SUBSCRIBER LOOP DESIGN

Com 5 7/8/10
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Guided Transmission Media

• the transmission capacity depends on the
distance and on whether the medium is point-to-
point or multipoint
• e.g.,
• Twisted Pair
• Coaxial cable
• Optical fiber
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Twisted Pair
• consists of two insulated copper wires arranged in a
regular spiral pattern to minimize the electromagnetic
interference between adjacent pairs
• often used at customer facilities and also over distances
to carry voice as well as data communications
• low frequency transmission medium
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Twisted Pair - Applications

• Most common medium

• Telephone network
▫ Between house and local exchange (subscriber
loop)
• Within buildings
▫ To private branch exchange (PBX)
• For local area networks (LAN)
▫ 10Mbps or 100Mbps
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Twisted Pair - Pros and Cons

• Cheap
• Easy to work with
• Low data rate
• Short range
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Twisted Pair - Transmission Characteristics

• Analog
▫ Amplifiers every 5km to 6km
• Digital
▫ Use either analog or digital signals
▫ repeater every 2km or 3km
• Limited distance
• Limited bandwidth (1MHz)
• Limited data rate (100MHz) using different
modulation & signaling techniques
• Susceptible to interference and noise
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Unshielded and Shielded TP

• Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
▫ Ordinary telephone wire
▫ Cheapest
▫ Easiest to install
▫ Suffers from external electromagnetic interference
(EM)
• Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
▫ the pair is wrapped with metallic foil or braid to
insulate the pair from electromagnetic interference
▫ More expensive
▫ Harder to handle (thick, heavy)
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UTP Categories
• Cat 3
▫ up to 16MHz
▫ Voice grade found in most offices
▫ Twist length of 7.5 cm to 10 cm
• Cat 4 (least common)
▫ up to 20 MHz
• Cat 5
▫ up to 100MHz
▫ Commonly pre-installed in new office buildings
▫ Twist length 0.6 cm to 0.85 cm
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Twisted Pair Advantages

• inexpensive and readily available
• flexible and light weight
• easy to work with and install
 10

Twisted Pair Disadvantages

• susceptibility to interference and noise
• attenuation problem
▫ For analog, repeaters needed every 5-6km
▫ For digital, repeaters needed every 2-3km
• relatively low bandwidth
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Coaxial Cable
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Coaxial Cable Applications

• Most versatile medium
• Television distribution
▫ Aerial to TV
▫ Cable TV
• Long distance telephone transmission
▫ Can carry 10,000 voice calls simultaneously
▫ Being replaced by fiber optic
• Short distance computer systems links
• Local area networks
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Coaxial Cable - Transmission Characteristics

• Analog
▫ Amplifiers every few km
▫ Closer if higher frequency
▫ Up to 500MHz
• Digital
▫ Repeater every 1km
▫ Closer for higher data rates
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Coax Advantages

• higher bandwidth
▫ 400 to 600Mhz
▫ up to 10,800 voice conversations
• can be tapped easily (pros and cons)
• much less susceptible to interference than
twisted pair
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Coax Disadvantages
• high attenuation rate makes it expensive over
long distance
• bulky
Subscriber loop design
Subscriber Loop
 BASIC SUBSCRIBER LOOP DESIGN
REQUIREMENTS
When designing subscriber loops, there are four
conditions that must be met:
1. Enough power/current in the loop to operate the
telephone set transmitter and receiver as well as
the switching equipment inside the central office.
2. An adjustable gain or loss in the loop.
3. Minimum power loss.
4. A minimum amount of noise, echo, crosstalk,
and any other form of interference.
BASIC SUBSCRIBER LOOP DESIGN REQUIREMENTS
• The telephone set is connected to the servicing central
office by a pair of wires that may be carried on poles
(aerial) or buried (underground).
• The prime consideration in designing a subscriber loop is
to minimize the loss, the resistance, and the current used.
• The total resistance of all the components of the subscriber
loop, including the resistance of the telephone set, must be
small enough to allow sufficient current to flow through
the telephone transmitter and switching equipment
(Figure 3.2).
• The operating current of a telephone set is between 24 and
60 mA, with an optimal value of 35 mA. The resistance of
the early telephones was found to be around 150 ohms.
Today's telephone resistance is around 600 ohms.
Subscriber Loop
Subscriber Loop

SWITCHING EQUIPMENT (SUPERVISORY RELAYS)

When the telephone handset is in the off-hook position (Figure 3.3),

the switchhook is closed and the transmit and receive sides of the line
are connected by the telephone resistance, thus allowing the current to
flow back to the central office. This current must be between 24 and 60
mA to allow the relays in the central office to operate in order to send a
dial tone and transmit and receive reversal condition (tip = -48 V).
Thus, from Ohm's law, the maximum value of Rt (total of all
resistance) can now be determined.
Subscriber Loop Design Limitations
There are three types of design:
(1) normal loop design,
(2) long loop design, and
(3) special service design.

Normal Loop Design - Normal loop design (Figure 3.4) is simple

because there is no need to add any device(s) to amplify or attenuate
the transmitted signal or to boost the current to meet the design
requirements.

In this design the switching equipment's resistance limitation is 1300 ohms. which means that
the maximum value of RLoop (R,) must not exceed 1300 ohms. If it does, the switching
center will not function properly.
RL < 1300 ohms
DESIGN LIMITATIONS
Long Loop Design

When R LOOP exceeds the 1300-ohm limit, the value of the loop
current (I loop) is reduced to less than 24 mA. This results in a
malfunction of the switching equipment and the telephone transmitter.

To solve this situation, a device has to be added to increase the -

amount of current in the loop; there are several devices on the
market, all of which perform this function (i.e., dial long line, loop
range extender, voice repeater, etc.).

These devices increase the switching equipment limitation by

1500 ohms
Subscriber Loop

Dial long lines

This type of equipment is used to extend the center switching

capability through the use of sensitive relays between the subscriber
and the central office (Figure 3.5). The relays and their circuitry react to
loop closures and act as an intermediary to:
. Refresh the -48 V and regenerate the ringing signal from the central
office toward the subscriber
. Refresh the supervisory and pulsing signals from the subscriber end
toward the central office
Subscriber Loop
Subscriber Loop
SPECIAL SERVICES DESIGN

When R100p exceeds the 2800-ohm limit, special equipment to permit proper
voice transmission and proper performance of the circuit is used: off premises
extensions, private-line circuits, and wide-area telephone service.

CABLES USED IN THE SUBSCRIBER LOOP

For the purpose of transmitting electric signals, a cable must

consist of the equivalent of two electrical conductors.
Subscriber Loop - NONLOADED AND LOADED CABLES

A cable pair must be designed to carry both direct current

supplied by the central office (-48 V) and alternating current supplied
by the transmitter of the telephone set. The direct current is
dependent on the resistance of the cable size and the length of the
facility.

Four cable sizes of 19, 22, 24, and 26 gauge have been
standardized for use in subscriber loop designs and the loop
resistance can be found-using Table 3.1.

Voice frequency (300 to 3400 Hz) is affected by resistance,

capacitance, and inductance, all of which are part of any
transmission line and
Subscriber Loop
Subscriber Loop
Customer loop or cable longer than 5.5 km requires the addition
of loading coils at 1.8-km spacing in order to reduce attenuation of
voice frequency. The effect of loading coils can be seen in Figure
3.14.

LOADING COILS are added to cancel the effect of the cable

capacitance along the transmission line (Figure 3.15).

• The addition of loading coils stabilizes the signal attenuation between 300 and
3400 Hz.

• Typical H88 loading consists of adding 88-mH inductors located at 1.8-km

intervals along the cable. The distance from the switching center to the first load
point must be 0.9 km (Figure 3.16).
A cable pair without a loading coil is called a nonloaded cable. The
transmission performance of this type of cable depends on the length of
the wires; as the length increases the loss increases accordingly (Figure
3.17).

Loaded Cable
The maximum length of a nonloaded cable was determined to be 5.5 km.
For cables longer than this, 88-, 66-, and 44-mH coils have to be added to
the cable pairs (Figure 3.18). Also, to eliminate the effect of the capacitance,
these coils are placed at a distance of 1.83 km from each other.
The best-quality voice-frequency range for a subscriber is (300 to 3400
Hz), and cable-loss increase with increase in frequency makes it difficult
to control the voice quality. The non uniform attenuation of the
transmitted signal can cause distortion. It is evident that at some point
from the subscriber end, the transmission wires have to be treated with
special devices to obtain satisfactory response. These devices are called
loading coils.
SUMMARY: DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR A SUBSCRIBER LOOP

DETERMINE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE SUBSCRIBER AND THE CENTRAL

OFFICE:

(a) For a distance longer than 5.5 km, use loaded cable.
(b) For a distance shorter than 5.5 km, use nonloaded cable.

CHECK:

(a) That the current is not less than 24 mA or more than 60 mA. (b) If the loop resistance
is larger than 1300 n, use a special device loop range extender, dial long line, or other
special device to permit operation of the switching equipment. (If resistance of the
loop is less than 1300 n, no additional device is necessary.)
(b) That the attenuation is not more than the design specification.

By taking these steps into consideration, a functional subscriber loop that meets
both the subscriber and central office requirements can be designed.
QUESTION

For the sake of this example, a central office

resistance is given as 450 ohms. The telephone
set resistance is 600 ohms and the minimum
operating current is 14 mA. What is the loop
resistance of the circuit (R1oop)? Would the circuit
work? Why or why not?
• End of subscriber loop lecture