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Aggregate: To transmit/receive STM frame from one point to other Controller and communication: Responsible for NE communication and controlling. Cross connect: Responsible for mapping of tributary signal Power supply: To provide power supply to transmission equipment.
Multiplexing Techniques
Multiplexing is the process where multiple channels are combined for transmission over a common transmission path. There are two predominant ways to multiplex: Frequency Division Multiplexing Time Division Multiplexing
Although such units supported up to 1200 BPS data modem rates, the most popular implementation was a low-speed FDM multiplexer known as the Voice Frequency Carrier Terminal (VFCT). Go here for more information about the Voice Frequency Carrier Terminal.
In Bit-Interleaved TDM, a single data bit from an I/O port is output to the aggregate channel. This is followed by a data bit from another I/O port (channel), and so on, and so on, with the process repeating itself. A "time slice" is reserved on the aggregate channel for each individual I/O port. Since these "time slices" for each I/O port are known to both the transmitter and receiver, the only requirement is for the transmitter and receiver to be in-step; that is to say, being at the right place (I/O port) at the right time. This is accomplished through the use of a synchronization channel between the two multiplexers. The synchronization channel transports a fixed pattern that the receiver uses to acquire synchronization. Total I/O bandwidth (expressed in Bits Per Second - BPS) cannot exceed that of the aggregate (minus the bandwidth requirements for the synchronization channel). Bit-Interleaved TDM is simple and efficient and requires little or no buffering of I/O data. A single data bit from each I/O channel is sampled, then interleaved and output in a high speed data stream. Unfortunately, Bit-Interleaved TDM does not fit in well with today's microprocessor-driven, byte-based environment! Byte-Interleaved Multiplexing In Byte-Interleaved multiplexing, complete words (bytes) from the I/O channels are placed sequentially, one after another, onto the high speed aggregate channel. Again, a synchronization channel is used to synchronize the multiplexers at each end of the communications facility. For an I/O payload that consists of synchronous channels only, the total I/O bandwidth cannot exceed that of the aggregate (minus the synchronization channel bandwidth). But for asynchronous I/O channels, the aggregate bandwidth CAN BE EXCEEDED if the aggregate byte size is LESS than the total asynchronous I/O character size (Start + Data + Stop bits). (This has to do with the actual CHARACTER transmission rate of the asynchronous data being LESS THAN the synchronous CHARACTER rate serviced by the TDM). Byte-Interleaved TDMs were heavily deployed from the from the late 1970s to around 1985. These units could support up to 256 KBPS aggregates but were usually found in 4.8 KBPS to 56 KBPS DDS and VF-modem environments. In those days, 56 KBPS DDS pipes were very high speed circuits. Imagine! In 1984, with the divestiture of AT&T and the launch of of T1 facilities and services, many companies jumped into the private networking market; pioneering a generation of intelligent TDM networks. Go here for more information about North American T1 framing.
ATM is a cell-based transport mechanism that evolved from the development of the Broadband ISDN (B-ISDN) standards. ATM does not stand for Automatic Teller Machine, or Ascom Timeplex Multiplexers (although that might apply!); rather, it defines the asynchronous transport of cells (Cell-Relay). Perhaps even more important, ATM is associated with a process known as ATM Adaptation Layer. AAL describes how various I/O traffic types are converted into cells! The Adaptation process and the serial transport of cells is commonly referred to as "Fast Packet Multiplexing" (FPM). While similar in concept, FPMs do not necessarily conform to ATM standards or switching conventions.