1.1.

1 Switching Systems
A switching system is variedly known as a switching office, a switching centre, a telephone
exchange, a switching node or simply a switch. With the introduction of switching systems, the
subscribers are not connected directly to one another; instead, they are connected to a switching
system as shown in Figure 1.2. A switching system contains a number of switching elements.
Nine switching elements are shown in Figure 1.2. When a subscriber wants to communicate with
another, a connection is established between the two subscribers at the switching system by
using one or more switching elements. The word switching signifies the fact that a connection is
established between two chosen ends by turning on one or more switches. Figure 1.2 shows a
connection between subscriber S2 and Sn−1 using switching element SE5. In this arrangement,
only one link per subscriber is required between the subscriber and the switching system, and the
total number of such links is equal to the number of subscribers connected to the system.
Signalling is now required to draw the attention of the switching system to establish or release a
connection. It should also enable the switching system to detect whether a called subscriber is
busy and, if so, indicate the same to the calling subscriber. The functions performed by a
switching system in establishing and releasing connections are known as call processing
functions which are part of a number of control functions performed by the switch.

Figure 1.2 Subscriber interconnection using a switching system.

Early switching systems were manual and operator oriented. Limitations of operator manned
switching systems were quickly recognised and automatic exchanges came into existence.
Automatic switching systems can be classified as electromechanical and electronic.
Electromechanical switching systems include step-by-step and crossbar systems. The step-by-
step system is better known as Strowger switching system after its inventor A.B. Strowger. The
control functions in a Strowger system are performed by circuits associated with the switching
elements in the system. In crossbar systems, the control functions are disassociated from the
switching elements and placed in a separate subsystem called common control subsystem. The
common control subsystems are hard-wired using relays and latches. These subsystems have
limited capability and it is virtually impossible to modify them to provide additional
functionalities. In electronic switching systems, the control functions are performed by a
computer or a processor. Hence, these systems are called stored program control (SPC)
systems. New facilities can be added to a SPC system by changing the control program. The
switching scheme used by electronic switching systems may be either space division switching
or time division switching. In space division switching, a dedicated and an exclusive switching
path is established between the calling and the called subscribers for the entire duration of the
call whereas in time division switching, the same switching path may be shared by more than
one subscriber pair. Space division switching is also the technique used in Strowger and crossbar
systems. An electronic exchange may use a crossbar switching matrix for space division
switching. In other words, a crossbar switching system with SPC qualifies as an electronic
exchange.
In time division switching, sampled values of speech signals are transferred at fixed intervals.
In fact, it is the transmission of sampled values and not the continuous waveform that permits
more than one subscriber pair to share a switching path at the same time. Time division
switching may be analog or digital. In analog switching, the sampled voltage levels are
transmitted as they are, whereas in digital switching, they are binary coded and transmitted. If the
coded values are transferred during the same time interval from input to output, the technique is
called space switching. If the values are stored and transferred to the output at a later time
interval, the technique is called time switching. A time division digital switch may also be
designed by using a combination of space and time switching techniques. Figure 1.3 summarises
the classification of switching systems.

Figure 1.3 Classification of switching systems.

It is interesting to note that the developments in telecommunications took place at a rapid pace
in the early stages. After inventing telephone in 1876, Graham Bell established Bell Telephone
Company in 1877. In the same year, a manual switch board for six subscribers was established in
Boston, USA. In 1878, a manual exchange for 21 subscribers was established in Connecticut,
New Haven on a commercial basis. Eleven years later in 1889, Strowger invented automatic
step-by-step switching system. In 1892, the first automatic exchange, serving about 100
subscribers, was established in La Porte, Indiana. Manual switch boards and Strowger exchanges
were in use for fairly a long period of about 50 years. However, after a decade or two of
operation, the reliability of Strowger switches deteriorated on account of wear and tear of
electromechanical components. This motivated the search for a more reliable alternative
switching technology and crossbar switching was invented in late 1910s. However, the first
crossbar exchange was deployed in the field only in 1938. With the advent of digital computers,
electronic switches with stored program control units hit the market in late 1960s. These were
space division switches, often using a crossbar matrix for switching. Space division switches are
being used extensively even today. With the increasing demand for telephone connections, the
need to use the switching resources more efficiently was felt and that led to the invention of time
division switching in mid 1970s. Today, almost all switches are designed based on time division
concepts. With the advent of time division techniques, a new mode of information transfer, viz.
asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) has come into being and is becoming popular at present.
In Chapters 2 and 3, we deal with electromechanical switching systems. Electronic space
division switches are discussed in Chapter 4. Digitisation of speech, which is a fundamental
requirement for electronic time division switching networks, is covered in Chapter 5. The time
division switching techniques and ATM are described in Chapter 6.

1.1.2 Switching Networks
Subscribers all over the world cannot be connected to a single switching system unless we have a
gigantic switching system in the sky and every subscriber has a direct access to the same.
Although communication satellite systems covering the entire globe and low cost roof-top
antenna present such a scenario, the capacity of such systems is limited at present. The major
part of the telecommunication networks is still ground based, where subscribers are connected to
the switching system through copper wires. Technological and engineering constraints of signal
transfer on a pair of wires necessitate that the subscribers be located within a few kilometres
from the switching system. By introducing a number of stand-alone switching systems in
appropriate geographical locations, communication capability can be established among the
subscribers in the same locality. However, for subscribers in different localities to communicate,
it is necessary that the switching systems are interconnected in the form of a network. Figure 1.4
shows a switching network.
 Figure 1.4 A switching network.

The links that run between the switching systems are called trunks, and those that run to the
subscriber premises are known as subscriber or local lines. The number of trunks may vary
between pairs of switching systems and is determined on the basis of traffic between them. The
switching network came into being when switching systems installed in different localities of a
city were interconnected using trunk lines to form an intra-city network. Later, the concept was
extended to connecting switching systems located at different cities, giving birth to long distance
telephony. The first commercial intercity connection was operationalised between New York and
Boston in 1884. The first transcontinental trunk connected New York city to San Francisco in
1915, and the first intercontinental connectivity using short wave radio became operational in
1927 between New York and London.
As the number of switching systems increases, interconnecting them becomes complex. The
problem is tackled by introducing a hierarchical structure among the switching systems and
using them in series to establish connection between subscribers. In Figure 1.4, it may be seen
that a connection between subscribers attached to switching systems SS2 and SS3 needs to be
routed via SS1 or SS4. In a hierarchical structure, every city has a main or central exchange
which is used for routing intercity traffic. Exchanges in different localities of the city are
connected to the central exchange either directly or via other exchanges. The central exchange
may also be used to route traffic between two exchanges in the same city. Internationally
standardised switching hierarchy is discussed in Chapter 9. A particular connectivity pattern
and the size of individual switching systems are arrived at, based on geographical and traffic
considerations and the estimated number of subscribers to be served by each switching system.
The design and analysis of switching systems and switching networks are based on the traffic
engineering concepts which are covered in Chapter 8.

1.1.3 Communication Links
1.3 BASICS OF A SWITCHING SYSTEM
A major component of a switching system or an exchange is the set of input and output circuits
called inlets and outlets, respectively. The primary function of a switching system is to establish
an electrical path between a given inlet-outlet pair. The hardware used for establishing such a
connection is called the switching matrix or the switching fabric. Sometimes, the term
switching network is used to denote the switching hardware inside the switching system. If this is
the case, it is important to recognise that the term in this context denotes a component of the
switching system and not the switching network discussed in Section 1.1.2. Figure 1.10(a) shows
a model of a switch with N inlets and M outlets. When N = M, the switch is called a symmetric
switch. Most of the discussions in this book relate to symmetric switches. The inlets/outlets of a
switch may be connected to local subscriber lines or to trunks from/to other exchanges as shown
in Figure 1.10(b). When all the inlets/outlets are connected to the subscriber lines, the logical
connection appears as shown in Figure 1.10(c).
 Figure 1.10 Switch configurations.

In this case, the output lines are folded back to the input and hence the switch is called a folded
switch. In a switch, all the inlet/outlet connections may be used for interexchange transmission.
In such a case, the exchange does not support local subscribers and is called a transit exchange.
A switch of this kind is shown in Figure 1.10(d) and is called a nonfolded switch. The model of
a switch shown in Figure 1.10(b) is the most general one and supports four different types of
connections:

1. Local call connection between two subscribers in the system

A folded switch supports Type 1 connections and a nonfolded switch supports connections of
Type 4. In a folded switch with N subscribers, there can be a maximum of only N/2 simultaneous
calls or information interchanges. The switch may be designed to provide N/2 simultaneous
switching paths, in which case the switch is said to be nonblocking. In a nonfolded switch with
N inlets and N outlets, N simultaneous information transfers are possible. Consequently, for a
nonfolded switch to be nonblocking, the switch should support N simultaneous switching paths.
In a nonblocking switch, as long as a called subscriber is free, a calling subscriber will always be
able to establish a connection to the called subscriber. In other words, a subscriber will not be
denied a connection for want of switching resources. But, in general, it rarely happens that all the
possible conversations take place simultaneously. It may, therefore, be economical to design a
switch that has as many simultaneous switching paths as the average number of conversations
expected. In this case, it may occasionally happen that when a subscriber requests a connection,
there are no switching paths free in the switch, and hence he is denied connection. In such an
event, the subscriber is said to be blocked, and the switch is called a blocking switch. In a
blocking switch, the maximum number of simultaneous calls that can be put through is less than
the maximum number of simultaneous conversations that could have taken place among the
subscribers if all of them were active. The maximum number of simultaneous switching paths
that can be established in a switch is called its switching capacity. The probability that a user
may get blocked is called blocking probability. Whether a switch is blocking or nonblocking, it
must provide full connectivity or full availability, in the sense that any of the N inlets can be
connected to any of the N outlets in the switch. The term full connectivity must be distinguished
from the term fully connected network defined in Section 1.1. A switch that provides full
connectivity is not necessarily fully connected. In order to avoid any confusion, we would use
the term full availability in this text. In certain switch designs, the switching capacity can be fully
utilised only when the traffic is distributed in a specified manner. Such switches are known as
baseline switches.
All the switching exchanges are designed to meet an estimated maximum average
simultaneous traffic, usually known as busy hour traffic. Past records of the telephone traffic
indicate that even in a busy exchange, not more than 20−30 per cent of the subscribers are active
at the same time. Hence, switching systems are designed such that all the resources in a system
are treated as common resources and the required resources are allocated to a conversation as