DIRECT INTERNET ACCESS SYSTEM (DIAS)

New Technology Familiarisation (DIAS )

DIRECT INTERNET ACCESS SYSTEM

(DIAS)
1.0

Introduction

The Internet started as a network to connect various network sites together. It

has evolved into a network that provides seamless communication for millions of
people worldwide. The user base of the Internet is experiencing exponential growth.
Services such as e-mail and World Wide Web are transforming the way people
interact and are fast becoming the norm for personal and business communications.
The Internet is fast becoming as essential as the Telephone, and therefore, it is
conceivable that soon every home and every office will need Internet access along
with their phone service.
Internet subscriber connects to the Internet using a Modem connected to his
PC to place a call over the telephone line to connect to the Internet Service Provider
(ISP) through a bank of modems connected to phone lines as shown in figure1. The
ISP, in turn, maintains backbone connectivity of their Router to other ISPs, via.
Leased lines.

Figure 1

Internet connectivity solution is entirely dependent on the telephone network.

For an ISP, the key is to acquire a sufficient number of telephone lines to provide ondemand access to subscribers. For example, if an ISP has 10 telephone lines, no more
than 10 subscribers can connect to the Internet at any given time. Of course, the ISP
can have more than 10 customers, as not all of them will be using the Internet at the
same time. If only 20% of the total number of subscribers is expected to use the
network simultaneously, the ISP could have 50 Internet subscribers. The user
experience on the Internet is primarily dependent on Bandwidth, the data rate at which
communication takes place. This depends on the data rate supported between the
subscribers modem and the ISPs modem and also on the quality of the telephone
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lines connecting the two modems. While the fully digitized telephone network may
support connection speeds of up to 56Kbps. It is typical for connections in small
towns, having only analog trunks, to support data rates of only 4.8Kbps or less.
The percentage of telephone users who use the Internet is growing slowly to 12% in most developing countries. However, in some areas, a peculiar problem is
being faced. With the number of Internet users in these areas growing to 5%-10% of
all telephone users, the telephone network appears to get congested during certain
busy hours. While the average telephone call lasts for a few minutes, the average
Internet call lasts for 30 to 45 minutes. Present day telephone switches were not
designed to function like this. They were built under the assumption that no subscriber
will keep a line busy for more than few minutes at a time. This is an important
assumption because when a subscriber makes a call, very often he holds a trunk line
because the call goes from one switch to another most of the time. The number of
trunk circuits were chosen with the assumption that trunks will be held only for a few
minutes and statistically, a particular number of trunk lines are enough to cater for a
particular number of customers. When the calls are to the Internet, this reasoning
breaks down totally. Now the calls are held for as long as 45 minutes. This means the
trunks, which would have normally been free to serve other customers, are now held
up for the Internet calls. The subscribers start getting more and more busy tones. A
normal telephone user generates 0.1Erlang traffic, meaning he will use the lines for
about 10% of the time. As long as the number of Internet users is around 1% of the
telephone users, even if each of them were to generate 1Erlang traffic, the total traffic
(voice plus Internet) on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) would not
exceed 0.11E. But when the Internet usage reaches 10%, even if the traffic generated
per subscriber is only 0.3E, the total load on the network would get close to 0.13E.
The telephone network is usually designed to handle 0.1E traffic per
subscriber with a blocking (or Quality of Service - QoS) of 0.5%. This implies that,
with the average traffic generated by a subscriber being 0.1E, only 1 out of 200 calls
will be blocked (not completed) due to non-availability of resources at the PSTN.
However, if the PSTN is loaded with 0.13E traffic, the blocking probability exceeds
5%, and with loading of 0.15E traffic, the blocking exceeds 15%. The network would
be congested with many calls not maturing due to blocking. As the traffic increases
further, the network may collapse and fail to complete most calls. Such a debacle is
not widely observed today because the percentage of Internet users is small now. As
the usage grows, however, most telephone networks would get congested and
collapse. Internet access certainly cannot grow in this conventional manner
1.1

Alternative solution for Internet connectivity

The PSTN is the most widespread-wired network today. Other mediums

connecting homes and offices are the power and cable TV networks. Presumably
these could be used to provide Internet access. Conventional Power lines have not
been designed for communications. The lines linking homes and offices are in fact, a
tapping from the main power lines on the street. It is difficult to provide widespread,
high-bit-rate Internet access on these lines, though attempts are now being made to
explore this option. Cable TV networks, on the other hand, are actually a
communication medium. The only problem is that they were designed for one-way
communication only, from the service provider to the subscriber. Advances in
technology are making two-way communication and Internet connectivity possible on
the Cable network. The main problem still associated with cable networks is the lack
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of structured wiring. Particularly in developing countries, where cable networks are
often laid in an unplanned manner, and where taps are taken without consideration to
the possible transport of data, providing Internet service at even PSTN quality is
questionable. Also the mechanism that is being used is shared access so as the number
of users grows in a segment of the cable the performance degrades. Internet access via
PSTN While other options may become very attractive tomorrow, there is little doubt
that today the telephone network is the most promising Internet Access Medium,
provided one could use it without causing concomitant congestion in the PSTN. The
solution to this dilemma is to find a way to occupy the PSTN more efficiently than do
present day Internet Access methods. The congestion of the telephone network when
extensively used for Internet access is due to the fact that Internet access sessions last
much longer than a telephone call, and throughout the duration of connection a circuit
is occupied on the circuit switched PSTN. But if one closely studies the Internet
traffic, one finds that the total bandwidth required for medium speed Internet access
rarely exceed that required for a voice connection. Telephones typically generate 0.1E
traffic implying that a telephone, on an average, is used only 10% of line. But they
generate voice traffic continuously during the period of connection. On the other
hand, Internet sessions are usually of a longer duration, but do not generate
continuous data traffic. The data traffic is in fact bursty and for most of the connection
time, no data is transmitted or received. Even a busy user rarely transmits or receives
data more than 10-15% of the time implying that even if the user is continuously on,
the data bursts rarely use more than 10-15% of the available bandwidth. The problem
is, irrespective of the usage of available bandwidth, the circuit-switched PSTN
connection is on, utilizing the resources continuously. The obvious solution is to find
a way to occupy the PSTN resources only to the extent that is required by the
subscriber data. Always On Dynamic ISDN One way would be to set-up and drop
connections whenever data bursts needed to be transmitted. The only problem is that
these data bursts normally are too small, barely a few hundred milliseconds and could
be very frequent. Dropping and setting up connections would, by themselves,
consume much more time as compared to that of data transmissions. Also, most
PSTN networks just cannot handle such frequent connections and disconnections. The
approach is being attempted in a new standard known as AO-DI (for Always On
Dynamic ISDN). This relies on two important characteristics of PSTN. One ISDN
service is available throughout the PSTN, and secondly, in an ISDN network, the
subscriber is permanently connected with the ISP via a low-bit-rate packet data
channel called D channel. When larger data bursts occur, a circuit switched B channel
is temporarily set-up. The ISDN signaling allows fast set-up and disconnection of B
channels. This property of the ISDN network, in addition to the fact that most small
bursts could be carried on the D channel itself, is effectively used to provide Internet
communication using AO-DI without causing network congestion. The procedure is
currently being incorporated in some of the networks. Though it looks attractive, it is
not clear as to how well this would work under conditions of heavy load. Also, except
in few countries, ISDN has not really penetrated the PSTN so much to be an effective
transport for Internet. An alternative to this and the best way to take care of statistical
variation of usage is to combine the traffic from several subscribers. A telephone
exchange uses this and reduces the number of trunks. For example, a 40,000subscriber telephone exchange typically has only 4,000 trunk lines, and assigns them
to users on demand. The individual, random behavior of each subscriber gets
significantly less varied when traffic from multiple subscribers is combined and
resources allocated on demand. This has been recognized since a long time and it has
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also been recognized that concentration closer to a group of subscribers helps
tremendously. For example, instead of carrying out the concentration for 40,000
subscribers at the exchange (which would require 40,000 lines from subscribers
premises to that of the exchange), it helps tremendously if the concentration is carried
out at the curb (street corner) in-groups of 1000 subscribers. The lines for the 1000
subscribers are now terminated at the curb and only about 120 to 150 ports are taken
to the exchange after concentration. The total number of ports at the exchange for
40,000 subscribers therefore reduces to 5000 - 6000. A similar approach could be
adopted for bursty data and the key to this are two factors 1. Separate Internet data
traffic from voice traffic at the earliest point possible and 2. Carry out the
concentration of bursty data. Since data traffic is bursty, and the Internet sessions are
on for a long time, it is essential that the data be handled differently. It is therefore
necessary that the local loop (which could carry both voice and data) terminate at the
earliest possible point, possibly at the curb. The Internet data now needs to be
separated from voice. The voice calls are to be connected to circuit-switched trunk
lines on demand. The bursty Internet data from multiple subscribers are now
combined and concentrated. The burstiness is largely removed and the line-utilization
becomes nearly constant. The concentrated data is now carried to the Internet Service
Provider (ISP) using leased (preferable) or switched circuits. Even if switched circuits
are used, it does not create congestion, as the data on these circuits is the concentrated
data from multiple subscribers. Even if we assume a channel utilization of 10% by
each subscriber, due to the bursty nature of the transmission, on concentration, one
channel can serve about 10 subscribers. The net load on the PSTN, therefore, does not
exceed 0.1E per subscriber.
The Traffic Aggregation technique described above is generally referred to as
Direct Access Technique. Internet access thus provided overcomes the limitations of
the telephone network and offers direct access. The Direct Internet Access System
(DIAS) developed by the TeNeT Group, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) and Banyan Networks incorporates this technique to provide high bit-rate Internet
access in addition to telephone access for each subscriber.
2.0

Direct Internet Access System

The Direct Internet Access System (DIAS), jointly developed by Banyan

Networks and TeNeT Group, IIT Madras, allows telecom service providers to provide
high bandwidth Internet access to residential and corporate subscribers, in addition to
voice services, without any changes to the existing cabling infrastructure. In contrast
to current residential PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) and ISDN
(Integrated Switched Digital Network) dial-up access, the DIAS provides an Always
On Internet Access that is permanently available at the customer's premises. Using
Digital Subscriber Loop (DSL) techniques, seamless voice and data connectivity is
provided to the customer over the same pair of copper wires. Implementation of this
system is often done using the existing cables. All that is required is the installation of
the IAN (Integrated Access Node) at the Telephone exchange and a DSU (Digital
Subscriber Unit) at the customer premises.

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2.1

DIAS Architecture

The DIAS has a Digital Subscriber Unit (DSU) that combines voice and
Internet data packets on a single twisted-pair wire at the subscribers premises. At the
service providers premises, the Integrated Access Node (IAN) separates voice and
data traffic from a number of subscribers and routes them independently to the PSTN
and the Internet respectively. Apart from this DIAS supports a Lifeline option, which
provides a simple telephone service in the case of power failure or any problem in the
customer premises modem. The IAN is connected to the PSTN via an E1 voice port
when V5.2 protocol is running between the DIAS and the PSTN switch, and to the
Internet either through E1 data ports or through an Ethernet port. In the case of V5.2
protocol the lifeline unit is a separate unit will be catering for 240 Lines. Alternatively
the PSTN connectivity can be achieved through POTS lines with the addition of an
optional 2-wire lifeline unit that converts a single E1 line to 30 POTS lines. This unit
is capable of support 120 subscribers per sub rack
The DIAS system as shown in figure 2 below provides two types of voice and
data services to the customer

Figure 2

The BDSU (Basic Digital Subscriber Unit) is designed for the SOHO (Small
Office Home Office) and residential Internet user. It provides a permanent
Internet connection at a maximum data rate of 128 kbps, which drops to 64
kbps when the telephone is in use and transparently, goes back to 128 kbps
when the telephone goes on-hook.

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The HDSU (High bit rate Digital Subscriber Unit), which is designed for
corporate subscribers, can provide voice connectivity for a telephone and
permanent data connectivity of up to 2 Mbps. The Basic Rate DSU (BDSU)
located at the subscriber's premises has a telephone interface (RJ11) and an
Ethernet port (RJ45) or a Serial Port to provide Internet Access. The High Bit
Rate DSU (HDSU) has an Ethernet port and 4/8 Telephone Interfaces (RJ11), thus
having the ability to connect to 4 or 8 independent telephones at a corporate
office. The BDSU has local powering off the AC Mains (230V).

In the case of Power failure the system will offer simple POTS connection. The
Ethernet port providing Internet access is off during power failure.
The BDSU and the HDSU are connected to the Integrated Access Node,
located either at a street corner (curb) or at the central office, using a twisted pair
copper wire. For the BDSU, the maximum length of the copper can be 3.5 km when
0.4- mm-twisted pair copper is used. 128 kbps Internet access can be provided on the
BDSU Ethernet port in such a configuration when the telephone is not being used.
The Internet access rate seamlessly drops to 64kbps when the BDSU telephone is
being used providing the telephone a 64kbps circuit-switched access. The HDSU is
also connected using copper to the IAN. The maximum rate at which Internet Access
is provided to the HDSU Ethernet port is 2 Mbps, and this is possible when the length
of the copper is less than 2 Km (0.4mm twisted pair copper). The bit-rate on the
HDSUIAN link drops for higher lengths of copper, thus reducing Internet access rate
on the HDSU Ethernet port. Each telephone on the HDSU uses 64kbps when off-hook
and reduces the bit-rate of the HDSU Internet access by the same amount. In on-hook
mode, the Internet access rate seamlessly reverts to the original value. Figure 3 shows
various cards of the IAN

Figure 3 IAN Architecture

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The Ian sub rack consists of Duplicated switch card, which is the heart of the
system, which runs all the system software. In the case of a failure of one of the
switch cards the copy will take over. During the transition in the present version of the
software the data calls will get disturbed for a small amount of time while voice calls
will move over to Life Line module provided in the IAN itself and the existing voice
calls will be protected. There are five DSL cards, which can either cater 12 Basic rate
subscribers each (BDSL) or four High Speed (2 Mbps) subscriber each. The IAN can
support any combination of both these cards. This system also supports redundant
power supply so that failure of one PSU will not affect the system operation. E1cards
are the ones that connect the DIAS system to the external PSTN as well as
ISP/Router. These cards designed in a load sharing mode. In the sense all activity will
be carried through both the cards at any given time. So failure of one of the cards will
not affect the system. The IAN separates the voice traffic and the Internet traffic. The
voice traffic from each BDSU/HDSU is circuit switched on demand to one of the
64kbps slots on E1 lines connected to an exchange or to the LL2W unit. V5.2
protocol is used between the IAN and the switch when E1 interface is used between
them. Optionally the IAN can have a LL2W unit, which would connect the DIAS
subscriber to the exchange on 2 wire interface as shown in figure 5. Thus the IAN acts
as an access unit of the exchange and provides all the features and services of the
exchange to the subscriber. The Internet traffic from each BDSU/HDSU is
concentrated at the IAN and passed on to the ISP on a 10Mbps Ethernet or an E1
leased line. Up to 2 such E1 ports are provided on the IAN for connection to the ISP.
Figure 4 shows the cards in 2W LL units

Figure 4 L L2W Unit Architecture

2WLL unit does two functions in the IAN. One it acts as the two-wire interface to the
PSTN 2 wire interface and in the case of power or CPE failure, it connects the
customers phone directly to the 2-wire interface of the PSTN exchange. Working of
the lifeline feature is explained in the Stacking & Lifeline section. In the case of V5.2,
the POTS back up or lifeline module consisting of one controller card and two line
cards will be taking the voice support in the case of copy switchover (that is in the
case of controller card or E1 card switching over to the other card. Note: In the case of
E1 cards if the active card or the card, which is handling the voice calls fails all the
calls which are going on will be dropped.) This lifeline module will support all the 60
BDSU voice line in each IAN.

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Figure 5
3.0

Stacking Feature in DIAS

Stacking of more than one IAN is required in the case where a higher number
of subscribers are concentrated through the same voice-E1 and data-E1 lines. The
stacking strategy differs for voice and data. Stacking for Data Stacking of IANs for
data is carried out over the Ethernet backbone. Four IANs can be stacked to serve a
maximum of 240 subscribers. A proprietary stack management protocol distributes
the routing table to the IANs connected through the backbone. Thus, over a period of
time, all the IANs will get complete information about all the other IANs that are
connected to the backbone. One of the IANs connected to the E1 link of the ISP is
considered as the default gateway by the other IANs. Stacking for Voice Two voice
E1 lines connected to the exchange, is shared by all other IANs in a stack as shown in
the figure 6. Each IAN is allocated a few slots on the E1 link. Individual IANs
establish and receive calls using the slots allocated to them. Basically, each IAN acts
like a drop/insert multiplexer for those slots. A Distributed V5.2 stack is run across
the IANs. Out of the 8E1 ports two are used for the data and two are used for the
stacking and the remaining 4E1s are used for the Lifeline units

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.
Figure 6 Stacking for Data and Voice

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