Different types of switching

• The telephone network is designed around

“conversational” voice requirements.
• Connection set-up time can be quite long (~ 10s),
but transmission delays cannot be tolerated.
• > 0.1s need echo suppression
• > 0.4s need trained dispatchers
• Hence “Circuit Switching” provides dedicated
two-way connection between calling and called
parties for full duration of call.
• Alternative approaches of “Message” and
“Packet” switching more suited to data.
31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 1

Use of telephone network for non-voice services

• E.g. Facsimile (Fax). Fax is basically a one-way

service. The return direction is only used to report
receiver status (e.g. ready to receive, out-of-paper,
etc.). It carries no “payload” traffic. Fax traffic
could be more efficiently supported by message
switching.
• E.g. internet access using modem. Downloads,
uploads essentially one way, with short request
(URL) and control packets interspersed. Very low
duty cycle. More efficient to use packet switching
31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 2

1
 Message Switching
• Message switching originated with Morse code
telegraphy operators, earlier than telephone.
• Telex service between “teleprinters” using “torn
tape” followed by electronic storage “store and
forward”.
• Each message treated as a separate entity.
• One-way connections set up so that return
direction is not tied up needlessly.

31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 3

Message Switching (2)

• Not necessary to set up the complete end-to-end
connection before the message can be sent.
• Message is passed to the next switching centre in
the direction of the eventual destination, and
stored there until a suitable link for onward
transmission becomes available.
• Any reply, or acknowledgement, comes back as a
separate message.

31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 4

2
 Message switching disadvantages
• Variable and indeterminate delays. Occasional
long message on a link blocks it for other, shorter
messages
• Totally unsuitable for conversational voice
services.
• Too slow for interactive computer services that
require response times of ~ 1s

31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 5

Packet Switching
• Messages (or long files) broken up into fixed
length “packets” and each of these is treated as a
separate entity.
• Packets from different messages are interleaved in
the queue for onward transmission, so long
messages do not block out shorter ones.
• Two types of packet switching: “datagram” and
“virtual circuit”.

31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 6

3
 Datagram
• In datagram packet switching, each packet is
treated as a completely separate entity.
• It may be sent on a different route through the
network from the previous one and/or the next
one, and arrive out of sequence. Connectionless.
• Each packet must carry a header containing source
and destination addresses, message identifier and
sequence number. This is an overhead.
• The message can then be re-assembled at the
receiver.
31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 7

Virtual Circuit
• In virtual circuit operation, the same route is
followed by all packets belonging to the same
message. Connection oriented. Now they cannot
arrive out of sequence, so no sequence number is
necessary. The allocation of a virtual circuit to a
message also removes the need for source and
destination addresses on every packet.
• However, virtual circuit needs to be set up by
sending a special packet from source to
destination and back to mark the route before
traffic can flow. A different kind of overhead.
• Use datagram for short messages, virtual circuit
for long ones
31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 8

4
 Timing diagram

31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 9

Packet broadcast networks

• Packet radio
• Local Area Networks (LANs)
• Radio LANs
• No switching! Removes restriction to n × 64 kbps
• Optical fibre LANs run at Gbps rates.
• Removes delays in multiple store-and-forward
nodes, c.f. packet switching.
• All users have access to a common transmission
medium to send and receive data.
• Need Medium Access Control (MAC) to avoid
users all transmitting at once and obliterating each
other’s data.
31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 10

5
 Packet Radio Network Architectures
Centralised

Central
control

Repeater

31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 11

Packet radio with central control

• Central station broadcasts to all terminals on one
frequency, or in one timeslot.
• Terminals transmit to central controller on another
frequency, or timeslot.
• Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol needed
on the inbound (terminal to centre) link.
• Outbound link can be used to provide
synchronisation.
• Communication between terminals is via centre.

31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 12

6
 Packet Radio Network Architectures
Distributed

31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 13

Packet radio with distributed control

• One frequency used for all transmissions, and each
transmission is received by all (some!) other nodes.
• Out-of-range nodes served by store-and-forward
repeaters, i.e. any other node.
• Distributed architecture is more appropriate for
networks of independent computers, sharing some
programs or data.
• Centralised architecture is more appropriate for
terminal access to a “host” computer.

31/10/2003 CS3271 Communications Engineering 14