DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE

DSL
Digital Subscriber Line, or DSL, is a family of technologies that provide digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. Typically, the download speed of DSL ranges from 128 kilobits per second (kbit/s) to 24,000 kbit/s depending on DSL technology and service level implemented.

The origin of DSL technology dates back to 1988, when engineers at Bellcore devised a way to carry a digital signal over the unused frequency spectrum available on the twisted pair cables running between the local telephone exchange and the customer premises. The local loop of the Public Switched Telephone Network was initially designed only to carry voice communication and signaling info

However the local loop is capable of carrying frequencies well beyond the 3.4 kHz BW used by POTS.
Depending on the length and quality of the loop, the upper limit can be tens of megahertz. DSL takes advantage of this unused bandwidth to carry digital info The bandwidth beyond 10KHz is utilised for DSL.

The usable BW is divided into 4312.5 Hz wide channels starting from 10 kHz

Allocation of channels continues at higher and higher frequencies (up to 1.1 MHz for ADSL) until new channels are deemed unusable. Each channel is evaluated for usability. More usable channels means more available bandwidth.
Distance of the subscriber from the local exchange and the quality of the line are important factors in achieving more usable channels.

The pool of usable channels is then split into two groups for upstream and downstream traffic based on a preconfigured ratio.

Once the channel groups have been est, the individual channels are bonded into a pair of virtual circuits, one in each direction.
DSL transceivers constantly monitor the quality of each channel and will add or remove them from service depending on whether or not they are usable.

The low frequencies are reserved for POTS service. Thus POTS-based communications, including fax machines and analog modems, can share the wires with DSL.

DSL EQUIPMENT
The subscriber end of the connection consists of a DSL modem. This modulates the data from the computers on frequencies allotted for upstream traffic which is then applied to the phone line.

DSL Installation with Splitter

DSL Installation with Filter

DSL Installation with Single Filter

DSL Technologies
The various technologies are collectively known as xDSL HDSL SDSL ADSL RADSL VDSL - High-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line - Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line - Rate-Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line - Very-high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line

G.SHDSL - G. Symmetric High-speed Digital Subscriber Line PDSL - Powerline Digital Subscriber Line

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

The distinguishing characteristic of ADSL over other DSL technologies is that the volume of data flow is greater in one direction than the other. i.e. it is asymmetric. This is best suited for internet applications as higher speeds are available for the "download" and lower speeds for the upload. Downstream rates start at 256 kbit/s and typically reach 8 Mbit/s within 1.5 km (5000 ft) of the DSLAM. Upstream rates start at 64 kbit/s and typically reach 256 kbit/s or even upto 1024 kbit/s. The name ADSL Lite is sometimes used for the slower versions.

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

A newer variant called ADSL2 provides higher downstream rates of up to 12 Mbit/s for spans of less than 2.5 km (8000 ft). More flexible framing and error correction configurations are responsible for these increased speeds. ADSL uses two separate frequency bands. With standard ADSL the band from 25.875 kHz to 138 kHz is used for upstream communication, while 138 kHz 1104 kHz is used for downstream communication.

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

Each of these is further divided into smaller chunks of 4.3125 kHz. During initial training, the ADSL modem tests which of the available chunks have an acceptable signal-tonoise ratio. If the SNR on one freq is lower than acceptable then that freq is not used thereby resulting in reduced throughput on an otherwise functional ADSL connection.

Modulation
ADSL initially existed in two flavors namely CAP and DMT. CAP was the de facto standard for ADSL deployments up to 1996. However, DMT was chosen for the first ITU-T ADSL standards, G.992.1 and G.992.2 (also called G.dmt and G.lite respectively). Therefore, all modern installations of ADSL are based on the DMT modulation scheme.

Carrierless Amplitude Phase Modulation

Carrierless Amplitude Phase Modulation is a nonstandard variation of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). CAP divides the available space into three bands. The range from 0 to 4 kHz is allocated for POTS transmissions.

The range of 25 kHz to 160 kHz is allocated for upstream data traffic
Range of 240 kHz to 1.5MHz is allocated for downstream data traffic.

DMT/OFDM
Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), also sometimes called discrete multitone modulation (DMT), is a modulation technique based on the idea of frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) where each frequency channel is modulated separately. In OFDM the frequencies are arranged to be orthogonal with each other which almost eliminates the interference between channels. By using Forward Error Correction Coding the multipath effects can be greatly reduced. This is called Coded OFDM abbreviated as COFDM. In OFDM, a single transmitter transmits on many (typically dozens to thousands) different orthogonal frequencies (i.e. frequencies that are independent with respect to the relative phase relationship between the frequencies).

As the frequencies are so closely spaced, each one only has room for a Narrowband signal.
An OFDM carrier signal is the sum of a number of orthogonal sub-carriers, with baseband data on each sub-carrier being independently modulated. The modulation type could be quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or phase-shift keying (PSK). This composite baseband signal is typically used to modulate a main RF carrier.

Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line

Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) is a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) variant with data rates of 72 to 2320 kbit/s. It runs over one pair of copper wires, with a maximum range of about 3 kilometers. The main difference between ADSL and SDSL is that SDSL has the same upstream data transfer rate as downstream (symmetrical).

Symmetric High-Speed DSL

Symmetric high-speed digital subscriber line (SHDSL) is a telecommunications technology for Digital Subscriber Line (DSL).

G.SHDSL was standardized in February 2001 internationally by ITU-T with recommendation G.991.2.
It features symmetrical data rates from 192 kbit/s to 2,304 kbit/s in 64 kbit/s increments

Rate-Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line

Rate-adaptive DSL (RADSL) is a variation of ADSL technology where the modem adjusts the upstream speed of the connection depending upon the length and quality of the line between the Telephone Exchange and the Modem, in an attempt to maintain a certain downstream speed. When the modem connects using RADSL the upstream bandwidth is adjusted to create a greater frequency band for the downstream traffic. Using this technique the line is more tolerant of errors caused by noise and signal loss.

Very High Bit-Rate DSL

VDSL (very high bit-rate DSL) is an xDSL technology providing data transmission up to a theoretical limit of 52 Mbit/s downstream and 12 Mbit/s upstream over a single twisted pair of wires. Currently, the standard VDSL uses up to 4 different frequency bands, two for upstream and two for downstream.

The standard modulation technique is either QAM (Quadrature amplitude modulation) or DMT (Discrete multitone modulation)
The current mostly used technology is DMT.

Very High Bit-Rate DSL

The actual bit rates range from about 26 Mbit/s symmetric for a loop of about 1500 m, up to 100 Mbit/s symmetric for a few hundred metres.

These fast speeds mean that VDSL is capable of supporting new high bandwidth applications such as HDTV, as well as telephone services (Voice over IP) and general Internet access, over a single connection.

Digital subscriber line access multiplexer A Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) is a network device, usually located at a telephone company local exchange that receives signals from multiple customers of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) connections and aggregates the signals on a highspeed backbone line using multiplexing techniques. Depending on the product, DSLAM multiplexers connect DSL lines with some combination of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), frame relay, or Internet Protocol networks. The end subscribers connect to the DSLAM via DSL modems or DSL routers, which are further connected to the PSTN network using unshielded twisted pair cabling. Each DSLAM has multiple DSLAM aggregation cards, and each such card can have multiple ports. Typically a single DSLAM aggregation card has 24 ports

Connection 56 K Analogue Modem ISDN Cable Modem

Maximum Transfer Rate 56 kbit/s Up to 128 Kbps (Multilink PPP)

Distance Limitations Using 24-Gauge Wire None 3.4 miles / 5.4 Km

10-30 Mbit/s Downstream 30 miles / 48 Km 128 kbit/s to 10 Mbit/s Upstream over coaxial cable Shared bandwidth) 1.5 - 8 Mbit/s Downstream Up to 1.544 Mbit/s Upstream 3.4 miles / 5.4 Km

ADSL

HDSL
SDSL VDSL

T1 - 1.544 Mbit/s (2 wire pairs) E1 - 2.048 Mbit/s (3 wire pairs)

T1 - 1.544 Mbit/s E1 - 2.048 Mbit/s 13 - 52 Mbit/s Downstream 1.5 - 2.3 Mbit/s Upstream Up to 34 Mbit/s if symmetric 1.5 - 8 Mbit/s Downstream Up to 1.544 Mbit/s Upstream

2.2 miles / 3.6 Km 3.4 miles / 5.4 Km

2 miles / 3 Km 1,000 ft/304 m 4,500 ft/1371 m depending on speed 3.4 miles / 5.4 Km

R-ADSL