TELEPHONE SYSTEM

From the western perspective, the telephone is ubiquitous. However, the reality is that 80% of the
world’s population has limited access to one.

Telephone Call

To make a telephone call, one simply picks up the handset, enters a number, and waits for the system to
perform its magic:

 Lifting the handset from its cradle releases a hook switch and causes a dc current to flow (20 -
120 ma). The central office monitors this loop current and interprets it as a request for service.
 The office acknowledges the request for service by sending dial tone. This normally occurs in less
time than it takes to pickup the handset and place it to the ear. Once dial tone has been
received, the subscriber starts to dial.
 In the past, when dialing, a rotary dial switch opened and closed the loop in a predetermined
manner. If one was very coordinated, it was possible to perform the same task by flashing the
hook switch. To assure the customer that the system is responding, dial tone is removed once
dialing starts. In most systems today DTMF (Dual Tone Multi Frequency) signaling is used How
Telephones Work
 Depending upon the office type and digits received, a number of things might happen. In most
cases, end-users are attached to what is called a class 5 or end-office. These are the most
common types of telephone exchanges. Each class 5 office has one or more, three digit exchange
numbers. These are the first three digits in an ordinary 7-digit telephone number.
 If the central office includes the customer dialed exchange number, it will know that the call is
local and the other party is connected to the same office. The office will therefor control the
entire call setup and takedown.
 If the first three digits do not correspond to an exchange handled by the end-office, it will have
to find a trunk line to an office that can handle the call. This means that each office must know
the exchange numbers of all the offices within its calling area, and how to get to them. The call
setup and takedown will therefor be shared between the two exchanges. They must monitor the
call in progress and inform each other of any change in call status.
 If the first digit dialed is a one, the office will recognize this as a long distance call, and will start
looking for a spare toll trunk. A toll office has a greater knowledge base as to where distant
exchanges are located and how to get to them.
 The telephone system must be intelligent enough to recognize that in a local call, only seven
digits are usually required. Some very small exchanges however, allow local calls by omitting the
exchange number and using only the last 4 digits or extension number. In large urban areas, it
may be necessary to prefix local calls with a 3-digit area code. An international call may require
up to 16 digits.
  Once the entire number has been received, the office at each end of the connection must alert
both parties as to what is happening. At the originating end, a ringing tone is sent to the speaker
in the handset. At the terminating end, the office is generating a much larger ringing voltage to
activate a bell.
 The far-end-office monitors the line to determine if someone answers the ringing phone. This is
done by examining the DC current drawn when the far-end customer lifts the handset, inducing
loop current through the hook switch. The far-end-office must then disconnect the ringing
before the handset reaches the ear, and signals back to the originating office that someone has
picked up the phone. The origination office must then disconnect the ring back tone and
complete the voice connection.
 Both end-offices monitor their respective loop currents during the entire call to determine if one
party hangs up. Once this happens, one end-office signals the other, and dial tone is placed on
the loop. This alerts the remaining party that the connection has been terminated.
 If the line is in use, the central office will not set up the connection and return a busy tone to the
originator. By doing this switching, call processing, and transmission resources are not being tied
up unnecessarily. However, there are a number of options such as call forwarding and call
waiting which modify this process.
 With call forwarding, a call to a busy number is routed to an answering service. With call waiting,
the calling party hears a ringing tone, and the called party hears a beep, which they can either
ignore or signal back to the office that the new call should be given priority over the existing call.
If however, the call cannot be completed because the system itself is too busy, it returns a fast
busy tone to the originator.
 In a touch-tone environment, the same procedure is followed, except that tones are used to
convey numbers to the local office instead of interrupting loop current. Some calling features,
generally known as CLASS (Custom Local Area Signaling Services) , are available in areas with
touch-tone service.

Where do the telephone wires go?

 The telephone line goes to a terminal block in a service area interface. These are often located
on a pole or small enclosure on the street. The service area interface bundles the subscriber
drop cables into a single larger cable. These are in turn gathered together to form larger feeder
cables. The entire wiring system somewhat resembles a huge tree.
 Cables coming out of a central office may have hundreds or even thousands of pairs bundled
together however by the time the cable gets to the end user, it is generally down to about 50
pairs. An individual subscriber consists of many cable sections spliced together. Bellcore claims
that the average U.S. subscriber line has twenty-two splices.
 Feeder cables enter the central office in a large underground room called a cable vault. Each
feeder may contain hundreds of pairs of wires, and be pressurized in order to prevent moisture
or ground water from entering and affecting the transmission characteristics of the wire. A
typical vault may contain tens of thousands of wire pairs.
 The cables pass through the vault and are terminated on the vertical side of the MDF (main
distribution frame) . To protect the central office equipment from high voltage transients, such
 as lightning strikes, which may travel down the wire, the lines are surge protected by carbon
blocks or gas tubes.
 The horizontal side of the MDF, connects
the incoming telephone lines to the
peripheral equipment. All that is
required to connect a line appearance
to a specific interface is to place a
jumper between the vertical and
horizontal sides of the MDF.
 Signals coming from an end-user
are generally analog in nature. Consequently, the peripheral equipment converts the signals to
digital form before passing them on to the rest of the network.
 Incoming trunks from other central offices are comprised of specialized carrier systems. They
may be either analog or digital, but all new systems are strictly digital.
 Most end-user voice & data interfaces are multiplexed on to high-speed paths, which pass
through the internal switching, network before being routed to outgoing lines or trunks.
Incoming digital carrier systems may be accepted directly into the switching network through a
cross-connect or may be demultiplexed prior to switching.

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

 used to for communication media between computers that cannot share one common LAN
because they are:
- of large number;
- too distanced;
- separated by other property.
 Communication properties of switched phone lines:
- low data rate- 10^4 b/S(10^8 b/S for direct wire)
- high error rate - 10^-5 Err/b ( 10^12 Err/b for direct wires)

PSTN HIERARCHY

 Historically the telephone network was composed of a hierarchical structure consisting of 5

different office types. The most common of these is the class 5 end-office. An end-office
connects directly to subscriber telephone sets and performs switching functions over a relatively
 small area. Telephone exchanges connect to subscribers by means of local loops or lines,
generally one per customer. Telephone offices connect to each other by means of trunks.
 A class 5 or end-office interconnects telephones throughout a small service area. Each end-office
may contain several three-digit exchange numbers and is aware of other local exchange numbers
held by other offices.
 Calls between offices are routed over interoffice or tandem trunks. Long distance calls are routed
to toll offices via toll trunks. The average class 5 office serves approximately 41,000 subscribers,
and covers 30 square km in an urban environment.
 Some nodes may have no customers at all, and may be connected only to other nodes. These
inter-node or trunk connections are usually made by FDM or TDM transmission links.

CHANGE AREA NETWORK

 An exchange network consists of local and tandem exchanges connected by trunks. A tandem
office interconnects class 5 offices by means of twisted pair, coax, microwave, or fiber optic
carriers. Alternate routing paths between local exchanges are provided if the direct trunks are
occupied.
 An exchange area
includes all of the offices,
which are aware of each other,
but do not involve long
distance charges. In very large
urban areas, there is an
overlap between exchange
areas, which may also cross
over area code boundaries.
LONG HAUL NETWORK

 A long haul network consists of

exchanges interconnected by toll
offices. Toll offices keep track of long
distance charges and are typically
confined to national boundaries. These
trunks consist of high capacity
coax, microwave, or glass fiber.
 Messages used to control the call setup and takedown can be sent by two basic methods.
Traditionally, inter-office messages are sent over the same channel that will carry the voice path,
but in newer systems, common channel signaling is being employed. In this method, the offices
have dedicated facilities, which are used to send inter-office messages. There are some
advantages to this, perhaps the notable being the added degree of difficulty encountered if one
wants to defraud the system. When in-band signaling was used, it was possible for people to dial
long distance calls without being charged, if they created the tones used to disable the toll
circuit.

INTEROFFICE SIGNALING

 Trunks are used to interconnect the various levels of telephone exchanges. It is necessary for
these links to exchange on a wide range of information including:

• Call related signaling messages

• Billing information

• Routing and flow control signals

• Maintenance test signals

There are two ways for telephone offices to communicate with each other and pass on routing
information. Information can be conveyed in the same channel that will be used to convey the voice
signal, or it may be completely disassociated with it.
CAS (Channel Associated Signaling)

 approach uses the voice channel to send information through a trunk. For example, a 2600 Hz
tone is used in interoffice trunks to signal on-hook. A major disadvantage of this system is that
subscribers can bypass toll centers by injecting the appropriate tones. One way to avoid this
problem is by using out-of- band signals on toll trunks. Since the customer’s signal must pass
through an audio anti-aliasing filter, it is not possible to inject the out-of-band signaling tone.
 A principle advantage of in-channel signaling is that the integrity of the voice path is checked
each time a connection is established. Out-of-band signaling allows for continuous supervision of
the connection throughout the call.

CCIS (Common Channel Interoffice Signaling)

 approach has the signaling information conveyed on a facility completely separated from the
customer’s voice path. This allows for a faster, more efficient control, however the reliability of
the CCS network must be considerably greater than that of the individual voice paths. The
signaling channel may follow the same route as the final connection path, or it may be
completely disassociated with it. STPs (Switch Transfer Point) are need in the network if the
signaling path is disassociated, thus effectively creating two networks: a speech network and a
signaling network overlay.
 Virtually all calls requiring tandem or toll office routing are established and controlled by the SS7
signaling network.

SS7 signaling network

 is a packet switching facility comprised primarily of STPs (Signaling Transfer Point) and SCPs
(Service Control Point) connected to the PSTN SSP (Signal Switching Point). STPs are deployed in
pairs and are the brains of the system. They determine which trunks and offices should be used
in establishing inter-office connections.
 The SCP is a database that keeps track of such things as: credit card authorization, virtual
network subscriber listings, 800 number conversion tables, billing, and other special services.

QUESTIONS and ANSWERS:

1. Feeder cables enter the central office in a large underground room(CABLE VAULT)

2. A packet switching facility comprised primarily of STPs (Signaling Transfer Point) and SCPs (Service
Control Point) connected to the PSTN SSP (Signal Switching Point). (SS7 SIGNALING NETWORK)

3. Interconnects telephones throughout a small service area ( CLASS 5 OR END- OFFICE)

4. Consists of exchanges interconnected by toll offices.(LONG HAUL NETWORK)

5. A database that keeps track of such things as: credit card authorization, virtual network subscriber
listings, 800 number conversion tables, billing, and other special services.(SERVICE CONTROL POINT)

6.Trunks are used to interconnect the various levels of telephone exchanges( INTEROFFICE SIGNALING)

7 Used to for communication media between computers that cannot share one common LAN because
they are of large number, too distanced, separated by other property.(PUBLIC SWITCHED TELEPHONE
NETWORK)

8. Calling features that are available in areas with touch-tone service(CUSTOM LOCAL AREA SIGNALING
SERVICES)

9. Consists of local and tandem exchanges connected by trunks(CHANGE AREA NETWORK)

10. Approach uses the voice channel to send information through a trunk(CHANNEL ASSOCIATED
SIGNALING)

REFERENCES:

 PPTwww.acad.bg › slides › 09. Wireless Transmission and Telephone System.

 https://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Communication_Systems/Telephone_System