Chapter 3

Crossbar Switching

School of Information Science and

Engineering, Shandong University
Associate Prof., Deqiang Wang
Outline
† Principles of Common Control
† Touch tone dial telephone
† Principles of Crossbar Switching
† Crossbar Switch Configurations
† Crosspoint Technology
† Crossbar Exchange Organisation
Introduction
† Disadvantages of Strawger Switching
„ Dependence on moving parts and
contacts that are subject to wear and
tear;
„ Difficulties in maintenance and
adjustments.
† Switching systems requiring less
maintenance and adjustment after
installation are expected.
Introduction
† Development of Crossbar Switching
„ The first patent, USA, 1915.
„ The Second patent, Sweden, 1919.
„ The first Crossbar Switching system,
AT&T, 1938.
„ Common Control subsystems were first
introduced in crossbar exchanges.
3.1 Principles of Common Control
† Uniform numbering
„ The same number is dialed, no matter
from which exchange the call originates.
„ It is convenient for customer to make
phone call to a specific party any where.
„ It is difficult to implement uniform
numbering in direct control switching
system unless a ‘Director’ is available.
A Multi-exchange Network
A Multi-exchange Network
† Partly connected network (direct control)
„ A level is reserved in each strawger exchange
for outgoing calls.
„ The corresponding outlets are connected to a
specific neighbor exchange.
† A call from A to F
„ Called subscriber: 1457
„ Route 1: A-B-C-J-F
dialing sequence: 01-04-03-01-1457
„ Route 2: A-I-H-G-F
dialing sequence: 02-05-01-02-1457
A Multi-exchange Network
† Difficulties faced by direct control
„ Identification number of a subscriber is
route dependent;
„ A user must have knowledge of the
topology of the network and the outlet
assignments in each exchange.
„ Depending on from which exchange the
call originates, the number and its size
vary for the same called subscriber.
A Multi-exchange Network
† How to overcome these difficulties in
a Strawger exchange?
„ The routing is done by the exchange
instead of dialling.
„ A uniform numbering scheme is used.
† Uniform Numbering scheme
„ Exchange identifier + Subscriber line
identifier
Common control
† Fundamental features
„ A user is assigned a logical number which
is independent of the physical line number
used to establish a connection to him.
„ The logical address is translated to actual
physical address for connection
establishment by an address translation
mechanism.
„ Call processing takes place independent of
the switching network.
Common control
† Diagram of Common Control Subsystem
„ Call processing subsystem
¾ Digit receiver and storage register
¾ Register Sender
¾ Initial translator
¾ Final translator
„ Charging circuits
„ Operation Control
„ Maintenance circuits
„ Event monitor
Common control
† Control Functions
„ Event Monitoring
¾ Events at line units
¾ Events at Trunk junctors
¾ Events at interexchange signaling
receiver/sender units
Common control
† Control Functions
„ Call Processing
¾ Digit receiver and storage register: receive and
store the dialing number from calling party.
¾ Initial translator (office code translator):
determine the route for the call through the
network, charging method/rate.
¾ Final translator (subscriber code translator):
determine the line unit to which a call must be
connected and category of the called line.
¾ Register sender: transfer the route digit and
dialed digit using proper signaling.
Common control
† Control Functions
„ Charging
¾ Depends on the type of subscriber
¾ Depends on the service of the subscriber
„ Operation and Maintenance
¾ Controlling of the switching network
‘Map-in-memory’ & ‘Map-in-Network’
¾ Administration & Maintenance
exchange equipment, subscriber lines,
trunks
3.2 Touch Tone Dial Telephone
† Disadvantages of Rotary dial Telephone
„ Low dialing rate
„ Limited usage
„ Limited signaling capacity
† Development of Touch tone dial phone
„ Developed in 1950s
„ Applied in 1964.
† Touch dial arrangement
„ DTMF: Dual Tone Multi-Frequency
Design Considerations
† Choice of code
¾ Imitation of code signal by speech and
music should be difficult.
† Band Separation
¾ Easy to recognize a specific frequency
¾ Easy to regulate
¾ Reduce the probability of false response
Design Considerations
† Choice of frequencies
¾ Attenuation and delay distortion characteristics
of the telephone network circuits
† Choice of power level
¾ High enough for reliability
¾ Power level should be planned according to
attenuation characteristics of the channel
† Signaling duration
¾ Longer duration is helpful to combat talk-off,
but inefficient.
¾ Dialing habit
3.3 Principles of Crossbar Switching
† Basic idea
„ To provide a matrix of (n x m) sets of
contacts with only (n + m) activators or
less to select one of the (n x m) sets of
contacts.
† Crosspoint Switching matrix
„ Horizontal & Vertical wires
„ Contact points
„ Horizontal & Vertical bars
„ Electromagnets
Crosspoint Switching matrix
† Establishment of a connection
„ Scheme1
¾ Step1:Energize horizontal bar
¾ Step2:Energize vertical bar
¾ De-energize horizontal bar
„ Scheme2
¾ Step1:Energize vertical bar
¾ Step2:Energize horizontal bar
¾ De-energize vertical bar
3.4 Crossbar Switch Configurations
† Nonblocking Crossbar configuration
„ N2 switching elements for N subscribers.
„ N/2 simultaneous conversations.
„ Crosspoint used depends on the calling ~.
3.4 Crossbar Switch Configurations
† Modified Nonblocking Scheme
„ Diagonal Crosspoint Matrix
„ N(N-1)/2 elements
„ The number of elements is the same as
that of full-connected network.
„ Connection establishment
¾ Energize the corresponding horizontal bar
¾ Energize the corresponding vertical bar
3.4 Crossbar Switch Configurations
† Comments on nonblocking
schemes
„ Large number of switching
elements
„ Difficult to implement in practice
„ Not cost-effective
† Solution:
„ blocking crossbar switching
3.4 Crossbar Switch Configurations
† Blocking crossbar switches
„ Aiming to reduce the number of crosspoint
switches.
„ Category: Single stage / Multistage
„ Methodology:
¾ Two subscribers share one vertical bar
9 Number of bars reduced
9 Number of crosspoint switches remains the same.
¾ All subscribers share a number of vertical bars
9 Numbers of bars and crosspoint switches reduced
Blocking crossbar switches
† Scheme 1
„ 2NK switches
¾ N denotes the number of subscribers
¾ K is the number of simultaneous connections
„ Operate four bars to establish a connection (e.g.
A-B).
¾ Energize horizontal bar A
¾ Energize free vertical bar P
¾ De-energize horizontal bar A
¾ Energize horizontal bar B
¾ Energize free vertical bar P’ (associated with P)
¾ De-energize horizontal bar B
Blocking crossbar switches
† Scheme 2
„ NK switches
¾ N denotes the number of subscribers
¾ K is the number of simultaneous
connections
„ Operate three bars to establish a
connection (e.g. A-B).
¾ Energize horizontal bar A and B
¾ Energize free vertical bar P
¾ De-energize horizontal bar A and B
Transfer line support
† Locally nonblocking and externally blocking
Transfer line support
† Blocking both locally and externally
3.5 Crosspoint Technology
† The cost of crossbar system increases
in proportion to the number of
crosspoints.
† Challenges
„ Reduction of the size of a crosspoint
„ Reduction of the cost of a crosspoint
„ Improvement of switching time
3.5 Crosspoint Technology
† Category of crosspoint technology
Reed relay crosspoint
3.6 Crossbar Exchange Organization
† Basic building blocks of crossbar
exchange
„ Link frames
¾ Primary stage Crossbar switches
¾ Secondary stage Crossbar switches
¾ Links
„ Control markers
¾ Control the connections between inlets and
outlets
„ Registers
Link Frame
3.6 Crossbar Exchange Organization
† Organization of a crossbar exchange
„ Line unit (two-way units)
¾ Line link frames
¾ Markers and registers
¾ Originating or terminating calls
„ Group unit (unidirectional)
¾ Trunk link frame and associated hardware
¾ Handling local, outgoing, incoming,
terminating and transit calls
3.6 Crossbar Exchange Organization
† Call processing (three stages)
„ Stage 1
¾ Preselection (performed by originating
marker)
„ Stage 2
¾ Group selection (performed by registers,
translators and senders)
„ Stage 3
¾ Line selection (performed by terminating
marker)
Assignments
† Ex. 9
† Ex.10