Transmission LTR Report

Transmission is a process of sending information or signal from one point to another

point or to multipoint using a media. There are two main types of media:
Guided Media
Unguided Media
These media types are further classified as follows:

Guided media:
It includes:
Coaxial Cable
Copper Cable
Optical Fiber

Unguided media:
When signal is transmitted in air (wirelessly) via:
Microwave
Radio Frequency (RF)
Satellite
The media is said to be unguided.

Optical Fiber System:

Optical fiber system is categorized in following parts:
Access Network
Junction or Metro Network
Long Haul
Access network is used to connect the subscriber/user to the service providers
network.
Junction/Metro network is used to connect the exchanges within the city.
Long haul network is used to connect different cities and countries through optical
fiber cable.
At PTCL we are currently dealing with Junction/Metro network. This network has
interconnectivity within the whole city via optical fiber and the region is called LTR.
This network transfers the data from one node to another node within the city. This
node could be an exchange.
To transport data from one node to another node we required some set of rules
known as protocols.
Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) is a standardized protocol used to transfer
multiple digital bit streams synchronously over optical fiber using lasers or highly
coherent light from light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Prior to SDH, Plesiochronous digital
hierarchy (PDH) was used to transfer the digital data over fiber optic. Both PDH and
SDH have been discussed in details below.

Plesiochronous digital hierarchy (PDH):

Traditionally, digital transmission systems and hierarchies have been based on
multiplexing signals which are plesiochronous (running at almost the same speed).
Also, various parts of the world use different hierarchies which lead to problems of
international interworking; for example, between those countries using 1.544 Mbps
systems (U.S.A. and Japan) and those using the 2.048 Mbps systems. To recover a
64 kbps channel from a 140 Mbps PDH signal, its necessary to de-multiplex the
signal all the way down to the 2 Mbit/s level before the location of the 64 kbps
channel can be identified. PDH requires steps (140-34, 34-8, 8-2 de-multiplex; 2-8,
8-34, 34-140 multiplex) to drop out or add an individual speech or data channel (see
Figure 1). This is due to the bit-stuffing used at each level.

Figure 1: PDH multiplexing by steps

In PDH, every device has its own clock making network wide synchronization
impossible. Also, errors occur during synchronization because every clock is
different. The solution to preventing this error is by inserting and removing surfing
bits to the frame called bit stuffing. The problem of synchronization is solved by
Frame Alignment Word (FAW). If a multiplexer clock rate is higher than the tributary
rate, it is called positive stuffing and this can be used for up to 140 Mbps systems.
On the other hand, if the multiplexer clock is lower than the tributary rate, it is
called negative stuffing. When the MUX clock rate and the tributary bit rate are the
same, it is called positive negative stuffing or justification.
In PDH, because a different frame is used both on the transmission and data layer,
multiplexing and de-multiplexing operation is very complex.

Limitations of PDH:

It is not universal
Asynchronous Multiplexing is used
PDH signal has very few bytes
Maintenance (OAM)
Data rate is not more than 140Mbps
E1
2 Mbps
E2
8 Mbps
E3
34 Mbps

for

Operation,

Administration,

32 channels
128 channels
544 channels

and

E4

140 Mbps

2240 channels

Different Hierarchies used around the world therefore a specialized interface

is required to connect two hierarchies.

Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH):

SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) is a standard for telecommunications transport
formulated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
SDH was first introduced into the telecommunications network in 1992 and has
been deployed at rapid rates since then. Its deployed at all levels of the network
infrastructure, including the access network and the long-distance trunk network.
Its based on overlaying a synchronous multiplexed signal onto a light stream
transmitted over fiber-optic cable. SDH is also defined for use on radio relay links,
satellite links, and at electrical interfaces between equipment. SDH has the
following data rates:
STM-1
155.2 Mbps (Basic transmission level)
STM-4
622.08 Mbps
STM-16
2.488 Gbps
STM-64
9.95 Gbps
STM-256
40 Gbps

Advantages of SDH:

It has more capacity than PDH

Easy to interconnect different systems
Provide better network management system
Flexible and self-healing network
Simple and direct adding or dropping of electrical signals

Structure of SDH
Frame Structure of SDH
The STM-1 frame is the basic transmission format for SDH. The frame lasts for 125
microseconds. Therefore, there are 8000 frames per second. The STM-1 frame
consists of overhead plus a virtual container capacity. The first nine columns of each
frame make up the Section Overhead, and the last 261 columns make up the Virtual
Container (VC) capacity. The VC plus the pointers (H1, H2, H3 bytes) is called the AU
(Administrative Unit).

Figure 2: Frame structure of SDH

Virtual Container: SDH supports a concept called virtual containers (VC). Through
the use of pointers and offset values, VCs can be carried in the SDH payload as
independent data packages. VCs are used to transport lower-speed tributary
signals. Figure 3 illustrates the location of a VC-4 within the STM-1 frame. Note that
it can start (indicated by the J1 path overhead byte) at any point within the STM-1
frame. The start location of the J1 byte is indicated by the pointer byte values.
Virtual containers can also be concatenated to provide more capacity in a flexible
fashion.

Figure 3: Virtual Containers (VC)

SDH has following overheads:

Section Overhead (SOH)
1. Regenerator Section Overhead (RSOH)
2. Multiplexing Section Overhead (MSOH)
Path Overhead (POH)
Regenerator Section Overhead: RSOH contains only the information required for
the elements located at both ends of a section. This might be two regenerators, a
piece of line terminating equipment and a regenerator, or two pieces of line
terminating equipment.

The Regenerator Section Overhead is found in the first three rows of Columns 1
through 9 of the STM-1 frame. Regenerator Section Overhead (RSOH) monitors the
whole STM-N frame.

Multiplexing Structure
SDH multiplexing structure is shown in figure 2:

Figure 4: Multiplexing Structure of SDH