Learning Module 4

Transmission Engineering

A Module in Elective 1
(Wired and Wireless Telephony)

Prepared by:
Engr. Arrick Kristoffer S. Panopio
Electronics Engineer-Instructor

(No part of this module may be reproduced or copied without the permission from the author.)
 Transmission Engineering
Contents:

4.1 Learning Objectives

4.2 Signals and Systems
4.3 Transmission Systems
4.4 Transmission Networks

4.1 Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, the students will be able to demonstrate and practice:

1. Define Signals and Systems in Telecommunication

2. Understand the Linearity of a System
3. Describe the Characteristics of Signals in Signal Processing
4. Understand Transmission principles in Telecommunication
5. Explain the process of different transmission networks

4.2 Signals and Systems

The figure shows typical waveforms at various points in the system.

* After passing down the cable the original waveform A is attenuated (B)
* To counteract the distortion, the system includes an equaliser, which 'sharpens' the received waveform, so that the
relationship of the equaliser output C to the original binary symbols is much clearer through
Threshold detector - a circuit whose output is one of two voltage levels depending on whether the input
is greater or less than a pre-set threshold)
* Passing this equalised waveform through a threshold detector has the result of generating a binary signal Dvery
similar to the transmitted one
* A regular timing reference signal F - often known as the clock - is derived from the received waveform itself by a
special circuit.
* The final stage the retiming of the received [Link] clock signal and the output from the threshold detector
 are then processed to give a final regenerated digital signal E

Linearity
- the term linear implies rather more than a simple straight-line relationship between a system's input and output.
- many elements in a telecommunication system are designed to be as nearly linear as possible

* Principle of Superposition.
if an input x1(t) produces an output y1(t) and an input x2(t) produces an output y2(t)
then an input x1(t) + x2(t) produces an output y1(t) + y2(t).

* Frequency Preservation Property

the steady state response of a linear system to a sinusoidal input is itself a sinusoid of the same frequency, but
generally differing in amplitude and phase.

Rectangular pulse response of a first-order lowpass filter, where the duration of the pulse is approximately equal to
the filter time constant

Response of the same filter to a binary waveform.

any practical message signal can be described in terms of its frequency content - or, to be more precise, modelled
as a frequency spectrum. Similarly, any linear system can be completely specified by its frequency response
function: a description of amplitude and phase shifts introduced by the system for all frequences
* Amplitude Distortion and Phase Distortion

An ideal transmission channel would pass all frequency components of a signal with their amplitude and phase
relationships unchanged. The simplest frequency domain model of such behaviour would be a constant amplitude
ratio and zero phase shift for all frequencies of interest. But zero phase shift for all frequencies implies zero
propagation time, which is hopelessly unrealistic.

Behavious of a distortionless Channel

A. With zero time delay

B. with a constant transmission delay for all frequences of interest

A channel with an amplitude ratio which is not constant for all frequencies of interest is said to introduce amplitude
distortion;
A channel whose phase characteristic is not linear introduces phase distortion

A linear phase characteristic corresponding to a transmission delay of tD seconds.

* Possible distortion of a rectangular pulse:

a. both amplitude and phase distortion

b. amplitude distortion alone

In both cases the original pulse is distorted, but note that the received pulse is asymmetric when both amplitude and
phase distortion are introduced, but symmetric for linear phase channels, when only amplitude distortion takes place

*Frequency Domain Representation of periodic signals

A frequency response model of a telecommunications channel is a very useful tool, which can give an experienced
engineer an immediate 'feel' for how the channel will behave in general terms, without the need for
complex calculations

In 1822 Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier derived a classic result which has proved to be of enormous significance for
many branches of science and technology.

Any periodic signal/(f) can be expressed as a series, possibly infinite, of sinusoidal components, such that

where the fundamental angular frequency ω of the Fourier Series is related to the repetition period Tp of the signal
f(t) by the expression ω = 2π / Tp, and the Fourier coefficients An and Ø are constants.

The coefficient Ao represents the d.c. component or mean value of the signal, while A1,A2 ….An represent the
amplitudes of the sinusoidal components.
The phase coefficients Ø1, Ø2,….n Ønrepresent the phase
angles of these sinusoids at the various multiples of the fundamental frequency.
* Fourier series can be written in a number of equivalent ways: as a cosine series, as a sine series, as a
combination of sine and cosine terms, or in exponential form.

Example
A square wave representing . . . 101010.... is to be transmitted using ±V represent the two binary states

The Fourier series corresponding to

Where

Note that for this particular waveform only odd harmonics - that is, only odd multiples of the fundamental frequency
1/Tp - are present, and that the phase angles of the components are alternately 0 and π rad (0 or 180°).

A Fourier series can be represented diagrammatically as a line spectrum, showing the amplitude and phase of all
components
*Double sided Spectra

The amplitude spectrum of the sinusoid f(t) = cos cot:

(a) single-sided;
(b) double-sided.

Example 1

Single- and double-sided spectra f(t) = A cos (ωt + Ø)

* the double-sided amplitude spectrum of a real signal will be symmetric about the vertical axis, while the phase
spectrum will be antisymmetric
(a) the symmetric amplitude spectrum
(b) the antisymmetric phase spectrum

* Input-Output relationships

Each Fourier component of the periodic input will undergo an amplitude change and phase shift as specified by the
system frequency response for the particular frequency concerned

Frequency-domain input-output relationship for a periodic signal.

As a result of the principle of superposition, the output sinusoids can be added together (taking into account their
relative phase angles) to give a complete time-domain representation of the output signal.

A periodic, rectangular pulse train.

(a) Single-sided and (b) double-sided spectra of the pulse train

1. the spacing between the lines is 1/T, the repetition frequency of the pulse train;
2. the d.c. term (the mean value of f(t) is equal to VT/T9 in this case V/4
3. the spectral lines can be viewed as possessing an envelope which becomes zero for frequencies which are an
integer multiple of 1/T, where T is the pulse width
4. the sign of groups of Fourier coefficients changes periodically as π varies. A negative coefficient is interpreted, as
before, as indicating a phase angle of π or 180°.

* Effect on the spectrum of increasing pulse separation T

The spectral lines move close together and their amplitudes decrease. As the pulse spacing is increased
indefinitely, the lines become arbitrarily closely spaced, and it becomes difficult - and ultimately impossible - to
distinguish between individual components. But while the amplitudes of the spectra components decrease with
increasing pulse separation, the general shape of their envelope is unchanged:
GENERAL RULES

* Effect on the amplitude spectrum of decreasing the width of a rectangular pulse

Note that as the pulse becomes narrower, its spectrum becomes broader, with the side lobes remaining significant
at higher and higher frequencies.
“The shorter the pulse, the broader its spectrum.”

* Sudden changes in a pulse shape imply high frequencies in the corresponding spectrum.
Spectra of (a) rectangular, (b) triangular and (c) raised-cosine pulses

The rectangular pulse has two jump discontinuities: sudden changes in voltage at the beginning and end of the
pulse.
The triangular pulse has no sudden jumps in voltage level, but its slope changes suddenly three times.
In the case of the raised-cosine even the slope changes smoothly over the whole time interval.

* Sudden changes in a spectrum imply oscillatory behaviour in the corresponding signal.

Pulses with (a) rectangular and (b) raised-cosine spectra

Fourier transform pair is that for an even signal, for which f(t)= f(-t) the time- and frequency-domain functions
can be interchanged,

the time-domain waveform corresponding to the rectangular spectrum is much more oscillatory than that
corresponding to the raised-cosine spectrum; the pulse with a triangular spectrum would be somewhere in
between.

that thetime-domain 'pulse' corresponding to a perfectly rectangular spectrum has exactly the same (sin x)/x shape
as the spectrum of a rectangular pulse

Note that this perfect symmetry between time and frequency-domains is only possible when the double-sided form
of a spectrum is employed.

Characterising systems in the time domain

there is a time-domain characterisation of a linear system which turns out to be completely equivalent to its
frequency response function H(f). The key to this representation is the way the system responds to an input pulse of
duration very much shorter than its response time.

* Impulse Reponse

Impulse response of a first-order lowpass system as the limiting case of narrow rectangular pulse response. The
system has unity low frequency gain, and all input pulses have area t.

The other parts of the figure illustrate what happens as the width of the pulse is decreased, keeping its area or
strength constant at t units. In the limit of a very short input pulse, the system response is independent of the
recise pulse shape or duration and is characteristic of the system alone: only the strength of the impulse affects the
output, scaling it linearly

* Relationship to frequency Response

output spectrum = input spectrum x frequency response

impulse response spectrum = 1 x H(f).

The spectrum of the impulse response of a linear system is therefore identical to the system's frequency response.
Impulse response is usuallygiven the symbol h(t) and forms a Fourier transform pair with the
frequency response:

h(t)~H(f).
Frequency response and impulse response of a brick-wall filter (or distortionless channel) with zero time delay.
*Discrete Processing

major stages in the discrete processing of an analogue signal.

At various stages in digital telecommunication systems analogue signals are sampled and processed in discrete
form.
The value of the analogue signal is first sampled, almost always at regular intervals of time
These sample values are then often (but not always) converted into a digital representation (digitised) by an
analogue to digital converter (ADC).
The discrete (analogue or digital) sample values are then processed by electronic hardware or software,
producing an output in the form of another sequence of samples
Finally, this output sequence will normally need to be converted back into the form of a continuous signal by means
of a digital to analogue converter (DAC) and/or suitable filtering - a process known as signal reconstruction.

* Effect in the frequency domain of (a) increasing and (b) decreasing the sampling rate

Discrete linear systems with finite and infinite unit sample response sequences.
Progress Check 1

1. Explain the function for threshold detector in Signal Processing

2. Explain the Principle of Linearity in a System
3. Compare Amplitude Distortion and Phase Distortion
4. What is the signifiance of Fourier transform in Analysis of Digital Signal ?
5. What id the effect of Pulse length in Frequency Spectrum of a Signal ?
4.3 Transmission Systems

Transmission Bearers
General principles of transmission and the range of practical systems used in a telecommunication networks

* Transmission Principles
The purpose of a transmission system is to provide a link between two distant points or nodes

The link may be unidirectional, as in the case of radio broadcast

where transmission is only from the transmitter to the radio receivers, or bidirectional,
as in the case of a telephone connection with its two-way conversation.\

In general, a transmission system takes as an input the signal to be conveyed (which may be a single channel or a
multiplexed composite of channels) and converts that signal into a format suitable for the transmission medium,
propagates the transmission signal to the far end, where after conversion from the transmission signal a
reproduction of the input signal is produced

The actual conveyance of the channel over the transmission system is achieved by modulating’ an electrical bearer
signal which travels over the transmission medium.

* Amplitude modulation (AM), the input signal directly varies the height or amplitude of the carrier
* Frequency modulation (FM), the input signal directly varies the frequency of the carrier
* Phase modulation (PM), the input signal directly varies the phase (i.e. positioning of the start of the wave) of the
carrier.

A digital carrier, in the form of a stream of pulses can also be modulated, taking a fixed number of values, by an
input signal.
*Pulse amplitude modulation (PAM), the height of each carrier pulse is moderated by the corresponding bits in the
digital input signal.
* Pulse position modulation (PPM), the position of each carrier pulse is moderated by the corresponding bits in the
digital input signal.
* Pulse-code modulation (PCM), described in Chapter 3, whereby a binary stream is modified to convey the
successive digital representations of a set of time-division multiplexing (TDM) (PAM) speech samples.

Most common forms of impairment

* Loss of power, due to the absorption, scattering and reflections of the signal within the transmission medium,
known as ‘attenuation’.
* Delay to the signal, due to the propagation through the medium. This will vary according to the characteristics of
the medium (e.g. the purity of the glass in an optical fibre) and external factors such as temperature.
* Phase distortion, due to the different amount of delay introduced by the transmission medium to each of the
component frequencies in a multifrequency transmitted signal. The resulting spread in the arrival time of the
waveform is known as ‘dispersion’.
* Amplitude distortion, resulting from the different loss of power introduced by the transmission medium for each of
the component frequencies in the transmitted signal.
* Noise, the pick-up of unwanted signal generated intrinsically by the medium (e.g. thermal noise), as well as
induced noise from outside sources (e.g. crosstalk from adjacent transmission systems).

The design of transmission systems aims to minimise and compensate for the various impairments introduced by the
medium
In the case of an analogue transmission system, the signal accumulates the impairments along the length of the
medium, so the introduction of an amplifier to compensate for power loss results in not only the wanted signal being
boosted, but also that of the added noise. Setting a limit on the acceptable number of amplifiers and hence length of
transmission link may resolve the issue
A digital transmission system can reconstitute a noise-free signal at each point of regeneration along the route.

*Digital regeneration

*Digital Line Transmission System

*Transmission Media

- Cable transmission media. (a) Copper pair in a multi-pair cable. (b) Optical fibre in a multifibre cable. (c) Coaxial
cable

*Copper pair Cable

- copper pair cable can also be used to carry a variety of data high-speed services, and even video, by the addition
of appropriate electronics (e.g. asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL))

* Optical Fibre Cable

- Optical fibres provide a transmission medium of huge potential capacity by constraining pulses of light within a
thin core strand of highly pure glass or silica
- The light stream is contained within the core by a cladding of glass which has a lower refractive index, causing
the light to be totally reflected internally at the core-tocladding boundary
- The key requirement for an optical fibre transmission system is the use of a glass (silica) fibre material which
offers very low loss to the light passing through
Characteristics of optical fibre transmission

- Huge potential capacity due to the inherently higher operating frequencies.

- Low power loss (e.g. <0.5 dB/km), resulting in the need for few, if any, repeaters along the route. See Box 4.1 for
an explanation of the term dB used as a measure power levels within telecommunication networks.
- The optical nature of the medium means that the transmission is unaffected by electrical inference in the vicinity.
- No escape of energy from the fibre, so that there is no transmission interference between fibres or other lines.
- Physically smaller than metallic cables of comparable capacity.
- Can be difficult to join optical fibres, special splicing techniques are required.

*Coaxial Cable
- comprises of a metallic central core cable encased by a cylindrical conductor.
- The shielding effect of the outer conductor provides an interference-free transport medium for high-speed
electrical signals.
- For physical flexibility, the shielding or screening conductor is made out of metallic braiding underneath a plastic
Sheath
- used in the Cable TV networks to provide the video connection from the street electronics to an individual
Household

* Atmosphere: Radio
- Radio transmission through the air is achieved in several ways, mainly depending on the frequency of the carrier
wave used
- its unbounded nature requires the transmission systems exploiting it to have a high degree of adaptability to the
medium’s changing characteristics.

Path type (a): direct wave (also known as ‘free space wave’)
- uses free space propagation through the air, the radio signal following a straight line of sight between antennas
- practical systems tend to be at microwave frequencies, i.e. above 1 GHz (1,000,000,000 Hz)
Path type (b): ground reflected wave
- one or more reflected wave paths between the sending and receiving antennas.
- these reflected paths cause some degree of interference with the direct signal at the receiver because
the reflected signal will experience greater delay, and hence be out of phase with the direct signal
Path type (c): ground or surface wave
- follow the surface of the Earth through the process of diffraction,
- generated by electrical currents induced in the ground
- able to extend beyond the line of sight, following the Earth’s curvature.
- practical systems operate in the low-frequency range (30 Hz to 30 kHz)

Path type (d): skywave

- created by the reflection of the radio waves off the Ionosphere, the ionised layers belting the Earth.
- The waves can carry over very long distances through multiple reflections off the Ionosphere and ground
- communications were achieved using high-frequency (HF) radio

Path type (e): tropospheric scattering

- created by the scattering of the radio wave by perturbations in the atmosphere, enables communication to a
receiver just over the horizon
- Practical systems operate at microwave frequencies using very high-transmitting power and large high-gain
receiving antennas to compensate for the very high attenuation of tropospheric scattering paths
- Such systems are used by the military to provide communication in battle conditions.

* Free Space: Earth Satellites

- By locating the microwave radio relay in a communications satellite in space orbit around the World, the distance
between a pair of antennas can be extended to intercontinental distances
 - Free-space transmission media. (a) Microwave radio relay. (b) Microwave Earth satellite relay

Multiplexed Payloads

the cost per circuit carried reduces as the capacity of the transmission system increases; thus, it pays to multiplex as
many channels as possible on to each transmission link.

The costs of a telecommunications network are minimized by exploiting the significant economies of scale offered by
the above-described transmission systems.

Pulse-code Modulation Multiplexed payload

- The primary multiplexed payload created by assembling a group of PCM channels forms the basic building block
of all digital transmission and switching networks used throughout the world.

* 30-Channel pulse-code modulation multiplex

- TDM digital standard, the primary multiplexed structure is based on a timeframe divided into 32 timeslots
- The timeframe length is 125 ms, resulting from the sampling rate of 8,000 times a second – 8 kHz
- The 32 timeslots of the frame are permanently assigned to 30 speech channels, hence the name of the system,
and two non-speech carrying support channels,
- 1st Support Channel is carried in timeslot 0 (written as ‘TS0’) - the ‘synchronization’ channel, which is used to
indicate the start of the frame. This frame-start identification is indicated by a special bit pattern, called the ‘frame
alignment pattern’
2nd Support Channel is carried in timeslot 16 (TS16) – used to carry the call control signaling between the
exchanges at either end of the PCM route
- the line rate is 8,000 bits/s x 256 bits, i.e. 2,048,000 bits/s. usually abbreviated to the more convenient and
popular form of ‘2 Mbit/s’
- the line rate for each speech channel is 8 x 8,000 bits/s - 64kbit/s
- the spacing of the graduations on the codec ruler is based on the ‘A-law’
- Digital telecommunication networks have been developed and built on the basis of the 2 Mbit/s building blocks
- The 2 Mbit/s block is also used by network operators as the primary rate for a digital stream which is delivered to
customer’s premises for a variety of business services, including digital leased lines, connections to digital ISDN
PABXs, as well as ATM, Frame relay and SMDS data services

* 24-Channel pulse-code modulation multiplex (DS1)

- the spacing of the graduations on the codec ruler is based on the ‘Mu-law’
- All the 24 timeslots within the 125ms timeframe are normally used for speech channels , there being no
equivalence of the TS16 or TS0 of the 30-ch. System
- A single bit is contained at the front of the frame before TS1 which is used to carry the frame alignment pattern
The pattern is sent one-bit at a time over odd frames – that is dispersed over eight odd frames, rather than bunched
into one frame, as in the 30-ch. system.
- The frame comprises of 24 eight-bit time slots plus one bit, totalling 193 bits The line rate is thus 193 bits per
frame, with 8,000 frames/s, giving 1,544 kbit/s – which is usually written as ‘1.5 Mbit/s
- This rate is also known as the ‘DS1’ rate in the United States and each of the component 64 kbit/s channels are
known as ‘DS0’

- DS1 system has been upgraded to carry common-channel signalling at 64 kbit/s in one of the time slots, leaving 23
channels for speech.
- The 1.5 Mbit/s digital block is also offered by network operators as an unstructured primary rate of digital service
delivery to customers’ premises for business services (leased lines, ISDN, ATM, frame relay, and SMDS).
- This 1.5 Mbit/s digital block is frequently referred to as a ‘T1’ system in North America.
Time-division multiplexing of digital blocks
- Larger payloads may be created by time-division multiplexing several 2 Mbit/s or 1.5 Mbit/s digital blocks

- Since the frame size of the TDM highway is the same as that of the tributaries, the time spent by the wiper on each
tributary can be no more a quarter of 125 ms in total and the line rate on the multiplexed highway is 4 x 2 Mbit/s (i.e.
8 Mbit/s).
- to operate accurately the two wipers have to rotate at the same speed and their starting points aligned so that
corresponding tributaries at the input and output are sampled simultaneously

Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy System (PDH)

- was the first internationally standardized form of digital higher-order multiplexing
- deployed over a variety of cable and radio systems, as well as optical fibre cable around the World
- Although now largely replaced by SDH systems, there is still some PDH capacity in most incumbent operators’
transmission networks.
- The name ‘plesiochronous’, meaning nearly synchronous, relates to the situation where the individual 2 Mbit/s
tributaries that are to be multiplexed over the PDH system are operating at close-but-slightly-varying rates
- The first consequence is that ‘stuffing’ or ‘justification’ bits need to be added to the TDM highway at each stage of
Multiplexing
- bit stuffing in a PDH system is applied to ensure that the TDM frame is filled tightly, irrespective of the actual
number of bits sampled from each tributary.
- There are several ways in which the number and position of the stuffing bits can be indicated to the receiver of the
PDH system, so that the appropriate bits can be discarded when the tributaries are extracted.
* Plesiochronous digital hierarchy European standard
- Four stages of TDM multiplexing are defined, each being a multiple of four.

* Plesiochronous digital hierarchy North American standard

- In addition to the DS designations, the line rates when made available for customers’ use have the ‘T’ designations;
for example, a 45 Mbit/s leased line is referred to as a ‘T3’ line system.

* A 140 Mbit/s PDH line multiplexed system

- shows that 42 multiplexers are required to provide a fully equipped 140 Mbit/s PDH multiplexed system
 - In order to extract a 2 Mbit/s digital block (e.g. a 30-channel module) from the 140 Mbit/s system, each stage of de-
multiplexing is necessary in order to extract the stuffing bits from the 140 Mbit/s, 34 Mbit/s, and 8 Mbit/s frames,
respectively.
-PDH digital line systems are inflexible and cumbersome to manage in large-scale transmission networks due to
the so-called multiplexer mountain problem.

SONET and Synchronous Digital hierarchy System (SDH)

- designed to overcome the multiplexer mountain and lack of flexibility of PDH

- take advantage of the predominance of digital optical fibre working within the network and the advances made in
very large-scale integrated circuits (VLSI) technology.
- the system is based upon optical rather than electrical interfaces between transmission and switching equipment in
the network
- The system is called SONET, derived from ‘synchronous optical network’.
- Later the ITU-T defined a universal standard based upon SONET and extended to cover the European conditions
called ‘synchronous digital hierarchy’ (SDH).
- the system is based upon multiplexing synchronous tributaries, that is they are all operating exactly at one of a
fixed set of standard bit rates
- The tributaries are packed into a basic container, which is known as the synchronous transport module (STM) in
SDH or the optical carrier (OC) in SONET

*Main features of SDH

- Direct access to tributaries through the add/drop multiplexing function (unlike the PDH multiplexer mountain);
- Standard optical interfaces to optical fibres carrying the aggregate signal;
- Compatible to both European and North American standards;
- Reduced operational costs compared to PDH because of the elimination of manual jumpering between the
multiplexors;
- Network management features;
- End-to-end performance monitoring capability.
* Basic STM-N frame structure
* Standard optical interfaces for SONET and SDH

* SDH packing mechanism

- This packing process takes place in two stages of multiplexing,

* In the first stage, tributaries are placed into a lower-order container which, together with an ‘overhead’ containing
transmission link network management information, is inserted into a virtual container
- Several of these VCs are then collected together to form a transmission unit (TU)
using pointers to indicate their location
- Several TUs form a group (TUG), which is the output of the first stage of multiplexing
* In the second stage of multiplexing the TUGs are packed into higher-order containers,
- together with an overhead carrying the network management information for the higher-order path – potentially
 comprising of several links – is inserted into the higher-order VC
- several higher-order VCs may be grouped into an administrative unit (AU) which forms the entire payload of the
STM-1, sing pointers to indicate the location of the constituent higher-order VCs.

* SDH multiplex structure

- There are a variety of ways that the tributaries may be multiplexed up to the STM-N level, depending on the size of
the tributaries and the configuration of the transmission links

* SDH/SONET concept
* A synchronous add-drop multiplexor (ADM)

- one of the big advantages of equipment based on SONET or SDH is the ability to inject and extract a tributary
from a multiplexed aggregate bearer using just one component
-ADM lists the potential optical interfaces on the input and output ports to the optical fibre bearers, and the
electrical interfaces to the set of tributaries.

Range of Transmission Systems

* Mettalic-Line Systems
- Originally all transmission systems used in telecommunication networks were based on metallic – predominantly
copper (but, also aluminium) – lines, carried as single pairs or bundled into cables, slung overhead between poles
- These pairs carried just one telephone circuit as payload, either from the subscriber’s premises (i.e. in the Access
Network) or between exchanges providing ‘trunk’ and ‘junction’ routes.
- Today, single circuit payload copper pairs still constitute most of the subscriber lines in the PSTNs of the World

*Digital subscriber line Transmission Systems

- Advances in integrated circuit technology, particularly digital signal processors (DSPs), have enabled high-speed
digital payloads to be carried over standard existing subscriber-line copper pairs originally provided for telephony
only.
- There is a family of such DSL systems, known generically as ‘xDSL’

Asymmetrical digital subscriber line system (ADSL)

 - was designed originally to provide ‘video on demand’ service over a copper pair, but is now widely deployed over
many PSTNs in the world to provide broadband services (mainly high-speed Internet access) to consumers and
small businesses, where the deployment of optical fibre to the premises is not warranted.

High-bit-rate digital subscriber line system (HDSL)

- provides high-speed data transmission symmetrically over two or three pairs of copper cable
- Rates of 2 Mbit/s symmetrical can be carried over three pairs up to distances of 4.6 km
- Network operators typically use HDSL to provide the local ends of digital private circuits (leased lines) for
business customers, where optical fibre local ends cannot be justified or in advance of later deployment of optical
fibre

Symmetric digital subscriber line system (SDSL)

- A a derivative of ADSL, but with equal (symmetric) transmission
capacity upstream and downstrea

Very high-bit-rate digital subscriber line system (VDSL)

- is a derivative of ADSL which provides significantly higher data rates by restricting the use of copper line used for
the broadband signal to just a few hundreds of metres.

ADSL2 and VDSL2

- ADSL and VDSL have been enhanced to addresss crosstalk and power loss by Vectoring and Forward Error
Correction (DEC)

[Link]
- transmission is substantially overoptical fibre with just a short tail of copper pair delivering the broadband signal
over the last few metres to the subscriber’s premises
- Broadband speeds up to about 1 Gigabit/s
- the name is an acronym of ‘fast access to subscriber terminals’ and the ‘G’ denotes the series of ITU-T
Recommendations (G.9700 and G9701) specifying the system

* Point-to-point optical fibre

- Optical fibre systems offer the network operator the highest bandwidths of all transmission systems – potentially
up into the Tbit/s (1,000,000,000,000 bits/s) range.
- They were initially introduced as replacements for the coaxial metallic cable systems carrying PDH payloads in
the trunk network, but they are now used extensively throughout the national Trunk and International network
- The carrier modulation system uses a LED or laser diode to pulse a single colour light beam at the send end
and Avalanche photo diodes or PIN diodes are used to detect the light pulses at the receive end, a
Transmission capacity per fibre

* Dense wave-division multiplex system

- the use of several different wavelengths of light – that is colours – as a way of increasing capacity on line systems
beyond the 10 Gbit/s achieved on one wavelength
- require very precise optical filters to separate the component colours.

* Passive optical fibre network

- developed to address two main cost factors
1. the cost of deploying the many thousands of optical fibres from a local exchange to each subscriber premises
2. the terminating equipment at each end needed to extract/insert the signal to/from each fibre.
- the cost of fibre and electronics is minimised by using a tree and branch configuration, whereby a single fibre from
the local exchange splits several times in succession in order to serve many subscriber premises.
- The splitting is achieved by fusing bundles of optical fibres so that the light energy splits equally into each
tributary.
- Since this is done along the fibre route without the use of electronics, it is known as a ‘passive’ system

* Ethernet Fibre to the premises

- An alternative means of providing broadband delivery over optical fibre to residential or business customers’
premises (i.e. FTTH, FTTP, FTTB) is through using Ethernet as the bearer system.
- has the advantage of providing an exclusivefibre to each customer’s premises from an Ethernet switch, which can
deliver the full system bandwidth

- the telephony service to the customers continues to be delivered over the existing copper distribution network.

*Dark Fibre
- The principle of sending a modulated light beam down optical fibre cables gave rise to the term ‘dark fibre’, which
originally referred to unused fibres in an operator’s cable, that is spare capacity
- can be used by the business customers to construct their own data networks, say between two campus sites.
- Since the dark fibre is essentially raw and transparent, customers are free to use their own broadband
transmission systems running any form of protocol.

* Submarine cable system

- In the case of large waterways or seas, submarine cable systems are needed.
- that once laid under the sea it is extremely difficult and expensive to gain access to the submerged cable system
for repairs or upgrades.
- the submerged parts of the system are designed to have an operational life of 25 years.
- harsh environment; the cable system and submerged electronics are designed for working at up to 8,000 m
depth, experiencing some 800 atmospheres of pressure

* Line-of-sight microwavee radio systems

- The key components are narrow-beam antennas, which can operate as precision point-to-point LOS systems,
 allowing reuse of the same carrier frequencies around the country without mutual interference.
- Frequency bands allocated by the Regulator and the ITI-R for this use by network operators reside at 4 GHz, 6
GHz, and 11 GHz
- mainly used on systems providing trunk links between exchanges.

*Earth Satelliete Systems

- The established system of telecommunication global satellites uses a configuration of three satellites equally
spaced on an equatorial plane at a distance of 36,000 km above the Earth.
- At this height the satellites spin around the Earth at exactly the same rate as the rotational speed of the Earth,
and they therefore appear stationary to antennas on the Earth’s surface

* Wireles Local Area Networks

- There is a family of short distance microwave radio systems designed for conveyance of data services between a
user’s terminal
- These systems have been specified in the United States within the ‘IEEE 802.11’ range, and have subsequently
been widely adopted World-wide.
- popularly referred to as ‘Wi-Fi’
- use the OFDM techniques to cope with the multipath distortions to the radio signal

* Wireless metropolitan area networks (MAN)

- A new generation of LOS microwave access systems has been defined which provide broadband data links
between LANs or between a LAN and a central server,
- The system, defined by the IEEE 802.16 standard, is popularly known as ‘WiMax’
- It uses 256- or 2048-carrier frequency OFDM systems to provide maximum data throughput over the multipath
conditions experienced with radio links

Progress Check 2
1. Explain the Purpose of Transmission System
2. Give examples of common forms of impairment in communication System
3. What are the advantages in using Optical Fiber Cable in communication System?
4. Compare Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy System and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy System.
5. What are the benefits that could give by the Multiplexed Payload in the communication system?
4.3 Transmission Network

all telecommunication networks, and indeed most other sorts of networks, comprise of an access portion which
connects the population of users to a serving network node, and a core portion which interconnects the set of
serving network nodes. These portions are transmission networks in their own right, containing links and nodes,
and are usually known as the Access Network and the Core Transmission Network (or similar), respectively.

- The Access Network may be provided over fixed transmission links (using wires, optical fibre cable or radio
systems) or over mobile radio links (using a mobile handset)
- The Core Transmission Network is always provided over a fixed link.

Access Networks

- The role of the Access Network is to provide a link between each user (referred to as ‘subscriber’) and their
serving node in the network
- The public switched telephone network (PSTN) of each country provides the basis for the Access Network
- the copper or ‘local Loop’ network of the PSTN is a variety of transmission systems
- The ‘local-loop network’ is also used by several non-telephony services, such as analogue and digital-leased lines
(private circuits), alarm circuits, telex and, of course, broadband (e.g. using xDSL (digital subscriber line)).

* The Copper (local loop) access network

- At the exchange, all of the copper pairs are connected to a large metal distribution frame, located on the ground
Floor
-Main Distribution Frame (MDF) - the demarcation point in the exchange between external cabling on its input and
internal cabling on its output
- Jumper wires are used to link each external pair, connected to a particular subscriber, to the internal wires to the
appropriate termination equipment dedicated to that subscriber (i.e. the ‘line card’)
- the MDF is the physical point of presence in the exchange where an exclusive electrical contact can be made to a
particular copper pair for operational activity, such as testing or application of special tones, etc
Typical local loop make-up
- a typical arrangement of the gauges of the copper pairs and the size of the cables in the Access Network.

* The Optical Fiber Access Network

- Optical fibre cables are also carried in the underground duct of the Access Networks

* Direct fibre to the premises

- The optical fibre is deployed to serve the larger businesses (providing telephony as well as leased-line, data and
other services) – where the link takes a large capacity directly to the terminating point in the business premises
- also being deployed to residential and small businesses to carry broadband access
- the fibre is deployed as a hybrid optical-copper delivery method for residential and small business subscribers, i.e.
xDSL
- The optical fibre taken directly to the subscriber’s premises terminates on a bank of multiplexing equipment which
extracts the various channels and services.(Leased lines, data circuits, digital multiplexed speech circuits,
analogue individual voice circuits, etc.)
- In the case of plesiochronous digital hierarchy (PDH) transmission systems, a typical arrangement is an 8 Mbit/s
digital block carried over the optical fibre from the serving exchange to the subscriber premises.
- For high-capacity delivery system within the Access Network for businesses is synchronous digital hierarchy
(SDH). Typically, this is at the STM-1 (synchronous transport module) (155 Mbit/s) level

*Passive optical network delivery

- provide an alternative to the use of a single optical fibre per customer’s premises, and hence they potentially
hence offer network operators an economical solution to avoiding further deployment of copper cables
- the PON systems are installed in parts of the Access Network where there is growth in demand for standard
telephone, ISDN service or medium speed leased-line services

*Hybrid fibre-copper telephony delivery

- the optical fibre terminates on street-located cabinets, usually adjacent to the PCPs, where individual channels
are derived from the high capacity on the fibre by multiplexing equipment
- The channels are carried by copper cable to the PCP, where they are jumpered to the appropriate copper final
drops to the subscriber’s premises.

*Radio Access Network

*Fixed Line-of-sight microwave radio

- links are provided on a permanent or semi permanent basis with one end terminating on a fixed radio receiver
attached to the subscriber’s premises and the other end termination at the serving exchange building
- Multipoint radio systems, based on an omni-directional antenna, typically located on the serving-exchange roof,
are mainly used to provide permanent access links to subscribers wanting single-line telephony
- Digital microwave point-to-point systems using two dish antennae, one on the roof of the subscriber’s premises
(usually an office block) and the other on the roof of the exchange, provide higher-capacity access links
- the performance of radio links, particularly microwave radio, is impaired by atmospheric conditions, for example,
rain, as well as reflections from buildings.

* Wireless LANs
- wireless LANs (WLANs) use frequencies in the unregulated part of the spectrum.
- non-radio expert service providers, as well as network operators, can rapidly deploy WLAN hot spots around the
Country
- The low power and short distance of the wireless LAN coverage means that there is little chance of interference
with other radio users.
- This form of radio access network gives the user the ability to move within the catchment area of the antenna,
typically 10–20 m;

- The antenna may be connected by a leased line over the Access Network typically using optical fibre to the
serving local exchange building and then to a server on the service provider premises,
* WiMax
- the second generation of wireless MAN, standardised as IEEE 802.16
- offers the possibility of ubiquitous broadband data access.
- It conveys a broadband link from an exchange to an external antenna on a customer’s building and thence to a
LAN or other in-building network.
- Both unlicensed and licensed parts of the frequency spectrum may be used, giving a trade-off between freedom of
use and minimal planning but with greater chances of interference versus more predictable performance but with
more planning required, respectively
- This radio technology can prove useful for providing broadband data coverage to many customers who cannot be
reached economically by xDSL or optical fibre.

* Broadband options for the access network

● Copper pair cable:

* ADSL
* ADSL2
* ADSL2+
* HDSL
● Hybrid optical fibre and copper pair cable:
* VDSL (FTTK)
* [Link]
● Hybrid optical fibre and coaxial cable (HFC)
* Cable modem
● Optical fibre:
* Direct fibre (FTTH, FTTO)
* PON
* Ethernet
● Microwave radio (generically known as BRA):
* Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11)
* WiMax (IEEE 802.16)
* LOS microwave radio
* Point-to-point and point-to-multipoint radio.

In general, the unit cost of transmission systems deployed in an Access Network depends on the density of
subscribers served.

Core Transmission Netowkrs

- Unlike the Access Network, which may link some tens of thousands of subscribers to a single serving local
exchange, the Core Transmission Network provides links between relatively small numbers of network nodes,
typically spread across the whole country.
- These transmission nodes are points in the national network where bundles of circuits, serving telephony, leased
lines, data services, etc., are extracted from or entered onto the required transmission link
- in many cases it is economical to unpack and repack transmission links at intermediate points within a network to
achieve optimum loading of transmission links.

Economies of transmission aggregation (a) No aggregation. (b) With aggregation

- The nodes at which this flexibility is provided are known generally as ‘Core Transmission Network stations’ (CTS),
and called ‘transmission repeater stations’ (TRS) in the United Kingdom
- The CTS are usually located at each of the trunk and international exchanges and many of the larger local
exchanges.

Transmission network configuration

The CTS providing transmission flexibility for core transmission links between A, B, D and E is not located in an
exchange building, but rather at a transmission-only building at an appropriate transmission network nodal point.

*PDH Network

- A 2 Mbit/s block is extracted from the incoming 140 Mbit/s PDH transmission system on the left and inserted into
the outgoing 140 Mbit/s PDH transmission system on the right (and vice versa for the return direction of
transmission).
- The CTS is composed of racks of transmission terminal equipment and three stages of multiplexors: 140/34, 34/8
and 8/2 – each connected to a common DDF, or to one of several DDFs.

1. the incoming 140 Mbit/s system terminates on 140/34 Mbit/s mux.

2. A jumper wire is run from output Number 1 to the input of 34/8 Mbit/s mux
3. Number 1, and so on via the central DDF to the output multiplexor mountain through to 140/34 Mbit/s mux
 Number 11

- The jumper wires on the DDFs are coaxial type cables, similar to those used to connect the domestic TV to its
Aerial
- Each of the jumperings have to be made manually when the routes are set up.

*SDH Network
- An SDH CTS uses a combination of add-drop multiplexors (ADMs) and DXC equipment to provide the necessary
transmission flexibility,
- This automated system contrasts with the more complex and manually intensive arrangement for PDH
- use of SDH equipment enables a fully managed transmission network to be created.

SDH core transmission station – using DXCs

- The configuration of the ADM and the DXC are managed through a computer-based controller, which may be co-
sited or remotely located
- a 2 Mbit/s block extraction from the incoming 155 Mbit/s link
- the DXC needs to be able to identify and manipulate the appropriate 2 Mbit/s tributary from the incoming SDH link
and pass it to the outgoing link.
- a DXC will need a range of granularities to cope with the PDH rates still used in the network (i.e. 2 Mbit/s, 8
Mbit/s, 34 Mbit/s), as well as the SDH line rates (i.e. 155 Mbit/s, 622 Mbit/s, 2.5 Gbit/s) to enable a practical set of
transmission flexibility levels

SDH core transmission network station – using ADMs

- At smaller transmission nodes ADMs only are used to extract digital transmission blocks (at the PDH rates of 2
Mbit/s, 8 Mbit/s and 34 Mbit/s) for the co-sited telephone switching unit, private circuit, and data units within the
exchange building associated with the CTS
SDH transmission network structure
- In order to maximise their management capability, SDH networks are usually structured in a set of hierarchical
levels

* Carrier Ethernet Backhaul Links

- Ethernet described as a LAN or broadband Access technology has been developed into a version
suitable for WAN applications. The version is known as Carrier Ethernet (CE),
- Has a long-distance transmission capability
- capable of supporting several different LANS on the same system – creating virtual LANs (VLAN), similar in
concept to the VPN application
- CE circuits may be transported over SDH/SONET, PDH or TDM transmission systems
- they may have their Layer 1 mapped directly on to an optical fibre transmission system.
- offers network performance monitoring capabilities on a transmission-link basis, so making it suitable for
long-distance transmission of IP-based data traffic throughout the network
- An important application of CE is the provision of IP-based backhaul circuits for 4G (LTE) mobile networks, linking
the cell sites to their eNodeBs
*Transmission network resilience
- In practice, from time to time there will be events that cause a transmission link to fail
- Whatever the cause, the effect is the withdrawal of connectivity across the Core Transmission Network, affecting
perhaps several thousand channels of capacity between two nodes
- The ability of the network to cope with this disruption is often referred to as ‘resilience’.

- The figure above illustrates the various levels of resilience possible in a telecommunications network
- At the top is the switched network, where a set of calls (i.e. ‘traffic’) between switching units at exchanges A and
B could automatically be routed via the switching unit at Exchange C in the event of a failure on traffic route A-B.

Progress Check 3
1. Explain the Role of Access network.
2. Compare Wireless LAN and WiMax
3. Describe the operation of Core Transmission Network
4. Explain the importance of transmission network resilience in telecommunications.
5. What is the function of Add –drop multiplexors?