Switching techniques

In large networks, there can be multiple paths from sender to receiver. The switching
technique will decide the best route for data transmission.

Switching technique is used to connect the systems for making one-to-one

communication.

Classification Of Switching Techniques

Circuit Switching
o Circuit switching is a switching technique that establishes a dedicated path
between sender and receiver.
 o In the Circuit Switching Technique, once the connection is established then the
dedicated path will remain to exist until the connection is terminated.
o Circuit switching in a network operates in a similar way as the telephone works.
o A complete end-to-end path must exist before the communication takes place.
o In case of circuit switching technique, when any user wants to send the data,
voice, video, a request signal is sent to the receiver then the receiver sends back
the acknowledgment to ensure the availability of the dedicated path. After
receiving the acknowledgment, dedicated path transfers the data.
o Circuit switching is used in public telephone network. It is used for voice
transmission.
o Fixed data can be transferred at a time in circuit switching technology.

Communication through circuit switching has 3 phases:

o Circuit establishment
o Data transfer
o Circuit Disconnect

Circuit Switching can use either of the two technologies:

Space Division Switches:

o Space Division Switching is a circuit switching technology in which a single

transmission path is accomplished in a switch by using a physically separate set
of crosspoints.
o Space Division Switching can be achieved by using crossbar switch. A crossbar
switch is a metallic Crosspoint or semiconductor gate that can be enabled or
disabled by a control unit.
 o The Crossbar switch is made by using the semiconductor. For example, Xilinx
crossbar switch using FPGAs.
o Space Division Switching has high speed, high capacity, and nonblocking
switches.

Advantages Of Circuit Switching:

o In the case of Circuit Switching technique, the communication channel is

dedicated.
o It has fixed bandwidth.

Disadvantages Of Circuit Switching:

o Once the dedicated path is established, the only delay occurs in the speed of
data transmission.
o It takes a long time to establish a connection approx 10 seconds during which
no data can be transmitted.
o It is more expensive than other switching techniques as a dedicated path is
required for each connection.
o It is inefficient to use because once the path is established and no data is
transferred, then the capacity of the path is wasted.
o In this case, the connection is dedicated therefore no other data can be
transferred even if the channel is free.

Message Switching

o Message Switching is a switching technique in which a message is transferred

as a complete unit and routed through intermediate nodes at which it is stored
and forwarded.
o In Message Switching technique, there is no establishment of a dedicated path
between the sender and receiver.
o The destination address is appended to the message. Message Switching
provides a dynamic routing as the message is routed through the intermediate
nodes based on the information available in the message.
o Message switches are programmed in such a way so that they can provide the
most efficient routes.
 o Each and every node stores the entire message and then forward it to the next
node. This type of network is known as store and forward network.
o Message switching treats each message as an independent entity.

Advantages Of Message Switching

o Data channels are shared among the communicating devices that improve the
efficiency of using available bandwidth.
o Traffic congestion can be reduced because the message is temporarily stored
in the nodes.
o Message priority can be used to manage the network.
o The size of the message which is sent over the network can be varied. Therefore,
it supports the data of unlimited size.

Disadvantages Of Message Switching

o The message switches must be equipped with sufficient storage to enable them
to store the messages until the message is forwarded.
o The Long delay can occur due to the storing and forwarding facility provided
by the message switching technique.

Packet Switching

o The packet switching is a switching technique in which the message is sent in

one go, but it is divided into smaller pieces, and they are sent individually.
 o The message splits into smaller pieces known as packets and packets are given
a unique number to identify their order at the receiving end.
o Every packet contains some information in its headers such as source address,
destination address and sequence number.
o Packets will travel across the network, taking the shortest path as possible.
o All the packets are reassembled at the receiving end in correct order.
o If any packet is missing or corrupted, then the message will be sent to resend
the message.
o If the correct order of the packets is reached, then the acknowledgment
message will be sent.

Approaches Of Packet Switching:

There are two approaches to Packet Switching:

Datagram Packet switching:

o It is a packet switching technology in which packet is known as a datagram, is

considered as an independent entity. Each packet contains the information
about the destination and switch uses this information to forward the packet to
the correct destination.
o The packets are reassembled at the receiving end in correct order.
o In Datagram Packet Switching technique, the path is not fixed.
o Intermediate nodes take the routing decisions to forward the packets.
o Datagram Packet Switching is also known as connectionless switching.

Virtual Circuit Switching

o Virtual Circuit Switching is also known as connection-oriented switching.

 o In the case of Virtual circuit switching, a preplanned route is established before
the messages are sent.
o Call request and call accept packets are used to establish the connection
between sender and receiver.
o In this case, the path is fixed for the duration of a logical connection.

Let's understand the concept of virtual circuit switching through a diagram:

o In the above diagram, A and B are the sender and receiver respectively. 1 and 2
are the nodes.
o Call request and call accept packets are used to establish a connection between
the sender and receiver.
o When a route is established, data will be transferred.
o After transmission of data, an acknowledgment signal is sent by the receiver
that the message has been received.
o If the user wants to terminate the connection, a clear signal is sent for the
termination.
 Spread Spectrum
The increasing demand for wireless communications has problems due to limited
spectrum efficiency and multipath propagation. The use of spread spectrum
communication has simplified these problems. In the spread spectrum, signals from
different sources are combined to fit into larger bandwidth.

Most stations use air as the medium for communication, stations must be able to share
the medium without an interception and without being subject to jamming from a
malicious intruder. To achieve this, spread-spectrum techniques add redundancy
means it uses extended bandwidth to accommodate signals in a protective envelope
so that more secure transmission is possible. The spread code is a series of numbers
that looks random but are actually a pattern. The original bandwidth of the signal
gets enlarged (spread) through the spread code as shown in the figure.

Spread Spectrum

Principles of Spread Spectrum process:

1. To allow redundancy, it is necessary that the bandwidth allocated to each

station should be much larger than needed.
2. The spreading process occurs after the signal is created by the source.

Conditions of Spread Spectrum are:

1. The spread spectrum is a type of modulation where modulated signal BW is

much larger than the baseband signal BW i.e. spread spectrum is a wide band
scheme.
 2. A special code (pseudo noise) is used for spectrum spreading and the same
code is to be used to despread the signal at the receiver.

Characteristics of the Spread Spectrum are:

1. Higher channel capacity.

2. Ability to resist multipath propagation.
3. They cannot easily intercept any unauthorized person.
4. They are resistant to jamming.
5. The spread spectrum provides immunity to distortion due to multipath
propagation.
6. The spread spectrum offers multiple access capabilities.

Two types of techniques for Spread Spectrum are:

1. Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)

2. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)

Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS):

In Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS), different carrier frequencies are

modulated by the source signal i.e. M carrier frequencies are modulated by the signal.
At one moment signal modulates one carrier frequency and at the subsequent
moments, it modulates other carrier frequencies. The general block diagram of FHSS
is shown in the below figure.
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum

A pseudorandom code generator generates Pseudo-random Noise of some pattern

for each hopping period T h . The frequency corresponding to the pattern is used for
the hopping period and is passed to the frequency synthesizer. The synthesizer
generates a carrier signal of that frequency. The figure above shows the spread signal
via FHSS.

Advantages of FHSS:

• Synchronization is not greatly dependent on distance.

• Processing Gain is higher than DSSS.

Disadvantages of FHSS:

• The bandwidth of the FHSS system is too large (in GHz).

• Complex and expensive Digital frequency synthesizers are required.

Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS):

In DSSS, the bandwidth of the original signal is also expanded by a different technique.
Here, each data bit is replaced with n bits using a spreading code called chips, and the
bit rate of the chip is called as chip-rate. The chip rate is n times the bit rate of the
original signal. The below Figure shows the DSSS block diagram.

Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum

In wireless LAN, the sequence with n = 11 is used. The original data is multiplied
by chips (spreading code) to get the spread signal. The required bandwidth of the
spread signal is 11 times larger than the bandwidth of the original signal.

Advantages of DSSS:

• The DSSS System combats the jamming most effectively.

• The performance of DSSS in presence of noise is superior to FHSS.
• Interference is minimized against the signals.

Disadvantages of DSSS:

• Processing Gain is lower than DSSS.

• Channel Bandwidth is less than FHSS.
• Synchronization is affected by the variable distance between the transmitter
and receiver.
 cellular system
Early wireless systems had a high-power transmitter, covering the entire service area. This required
a very huge amount of power and was not suitable for many practical reasons.

The cellular system replaced a large zone with a number of smaller hexagonal cells with a single BS
(base station) covering a fraction of the area. Evolution of such a cellular system is shown in the
given figures, with all wireless receivers located in a cell being served by a BS.

Wireless devices need to be supported for different types of services, the wireless device could be a
wireless telephone laptop with wireless card, personal digital assistant (PDA), or web enabled
phone. For simplicity, it could be called an MS.

In a cellular structure, a MS (mobile station) needs to communicate with the BS of the cell where the
MS is currently located and the BS acts as a gateway to the rest of the world. Therefore, to provide a
link, the MS needs to be in the area of one of the cells (and hence a BS) so that mobility of the MS
can be supported. Several base stations are connected through hard-wires and are controlled by a
BS controller (BSC), which in turn is connected to a mobile switching center (MSC).

Several mobile switching centers are interconnected to a PSTN (public switched telephone network)
and the ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) backbone. To provide a better perspective of wireless
communication technology, simplified system infrastructure for cellular system is shown in the
figure:
 FDMA TDMA CDMA

FDMA stands for TDMA stands for

CDMA stands for Code
Frequency Division Time Division
Division Multiple Access.
Multiple Access. Multiple Access.

In this, sharing of In this, there is sharing of

bandwidth among In this, only the both i.e. bandwidth and
different stations takes sharing of time of time among different
place. stations takes place.

There is no need of any There is no need

Codeword is necessary.
codeword. of any codeword.

In this, there is only need In this, guard time

In this, both guard bands
of guard bands between of the adjacent
and guard time are
the adjacent channels are slots are
necessary.
necessary. necessary.
 FDMA TDMA CDMA

The rate of data is

The rate of data is low. The rate of data is high.
medium.

Mode of data
Mode of data transfer is Mode of data transfer is
transfer is signal in
continuous signal. digital signal.
bursts.

It is moderate
It is little flexible. It is highly flexible.
flexible.

What is Modulation?
Modulation is nothing but, a carrier signal that varies in accordance with the message signal.
Modulation technique is used to change the signal characteristics. Basically, the modulation is of
following two types:

Modulation Techniques

• Analog Modulation

• Digital Modulation

Analog Modulation

In analog modulation, analog signal (sinusoidal signal) is used as a carrier signal that modulates the
message signal or data signal. The general function Sinusoidal wave’s is shown in the figure below, in
which, three parameters can be altered to get modulation – they are amplitude, frequency and
phase; so, the types of analog modulation are:
Analog Modulation

• Amplitude Modulation (AM)

• Frequency Modulation (FM)

• Phase Modulation (PM)

Amplitude Modulation

Amplitude modulation was developed in the beginning of the 20th century. It was the
earliest modulation technique used to transmit voice by radio. This type of modulation
technique is used in electronic communication. In this modulation, the amplitude of the
carrier signal varies in accordance with the message signal, and other factors like
phase and frequency remain constant.

The modulated signal is shown in the below figure, and its spectrum consists of the
lower frequency band, upper frequency band and carrier frequency components. This
type of modulation requires more power and greater bandwidth; filtering is very
difficult. Amplitude modulation is used in computer modems, VHF aircraft radio, and
in portable two-way radio

Frequency Modulation

In this type of modulation, the frequency of the carrier signal varies in accordance with
the message signal, and other parameters like amplitude and phase remain constant.
Frequency modulation is used in different applications like radar, radio and telemetry,
seismic prospecting and monitoring newborns for seizures via EEG, etc.

This type of modulation is commonly used for broadcasting music and speech,
magnetic tape recording systems, two way radio systems and video transmission
systems. When noise occurs naturally in radio systems, frequency modulation with
sufficient bandwidth provides an advantage in cancelling the noise.

Phase Modulation

In this type of modulation, the phase of the carrier signal varies in accordance with the
message signal. When the phase of the signal is changed, then it affects the
frequency. So, for this reason, this modulation is also comes under the frequency
modulation.

Generally, phase modulation is used for transmitting waves. It is an essential part of

many digital transmission coding schemes that underlie a wide range of technologies
like GSM, WiFi, and satellite television.

Types of Analog Modulation

Therefore, Analog modulation includes AM, FM and PM and these are more sensitive
to noise. If noise enters into a system, it persists and gets carried up to the end
receiver. So, this drawback can be overcome by the digital modulation technique.

Digital Modulation

For a better quality and efficient communication, digital modulation technique is

employed. The main advantages of the digital modulation over analog modulation
include available bandwidth , high noise immunity and permissible power. In digital
modulation, a message signal is converted from analog to digital message, and then
modulated by using a carrier wave.

Digital Modulation
The carrier wave is switched on and off to create pulses such that the signal is
modulated. Similar to the analog, in this system, the type of the digital modulation is
decided by the variation of the carrier wave parameters like amplitude, phase and
frequency.

The most important digital modulation techniques are based on keying such as

Amplitude Shift Keying, Frequency Shift Keying, Phase Shift Keying, Differential
Phase Shift Keying, Quadrature Phase Shift Keying, Minimum Shift Keying, Gaussian
Minimum Shift Keying, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, etc., as shown in
the figure.

In an Amplitude shift keying, the amplitude of the carrier wave changes based on the
message signal or on the base-band signal, which is in digital format. It is sensitive to
noise and used for low-band requirements.

In frequency shift keying, the frequency of the carrier wave is varied for each symbol
in the digital data. It needs larger bandwidths as shown in the figure. Similarly, the
phase shift keying changes the phase of the carrier for each symbol and it is less
sensitive to noise.

What is the need for modulation?

• Size of antenna: As we know that the size of the antenna is inversely

proportional to the frequency of the radiated signal and antenna size must be
1/10th of the wavelength. If the frequency signals are more than 5KHz in that
case it is quite impossible to set up an antenna of that size. So, by using the
modulation technique the size of the antenna is reduced.
• Wireless communication: Modulation provides a wireless connection to
transmit the signals to a longer distance. Earlier we used wire systems (like the
telephone) to transfer information with the help of telephonic wires but it was
not possible to spread the wires all over the world for communication. By using
the modulation technique, the cost of wire is saved and even information can
be transferred to longer distances faster.

Working of Modulation:

Information/data can be added to the carrier signal by varying its amplitude, frequency,
and phase. Basically, modulation is applied to electromagnetic signals like radio
waves, optics, and computer networks. It can also be applied to direct current that can
be treated as a degenerate carrier wave with a fixed amplitude and frequency of 0 Hz
by turning it off and on as in a digital current loop and in Morse code telegraphy.

Advantages of modulation:

• It reduces the size of the antenna.

• It reduces the cost of wires.
• It prohibits the mixing of signals.
• It increases the range of communication.
• It improves the reception quality.
 • It easily multiplexes the signals.
• It also allows the adjustment of the bandwidth.

Disadvantages of modulation:

• The cost of the equipment is higher.

• The receiver and the transmitter are very complicated.
• For better communication, the antennas for the FM system must be kept closed.
• It is not efficient for large bandwidth.
• Power wastage takes place.