Telephony and PSTN

Architecture

 Tomassi Ch-16,17,18
Telecommunication Essentials

Plus Class Material

Week - 14
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 2
Ref: Telecom essentials: Handouts
PSTN Architecture

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Ref: Telecom essentials: Handouts
Old US PSTN (AT&T before
1984) Class 1 Regional centers

Class 2 Class 2 Sectional centers

Class 3 Class 3 Class 3 Primary centers

Class 4 Class 4 Class 4 Class 4 Toll (tandem) offices

circuits,trunks

Class 5 Class 5 Class 5 Class 5 Class 5 Central (end) offices

local loop subscriber lines last mile

Class 5 switch is the sole interface to the subscriber lines

Ref: Tomassi Ch-18 4

 There are basically four types of
nodes:
 CPE nodes,
 switching nodes,
 transmission nodes,
 service nodes.

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The switching nodes include
 the local exchanges,

 tandem exchanges
 for routing calls between local exchanges
within a city
 toll offices
 for routing calls to or from other cities
 international gateways
 for routing calls to or from other countries

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Telephone
 A Telephone circuit is comprised of two
or more facilities, interconnected in
tendem, to provide a transmission path
between source and destination.
 Interconnection path
 Private
 Public

Ref: Tomassi Ch-17

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Local Loop
 Is the facility required by all voice-
band circuits.
 It is the mean by which subscriber
locations are connected to the local
telephone company.
 Metallic transmission wire, twisted
pair insulated copper wire.
 Primary cause of attenuation and
phase distortion.
Ref: Tomassi Ch-17 8
 Local loop transmission
characteristics depends on;
 Wire diameter
 Conductor spacing
 Insulator between pair of wires
 Conductivity of wires
 Concept of equivalent inductance,
capacitance, and resistance.
(Distributed Parameters)

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Components of LL
 Feeder Cable
 Serving Area Interface (SAI)  Feeder cable to
distribution cable
 Distribution Cable (F2)
 Subscriber or standard network interface (SNI)
 demarcation point
 Drop Wire
 Aerial
 Distribution Cable & Drop wire cross connect
point

Ref: Tomassi Ch-17 10

 Customer Premises

Network Interface Device (NID): (SNI)

Demarcation point between inside wiring
and TELCO facilities. Serves as testing
point to isolate problems in the circuit.

App Servers

Inside Wiring:
•Belongs to the house
•Distributes telephony and DSL service
throughout the structure
•Uses unshielded twisted copper pairs

Telephone Wiring Jack:

•Belongs to the house
•Connected to the inside wiring
•RJ11 connector is standard
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 Customer Premises

RJ11 Wall Jack

Network Interface Device

RJ11 Connector

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 Direct Feeder Architecture
Central Office (CO):
A building that houses electronic equipment such
as switches and routers. The CO is at the center of
the local network and it provides connections to the
rest of the networks in the world.
App Servers
NID

Service Wire: (drop wire)

Connects the subscriber’s NID to a
distribution terminal. Can be aerial or buried.
Come in 1, 2, or 5-pair capacity.

Distribution Terminal: Feeder Cable:

Used to access individual pairs in
the cable and connect them to the
subscriber’s service wire. Can be
pole mounted for aerial cable, or
pedestal mounted for buried cable.
Provides connectivity between the central office and
the outside facilities. Referred to as Facilities 1 (F1).
Depending on the type used, they may contain 25 -
2000 copper pairs, & may have plastic or pulp
insulated conductors, and gel or air fill.
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 Direct Feeder Architecture

Service Wire

Aerial Service Wire connected

To a NID

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 Direct Feeder Architecture

Pedestal Terminal

Aerial Terminal
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Direct Feeder Architecture

Twisted Pair Cable 16

Feeder-Distribution Interface (FDI)
Or
Serving Area Interface (SAI)
FDIs provide an important function in the local loop.
They serve as the interface between cables coming
from the central office and cables distributed to
customers.

They also provide a useful location from which to test

circuits and isolate problems in the line.

Other names for FDI include: cross-connect box,

cross-box, serving area interface (SAI).
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Feeder-Distribution Interface (FDI) (continued)

When an FDI is installed, the cable plant is segmented

into two major components known as:

•Feeder facilities (F1)

•Distribution facilities (F2)

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 Distributed Feeder Architecture: Copper-Fed FDI

Feeder-Distribution Interface (FDI):

Used to administer distribution cable pairs and connect
them to feeder cable. Serves as testing point to isolate
problems in the circuit. Also known as a cross-connect
App Servers
NID box, cross-box, serving area interface (SAI), or
interface.

Central Office (CO)

Service
Wire

Distribution
Terminal
Feeder
cable/F1

Distribution Cable:
Used to administer distribution cable pairs and
connect them to feeder cable. Separating feeder
from distribution allows greater flexibility and
reduced costs in equipping a central office. Also
known as Facilities 2 (F2).
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 Distributed Feeder Architecture: Copper-Fed FDI

Open View

Feeder-Distribution Interface (FDI)

Closed View
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Distributed Feeder Architecture: Copper-Fed FDI

Feeder-Distribution Interface (FDI)

Close-up View of Binding Posts 21
Local Telephone call Procedure
(POTS) Plain Old Telephone
Service
1. Calling station goes off-hook
2. DC current flow detected on the loop 
audible tone  caller is granted network
access
3. Caller dials the number to call
1. Mechanical dial
2. Electronic dialer (DTMF)
4. Switching machine detects the 1st dialed
digit  tone removed
5. Switch interprets the dialed number and
route the call to the particular local loop.

Ref: Tomassi Ch-16 22

1. Test of DC current at the destination loop to
know whether idle or busy, at the same time
best path to the destination is decided
2. Telephone
1. Off hook station busy signal back to the caller
2. On-hook  switching machine sends ring tone to
destination & ring back signal at the caller,
3. Destination Answered  Loop completed and dc
current flow.
4. Switch recognizes the answer and rings
removed, connection made, Conversation begin.
5. Either machine goes on-hook  loop becomes
open circuit, connection dropped through switch.

Ref: Tomassi Ch-16

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Instruments, Local Loops,
Trunk Circuits and Exchanges
 Instruments (Station)
 Any device to originate and terminate the call, to
transmit and receive signals into and out the
telephone network.
 Telephone set, cordless, modem etc
 LL
 Trunk Circuit
 To interconnect two telephone offices.
 Difference in trunk and line
 Line is permanently associated with a station
 Trunk is temporary associated to a particular station, works
on the basis of sharing.
 Can be fiber or copper, wired or wireless

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Ref: Tomassi Ch-18
 Exchanges
 Central location where subscribers are
interconnected, either temporary or
permanent.
 Switching machine are placed in
exchanges
 Programmable matrices
 The purpose of exchange is to provide a
path for a call to be completed between
two parties.
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Functions of a switch
 Identify the subscriber
 Setup or establish a communication
path
 Supervise the calling procedure

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Ref: Tomassi Ch-18
Operator Assisted Local
Exchanges
 Switchboards (Patch Panels, Patch
boards)
 Patch cords and jacks to be manually
connected.

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Ref: Tomassi Ch-18
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The PSTN circa 1900

pair of copper wires

“local loop”

manual routing at local exchange office (CO)

• Analog voltage travels over copper wire end-to-end
• Voice signal arrives at destination severely attenuated and distorted

• Routing performed manually at exchanges office(s)

• Routing is expensive and lengthy operation
• Route is maintained for duration of call
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30
 Automated Routing: Cross-connect
switch
Analog Crossbar switch Digital Cross-connect (DXC)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1
1 2 3 4 5
2
t
3
4 processor
5
6 2 1 5 4 3
7 t

Complexity increases
rapidly with size

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