TDM Mux

Copyright 1999 by Marko Vuskovic C
M. Vuskovic Broadband Communication Networks CS678

Appendix A
DIGITAL SIGNALS, TRANSMISSION
MEDIA AND MULTIPLEXING

Table of contents:
A.1 DIGITAL SIGNALS
A.1.1 Digital Signal Encoding
A.1.2 Fourier Series
A.1.3 Average Power and Bandwidth
A.1.4 Relation Between Bandwidth and Data Rate
A.1.5 Digitized Voice Signal
A.1.6 Sampling Theorem
A.1.7 Data Rate of a Digitized Voice Signal
A.1.8 Teleconferencing and Music
A.1.9 Video Signals
A.2 TRANSMISSION MEDIA
A.2.1 Two-Wire Open Lines
A.2.2 Twisted-Pair Lines
A.2.3 Coaxial Cable
A.2.4 Optical Fiber

A.3 MULTIPLEXING
A.3.1 Frequency-Division Multiplexing
A.3.2 Principle of the Frequency Shift
A.3.3 Time-Division Multiplexing
A.3.4 Frame Alignment in TDM
A.3.5 Duplex Multiplexers
A.3.6 TDM Hierarchies
A.3.7 Digital Signal Service (DS)
A.3.8 Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
A.3.9 Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)
A.3.10 Statistical Multiplexing

A-2

NOTICE: This appendix is focused on the physical OSI layer of computer networks. It covers
the most important facts about digital transmission media and communication
infrastructure, which are needed to understand other appendices and chapters.
Analog transmission media and modems are not covered.
The appendix doesn't require a prior background in computer networks.

A-3

DIGITAL SIGNALS
Digital Signal Encoding
How is binary data (bit patterns like 01101000) represented by voltage (or light)?
NRZ Encoding

Non-Return-to-Zero encoding. The simplest and most common encoding:
logical 0 represented by high voltage level, logical 1 by low voltage level.

time
High
voltage
Low
voltage
0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
First bit Last bit
time
High
voltage
Low
voltage
time
High
voltage
Low
voltage
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Can't read data in case of longer sequences of zeros or ones -
extremely precise and well synchronized clocks needed at transmiter
and receiver side.
How many zeros?
Problem:

A-4

DIGITAL SIGNALS (Cont.)
NRZI Encoding

Non-Return-to-Zero Invert on ones. Presence or absence of signal transition:
transition low to high, or high to low means bit value 1, no transition means bit
value 0.
This is an example of differential encoding. The synchronization problem remains, but the
noise immunity improves: the bit value determined by comparing adjacent voltage levels
instead of comparing with an absolute value is more reliable. Also, the sense of polarity
can't be lost even if leads are reversed. With differential encoding, wires are
symmetric (no polarity mark).
time
High
voltage
Low
voltage
0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
First bit Last bit

A-5

time
High
voltage
Low
voltage
0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
First bit
Last bit
Manchester Encoding

Transition of signal levels at the middle of a bit interval (low to high transition represents
bit value 1, high to low transition represents 0.) There is always a transition regardles of
the encoded bit pattern. These transitions can therefore be used for synchronization.
Manchester encoding is also called: self-synchronizing code, or self-clocking code
and is used in Ethernet LANs). Manchester encoding is noise imune (can even perform
on-the-fly error recovery if one bit is corrupted), however it is polarity sensitive.
Differential Manchester Encoding
Transitions at the middle of bit intervals always exist but they are used only for clocking.
The encoding is based on transitions at the beginning of the bit interval: presence of tran-
sition menas 0, absence of transition means 1.
Differential Manchester encoding maintains the advantages of the NRZI and Manchester
encoding encoding (noise immunity) and is popular in token ring LANs.
Manchester encoding is polarity independent.
time
High
voltage
Low
voltage
0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
First bit
Last bit

A-6

time
+V
-V
0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
First bit
Last bit
0
Manchester encoding requires changes of signal levels two times during a bit interval. This dou-
bles the required bit rate, which is acceptable in LANs. However, in WANs the distances and the
bit rates are much higher and hence the bit rate becomes more important. The following two en-
coding schemes solve this problem. They use three-level codes (also called bipolar codes).
AMI Encoding (Alternate Mark Inversion)
0s are represented by a zero voltage level, while 1s are represented by +V or -V
in alternation (first 1 is positive). Consequently, there is no loss of synchronization in the
case of long strings of 1s. However, long strings of 0s still present a problem. Because 1s
alternate, there is no DC component (i.e. the mean values of the signal is zero.)
In addition, the pulse alternation provides good error detection. For example, two adjacent
voltage levels with the same polarity indicate an error. Similarly, deleting a pulse can be
detected because the alternation rule is violated.
NOTE: There is a similar bipolar encoding standard called pseudoternary encoding
with 0s and 1s reversed (1s - no voltage, 0s +V or -V in alternation). This
encoding is used in ISDN.

A-7

B8ZS Encoding (Bipolar with 8-bit zero substitution)
Based on AMI, B8ZS solves the problem of long sequences of 0s by adding a special bit
pattern - technique called bit scrambling. In B8ZS, the bit scrambling is applied whenever
there are 8 or more consecutive 0s. The sequence of 8 zeros is replaced with the patterns
(000+-0-+) or (000-+0+-), depending on the polarity of the last nonzero bit (before 8 or
more zeros.)
time
+V
-V
Positive level proceeds the
long sequence of 0s
0
8 bits (previously all 0s)
Violates the alternation rule,
meaning either an error, or an
inserted bit pattern
(violation bit, V bit)
Balance bit, B bit
(used to balance out the dc
component of the inserted bit pattern)
Inserted bit pattern (+,-,0,-,+)
time
+V
-V
Negative level proceeds the
long sequence of 0s
0
8 bits (previously all 0s)
Violates the alternation rule,
meaning either an error, or an
inserted bit pattern
Inserted bit pattern (-,+,0,+,-)
The receiver can easily recognize the inserted bit patterns and replace them with zeros.
It is not very likely that a 5-bit error occurs that exactly matches the scrambling bit
pattern. The B8ZS encoding is used in North America. Europe and Japan use a similar
scheme called HDB3 (High density bipolar-3 zeros) also based on AMI.

A-8

There are two important concepts used in this section: bandwidth and bit rate.
In order to understand these concepts, we need to use some basic facts about Fourier
analysis.
Fourier Series
Fourier showed that each periodic signal s(t) = s(t+T), where T is the period, can be
represented by an infinite time series of sinusoidal signals:
) sin( ) cos( ) (
0 0
1
0
t i b t i a a t s
i
i
i
+ + =
!
=

T
f

2
2
0 0
= =

dt t i t s
T
b
dt t i t s
T
a
dt t s
T
a
T
i
T
i
T
) sin( ) (
2
) cos( ) (
2
) (
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
"
"
"
=
=
=

where
The coefficients of the time series above are constants, which can be computed as follows:
is angular velocity and
is frequency (measured in Hz).

A-9

t
+A
-A
0
T
#
$
%
&
'
(
+ + + + = ! ) 7 sin(
7
1
) 5 sin(
5
1
) 3 sin(
3
1
) sin(
4
) (
0 0 0 0
t t t t
A
t s

Example 1
f
0
1
1/3
1/5
1/7
1/9
Signal in time domain
Signal in frequency domain
SPECTRAL DIAGRAM
First harmonic
(fundamental)
harmonic)
2f
o
f
o
3f
o
4f
o
5f
o
6f
o
7f
o
8f
o
9f
o
Third harmonic
A 4

A-10

Used from: "Understanding Data Communications and networks"
by W. A. Shay, PSW Pub. Co., Boston, 1995
This diagram shows the goodness of approximation in terms of the number of
spectral components.

A-11

t
+A
-A
0
T
#
$
%
&
'
(
+ + + = ! ) 5 sin( ) 5 cos(
5
1
) 3 sin( ) 3 cos(
3
1
) sin( ) cos(
4
) (
0 0 0
t t t
A
t s

#
$
%
&
'
(
+ = ! ) 7 sin(
7
1
) 5 sin(
5
1
) 3 sin(
3
1
) sin(
4
) 4 / cos( ) (
0 0 0 0
t t t t
A
t s

)
*
+
,
-
.
=
T

2 1
2
,
4
T
=
,
4
=

Example 2
where:
Special case:
thus
giving:

A-12

Average Power and Bandwidth

From the Fourier transformation it is clear that if we want to transmit a signal across a
communication channel without distortion, we need to allow all harmonics to be transmit-
ted. That would require an infinite bandwidth of the media, which is practically not
possible.
If we transmit a signal over a channel with a limited bandwidth, the signal at the receiv-
er's side will be distorted. The question is whether the distorted signal can be fully recov-
ered?
In case of binary signals the bit values are normally sampled at the middle of the bit in-
terval. Suppose we have a bit pattern of alternating 0s and 1s (0101010101...). If we rep-
resent the signal with a square wave form as in example 1, it becomes clear that such a
signal can be recovered from just the first harmonic. Therefore, a bandwidth of the com-
munication channel limited by the first harmonic would be sufficient.
t
+A
-A
0
T
Two bits -
one period Sampling pulses

A-13

dt t s E
b
a
"
=
2
) (
dt t s
T
P
T
"
=
0
2
) (
1
For periodic signals it is more convenient to use the definition of the average power
over a period T:
It is usually said that a communication channel must be able to transmit those harmonics
which contain more than one half of the signal's energy (half-power bandwidth).
If the instantaneous power of the signal is defined as , the energy of the signal con-
tained in a time interval a<t<b is:
2
) (t s
) (
2
1
2
1
2 2
0 i
i
i
b a a P + + =
!
=

)
*
+
,
-
.
+ + + + +
)
*
+
,
-
.
= =
!
=
"
2 2 2 2
2
1
2
9
1
7
1
5
1
3
1
1
4
2
1
2
1
A
b P
i
i

8
2
This is the average power defined in the time domain. Using Parseval's theorem, we can
define the average power of a periodic signal in the frequency domain:
By applying Parceval's theorem on a square wave signal we can see how harmonics
influence the energy content:
From here it is easy to see that the first harmonic carries alone 81% of the total signal's
energy. Conclusion: the transmission media must be able to transmit at least the first
harmonic of the signal.

A-14

Relation Between Bandwidth and Bit Rate
A bit pattern with the maximal number of transitions is an alternating pattern of zeroes
and ones: 1010101010101... Such signal would require a maximal bandwidth. There-
fore, the pattern 10101010101... can be used as a worst case scenario for a transmis-
sion channel. If the pattern is encoded with NRZ we can see that the required
bandwidth (B) is equal to the frequency of the first harmonic, i.e. 1/T. Since one period
covers two bits (group 01, or 10), we can derive the following conclusion: data rate of a
binary signal (D) is twice of its bandwidth:
Data rate, also called bit rate, is measured in:
bps - bits per second
kbps - kilo bits per second (1 kbps = 1000 bps)
Mbps - mega bits per second (1 Mbps = 1000 kbps)
Bandwidth of a transmission media is the maximal frequency of a sinusoidal signal which
can go through the media without a significant attenuation. Bit rate of a transmission media
is the number of bits per second that can go through the media and can be read at the
other end.
NOTICE: Communication engineers always use the word "bandwidth" in its strict
sense - the width of the frequency spectrum of a signal, or of a transmission
media, measured in Hz. The computer network designers and managers
very often use the word "bandwidth" for the bit rate measured in bps.
This may sometimes create a confusion.
D = 2 B

A-15

Digitized Voice Signal
A voice signal is an analog signal which is more complex than the periodic squarewave
signal considered in the previous section. To simplify, we can assume that a voice signal
is a mixture of sinusoidal signals in which frequencies are in the continuous range be-
tween 300 Hz and 3.4 kHz. In order to transmit a voice signal across a digital transmis-
sion channel, it has to be converted from analog form to a digital form. This is normally
done in two phases: sampling and quantization.
Digitized
voice
signal
Analog
voice
signal
PAM
signal
PCM
signal
Sampling Quantization
Clock
(125 s)
PAM - Pulse Amplitude Modulation
PCM - Pulse Code Modulation
Analog
voice
signal
PAM
signal
PCM
signal
t
t
t
125 s 125 s
6.2
10.1
8.1
6.0
7.9
13.3
0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
8-bit (256-level)
quantization
Sampling
period
Question: How do we determine the required sampling rate for a
voice signal?

A-16

Sampling Theorem
There is a required minimal sampling rate by which an analog signal must be sampled in
order to be able to reconstruct the original analog signal from its PAM form. This rate can
be defined by the Nyquist sampling theorem:
The amplitude of an analog signal must be sampled
at a minimum rate of greater than twice the highest
frequency component.
NOTICE: Theoretically, most analog signals have an indefinite bandwidth. However, for
practical reasons, we apply the limited bandwidth, such as half-power bandwidth.
Data Rate of a Digitized Voice Signal
A significant part of the energy of a voice signal is between 300 and 3400 Hz. This can be
rounded to a bandwidth of 4000 Hz. The required sampling rate is therefore 8 kHz,
i.e. the sampling period is 1/8000 = 125 x 10
-6
sec = 125 s. For reasonably good voice
quality (i.e. telephony) the voice signal is quantized into 256 levels, which requires
8-bit coding. The bit rate of a digitized voice signal is therefore 8000 samples/sec x 8
bits/sample = 64,000 bps = 64 kbps.
t
T/2
s(t)
x(t)
Sampling
period
s(t) or x(t) ?
Given sample values,
we need to reconstruct
the sinusoidal signal

A-17

(MPEG = Motion Pictures Expert Group)
Teleconferencing and Music
Teleconferencing involves several persons speaking simultaneously. Therefore the
requirement for teleconferencing is much higher than in telephony, where we suppose
transmission of a single voice. The standard for teleconferencing is a sampling rate
of 16 kHz x 8 bit coding which gives 128 kbps. The compression of this signal can
reduce the bit rate below 64 kbps.
Music on CD ROM requires an even higher data rate, which is 44.1 kHz x 16 bit =
705.6 kbps. This can be reduced by compression to 128 kbps.
Video Signals
Transaction
type
Format
Name
Signal
Structure
Raw bit rate
[Mbps]
Compressed
bit rate
[Mbps]
Video
Conferencing
TV
High quality
TV
MPEG-1
(NTSC)
MPEG-2
(NTSC)
HDTV
352 pixel x 240 line
x 12 bit x 30 frame/s
30.4
124.4
995.3
<3
15
135

A-18

TRANSMISSION MEDIA
Two-Wire Open Lines
The simplest.
n(t)
m(t)
r(t) = (s(t)+m(t)+n(t)) - (-s(t)+n(t)) = 2 s(t) + m(t)
n(t)
R
T
R
T
- Termination resistor
s(t)
-s(t)
Noise
Sender Receiver
TTL
TTL
-
+
Termination resistance is used to terminate the line so that the receiver absorbs the
entire signal, otherwise the signal would bounce back towards the sender (reflection),
which would cause more noise. This resistor has a value of the characteristic impedance.
Usually differential circuits are used which help reduce noise (common mode rejection).
The sender generates a double-ended signal, while the receiver subtracts the voltages at the
input lines.
If noise attacks both conductors equally (noise signal n(t)), the common mode rejection
will successfully eliminate the noise. However, if only one conductor is attacked (noise
signal m(t)). the common mode rejection doesn't work.
Distance < 50 m
bit rate < 20 kbps

A-19

TRANSMISSION MEDIA (Cont.)
Twisted-Pair Lines
Also called: unshielded twisted-pair (UTP)
Coaxial Cable
Skin effect and radiation effect are largely eliminated in coaxial cables,
therefore they can be used for higher bit rates. The external (coaxial) conductor
acts as shield against electromagnetic interference.
Helps common mode rejection because the noise is not likely to affect only one line.
In addition, multi-core twisted cables reduce cross-talk between the twisted pairs.
Problems:
Skin effect - tendency of the current to flow on the outer surface of the wire
at higher frequencies. This reduces the effective cross section of
the conductor leading to higher attenuation.
Radiation - At higher frequencies part of the signal power radiates away
from the conductor (becomes like a radio antenna)
m(t)
Distance < 100 m at 10 Mbps
< 15 km at 2400 bps
Copper
conductor
Dielectric
insulator
Outer
conductor
(shield)
Outer
insulator
and cover
Distance < 1 km at 500 Mbps

A-20

TRANSMISSION MEDIA (Cont.)
Optical Fiber
Optical
transmitter
(LED)
Optical
receiver
(pohotodiode
phototransistor)
Multi-mode stepped index fiber
Multi-mode graded index fiber
Monomode (singlemode) fiber
Optical core
(pure glass)
Optical
cladding
uniform refractive index
LED
Variable refractive index
Laser
diode
No electrical interferences, radiation, skin effect, and crosstalk.
High security - almost impossible to tap.
Distance 1to 10 km at 1000 Mbps

A-21

MULTIPLEXING
DEMUX
MUX
Channel 1 Channel 1
Channel 2
Channel 2
Channel 3
Channel 3
Channel n Channel n
(twisted pair,
coaxial cable,
optical fiber,
microwave link,
satelite link)
Physical link
How to transmit several signals across the same physical link ?
There are three commonly used methods:
FDM - Frequency-division multiplexing
TDM - Time-division multiplexing
STDM - Statistical TDM
Multiplexer
Demultiplexer

A-22

MULTIPLEXING (Cont.)
Frequency-Division Multiplexing
Used mainly in the transmission of analog voice signals. Also used in transmission of
digital signals across coaxial cables (in broadband mode), or across wireless
communication links (microwave and satelite).

Modulator
(FSK, PSK)
Mixer
Filter
f
1
Modulator
(FSK, PSK)
Mixer
Filter
f
2
Modulator
(FSK, PSK)
Mixer
Filter
Transmitter
f
n
+
Demodulator
(FSK, PSK)
Mixer
Filter
f
1
f
1
Demodulator
(FSK, PSK)
Mixer
Filter
f
2
f
2
Demodulator
(FSK, PSK)
Mixer
Filter
Receiver
Signal
splitter
Signal
Combiner
f
n
s
2
(t)
s
2
(t)
s
n
(t)
s
n
(t)
s
1
(t)
s
1
(t)
f
Bandwidth of the link
Bandwidth of
the channel
Frequency
shift
Communication
link
Carrier
frequency

A-23

Principle of the Frequency Shift
Signal component:
Carrier:
Mixing (multiplication):
After filtering out the upper side band:
Mixing at the receiver side:
After filtering out the high frequency component:
) sin( ) ( t S t s
d
=
) sin( ) ( t t c
j j
=
t S t m
d j j
) cos( ) ( =
[ ] t t S
t S t t s t c t m
d j d j
d j j j
) cos( ) cos(
2
1
) sin( ) sin( ) ( ) ( ) (

+ =
= = =
[ ] t t S
t S t t m t c t r
d j d
d j j j j j
) 2 sin( ) sin(
2
1
) cos( ) sin( ) ( ) ( ) (

+ =
= = =
t S t s
d j
) sin( ) ( =
f
f
i
-

f
d
f
i
f
i
+

f
d
Lower
side-band
Upper
side-band

A-24

Time-Division Multiplexing
Also called: synchronous time-division multiplexing.

(It is called "synchronous" because the time slots are fixed and preasigned to channels,
this is not "synchronous transmission mode")
MUX
C
1
B
1
A
1
C
2
B
2
A
2
C
3
B
3
A
3
DE
MUX
C
1
B
1
A
1
C
2
B
2
A
2
C
3
B
3
A
3
C
1
C
2
C
3
B
1
B
2
B
3
A
1
A
2
A
3
TDM
frame A
TDM
frame B
TDM
frame C
Channel #1
Channel #2
Each channel has
data rate n bps
Each channel has
data rate n bps
Multiplexed signal has
data rate 3 x n bps
Data unit
(normally 8 bits -
byte multiplexing)
Each TDM frame has
fixed number of data units,
for each channel one
Flow control and error control are not included in TDM. This is something that must
be performed on a per-channel basis, at higher level protocols, like data link protocols
(see later). Consequently, the multiplexed signal doesn't have a header and trailer which
would contain information for flow and error control.
Each frame is given a constant time slot. The inverse of the time slot is called the
frame rate. (As shown later, the frame rate is usually 8000 frames/s.)

A-25

Frame Alignment in TDM
The clocks at the transmitter and receiver side can not be generally the same, a form of
synchronization is needed. Therefore each TDM frame gets an additional bit (called a
framing bit). After demultiplexing at the receiver side, this bit results in an additional, n+1-th
channel. The resulting bit pattern must coincide with a predefined pattern (usually an
alternating sequence 1010101010...). If this pattern brakes down, the receiver knows it is
out of synchronism. Then it enters the search mode in which it picks and extracts a bit
including every next m-th bit that follows (m is frame size). Then it compares the resulting
bit pattern from the n+t-th channel with the predefined bit pattern. If it doesn't match,
it will continue the same process with the next bit in sequence. Once the match occurs,
the receiver must make sure that the pattern matching persists over multiple frames,
before it concludes that it is back in synchronism.
Aggregated bit rate of the multiplexed signal is:
frame size [bits] x frame rate [frames/s]
Example:
(Suppose three channels, each channel has 8 bits, frame rate is 8000 frames/s}
Frame size: 3 x 8 + 1 = 25 bits
Bit rate: 25 x 8000 = 200,000 bps = 200 kbps
n+1 th channel,
synchroinization pattern
MUX
C
1
B
1
A
1
C
2
B
2
A
2
C
3
B
3
A
3
C
1
C
2
C
3
B
1
B
2
B
3
A
1
A
2
A
3
DE
MUX
C
1
B
1
A
1
C
2
B
2
A
2
C
3
B
3
A
3
Frame
0
1 0
Framing bits

A-26

Duplex Multiplexers
Full-duplex communication requires a combination of a multiplexer and demultiplexer
at the same site.
MUX
DE
MUX
MUX
DE
MUX
Full duplex link
Full-duplex
customers
Full-duplex
customers
MUX
DE
MUX
DE
MUX
MUX
The full-duplex arrangement above can be represented in a simplified manner:

A-27

TDM Hierarchies

Synchronous TDM is an approach used to share a single transmission media among
several independent communication channels. The capacity of the media (in terms of
bit rate) must be equal or greater than the sum of the bit rates of individual channels.
In order to combine a larger number of channels, the multiplexing can be performed
in several stages. This leads to a hierarchy of multiplexed signals:
MUX
1
2
k
w
1
w
2
w
k
x
MUX
1
2
m
x
1
x
2
x
m
y
MUX
1
2
n
y
1
y
2
y
n
z
The following sections discuss three important hierarchies of digital services:
DS - Digital Signal Service
ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network
SONET/SDH - Synchronous Optical Network / Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
NOTICE: The discussion will focus only on the physical aspects (OSI layer 1)

A-28

Digital Signal Service (DS)

DS-1
Basic transmission format of the hierarchy of digital signals adopted in North America
and Japan.
DS-1 circuits are also called T1 links, or T1 transmission services.

DS-1 frame:
125 s (=1/8000 frames/s), 24 channels, 193 bits (=24x8+1)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 12 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24
8-bit data unit
(64 kbps service)
7-bit data unit
(56 kbps service)
Signaling bit
(used for network
control)
Aggregate bit rate of a T1 link:
(24 x 8 + 1) * 8000 = 1.544 Mbps
framing
bit
number of
channels
size of
data units
framing
bit
frame
rate
aggregate bit
rate of T1
There is also a Europian standard (ITU-T) called E1. It has 30 8-bit voice channels,
one framing byte and one signaling byte. The agregate bit rate of E1 is:
(30x8+8+8)x8000 = 2.048 Mbps

A-29

DS-2 and higher services
All DS services with higher bit rates are obtained by multiplexing the basic DS-1

A similar hiearchy exists in Europe based on E1 (E2, E3, E4, E5)
MUX
MUX
MUX
MUX
DS-2
6.312 Mbps
(772+17)
DS-1C
3.152 Mbps
DS-3
44.376 Mbps
(5523+24)
DS-4
274.176 Mbps
(33282+990)
MUX
DS-1
1.544 Mbps
(192+1)
64 kpbs
(8)
24
channels
DS Carrier Bit Rate Multiplex Voice
Service System [Mbps] Factor Channels
DS-1 T-1 1.544 24 24
DS-1C T-1C 3.152 2 48
DS-2 T-2 6.312 4 (from DS-1) 96
DS-3 T-3 44.736 7 672
DS-4 T-4 274.176 6 4032

A-30

Custom T-1 Topologies
A T-1 signal doesn't require the standard DS-1 format (22 64 kpbs channels plus two
56 kpbs channels). If a customer leases the entire T-1 link he or she can arrange his or
her own topology. The only condition is that the aggregate bit rate is 1.544 Mbps.
A typical example:
Aggregate bit rate:
((256+768+128+6x64)x1000/8000+1)x8000 = 1544000 bps =1.544 Mbps
data (256 kbps)
video (768 kbps)
CAD/CAM (128 kbps)
voice (64 kbps)
voice (64 kbps)
voice (64 kbps)
voice (64 kbps)
voice (64 kbps)
voice (64 kbps)
1.544 Mbps
TDM
No signaling bits needed
(all channels carry 8 bit units)
Framing bit is required though

A-31

Bit Stuffing
Sometimes the sum of bit rates of T-1 components are below the required aggregate
bit rate. For example some of the voice (or data) channels can be 56, 48, 40, 32, 24, 16
or 8 kpbs. In order to maintain the correct aggregate bit rate a technique called bit stuffing
(or pulse stuffing) is applied. For example, in case of 56 kbps we have 56000/8000
= 7 bits in data unit. These seven bits can be extended with a dummy bit, which makes 8
bits per 125 s, i.e. 64 kbps. Similarly, 48 kbps need two additional bits, 40 kbps need
three additional bits etc.
The condition for bit stuffing is that the source bit rate is a multiple of the frame rate.
For example 56000/8000 = 7, however 19200/8000 = 2.4, can not be handled by bit
stuffing.
64 kbps
56 kbps
48 kbps
No bit stuffing
One bit stuffing
Two bit stuffing
1.544 Mbps
Multiplexing with bit stuffing is called plesiochronous multiplexing, which means nearly
synchronous multiplexing ("plesio" means "nearly" in Greek).
The resulting higher-order signals are called Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH).

A-32

Subrate Multiplexing
How can we connect a source in which the bit rate is not a multiple of the frame rate, or
which the bit rate is below the frame rate? For example, 9.6 kbps would have 9600/8000 =
1.2 bits per channel, while 2400 bps would have 2400/8000 = 0.3 bits per channel.
In such a case we can use a subrate multiplexing technique which spans several frames.
For 9600 bps we use 6 bits of a given channel in every 5-th frame. Five other users
can share this single channel at 9.6 kbps.

n+1 n+2 n+3 n+4 n+5 n+6 n+7 n+8 n+9 n+10 n+11
5x125 = 625 s
frame
1 2 24
channel
Bit used to indicate which subrate
is used by this channel (bit robbing)
125 s
Bit rate:
6 bits / 0.000625 = 9600 bps
Using 6 bits every 5-th frame gives 9600 bps
6 bits every 10-th frame gives 4800 bps
6 bits every 20-th frame gives 2400 bps

A-33

Add-Drop Multiplexers
How can a low rate customer be connected to a T-x link? The signal must be completely
demultiplexed folowing the entire hierarchy, then the customer can be added, and the
demultiplexed signals must be multiplexed back again up the hierachy. Such complex
multiplexers are called drop-and-insert multiplexers, or add-drop multiplexers (ADM)
Suppose we are connecting a 256 kbps duplex customer to a 44.376 Mbps duplex link (T-3).
ADM
A B
T3 T3
256 kbps
T3
T2
T3
T2
T2
T1
6.312 Mbps
44.736 Mbps 44.736 Mbps
T2
T1
6.312 Mbps
1.544 Mbps
1.544 Mbps
256 kbps

A-34

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
Also called Narrowband ISDN (N-ISDN) as opposed to Broadband ISDN (B-ISDN),
which is something totally different.
Introduced with an idea to replace existing analog telephone network (PSTN - Public
Switched Telephone Network), also called POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service). ISDN is
entirely digital and can transport digitized voice, video and data over the same link.
The basis of the ISDN are 64 kbps channels, which can be combined in order to allocate
required bandwidth for more demanding transactions (video conferencing, fast facsimile, etc.)

TA
TA
ISDN PC
adapter
NT1
LAN hub
NT2
Router
ISDN device
(video telephone,
ISDN terminal)
Non ISDN
device
Terminal
adapter
Network
termination
type 1
Network
termination
type 2
Full-duplex, two-pair,
Unshielded twisted pair
Pseudoternary encoding
Full-duplex, four-pair,
Unshielded twisted pair
Pseudoternary encoding
Terminal
adapter
Non ISDN
device
Non ISDN
device
100 to 500 m
RS-232C
R
R
T S
S
U
S
S
S
R, S, T and U are reference points

A-35

ISDN Channels
There are three types of channels used in ISDN:
Bearer channel (B channel)
- 64 kbps, used to transport the payload (data, voice, video),

Data channel (D channel)
- 16 kbps or 64 kbps
- normally used for signaling (out-of-band signaling),
but can also be used to transport data
Hybrid channels (H channel)
- 384, 1536, 1920 kbps
- used for transactions requiring higher bit rate.
There are two ISDN services:

Basic rate interface service (BRI)
- multiplexes two B channels and one 16 kbps D channel (2B+D)
- total bit rate: 2x64+16 +48 overhead = 192 kbps
- for individual users and small offices
Primary rate interface service (PRI)
- multiplexes 23 B channels and one 64 kbps D channel (23B+D,
N. America and Japan)
or 30 B channels and one D channel (30B+D, Europe)
- total bit rate: 23x64+64+8 (overhead) = 1.544 Mbps,
or 30x64+64+64(overhead) = 2.048 Mbps
- PRI is compatible with T1, or E1 lines
- Transmission over H channels is available in PRI by combining B channels
(384 = 6x64, 1536 = 24x64, 1920 = 30x64)
BRI Frame
Comments:

Besides the B and D fields, BRI frame has overhead bits (shaded area). They include the
framing bit, level balancing bits, etc. The size of overhead is 12 bits.
Why does the BRI frame have two B1 channels and two B2 channels? Answer: to make the
frame longer. (As seen later, its size matches the payload of ATM cells.)
PRI Frame is identical with the DS-1/E1 format (same frame size and same frame rate)
D B
1
B
2
B
2
B
1
D D D
4000 frames/s, 250 s, 4x8+4+12 (overhead bits) = 48 bits
8 bits 8 bits 8 bits 8 bits 1 bit 1 bit 1 bit 1 bit

A-36

Inverse Multiplexing
PRI service enables transmission of digital signals at bit rates higher than 64 kbps.
This is done by segmenting the high bit rate signal into a number of individual low
bit rate signals which are then sent across the ISDN link as individual data streams. At the
receiving side the individual channels are again combined into one high bit rate signal.
The segmentation and reassembly is done by a pair of inverse multiplexers, which are
sitting at the customer's premise.

ISDN
NT
Inverse
multiplexer
video video
Inverse
multiplexer
NT
Single
high bit rate
circuit
(384 kbps)
Single
high bit rate
circuit
(384 kbps)
Multiple
low bit rate
circuits
(6 x 64 kbps)
Multiple
low bit rate
circuits
(6 x 64 kbps)
Transmitting inverse multiplexer:
- sets up required number of 64 kbps channels to destination
- segments the high bit rate stream into a number of low bit rate streams
Receiving inverse multiplexer:
- accepts the required number of streams
- compensates for delays (different channels may go through different paths)
- resynchronizes the input channels
- reassembles the channels into one high bit rate stream

A-37

Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)
Originally proposed by BellCore in early 1980s, then standardized by ANSI. ITU-T has later
standardized a compatible version called Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH). The main
characteristics of SONET/SDH is that it is truly synchronous (not plesiochronous), based
on a single clock with extremely high accuracy.
SONET/SDH uses optical fibers, and is the main carrier for B-ISDN and ATM. It can also
transport DS-x and E-x signals.
STS-N/OC-N Signals
The structure of the SONET/SDH hierarchy is based on the 51.84 Mbps signal called:
Synchronous Transport Signal (STS-1).

STS-1 frame (payload and overhead)
810 octets = 6480 bits, 125 s, 8000 frames/s
Aggregate bit rate: 6480 x 8000 = 51.84 Mbps
STS-1 frame has an overhead of 27 octets = 216 bits. The bit rate of the STS-1 payload
is (6480 - 216) x 8000 = 50.112 Mbps, which is greater than 44.736 Mbps (or 34.368 Mbps),
meaning that an STS-1 payload can accommodate a DS-3/T-3 (or E3) signal, or a
combination of multiple DS-1, DS-1c, DS-2, E-1 and E-2 signals.
The SONET/SDH hierarchy of signals can be obtained by multiplexing the basic STS-1
(STS-N = N x STS-1)
STS-N designate electrical signals. The corresponding optical equivalents are designated
as OC-N (Optical Carrier). For example OC-3 is an optical equivalent of STS-3.
SONET SDH Bit Rate [Mbps]
STS-1 51.84
STS-3 STM-1 155.52
STS-9 STM-3 466.65
STS-12 STN-4 622.08
STS-18 STM-6 933.12
STS-24 STM-8 1244.16
STS-36 STM-12 1866.24
STS-48 STM-16 2488.32

A-38

SONET/SDH Configuration
A SONET/SDH networks have three basic structural elements: sections, lines and paths.
Section is a single piece of transmission cable between two regenerators. Regenerators are
used to recover the attenuated signal and to extend the lenght of lines.
Line consists of several sections, it connects two network nodes that provide access to
SONET from other LANs or WANs. The line terminating devices are add-drop multiplexers
(ADM) or digital-cross connect (DCS). The later device, besides adding and dropping
a payload, it also functions as a SONET hub.
Path is an end-to-end transmission way. It connects two service adapters which map the
user payload from a non-SONET to a SONET format.

Section
Path (end-to-end)
Line Line
Section
Path terminating equipment
(Terminal multiplexer,
access node,
service adapter -
maps the user payload
like DS-1, DS-2, FDDI, ATM
into a SONET format)
Line terminating equipment
(ADM - add-drop-multiplexer
or DCS- digital-cross connect)
Section terminating equipment
(regenerators)

A-39

Example of SONET/SDH Topology

FDDI LAN
(Fiber Distributed Data Interface
100 Mbps, 100 km, 500 stations)
802.5
(token ring,
16 Mbps)
802.3
(Ethernet, 10 Mbps)
ADM ADM
ATM
E-1, E-3
T1, T3
ADM
ADM
DCS
SA
SA
SA
SA
SA
OC-n
OC-n
OC-n
OC-n
OC-n/STS-n
OC-n/STS-n
OC-n/STS-n
OC-n/STS-n OC-n/STS-n
OC-n/STS-n
Survivable
rings
Used from: U. Black, ATM Resource Library, Vol I
Prentice Hall, 1999
SA - terminal/service adapter
DCS - Digital cross-connect system
ADM - Add-drop multiplexer

A-40

STS-1 Frame
The structure of the STS-1 frame is organized into a two-dimensional array of octets:
The frame overhead contains alignment bits, frame identifier, error checks, payload pointers,
and other data necessary for administration, monitoring and traffic management.
The octets are transmitted row-wise (the top leftmost octet first).
Bit rates:
Aggregate: 90 columns x 9 rows x 8 bits x 8000 frames/s = 51.84 Mbps
Payload: 87 columns x 9 rows x 8 bits x 8000 frames/s = 50.112 Mbps.
3 columns 87 columns
90 columns
SECTION
OVERHEAD
LINE
OVERHEAD
SYNCHRONOUS PAYLOAD ENVELOPE
(SPE)
Path overhead
(part of the SPE)
Payload doesn't have to fill the entire SPE
and doesn't have to start from the beginning.
In other words payload floates within the envelope.
Sometimes the payload spans several
frames. Therefore the line overhead has
pointers which locate the payload within the
SPE.

A-41

Multiplexing STS frames
Lower rate frames are interleaved, making up the higher rate frames. For example,
an STS-n frame has the following general format:
270 columns
SECTION
OVERHEAD
LINE
OVERHEAD
3xn columns 87xn columns
90xn columns
SECTION
OVERHEAD
LINE
OVERHEAD
SYNCHRONOUS PAYLOAD ENVELOPE
(SPE)
For example, the very popular STS-3 frame:
Aggregate bit rate: 270 columns x 9 rows x 8 bits x 8000 frames/s = 155.52 Mbps
Payload bit rate: 261 columns x 9 rows x 8 bits x 8000 frames/s = 150.336 Mbps
NOTICES: Multiplexing STS signals is much simpler than the multiplexing DS signals.
In order to extract a lower-rate STS component it is not necessary to perform a
multistep demultiplexing down the entire hierarchy as in the case of DS. The ADM
can be done in a single step.
STS-3 is a prefered carrier for ATM cells; one STS-3 frame can accomodate
44 cells.
ATM cells
53 octets

A-42

Virtual Tributaries
Although the SONET/SDH is designed to carry broadband payloads, it is made backward
compatible with the existing DS hierarchy. To achieve this, the SPE is subdivided into
sections called virtual tributaries (VT).
90 columns
SECTION
OVERHEAD
LINE
OVERHEAD
Path
overhead
VT VT VT VT
VT
There are four types of VTs:
VT1.5 - accommodates DS-1 (1.544 Mbps, 3 columns)
VT2 - accommodates E-1 (2.048 Mbps, 4 columns)
VT3 - accommodates DS-1c (3.152 Mbps, 6 columns)
VT6 - accommodates DS-2 (6.312 Mbps, 12 columns)
The frame overhead contains enough data to separate the VTs without demultiplexing
the entire structure of the STS frame.

A-43

Statistical Multiplexing
In synchronous TDM there is a strict ordering of multiplexed channels - each channel has
an exact position within the frame. This can result in inefficient transmission of bursty data.
For example, a customer may have silent periods during telephone conversation.
Consequently, there will be many idle inputs to the multiplexer and empty time slots in the
transmitted frames.
MUX
C
1
B
1
A
1
B
3
B
4
A
3
A
4
A
1
A
4
B
1
B
4
A
3
C
1
B
3
Empty time slots
(wasted bandwidth)
Synchronous TDM
Frame
idle
idle
A
1
A
4
B
1
B
4
A
3
C
1
B
3
STAT
MUX
C
1
B
1
A
1
B
3
B
4
A
3
A
4
Bandwidth
available
Asynchronous TDM
idle
idle
The solution is statistical TDM (STDM), also called asynchronous TDM (ATDM) in which
the idle inputs are ignored and the data items are packed into frames as dense as
possible.

A-44

While synchronous TDM requires that the sum of input data rates must be less or equal to
the data rate of the output line, in STDM the sum of the mean values of input rates
must be less or equal to the rate of the output line. Consequently, either the rates of
inputs can be increased, or the number of inputs can be extended. In order to accommodate
temporary data surges, when rates in all inputs exceed the average values, the buffers of an
appropriate size must be used.
In statistical TDM the position of time slots loses significance. In order be able to
demultiplex the frames, addressing is needed. Each data item must be accompanied
with an address, i.e. the channel (input) number.
Adding addresses to data results in inefficiency, specially if data items are short in
comparison with the address field. Therefore the data items must be grouped in larger fields.
This however brings a need to have an additional field, the data length. The added control
fields and data constitute a subframe. The subframe may be more complicated as it will be
shown in later chapters.
C
1
C
5
B
1
B
5
A
1
A
5
B
3
B
4
A
3
A
4
C
5
5 B
3
3 C
1
1 B
5
5 B
4
4 A
3
3 1 B
1
5 A
5
4 A
4
1 A
1
1
2
3
4
5
STAT
MUX
Address
idle
idle
STAT
MUX
C
1
C
5
B
1
B
5
A
1
A
5
B
3
B
4
A
3
A
4
A
1
A
4
A
5
B
1
B
4
A
3
C
1
B
5
B
3
C
5
idle
idle
Available bandwidth used
to fit one more channel
Address Length Data

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Copyright 1999 by Marko Vuskovic C

M. Vuskovic Broadband Communication Networks CS678

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