partially connected
Some redundant connections are desirable for reliability Two different switching technologies Circuit switching Packet switching

Simple Switched Network

Circuit Switching
Dedicated communication path between two stations Three phases
Establish Transfer Disconnect

Circuit Switching - Applications

Inefficient
Channel capacity dedicated for duration of connection If no data, capacity wasted

Must have switching capacity and channel capacity to establish connection Must have intelligence to work out routing

Set up (connection) takes time Once connected, transfer is transparent Developed for voice traffic (phone)

Public Circuit Switched Network

Telecomms Components
Subscriber
Devices attached to network

Subscriber line
Local Loop Subscriber loop Connection to network Few km up to few tens of km

Exchange
Switching centers End office - supports subscribers

Trunks
Branches between exchanges Multiplexed

Circuit Establishment

Circuit Switch Elements

Circuit Switching Concepts

Digital Switch
Provide transparent signal path between devices

Blocking or Non-blocking
Blocking
A network is unable to connect stations because all paths are in use A blocking network allows this Used on voice systems
Short duration calls

Network Interface Control Unit

Establish connections
Generally on demand Handle and acknowledge requests Determine if destination is free construct path

Non-blocking
Permits all stations to connect (in pairs) at once Used for some data connections

Maintain connection Disconnect

Space Division Switching

Developed for analog environment Separate physical paths Crossbar switch
Number of crosspoints grows as square of number of stations Loss of crosspoint prevents connection Inefficient use of crosspoints
All stations connected, only a few crosspoints in use

Space Division Switch

Non-blocking

Multistage Switch
Reduced number of crosspoints More than one path through network
Increased reliability

Three Stage Space Division Switch

More complex control May be blocking

Time Division Switching

Modern digital systems rely on intelligent control of space and time division elements Use digital time division techniques to set up and maintain virtual circuits Partition low speed bit stream into pieces that share higher speed stream

Control Signaling Functions

Audible communication with subscriber Transmission of dialed number Call can not be completed indication Call ended indication Signal to ring phone Billing info Equipment and trunk status info Diagnostic info Control of specialist equipment

Control Signal Sequence

Both phones on hook Subscriber lifts receiver (off hook) End office switch signaled Switch responds with dial tone Caller dials number If target not busy, send ringer signal to target subscriber Feedback to caller
Ringing tone, engaged tone, unobtainable

Switch to Switch Signaling

Subscribers connected to different switches Originating switch seizes interswitch trunk Send off hook signal on trunk, requesting digit register at target switch (for address) Terminating switch sends off hook followed by on hook (wink) to show register ready Originating switch sends address

Target accepts call by lifting receiver Switch terminates ringing signal and ringing tone Switch establishes connection Connection release when Source subscriber hangs up

Location of Signaling
Subscriber to network
Depends on subscriber device and switch

In Channel Signaling
Use same channel for signaling and call
Requires no additional transmission facilities

Within network
Management of subscriber calls and network ore complex

Inband
Uses same frequencies as voice signal Can go anywhere a voice signal can Impossible to set up a call on a faulty speech path

Out of band
Voice signals do not use full 4kHz bandwidth Narrow signal band within 4kHz used for control Can be sent whether or not voice signals are present Need extra electronics Slower signal rate (narrow bandwidth)

Drawbacks of In Channel Signaling

Limited transfer rate Delay between entering address (dialing) and connection Overcome by use of common channel signaling

Common Channel Signaling

Control signals carried over paths independent of voice channel One control signal channel can carry signals for a number of subscriber channels Common control channel for these subscriber lines Associated Mode
Common channel closely tracks interswitch trunks

Disassociated Mode
Additional nodes (signal transfer points) Effectively two separate networks

Common v. In Channel Signaling

Common Channel Signaling Modes

Signaling System Number 7

SS7 Common channel signaling scheme ISDN Optimized for 64k digital channel network Call control, remote control, management and maintenance Reliable means of transfer of info in sequence Will operate over analog and below 64k Point to point terrestrial and satellite links

SS7 Signaling Network Elements

Signaling point (SP)
Any point in the network capable of handling SS7 control message

Signal transfer point (STP)

A signaling point capable of routing control messages

Control plane
Responsible for establishing and managing connections

Information plane
Once a connection is set up, info is transferred in the information plane

Transfer Points

Signaling Network Structures

STP capacities
Number of signaling links that can be handled Message transfer time Throughput capacity

Network performance
Number of SPs Signaling delays

Availability and reliability

Ability of network to provide services in the face of STP failures

Softswitch Architecture
General purpose computer running software to make it a smart phone switch Lower costs Greater functionality
Packetizing of digitized voice data Allowing voice over IP

Traditional Circuit Switching

Most complex part of telephone network switch is software controlling call process
Call routing Call processing logic Typically running on proprietary processor

Separate call processing from hardware function of switch Physical switching done by media gateway Call processing done by media gateway controller

Softswitch

Packet Switching Principles

Circuit switching designed for voice
Resources dedicated to a particular call Much of the time a data connection is idle Data rate is fixed
Both ends must operate at the same rate

Basic Operation
Data transmitted in small packets
Typically 1000 octets Longer messages split into series of packets Each packet contains a portion of user data plus some control info

Use of Packets

Control info
Routing (addressing) info

Packets are received, stored briefly (buffered) and past on to the next node
Store and forward

Advantages
Line efficiency
Single node to node link can be shared by many packets over time Packets queued and transmitted as fast as possible

Switching Technique
Station breaks long message into packets Packets sent one at a time to the network Packets handled in two ways
Datagram Virtual circuit

Data rate conversion

Each station connects to the local node at its own speed Nodes buffer data if required to equalize rates

Packets are accepted even when network is busy

Delivery may slow down

Priorities can be used

Datagram
Each packet treated independently Packets can take any practical route Packets may arrive out of order Packets may go missing Up to receiver to re-order packets and recover from missing packets

Datagram Diagram

Virtual Circuit
Preplanned route established before any packets sent Call request and call accept packets establish connection (handshake) Each packet contains a virtual circuit identifier instead of destination address No routing decisions required for each packet Clear request to drop circuit Not a dedicated path

Virtual Circuit Diagram

Virtual Circuits v Datagram

Virtual circuits
Network can provide sequencing and error control Packets are forwarded more quickly
No routing decisions to make

Packet Size

Less reliable
Loss of a node looses all circuits through that node

Datagram
No call setup phase
Better if few packets

More flexible
Routing can be used to avoid congested parts of the network

Circuit v Packet Switching

Performance
Propagation delay Transmission time Node delay

Event Timing

X.25
1976 Interface between host and packet switched network Almost universal on packet switched networks and packet switching in ISDN Defines three layers
Physical Link Packet

X.25 - Physical
Interface between attached station and link to node Data terminal equipment DTE (user equipment) Data circuit terminating equipment DCE (node) Uses physical layer specification X.21 Reliable transfer across physical link Sequence of frames

X.25 - Link
Link Access Protocol Balanced (LAPB)
Subset of HDLC see chapter 7

X.25 - Packet
External virtual circuits Logical connections (virtual circuits) between subscribers

X.25 Use of Virtual Circuits

Virtual Circuit Service

Logical connection between two stations
External virtual circuit

Specific preplanned route through network

Internal virtual circuit

Typically one to one relationship between external and internal virtual circuits Can employ X.25 with datagram style network External virtual circuits require logical channel
All data considered part of stream

X.25 Levels
User data passes to X.25 level 3 X.25 appends control information
Header Identifies virtual circuit Provides sequence numbers for flow and error control

User Data and X.25 Protocol Control Information

X.25 packet passed down to LAPB entity LAPB appends further control information

Frame Relay
Designed to be more efficient than X.25 Developed before ATM Larger installed base than ATM ATM now of more interest on high speed networks

Frame Relay Background - X.25

Call control packets, in band signaling Multiplexing of virtual circuits at layer 3 Layer 2 and 3 include flow and error control Considerable overhead Not appropriate for modern digital systems with high reliability

Frame Relay - Differences

Call control carried in separate logical connection Multiplexing and switching at layer 2
Eliminates one layer of processing

Advantages and Disadvantages

Lost link by link error and flow control
Increased reliability makes this less of a problem

Streamlined communications process

Lower delay Higher throughput

No hop by hop error or flow control End to end flow and error control (if used) are done by higher layer Single user data frame sent from source to destination and ACK (from higher layer) sent back

ITU-T recommend frame relay above 2Mbps

Protocol Architecture

Control Plane
Between subscriber and network Separate logical channel used
Similar to common channel signaling for circuit switching services

Data link layer

LAPD (Q.921) Reliable data link control Error and flow control Between user (TE) and network (NT) Used for exchange of Q.933 control signal messages

User Plane
End to end functionality Transfer of info between ends LAPF (Link Access Procedure for Frame Mode Bearer Services) Q.922
Frame delimiting, alignment and transparency Frame mux and demux using addressing field Ensure frame is integral number of octets (zero bit insertion/extraction) Ensure frame is neither too long nor short Detection of transmission errors Congestion control functions

User Data Transfer

One frame type
User data No control frame

No inband signaling No sequence numbers

No flow nor error control

Required Reading
Stallings Chapter 10 ITU-T web site Telephone company web sites (not much technical info - mostly marketing) X.25 info from ITU-T web site Frame Relay forum