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COLLEGE OF INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY AND
ENGINEERING

ECELEC 4 –
Communications
Engineering
Design
LABORATORY ACTIVITY 3

ELECTR ONICS ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

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COLLEGE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING
ELECTR ONIC S ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
E CE LEC 4 – COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN ACTIVITY MANUAL

LABORATORY ACTIVITY 3
THE CENTRAL OFFICE: A Class Visit Activity

ECELec4
Communications Systems Design

Submitted by:
Atienza, Marvin James
BS ECE – T5B

Submitted to:
Engr. Duwi Iscala Instructor

February 24, 2020

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COLLEGE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING
ELECTR ONIC S ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
E CE LEC 4 – COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN ACTIVITY MANUAL

LABORATORY ACTIVITY #3: THE CENTRAL OFFICE: A Class Visit Activity I.

OBJECTIVES
1. To investigate how a local loop is working in relation to the PSTN.
2. To be familiar with the central office facilities as an important part of a
telephone system.

II. DISCUSSION
Central Office. The central office or local exchange is the facility to which your
telephone is directly connected by a twisted-pair cable. Also known as an end office
(EO), the local exchange can serve up to 10,000 subscribers, each of whom is identii
ed by a f our-digit number from 0000 through 9999 (the last four digits of the
telephone number). The local exchange also has an exchange number. These are the
three additional digits that make up a telephone number. Obviously, there can be as
many as 1000 exchanges with numbers from 000 through 999. These exchanges
become part of an area code region, which is dei ned by an additional three-digit
number. Each area code is fully contained within one of the geographic areas
assigned to one of the regional operating companies. These companies are called
local exchange carriers, or local exchange companies (LECs).
Operational Relationships. The LECs provide telephone services to designated
geographic areas referred to as local access and transport areas (LATAs). The LECs
provide the telephone
Coding
Test signal
Telephone hierarchy
Central office (local exchange)
Local exchange companies (or carriers; LECs)
Local access and transport areas (LATAs) service for the LATAs within their
regions but do not provide long-distance service for the LATAs.

I. COMPONENTS NEEDED
ITEM NO. DESCRIPTION QUANTITY
1 PC or Laptop 1set
2 Paper and pen 1set
3 Access to the Internet
4 Scientific Calculator 1 pc

II. PROCEDURE
1. Each group shall contact a local representative of the carrier to schedule a tour. The
visit should be focused on the facilities of the Central Office or data center in the
community.
2. View the phone-switching system/data switches and connections involved.
3. Notice the complexity nd sophistication of the PSTN environment today, and then
answer the following questions
A. Who is the manufacturer of the switch?

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COLLEGE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING
ELECTR ONIC S ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
E CE LEC 4 – COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN ACTIVITY MANUAL

B. What is the model number?

C. How many lines does it provide?

D. What are the types of connections offered?

E. Note the basics of interconnection with an LEC/IXC provider(s) and the
trunking involved. What are they? INTERCONNECT DIAGRAM 3.1
F. Is the actual facility specially engineered to resist natural disasters? LIST 3.1
G. What is the average uptime in percent? What does this translate to in days
and hours of downtime? Does this figure surprise you?
3. Prepare a document regarding your group tour.
NOTE: If a CO is unavailable, an ISP would serve as an alternate.

4. Draw a local loop diagram and label each part. What are the devices involved in a local
loop? Present each a picture of these compoents.
DATA AND RESULTS

TABLE 3.1: Answer to Outlined Questions

NAME OF MODEL NUMBER OF TYPE OF

MANUFACTURER NUMBER LINES CONNECTIONS
OFFERED

INTERCONNECT DIAGRAM 3.1:

LIST 3.1: DISASTER PREPAREDNESS ENGINEERING FEATURES

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COLLEGE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING
ELECTR ONIC S ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
E CE LEC 4 – COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN ACTIVITY MANUAL

TABLE 3.2: Uptime

Average Uptime (%) Downtime (days) Downtime (hours) COMMENT

DIAGRAM 3.2: LOCAL LOOP

LIST 3.2 : Components of local loop

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COLLEGE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING
ELECTR ONIC S ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
E CE LEC 4 – COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN ACTIVITY MANUAL

I. QUESTIONS
1. Define specifically what is meant by the local loop.

In telephony, a local loop refers to the connection between a telecommunication

company's CO to the lines in the service subscriber's home or office. Originally, local
loop service carried only telephone service to subscribers. But today, with the use of
modems, ISDN and DSL signals are transmitted to subscribers as well through the
local loop.

2. What type of power supply is used to power a standard telephone, what are its
specifications, and where is it located?

In the United States, the voltage applied to the line to drive the telephone is 48 volts
DC; the UK use 50 volts DC and on some modern exchanges the voltage can reach
60 volts. Note that telephones are peculiar, in that the signal line is also the power
supply line. The voltage used to be supplied by lead acid cells, floated across a
power source, thus assuring a hum-free supply and complete independence from the
electric company, which may be especially useful during power outages. Today the
modern exchanges have sealed cells interspersed amongst the system racks.

3. State the characteristics of the ringing signal supplied by the telephone company.
Ringing is a telecommunication signal that causes a bell or other device to alert a
telephone subscriber to an incoming telephone call. Historically, this entailed sending
a high-voltage alternating current over the telephone line to a customer station which
contained an electromagnetic bell. It is therefore also commonly referred to as power
ringing, to distinguish it from another signal, audible ringing, or ringing tone, which is
sent to the originating caller to indicate that the destination telephone is in fact ringing.
A ring generator or ringing voltage generator is a
device which outputs 20 cycle sinusoidal AC at up to 110
volts peak to power bells or annunciators in one or more
telephone extensions. The output stops if a handset is taken
off the hook.
In terminology devised by phone phreaks, a ringing generator is a magenta box.
The device can be used to simulate an incoming call by applying the AC ringing signal
voltage to a POTS line to make the telephones on that line ring. A magenta box in
conjunction with an orange box (which emulates the caller ID signal to create falsified
data) is called a vermilion box.

4. What is a hybrid?
A hybrid telephone system can be thought of as a
stepping-stone between a typical analog telephone system
and a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephone system. Normally, the
aim of a hybrid telephone system is to ensure a smooth
transition to VoIP in the future.

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COLLEGE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING
ELECTR ONIC S ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
E CE LEC 4 – COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN ACTIVITY MANUAL

5. True or false? Most telephone companies can still accommodate pulse dial
telephones. True.
6. Define what is meant by tip and ring and state the colors used to represent them.
Tip and Ring is the sections of the telephone cable, mini-phone and sub-mini
connectors that represent the different conductors. Tip (T) and Ring (R), along with
Sleeve (S), are used in two-drive (TS), three-drive (TRS) and four-drive (TRRS)
versions.Phone cable generally contains two pairs of wires for two telephone lines.
The first pair is green (tip) and red (ring); the second pair is black (tip) and yellow
(ring). For Telephone Cabling with 25-pair to a 66 or 110 Block, the primary color
order is blue, orange, green, brown, and slate. The secondary color order is white,
red, black, yellow, and violet. Tip is the secondary color, with marks of the primary
color (i.e., white with blue marks). Ring is the primary color, with marks of the
secondary color (i.e., blue with white marks).

7. What is the name of the building or facility to which every telephone is connected?
The telephone exchange or telephone switch is a telecommunications device
used in the public switched telephone network or in large companies. This
interconnects telephone service lines or automated circuits with computer systems to
make telephone calls between subscribers.

8. What is the purpose of the bridge rectifier circuit at the input to the connection of the
telephone to the line to the telephone company?
A telephone instrument including a bridge rectifier
circuit comprising a bridge of switching transistors having
their control terminals connected to switch the transistors to
provide either full wave rectification of an AC input voltage
or polarity connection correction of a DC input voltage of
either polarity, the switching transistors being all of the
same polarity type, and at least two floating drivers
connected to generate and supply control potentials to the
control terminals respectively of a pair of the switching
transistors, the rectifier circuit providing a DC supply for
electronic circuitry within the instrument, and including an
isolating switch arranged to isolate the DC output of the
rectifier circuit from the circuitry in the instrument in
response to dialing signals generated in the instrument,
wherein the isolating switch comprises a switching transistor
in series with the DC output of the rectifier circuit, and a
floating driver connected to supply a control potential across
the control terminals of the switching transistor, said floating
driver being responsive to a control signal produced by the
telephone instrument to indicate that dialing signals are
being generated, to turn off the switching transistor.

9. What do you call the circuits that make up the connections to each telephone at the
telephone office?

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COLLEGE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING
ELECTR ONIC S ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
E CE LEC 4 – COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN ACTIVITY MANUAL

Public Switched Telephone network (PSTN)

10. What is a key telephone system?

Throughout enterprise IT, the Key Telephone System (KTS) is a
telecommunications system which transforms a single public switched telephone
network (PSTN) line into an array of internal business lines. This basic phone
system allows users to use different internal lines from a standard telephone screen
package.

11. Does your local telephone company supply long- distance service?
PLDT, formerly known as the Philippine long-distance Telephone Company is a
telecommunications, internet, and digital service holdings company in the
Philippines. It is one of the country's major telecommunications providers and the
top provider in the area. Founded in 1928, it is the oldest and largest telecom
company and capable of providing a long-distance service however, in exchange,
they give an extra charge on it.

12. Define POTS and PSTN.

Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) or plain ordinary telephone service is a
retronym for voice-grade telephone service using analog signal delivery over
copper loops. POTS was a standard service package from telephone companies in
the United States from 1876 to 1988, when the Integrated Services Digital Network
(ISDN) Basic Rate Interface (BRI) was developed, followed by cellular telephone
and voice over IP (VoIP) networks. POTS remains the basic form of residential and
small business network service in many parts of the world. The concept represents
the technology available since the introduction of the universal telephone system at
the end of the 19th century, largely unchanged following the advent of Touch-Tone
dialing, automated telephone exchanges and fiber optic connectivity into the public
switched telephone network (PSTN). The Public Switched Telephone Network
(PSTN) is the composite of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks
operated by central, regional or municipal telephone operators providing public
telecommunications

Conclusion:

In this experiment, I learned that local loops work together with the Public-
Switched Telephone System for a common goal that is to connects people in a
public switched telephone network. Local loops are constituted by twisted pairs
made of copper which connects the telephone providers central office up to the
subscribers’ homes and vice versa.

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COLLEGE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING
ELECTR ONIC S ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
E CE LEC 4 – COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN ACTIVITY MANUAL

Moreover, the central office is vital for a telephone company concerned in

providing the telephone system to various subscribers. It acts as a connection of
a subscriber at home and business line in a local loop.

Recommendations:

1. Everyone in the group must help each other to understand the

experiment so they will easily answer the given questions.
2. The group must do an advance reading about the experiment to save
time and to conduct the experiment properly and successfully.
3. Everybody must share their knowledge on their research.