Professional Documents
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SILVER
CERTIFICATION COURSE
DIGITAL SWITCHING SYSTEM
TESTING, TRAFFIC & BILLING
ADMINSTRATION
Version 2 June 2014
Digital Switching Systems (DSS) Testing , Traffic & Billing Administration
INDEX
STRUCTURE
5.1 OBJECTIVE
5.2 INTRODUCTION
5.3 TESTING
5.4 TYPES OF SUPERVISION
5.5 VARIOUS USES OF PROCESSED TRAFFIC DATA
5.6 TRAFFIC MEASUREMENTS
5.7 DATA COLLECTION
5.8 DATA STORAGE
5.9 BACKUP MANAGEMENT
5.10 CHARGING
5.11 CDR
5.12 TRAFFIC ADMINISTRATION
5.13 SUMMARY
5.14 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
5.1 OBJECTIVE
The objective of this unit is to
Explain the parameters related to external plant and testing of subscriber
List the importance of traffic administration
List the various uses of processed data
Enumerate the different classification of traffic measurements
To make the reader understand the various activities performed by the
system software to decide the charges for calls
5.2 INTRODUCTION
Administration of a telephone exchange involves such day-to- day operations as
putting new subscriber lines into service, modifying subscriber's entitlements, transfer of
a subscriber line and taking a subscriber line out of service. In the same way the
connectivity with other exchanges in the network is also maintained for efficient working
of the exchanges.
Traffic administration is one of the most important tasks performed by the
administration software because it provides a meaningful index to the exchange
performance. Traffic administration consists of various types of supervisions of traffic
flow, which accrues from different entities of the exchange. Supervision and
measurement of the traffic handled by an exchange have two distinct sets of objectives,
corresponding to two types of supervisions.
Billing or charging is one of the important functions done by the exchange during
the course of performing the switching functions, a number of events are significant from
the billing or charging point of view. These events are recognized and recorded by the
system software which is used for deciding the charging.
5.3 TESTING
CABINET PILLAR
PILLAR
Primary cable
OVER HEAD LINE
D.P.
EX SECONDARY CABLE
CH DISTRIBUTION CABLE SUBS EQUIPMENT
Wedging of subscriber line at MDF is required to separate the internal side from external
side for testing purposes. MML may be used with directory number or internal equipment
number of any subscriber to test any line.
Noise.
Attenuation:
It is the strength of signal off with distance over any transmission medium.
Noise:
For any data transmission event, the received signal will consist of the transmitted
signal, modified by the various distortions imposed by the transmission system, plus
additional unwanted signals that are inserted somewhere between transmission and
reception.
Impulse Noise
Thermal noise
Crosstalk
Inter-modulation noise
a) Impulse noise:
It is noncontiguous consisting of irregular pulses or noise spikes of short duration
and of relatively high amplitude. It is generated from lightning and faults and
flaws in the communications system. Impulse noise is the primary source of error
in digital data communication
b) Thermal Noise:
Results from thermal agitation of electrons in a conductor. Evenly distributed over
the entire radio frequency spectrum: white noise. It is present in all electronic devices and
transmission media and is a function of temperature. In the FM broadcast band where
there is no station, the hiss in the background is the thermal noise. Thermal noise cannot
be eliminated.
c) Cross talk:
Whenever a current flows through a conductor, a magnetic field is set up around
the conductor inducing the current flows in other conductor. It is the most important of
the capacity limiting noise. It is caused by electromagnetic radiation of other phone lines
in close proximity or may be from within the same cable. The crosstalk will decrease as
the bandwidth increases. The closer the different wires get to each other the stronger the
coupling increases. The crosstalk is typically worse between two pairs in the same binder
than in the adjacent binders.
d) Inter-modulation noise:
It results when signals of different frequencies share the same transmission
medium. It produces signals at a frequency that is the sum or difference of the two
original frequencies or multiples of those frequencies.
b) Fault in cable
Basically two components are responsible for deterioration of the performance of
a cable the resistance and the capacitance of the wires. So long as the parameters of the
cable, mainly different resistance components and capacitance, are within the prescribed
limit, the plant is called a Healthy Plant
Value of such components gets affected due to
Cut in cable When a cable is hit either the wires are cut causing disconnection
or the insulation is damaged so that resistance is affected
The following parameters which can tell the health of the pair which must be
measured:
(i) A.C. potential on limbs (L1, L2) Ideally there shall not be any A.C.
potential. A.C. potential is caused for one or more of the following reasons.
Direct contact.
Induction from power cable.
Induction by the ringing current in other pair.
Partial or direct contact with other pair in the same cable carrying ringing
current.
(ii) D.C. potential on limbs (L3, L4) Ideally no D.C. potential other than
exchange potential shall be available. D.C. potential from other source comes
in for one or more of the following reasons.
Direct contact with power cable.
Partial or direct contact with other live pair in the same cable.
(iii) Limb to earth resistance (L5, L6) In a good pair it is of the order of
MOhm.
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Digital Switching Systems (DSS) Testing , Traffic & Billing Administration
(iv) Cross insulation of a pair (L7) It is the resistance between the limbs
(cross insulation) of a pair. In a good pair it is of the order of Mohm.
In cable joint the individual twists i.e., the limbs are electrically insulated from
each other by the use of button and jelly. When water enters into a joint, with time
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For Restricted Circulation
Digital Switching Systems (DSS) Testing , Traffic & Billing Administration
insulation property of the filling material (jelly) deteriorates and a leaky current starts
flowing, in other words
Insulation between limbs (cross insulation Rx) or between limb and earth
(Ra, Rb) starts decreasing (fig 3).
A.C. potential comes into picture from other pair carrying ringing tone etc.
D.C. potential of other live pairs (from exchange battery) interferes.
Insulation among pairs starts decreasing (because of exchange earth from
other live pairs).
Under such circumstances performance of operation degrades (resistance &
capacitance changes) and under extreme condition one limb of the pair breaks and thus
operation on the pair stops.
Tes
t
equipment
d) Fault in cabinet / Pillar
Disconnection fault due to broken tag block A tag block broken due to
overuse causes such fault and this an indication that there is trouble in
cable network.
Disconnection fault due to improper punch It may be due to wrong
punch / defect of punching tool / use of wire of lower gauge
Low insulation fault Such fault is caused inside the module and it is due
to seepage of water in the module
e) Fault at DP termination
Fault at DP termination is similar to that of cabinet / pillar termination
DIGITAL DIGITAL
NETWORK SUBSCRIBER S
CSN 30B+D TERMINAL TERMINAL TE2
2048 kb/s
B
TABN U
TNR TNR S
LT CARD
NT1 NT2 TE3
2B+D
192 kb/s
TE4
TE5
Tests on request
Tests on request are mainly used :
When installing a new line or a new set, to check they are working correctly,
following a subscriber complaint, in order to confirm and possibly refine the
diagnostic given by the routine line testing command.
5.3.3 Types of measurement:
Measurements on a line
To check whether the electrical characteristics are correct on an open-loop line.On
4-wire equipment units measurements are made first on the reception pair and then on the
transmission pair.
a) Measurements on a set (analogue subscriber)
The purpose of these measurements is to check whether the subscriber equipment
(push-button or dial set) is working correctly. Communication must be set up between the
subscriber and the operator prior to these measurements.
b) Measurements concerning the subscriber premises meter (specific for export)
These tests consist in sending a number of remote charging pulses (they can be of
several kinds) to the subscriber's meter and then the operator communicates with the
subscriber to check if the results are in compliance. During subscriber premises meter
testing no increments are added to the subscriber's charge meter.
exchange and network reasons, terminals (lines and trunks) under maintenance. Also they
indicate delays like dial tone delay, post dialling delay etc. which are indicative of the
efficiency of administrative personnel or in other words dissatisfaction that is caused to
the subscribers by the exchange performance.
b) Expansion scheduling: Gradually adding more subscribers, trunks etc. to the exchange
without deterioration in the service.
c) Telephony resource dimensioning for any exchange is done on the basis of expected
traffic flow carried by the exchange. With the help of traffic reports, it is possible to get a
feedback on the correctness of dimensioning based on the actual traffic flow carried by
the exchange and hence take necessary corrective action.
d) Network planning in order to suitably provides exchanges, tandems, trunks etc. in the
given area with optimal usage of resources.
e) Fault location on inter-exchange trunk circuits, subscriber lines, service circuits etc. by
observing the causes of call failure through various counters.
f) Port performance measurement in order to observe the quality of service being
provided to a specific port. It may be subscriber port, PBX port etc.
g) Miscellaneous observations like Busy Hour Call Attempts (BHCA), Busy Hour (BH)
and call mixes can be made which can be later used for better resource scheduling.
h) Traffic reports also indicate the calls failed due to subscriber problems. These include:
no dialling, incomplete dialling, and incorrect dialing, illegal attempts (i.e. services to
which they are not eligible), incorrect utilization of special services and long duration
conversations etc. Quite a few calls (more than 50%) fail due to these reasons. It is
possible to know these figures, even on a per subscriber basis so that subscribers can be
educated on efficient utilization of services provided by the exchange and thus prevent
unnecessary overloading of the exchange due to repeated attempts in a busy state. This
may be done through recorded announcements, etc.
5.6 TRAFFIC MEASUREMENTS
Measurement of traffic may be classified depending upon the type and purpose of
the measurement. There can be four such classes.
1. Exchange Traffic Statistics
Consists of measures that reflect the performance and utilization of exchange as a
whole. These generally include traffic intensity, call counts, ineffective attempt counts
etc.
2. Component Measurement
Consists of measures reflecting the performance and utilization of the individual
exchange entities such as trunk groups, service circuits, etc.
3. Network Measurements
Measures which reflect the performance and utilization of the switching network
e.g. usage counts of terminal interface, time switch, space switch etc.
4. Customer Measurements
Consists of measures reflecting the utilization and performance of an individual
subscriber line e.g. number of originations, call mix etc.
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Digital Switching Systems (DSS) Testing , Traffic & Billing Administration
5.10 CHARGING
The events which are significant from the charging point of view include
the dialled digits, the moment a customer answers and the moment of disconnection.
The first step in the billing process is the recognition of the events and
immediate recording of data. This data collection is done by the call processing
software.
The next step involves processing of the data for preparing the billing records.
The type of call is checked and if the call is successful within the unit fee zone,
no Detailed Billing Record is formed For successful ISD, STD & Regional
calls, Detail Billing Records are prepared which contains detailed information
about the call and charging. Detail Billing Records are also prepared for local
calls involving those subscribers which have been put under observation for
local billing.
The third step is the storage of the processed data. Data storage is done on a
regular basis.
A facility is available in local electronic exchanges for storing detailed charge
information about calls made from each line. A printout of this information is also
available. The detailed information stored includes:
Date and time of call
Calling subscriber's directory number
Digits dialled by the subscriber
Called subscriber's directory number
Duration and number of charge pulses
5.10.1 Charging Files
Two types of data are stored in charging files : metering data, defining how calls
must be charged (including tariffs) and the contents of subscribers' individual charge
meters.
Metering data is used to compute the charge for each call completed through to
the called party. The data is supplied to the call processing software in the form of a
charging code when it analyzes the dialled digits. In the case of time and distance
(periodic pulse) metering at a rate determined locally or in accordance with information
transmitted back from a distant exchange, the metering rate (i.e., the interval between
successive incrementing of the subscriber's meter) depends not only on the distance
between the calling and called parties, but also on the time of day and day of the year,
which determines the appropriate set of tariffs.
For bulk billing, each subscriber line has an individual 'charge meter' defined in
the exchange memory to accumulate the charges payable by the subscriber. This applies
to both individual and PBX hunt group lines. As a general rule, the contents of the charge
meters cannot be modified by the operating personnel as part of normal exchange
administration. This explains why the contents of a line's meter are output by the
exchange each time an administration operation modifies the conditions governing
charging for the line. The preparation of bills usually takes place at a separate computer
center common to, for example, an entire region.
For this, the contents of all meters are periodically copied onto a portable
secondary storage device such as tape for transport to the billing center, or are directly
transmitted to the later over a data communication link. The meters are never reset/
initialised. The billing computer then calculates the bills for individual lines, based on the
difference between the current and previous meter values, and also calculates the total bill
for each customer served by a line group.
Within the exchange, charge meters can be assigned to equipment numbers or to
directory (or pseudo directory) numbers. However, bills refer only to directory numbers.
In the case of itemized billing, the exchange temporarily records all necessary
information on each successful call (called number, time and duration of call, etc.), then
outputs a message containing this information to a mass storage device e.g. hard disk, at
the end of the call.
The bearer channel Timeslot identifier ( For eg: 1 through 31 for E1)
A description of the cause for call disconnect
All incoming call requests are recorded, time-stamped and identified by the call
request qualifier to help trace network events triggered by call request. Call failures may
occur during call setup or tear-down and the failures will be recorded in CDR files which
will include all available information identifying the call as well as failure codes. Some
examples of failure codes in mnemonics are:
Normal call clearing
No user response
Call rejected etc.
Call detail records, both local and long distance, can be used for usage
verification, billing reconciliation, network management and to monitor telephone usage
to determine volume of the phone usage as well as misuse of the companys telephone
system.CDR analysis gives the following advantages:
Review all CDRs for accuracy
Verify costs and usage
Resolves discrepancies with vendors
Disconnect unused service
Terminate leases on unused equipments
Deter or detect toll fraud of long distant services
Negotiate the most cost-effective call routing
Centralised 5.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 C
D
Billing & R
Acccounting
System B Exchange
u
f
f
e
r
TCP/IP
Interface RS232 Interface
5.13 SUMMARY
This unit explains the parameters for External Plant .like Attenuation, challenge,
Delay Distortion, Noise. It also describes components of external plant with their
probable reason of fault. This unit also explains the importance of traffic reports, various
uses of traffic data. It also enumerates how the data collection is done and stored in the
system. The data is presented when asked by means of man machine commands. The
stored data is backed up for restoration purposes during crisis management This unit
also gives details about how charging is decided by the system and what are information
available in detailed billing record.