Module 4 – Switched Communication Networks

Mesh topology – point-to-point communication between each pair of devices

- impractical for large number of devices, because the number of links increases exponentially
(n(n-1)/2, where n is the number of devices) with the number of devices

Switched network methodology - the network consists of a set of interconnected nodes, among which
information is transmitted from source to destination via different routes, which is controlled by the
switching mechanism

Nodes – switching devices

Stations – the end devices that wish to communicate with each other

Key features of a switched communication network are given below:

• Network Topology is not regular.

• Uses FDM or TDM for node-to-node communication.

• There exist multiple paths between a source-destination pair for better network reliability.

• The switching nodes are not concerned with the contents of data.

• Their purpose is to provide a switching facility that will move data from node to node until they reach
the destination.

The switching performed by different nodes can be categorized into the following three types:

• Circuit Switching

• Packet Switching

• Message Switching

Major elements of a single-node network are summarized below:

• Digital switch: That provides a transparent (full-duplex) signal path between any pair of attached
devices.

• Network interface: That represents the functions and hardware needed to connect digital devices to
the network (like telephones).

• Control unit: That establishes, maintains, and tears down a connection

An important characteristic of a circuit-switch node is whether it is blocking or non-blocking.

A blocking network is one, which may be unable to connect two stations because all possible paths
between them are already in use.

A non-blocking network permits all stations to be connected (in pairs) at once and grants all possible
connection requests as long as the called party is free.
For a network that supports only voice traffic, a blocking configuration may be acceptable, since most
phone calls are of short duration.

For data applications, where a connection may remain active for hours, non-blocking configuration is
desirable.

Fill In the Blanks:

1. Circuit switching uses the entire capacity of the link.

2. In packet switching, each packet of a message need not follow the same path from sender to receiver.

3. In message switching all the datagrams of a message follows the same channel of a path.

4. PSTN is an example of circuit - switched network.

5. PSTN is also known as Public Switched Telephone Network.

Short Answer Questions

Q-1. What are the three basic steps involved in data communication through circuit

switching?

Answer: These are the three main phases of circuit switching:

Circuit Establishment: To establish an end-to-end connection before any transfer of data. Some
segments of the circuit may be a dedicated link, while some other segments may be shared.

Data transfer:

• Transfer data is from the source to the destination.

• The data may be analog or digital, depending on the nature of the network.

• The connection is generally full-duplex.

Circuit disconnect:

• Terminate connection at the end of data transfer.

• Signals must be propagated to deallocate the dedicated resources

Q-2. Mention the key advantages and disadvantages of circuit switching technique.

Answer: The main advantage of circuit switching is that there is no delay in receiving the data, and there
is therefore no jitter. Once the connection has been made, data is transmitted at a constant rate. While
the disadvantage indicates that it doesn't use resources efficiently. Dedicated channels for circuit
switching are unavailable for any other use. There is a higher cost to dedicate one channel
per use.

Q-3. Why data communication through circuit switching is not efficient?

Answer: This type of switching isn't ideal for data transmission because data is sent and received in
streams, meaning the line would remain idle in between transmission spurts. That would be a waste of
bandwidth.

Q-4. Compare the performance of space-division single-stage switch with multi-stage switch.

Answer: A multiple-stage switch has two advantages over crossbar matrix (single-stage)–Reduced
number of crosspoints (for 10 stations, reduced from 100 to 48crosspoints)–There is more than one
path through the network to connect two endpoints,increasing the reliability.

Fill In the Blanks:

1. A switched virtual circuit involves creation of link.

2. A permanent virtual circuit involves permanent link.

3. Two basic approaches are common to Packet Switching are virtual circuit packet switching and
datagram packet switching.

4. X.25 is a standard for packet switched communications.

Short Answer Questions

Q-1. How the drawback of circuit switching is overcome in message switching?

Answer: Message switching is based on store and forward technique. Instead of establishing a dedicated
path, the message is sent to the nearest directly connected node. Each node stores the message, checks
for error and forwards it. It allows more devices to share the network bandwidth and one message can
be sent to several users.

Q-2. What is the drawback of message switching? How is it overcome in packet switching?

Answer: In message switching, large storage space is required at each node to buffer the complete
message blocks. While in packet switching, messages are divided into subset of equal length which are
generated in the source node and reassembled to get back the initial complete message in destination
node. In addition, to transmit a message of large size, link is kept busy for a long time leading to increase
in delay for other messages.

Fill in the blanks:

1. SONET is the abbreviation of Synchronous Optical network.

2. Synchronous optical network (SONET) is a standard for optical telecommunication transport.

3. SONET defines optical carrier levels and electrically equivalent synchronous transport signals for the
fiber-optic–based transmission hierarchy.

4. In a SONET system, add/drop multiplexer removes noise from a signal and can also add or remove
headers.

5. In a SONET system, an add/drop multiplexer remove signal from path.

6. The optical link between any two devices is called section.

7. The optical link between a STS multiplexer and a regenerator is called line.

8. The optical link between regenerator and add/drop multiplexer is called section .

9. SONET defines 4 layers, namely photonic layer, section layer, line layer and path layer.

10. SONET’s path layer transfer data from its optical source to its optical destination.

11. Path Layer in SONET corresponds to data link layer of OSI.

12. STS multiplexer operates in 4 layers.

13. In an STS1 Frame first three columns contains transport overhead .

14. Parity byte exists for an STS-1 frame’s transmission.

15. Section overhead contains pointers to the payload.

16. STS-1 can accommodated maximum of 4 VT1.5s.

Short Answer Questions

1. Give the SONET hierarchy.

Signal Bit rate (Mbps) Capacity

STS1, OC1 51.840 28 DS1 or 1 DS3
STS3, OC3 155.520 84 DS1 or 3 DS3
STS12, OC12 622.080 336 DS1 or 12 DS3
STS48, OC48 2,488.320 1,344 DS1 or 48 DS3
STS192, OC192 9,953.280 5,376 DS1 or 192 DS3
Note: STS = Synchronous transport signal; OC = Optical carrier

2. Describe Section, Line and path.

Answer: A section is an optical link, connecting two neighbor devices: multiplexer to multiplexer,
multiplexer to generator, or generator to generator. A line is a portion of network between two
multiplexers: STS to add/drop multiplexer, two add/drop multiplexer or two STS multiplexer. A path is
the end-to-end portion of the network between 2 STS multiplexer.

3. Define the functionality of Add/Drop multiplexer.

Answer: A single-stage multiplexer/demultiplexer can multiplex various inputs into an OC-N signal. It can
add signals coming from different sources into a given path or remove a desired signal from a path and
redirect it without demultiplexing the entire signal. Instead of relying on timing and bit positions,
add/drop multiplexer use header information addresses and pointers to identify individual streams. The
add/drop multiplexer provides interfaces between the different network signals and SONET signals.

4. Define the functionality of Wide band Digital Cross-Connect.

Answer: A SONET cross-connect accepts various optical carrier rate, accesses the STS1 signals, and
switches at this level. It is ideally used at a SONET hub. One major difference between a cross-connect
and add/drop multiplexer is that a cross-connect may be used to interconnect a much larger number of
STS-1s.

5. Describe various Overheads.

Answer: Section Layer and Overhead: This layer is responsible for movement of signal across a physical
section. It handles, framing, scrambling, and error control. Section overhead, which is added in this layer
contains 9 bytes of the transport overhead accessed, generated, and processed by section-terminating
equipment.

Line Layer and Overhead: This layer is responsible for movement of a signal across a physical line. STS
multiplexer and add/drop multiplexers provide line layer functions. Line overhead contains 18 bytes of
overhead accessed, generated and processed by line-terminating equipment.

6. Define Virtual Tributary.

Answer: A virtual tributary is a partial payload that can be inserted into an STS1 and combined with
other partial payloads to fill out the frame. Instead of using 86 payload columns of an STS1 frame for
data from one source, we can sub-divide the SPE and call each component as a VT.

7. Describe the functionality of Pointers.

Answer: SONET uses a concept called pointers to compensate for frequency and phase variations.
Pointer allow the transparent transport of synchronous payload envelopes across plesiochronous
boundaries. The use of pointers avoids the delays and loss of data associated with the use of large slip
buffers for synchronization .

Pointers provide a simple means of dynamically and flexibly phase-aligning STS and VT payloads, thereby
permitting ease of dropping, inserting, and cross-connecting these payloads in the network.