ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

Session 01
Introduction to Telecommunication
networks

Contents
1.1 Telephone network
1.2 Telephone exchange
1.3 Telephone exchange area
1.4 Local exchanges
1.5 Multi exchanges
1.6 Tandem exchanges
1.7 Interworking between exchanges
1.8 International Telecommunications
1.9 Switching Hierarchy
1.10 Factors considered in telephone network planning
1.10.1 Number planning
1.10.2 Telephone call routing
1.10.3 Telephone call charging

Aim
This lesson introduces the student to the make up of a public telecommunication
network.

Objectives
You will be able to describe and explain
• The function of the telephone exchange in the setting up of telephone calls.
• the structure of the public telecommunication network
• the main factors to be considered in network planning

Introduction
Telecommunication means simply the act of communicating or exchanging
information over a distance. In historical times, this was done by primitive methods
such as smoke signals, sounding bells etc. In this way one party was able to send a
message to another party. Modern communications began with the invention of the
"Telephone", by Alexander Graham Be1l and "Telegraphy", by Samuel Morse.
Today, telecommunications is a multibillion dollar industry employing well over
million people all over the world. Therefore learning about telecommunication
systems is a must for every communication engineer or technician.

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

1.1 Telephone network

A typical telephone network consists of subscriber equipment (telephone
instrument), exchanges, interconnections between subscribers and exchange, and
interconnections between exchanges.
You will later on learn about the "Telephone Instrument" itself. We will now see
how connections are set up between such telephone sets. To start with let us
consider the connection between two telephones, which obviously will be
straightforward as shown in figure 1.1
A B

Figure 1.1

A will be connected to B by a pair of wires. Suppose a third telephone C have to be

added, then C will be connected to both A and B. In this way we can keep on
adding telephone sets to build our telephone "network''. Such a telephone network
connecting four telephone sets A to D is as shown in Figure 1.2. You will see that
each telephone is directly linked to every other. Depending on the telephone to
which the call is to be made, one has to select the direct link to that telephone
before the call is made.

A B

D C

Figure 1.2

We have now realized the idea of the telephone network. This really is the
arrangement of communication links (circuits) which permits information to be
passed between two or more telephones.

S.A.Q. 1

Is it possible to go on adding more and more telephone stations to this simple

arrangement?

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

Discussion
From Figure 1.2 it wi11 be clear that the more telephones we add on to our
network, the more complicated, costly and "messy", our network will be. This is
because, for every addition of a telephone, there has to be links or circuits from this
telephone to each one of the other telephones. You will see that in the case of the
network of four telephones, there will be three different pairs of wires radiating in
the directions of the other three telephones. Similarly, if we have ten telephone
stations, there wil1 be nine, i.e. (10-1) pairs of wires radiating from each telephone.
In general, if there are N telephones, there will be (N-l) pairs of wires from each
telephone. When the number of telephones in a network keeps growing, this simple
arrangement will become uneconomical and impracticable. The answer is therefore
no, which means that a different solution has to be found.

1.2 Telephone exchange

Let us consider setting up a central point (say) at x in Figure 1.2 where the
telephone calls can be "exchanged", between any two telephones. Such an
arrangement will give rise to a "Telephone Exchange" and the network of Figure1.2
can now be re-drawn as shown in Figure 1.3. The basic difference you will see here
is that only one pair of wires will be required from each telephone and this is the
link to the Telephone Exchange. Thus with the introduction of the Telephone
Exchange, only one connecting circuit is required however large the group of
telephones is. Further, the caller does not have to 'select', a connecting circuit to the
wanted telephone. Always it is the Telephone Exchange that will be called first.

A B

Telephone
exchange

D C

Figure 1.3

The location of the Telephone Exchange is done after carefully looking into the
geographic distribution of the group of telephone users. In this way the sum cost of
the telephone circuits (pairs of wires) can be made as least as possible. Usually the
telephones are not uniformly distributed, for there will be more telephones in the
business centre than in residential area and of course the least number in the
agricultural area.
Thus, it is obvious that the Telephone Exchange will be situated more towards the
business centre where most of the telephones are found. Such locations are
normally referred to as "Copper Centres" to mean that the least amount of copper

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

wires is needed to serve a group of telephones if the exchange is located at this

centre.
With the introduction of the Telephone Exchange, we can no longer call the wanted
telephone direct, but have to request the Exchange to connect the wanted
telephone. First, one has to "call" the exchange and then pass on the particulars of
the wanted telephone. With this information, the Exchange can set up the cal1
between these two telephones.
In the early days these exchanges were manually operated and those who set up the
calls were called "telephone operators". With time these exchanges were made to
operate electrically or rather automatically thus giving rise to the present day
"Automatic Exchange "for which telephone operator assistance was not required.

S.A.Q. 2

A few hundred telephones are connected to a Telephone Exchange. How

economically can one arrange for this large number of telephone lines to converge
at the exchange?

Discussion
If open wires were to converge from all directions on this scale, it would be very
unwieldy and messy and just unmanageable. As a solution, groups of subscribers
are identified and pairs of wires directed towards each group are then held together
in the form of insulated wires. The bunch of insulated wires is then covered by a
protective coating to produce a multi-pair cable. In most cases, these cables are
directly laid underground or in pipes called ducts.
As you would imagine, laying of under ground cables is very costly and the cables
themselves are very costly to manufacture. On the other hand the overhead wires
have to be much thicker for they have also to be tensioned and withstand the
effects of exposure to whether and other external conditions. In cables much
thinner wires are used, and hence the cost per pair of wires per unit length will be
much lower than in the case of overhead wires. Thus the use of multi cables in and
around the Telephone Exchange not only eliminates the mass of wires that
converge on the Exchange but also will be cheaper.
The use of cables does not however mean that open wires are not any more needed.
This is because it is not practical to lay the cables straight upto the telephones
themselves, but perhaps only upto the centre of the group of telephones. At this
point we terminate the cable on what is called a "Distribution Point" (DP). From
this DP we run open wires or even insulated pairs to the individual telephones. A
practical layout will be as shown in Figure 1.4.

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

D.P.

D.P.

D.P.

D.P.
Telephone
exchange
D.P.

D.P.

group of
Telephones

Figure 1.4

1.3 Telephone exchange area

As you would well imagine, there has to be a limitation in the distance of the
telephones from the Telephone Exchange. The two limiting factors are:-
(a) Minimum speech currents to produce the minimum acceptable volume of
speech referred to as the "Transmission limit".
(b) Minimum magnitude of electrical pulses (signals) for correct reception of
information from the telephone, referred to as the "signalling limit".
Usually, for both 'transmission' and 'signalling', the same common battery at the
exchange is used and therefore for a given voltage, the maximum permissible
resistance of the pair of conductors is fixed. This is normally called the 'Loop
Resistance' " and the limit for modern exchanges in about 1500Ω.
Of course with thicker conductors, telephones could be placed further and further
away, but the mounting costs would make such an arrangement very
uneconomical. Thus, the result will be a definite exchange area to connect up
telephones only in that area. Beyond this limit, the telephones will have to be
connected to another exchange.
Generally speaking, this Area is about that covered by a radius of about 10km.
However with recent developments in the electronic exchanges (digital exchanges)
it is possible to cover a much wider area by placing the initial stages of the
exchange (concentration stage) in a remote location, thus giving rise to a Remote
Subscriber Unit, as shown in Figure 1.5.

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

Remote Subscriber
Unit RSU

Master
RSU Exchange

RSU

RSU
RSU

Figure 1.5

Each R.S.U. could serve an Exchange Area. As one 'MASTER' exchange could
have a number of such R.S.U, the effective Exchange Area will be the sum total of
all the areas covered by the R.S.U. s, which could be so many times the Area of a
normal Exchange.

1.4 Local Exchanges

According to section 1.3 we can now summarise, that the Telephone Exchange
Area as the area covered by one Telephone Exchange where all calls between these
telephones are connected only at this exchange. We call this exchange as a local
exchange.
The telephone lines from the subscribers terminate on a large patch board named
Main Distribution Frame (MDF) located near the local exchange. A second set of
wires run from the MDF to the local exchange. At the MDF any subscriber line can
be connected to an exchange line through jumpers. This gives the flexibility of
connecting subscribers to the exchange as required.
At the exchange, a number of subscribers are connected through concentrators.
That is, the telephone equipment is shared among many subscribers. For example a
concentrator may connect 10 subscribers to two of the exchange inlets, allowing
only two subscribers out of 10 to use the system at a time. This saves the cost of
equipment dramatically at the expense of some congestion of making calls. This is
acceptable as most of the time, all the subscribers do not make calls at the same
time.
The most important function of the local exchange is interconnecting the
subscribers. Depending on the dialled number by the calling party, a connection is
made between the two parties allowing the conversation. The details of this
switching function will be discussed later.

1.5 Multi-exchange areas

In large cities or towns it is not possible to cover the whole area by a single
exchange, although the geographical area covered is not too large. This is due to

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

the high density of telephones, or the large number of telephones per given unit
area, normally found in urban areas. If one exchange were to cover all the
telephones, it has to be very large and for both technical and economical reasons, it
is better to limit the size. This of course will result in a number of exchanges in one
City Area thus leading to a multi-exchange area. As an illustration, it is interesting
to note that Colombo Metropolitan city comprises of 5 exchanges, with two in Fort,
and one each at Maradana, Havelock Town and Mt. Lavinia. In Kandy again we
have four with two in Kandy itself and one each at Katugastota and Peradeniya.
Thus in this instance we see that a number of Exchange Areas combine together to
form the Local Exchange Area. If we look at Figure (1.6) we see that all exchanges
A, B, C and D are connected together in a way that each exchange has a direct
route to the other exchanges.
T elephone Exchange
Area
Local Exchange
Area
A

Figure 1.6

1.5 Tandem Exchange

Suppose in the previous Figure (1.6) we make Exchange C capable of setting up
calls between the other Exchanges A, B and D, then, the direct routing between A,
B and D may not be economical. For example, D to B, or B to A can go through C.
Such an Exchange which sets up calls between Exchanges in, a City Exchange
Area is called a Tandem Exchange. This arrangement is shown in Figure (1.7). In
this case where telephones were served by Exchange C, the tandem function will
be additional and the Exchange therefore, is a combined local and Tandem
Exchange. If necessary we could even have an Exchange purely for tandem
working. Exchanges A, B and D are sometimes also called "Satellite" exchanges as
they depend on the "main" exchange C for all outside calls.

Figure 1.7

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

S.A.Q. 3

A city has four exchanges A, B, C and D. A, B and C are in business Areas and
have a great deal of telephone calls between them, while D and E are in residential
Areas. B is more towards the city centre. Indicate a possible network arrangement
and discuss the reasons for selection. Trace call between A and C and between D
and C.

Discussion
As A, B and C have a great deal of calls between them, it is economical to have
direct routes between them as shown in Figure 1.8. As B is towards the city centre,
its location is ideal for Tandem working. Thus B can work both as local exchange
and Tandem for D and E. D and E will therefore be connected to B and all outside
calls to them will pass through B. The calls are traced in dotted lines.

A C

Local
B &
T andem

Local D

Figure 1.8

1.6 Interworking between exchanges

We have seen that in a city there will be a group of Exchanges while other areas
are served by single exchanges with defined Exchange Areas. When a nationwide
telephone network is built, a large number of local exchanges are involved. It is not
practical to have direct connections among all of them. Therefore they are usually
interconnected through trunk exchanges (Figure l.9). To save many direct circuits
the 'star' connection with main and Satellite arrangement can be adopted.
Junction
circuit

Local
Exch.

T runk
Exch.

Figure 1.9

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

All calls between local Areas are called "Trunk" calls and this exchange will have
the function of 'exchanging' trunk calls between local areas. The connecting
circuits are called "junction" circuits. In actual practice, one Trunk Exchange will
not be sufficient to serve a country. This means that we are faced with a situation
where several Trunk Exchanges need to be interconnected. This can, again in the
same way be made possible by connecting all the trunk exchanges to a higher order
Exchange, which we will call a "Transit" or "Trunk Transit" exchange as in
Figure 1.10. The circuits connecting these exchanges are called 'trunk circuits'. You
will notice that this exchange will handle only the calls between the trunk
exchanges. As an illustration, in Sri Lanka, the Transit exchange is situated in
Colombo and handles calls between all the trunk exchanges in the country.

T runk Circuits

Junction Circuits

Figure 1.10

Let us take an example of a call from Peradeniya to Ambalangoda.

First the call will proceed to the Kandy trunk exchange, then via Colombo transit
exchange, Galle trunk exchange and finally to Ambalangoda local exchange.
In large countries, however, not one but a number of such "Transit" exchanges are
required, and these exchanges are usually connected in a mesh network as shown in
Figure 1.11.
Even in Sri Lanka, with the widespread, use of telephones such a network is
planned to be adopted in the near future.
A network configuration as shown in Figure 1.11, covering the whole country
makes up the public telecommunications network in a country. The ultimate goal is
to enable calls to be set up between any two telephones anywhere in the country
and this is possible as long as they lie within this network configuration. In modern
systems high capacity optical transmission systems are used for junction circuits
and trunk circuits. And common channel signalling is used for signalling between
trunk exchanges and transit exchanges.

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

T ransit
Exch.

Junction
Circuits

T runk
Circuits

Trunk
Exch.

Local
Exch.

Figure 1.11

1.6 International Telecommunications

With rapid development of communications over the past years, international
communications have become very reliable and also relatively cheaper thus
making such communications more and more popular among the people. A public
network is therefore, not complete without access to the outside world. For this
purpose a higher order exchange, called an International Gateway Exchange with
access from the highest order national Transit exchanges, is established. Each
country has at least one international switching centre to which trunk exchanges
are connected. High capacity optical fibre submarine cables or microwave satellite
systems make up the world wide telecommunication network interconnecting
different countries.

1.7 Switching Hierarchy

As the telephone networks grew, it became necessary to interconnect local
exchanges with trunks. With further growth of network, new exchanges were
needed to interconnect local exchanges and a second level of switching, trunk or

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

transit exchanges. Currently national networks have several switching levels.

Fig. 1.12 shows a typical example of a possible network hierarchy.

Figure 1.12 An example of switching hierarchy.

This arrangement of exchanges in a hierarchy allows easier call routing.

Usually international connections are at the top of the hierarchy and handled by
international traffic exchange. The regional exchanges are at the next level and
secondary and primary exchanges are at next lower levels of the hierarchy.

1.8 Factors considered in telephone network planning

There are a number of factors to be considered in planning a
telecommunication network. The major planning tasks include,

• Number planning – assigning the telephone numbers and deciding the

make-up of the number to allow easier routing of calls.
• Routing plan – deciding the efficient routing paths of calls.
• Transmission plan – deciding how the calls are actually transmitted.
• Charging plan – Implementation of call charging.
Now let us learn about these factors in more detail.

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

1.9 Number Planning

At this stage we have seen that a country will consist of a number of exchanges
with groups of such exchanges connected to Primary Centres (P.C) and with
groups of P.C s connected to Secondary Centres (S.C.) and so on. With such
complex networks of many exchanges it is necessary that we identify each
exchange. While in a manual system it is possible to identify exchanges by name,
in automatic systems this has to be done by assigning a number to each and every
exchange in the country. This we call an Exchange Code number. A single digit
from 0 to 9 can define up to 10 exchanges while 2 digits from 00 to 99 can define
up to 100 exchanges. Normally "0" and "1" are used for special purposes which
means only 8 and 80 numbers can be identified with single or two digits
respectively. If we have more than 80 exchanges, then of course we go for three
digits which can cater up to 800 exchanges, and so on.

We will consider a simple case of three Secondary Centres serving a country each
with its P.C. s as Figure 1.13.

232
231
312

221 311 321

P.C.
222 23 313
31
233 32
322
22 P.C.
223 323

2 3
331

212
211
33
332
21
Local
Exch. 333
213 411

4 41
412

431 413

433
43
421

432 42
422

423

Figure 1.13

The three Secondary Centres can be designated 2, 3 and 4. The P.C. s of S.C. '2'
with 21, 22 ... In the same way, the local exchange of P.C. '22' will be 221, 222,...

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 ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

You will now appreciate that numbers have been assigned so that a stage by stage
selection can be made. For instance, the area code number '354' will define the
Secondary Centre '3', its PC '35' and finally its local exchange '354'. Once the
exchange is fixed then the number of the subscriber follows. In example '213' after
'354' means the telephone number '213' of the exchange '354'.

Each telephone in a telecommunication network has a unique telephone number.

The planning of telephone numbers are done in a hierarchical manner. Let us now
look at how it is done in more detail.

Figure 1.14 Structure of the telephone number hierarchy

National numbering
As you see in the Figure 1.14 a national number contains Subscriber Trunk
Dialling (STD) prefix, area code and the subscriber number. For national numbers
‘0’ is used as the STD prefix and it helps to identify local calls and outgoing calls
in a particular local exchange. Next part of the telephone number is the area code
which defines the area of the country where the call needs to be routed. For
example Colombo area has the area code of 11.
The subscriber number contains the exchange number and the directory number.
The area code and the subscriber number together make a unique identification for a
subscriber at national level. If a subscriber calls another subscriber in the same area
he need not to use the area code and only subscriber number can be used.
Q1. If the subscriber A calls B what is the shortest number needed to be dialed?
Answer: Since both A & B has the same area code, B can be called just by dialing
the subscriber number omitting the area code. Therefore the answer is 2234534.
(However the number with the area code can also be used to call B).
Q2. If the subscriber A calls C what is the shortest number needed to be dialed?
Answer: Since A and C are in different areas the full number of C with the area code
needs to be dialed. Therefore the answer is 03442278211.

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

The present numbering system for the local telecommunication structure in Sri
Lanka is a ten digit uniform numbering system which helps to increase the number
of exchanges and the number of subscribers. An example is shown in Figure 1.14.
The 10 digit numbering plan will provide for uniform 10 digit number across fixed
and mobile lines. It consists of the STD prefix plus 2-digit area code plus a 7-digit
subscriber number. The digit after the area code gives the carrier company that the
subscriber belongs to. (Whether SLT, Suntel, Lankabel etc.)
Mobile lines have a geographic identity determined by the area code and also new
numbering plan will enable the introduction of emerging services.

International numbering
The first part of an international telephone number is international prefix. This is
usually 00 or +. If this is dialled by a subscriber, the exchange gets to know that the
user is trying an international number. Next part is the country code. This is an
internationally agreed code by all the telephone operators in the world. Sri Lanka
has the country code 94. Country codes are not needed for national or local calls
made by subscribers. The final part of the telephone number is the subscriber
number which identifies the user in a particular area. STD prefix ‘0’ is omitted in
an international call.

1.10 Telephone Call Routing

Telephone calls that are carried by the network are routed according to a plan, a set
of rules. The routing plan includes the numbering plan and network configuration.
From the received signalling information (dialled digits), a switching system
identifies the destination and determine the route to or toward the destination.
Hierarchical routing and alternate routing are used as routing methods.
Let’s see an example for hierarchical routing. Consider the case of an international
number dialled by a subscriber in Sri Lanka dials 00 at the beginning. This allows
all the exchanges in the switching hierarchy to identify this as an international call
and route it up in the hierarchy to the international switching centre. A regional
number dialled starting with 0 will be routed to the tertiary centre and then after
analysing the digits following 0 it will be routed to the appropriate primary centre
and then the destination subscriber.

S.A.Q. 1

Indicate the path taken by a call from a local exchange to another

(a) in the same Secondary Centre Area
(b) in the same Tertiary Centre Area
(c) in a different Tertiary Centre Area.

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ECX4233 - Session 01 - Introduction to telecommunication networks

Discussion
(a) This means that local exchanges though belonging to different Primary
Centres are connected to the same Secondary Centre.

Thus the call will proceed from the local exchange to its P.C, then to its S.C, to the
other P.C to which the desired local exchange belongs and hence to the local
exchange and ultimately the called subscriber. The path is as shown in Figure 1.15.

(c )
T .C.

(b)
S.C.

(a)

P.C.

Figure 1.15

(b) This means that though belonging to different Primary and Secondary
Centres, the latter are connected to the same Tertiary Centre. This path is
traced in dotted lines.
(c) In this case, T.C. s too are different, which means that call has to progress
right up to the T.C access to the other T.C and come down to the local
exchange. This path is traced in thick. It is mainly economic the
consideration that determine the structure of the network for any country.

The routing plan includes the alternate routing paths in high traffic situations. In
alternate routing, if one path is not available, an available alternate path is selected.
When alternate routing is used, the actual path a telephone call takes may not
resemble what the subscriber actually dialled.

1.11 Telephone call charging (Tariff)

There can be various different tariff structures for telephone call charging. We will
look at few key features of telephone tariff. Usually calls are categorized as local,
regional and overseas and different charging methods may apply to each category.
Usually a charging time unit is defined. For example 30 second charging unit may
be defined so that charging takes place in discrete units of time. If you make a 50
second call, you will be charged for two time units. In some tariff structures, time
allowed for first time unit may be different from the second time unit and time
units are equally charged.

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