Module-II: COMPUTER CONTROLLED SWITCHING SYSTEMS

Introduction, Call processing, signal exchange diagram, state transition diagram, hardware
configuration, switching system software organization, software classification and interfacing,
Maintenance software, call processing software, Administration software, Electronic
Exchanges in India.

INTRODUCTION
Most digital switching systems have a quasi-distributed hardware architecture, since they
maintain control of the switching functions through an intermediate processors. All digital
switching systems employ multiprocessor subsystem for the best understanding of
communication and control process. The architecture of a working digital switching system is
very complex with many subsystems. All present day digital switching system includes
minimum software which are necessary for implementation of call processing for all the levels
of control structure. In modern digital switching systems, many call processing functions are
performed by using interface controllers. Some of the call processing are call identification,
call routing, path setup between subscribers, digital translation, call status, billing etc.

CALL PROCESSING
In this section, the basic steps involved in processing a call is discussed. Most digital system
follow a similar scheme. For any switching system design, the range of signals that has to be
interchanged between a terminal and system is considered. These signals described in signal
exchange diagram. The sequence of operation between subscribers and system are shown in
state transition diagram (s.t.d.).

Basic Steps to Process a Call

The sequence of processing between subscribers are described below:

1. Idle state. At this state, the subscriber handset is in ‘on-hook’ condition. The exchange is
ready to detect the call request from the subscriber.

2. Call request identification. The exchange identifies a line requiring for a service. When the
handset is lifted, current flows in the line called seize signal indicates the call request.

3. Providing dial tone. Once the seize signal is received, an exchange sends a dial tone to the
calling subscriber to dial the numbers.
4. Address analysis. Once the first digit received, the exchange removes the dial tone and
collect all numbers. Then the address is analysed for the validity of the number, local, STD or
ISD etc. If the number is invalid, a recorded message may be sent to the calling subscriber and
terminates call request.

5. Called line identification. The exchange determines the required outgoing line termination
from the address that it has received.

6. Status of called subscriber. The called line may be busy or free or unavailable or even out
of service. In the case of PBX, where the customer have a group of lines, the exchange tests
each termination until either it finds a free one or all one found busy. For busy, number
unobtainable or the handset off hook, a status signal or call progress signal is sent to the calling
subscribers for line termination. Now the exchange resumes idle state.

7. Ringing. Once, the exchange finds the called subscriber is free, power ringing is provided
to the called subscriber and audible ringing to the calling subscriber.

8. Path setup. When the called subscriber lifts his handset, the line is looped and ringing is
removed. Once the conversation started, the exchange completes the connections between the
subscribers.

9. Supervision. The exchange supervises the connection to detect the end of the call for
charging.

10. Clear signal. Once the need for connection is over, either customer may replace his
handset. It causes the line current seize and provides a clear signal to exchange. If the calling
subscriber replaces his phone set, the clear signal sent to the exchange is called clear forward
signal. If called subscriber do first, the clear signal is called clear backward signal.

Signal Exchange Diagram

There are two types of diagrams used to represent the sequence of events between the
subscriber and exchanges. They are signal exchange diagram and state transition diagram. Both
diagrams
 Fig. Signal exchange diagram

can be used to specify the behaviour of different control units in switching centre. For the local
call, the steps involved in processing a call is shown in Fig. 6.1.Normally, once the
conversation is over, the exchange will be at idle state. But in general, there are two types
difficulties arises.

1. Called subscriber held (CSH). This condition arises when the called subscriber replaces
the hand set but the caller does not. In this case, the caller does not originate a call or receiver
a call.

2. Permanent loop condition (PL). This condition occurs when the caller replaces the phone
but the called subscriber does not. Now, a loop present between called and exchange and it
results in busy tone to another call to the same called subscriber. In strowger system, this
condition is called permanent glow condition. In electromechanical system, the above
conditions are removed by manual disconnection. In modern ESS systems, a time out process
is used. If the call setup between two subscribers are made through many exchanges and trunks,
the originating exchange where calling subscriber is connected sends the seize and then address
to the terminating exchange where the called subscriber is connected. Remaining signalling are
similar to the local call, but through the originating and terminating exchanges. In
electromechanical system, the signalling between exchanges are sent through same
interexchange circuits referred as channel associated signalling. In SPC controlled exchanges,
interexchange signals are generated at originating exchange, but processed at terminating
exchange. The signals are transferred over high speed data like instead of speech connections
are referred as common channel signalling.

State Transition Diagram

The state transition diagram (s.t.d.) specifies the response of a control unit to any sequence of
events. s.t.d. is a powerful design tool. It helps the designer to consider all possibilities of
occurrence of events. Fig. shows the basic symbols used in a state transition diagram.

Fig. basic symbols of s.t.d.

The basic symbols are defined as follows:

State boxes. The state boxes are labelled with state number and state description. If necessary,
additional information can also be included. The combination of the present state and a new
event defines a task and performing this results in next state. Sometimes more than one state
occurs, the choice depending on external information.

Event boxes. The intended arrow of the symbol indicate whether the event corresponds to the
receipt of forward or backward signal. The forward signal and backward signal refers to the
flow of signal from calling to called and called to calling subscriber through exchange
respectively.

Action boxes. The rectangular box represents the action taken on the event. The protruding
arrow indicates whether the signal is sent forward or backward.

Decision boxes. The diamond shaped box is used for the cases where two divisions are
possible. For multiple decisions, another symbol shown in Fig. (e) is used.

Connectors. This symbols are used to connect one flow chart to another diagram.

Fig. shows the s.t.d. diagram for a typical local call. Let the calling subscriber is A and the
called subscriber is B.
 Fig. State transition diagram.

The computer controlled switching is in general referred as electronic switching system (ESS).
ESS offers the greatest potential for both voice and data communications. An ESS consists of
1.computer

2. Memory or storage

3. Programming capability

4. An extremely rapid switching component.

A computer based common control switching equipment implies two distinct type of units.
They are 1. Control unit 2. Switching network. The common control receives, stores and
interprets dial pulses and then selects an available path through the switching hardware to
complete connection. Efficient high speed common control equipment can complete many
calling connections during the time of an average phone call. Thus it saves a lot of time and
money. The switching network can be used to connect many lines by one common group of
control devices referred as control unit. Thus the control unit is the brain of a switching system,
a control unit completes its function in a small fraction of a second for a single call. The
hardware of digital switching system are broadly divided by their functions into many
subsystems. The functions performed by the subsystem includes line and trunk access, line
scanning, message interpretation, switching communications, path setup between subscribers,
line supervision, line termination, billing providing advanced features and system maintenance.
These subsystems are classified into various levels of control. Each level of control and its
subsystems are tabulated in table.
A general hardware configuration is shown in Fig. However, various switching system may
have different kind of arrangements of the subsystems. Most digital switching systems have a
quasi-distributed hardware architecture, as the control of the switching functions are made
through an intermediate processors. All digital switching systems employ multiprocessor
subsystems as shown in Fig. A similar architecture is used by most of the digital telephone
exchange systems. Some popular systems are AXE – 10 systems (Sweden), DMS – 10
(Canada),E – 10 system (France), No. 5 ESS system (USA) EWS D system (Germany) and the
NEAX system (Japan). Fig. illustrates the hardware architecture of the digital switching
system.

Low level control. This level associated with subscriber lines, trunks, selective circuits,
Input/output controller and digital subsystems. The line terminating module and trunk modules
are microprocessor based and communicate with subsystems through the input/output
controllers. The input/output controllers interpret the incoming messages and takes necessary
actions and communicate to the network control processors. All subscriber lines connected to
digital switching system through the main distributing frame (MDF) are continuously scanned
to detect the state of the subscriber.

When the customer lifts his handset, the line scanning program detects this state and reports to
the input/output controller. The IOC is the primary peripheral controller and it controls all
peripherals associated with call or trunk processing. At this level, all the requests of incoming
and outgoing trunks are handled. Any advanced features to be incorporated in a digital
switching system also handled at this level using IOC.

Mid-level control. This level is associated with network control processors and associated
circuits. The IOC is controlled by the network control processors (NCP). Many NCP’s are used
depends on the size of the digital switching system. A dedicated bus system is usually required
for the processors to communicate with one another. Specific messaging protocols are used to
communicate between processors. For messaging between the peripherals and external
systems, many digital switching systems utilize standard protocols such as signalling system
7(SS7); X.25 and X.75. Thus this is the most important level of control any digital switching
system. Distributed processing are performed at this level.

High level control. This level associated with central processor which organizes the entire
network control sub processors. In includes many subsystems like call accounting subsystems
(CAS), call processing subsystems (CPS). Digital switching subsystems (DSS).Digital
subscriber’s switching subsystem (DSSS), Local administration (LA), maintenance control
subsystems (MCS); management statistics subsystems (MSS), message transmission
subsystems (MTS), signal interworking subsystems etc. This central processor is normally a
main frame type computers. Thus all basic controls of a digital switching system are
incorporated at this level. In real time operation, the processor determines the state of a call by
reading data from memory. The store areas (not shown) include,

Line store. In this memory, the status of the line is stored. The status may be busy, free or
disconnected.

Call record. All the call processing data’s such as origin of a call, path of a call, and duration
of a call and clearing of a call are stored.

Translation tables. Most switching system require a look-up table in order to decode routing
digits into suitable routings. For electromechanical system, such tables are realized by
distribution frame. Hundreds of translation tables are built for a switching system which stores
data for equipment number (EN) to directory number (DN) and for DN–to–EN translation.
Also it consists of, features related to a particular subscriber, data to route the call based on the
first 3 digits dialled, area code translation, international call translators etc.

Map of the switching network. There are two techniques for selection junctors.

1. Map-in-memory. In this technique, the memory contain a bit for each link. If it is set to 1
the link is free and if this bit is set to zero, the line is busy.

2. Map-in-network. In this technique, the junctor itself contains a one bit memory element,
which is read by the path setup program to check whether it is free. The map-in-network
consumes more time, but more advantages when several processors controlling the system.

SWITCHING SYSTEM SOFTWARE ORGANIZATION

In last section, three levels of controls of hardware architectures were discussed for a general
digital switching system. For effective processing of a call, to perform various functions of
subsystems and to interface with the other subsystems, software plays a vital role. The software
programs enables any digital switching system input data, to give outputs in a fraction of
seconds, concurrent processing of many calls in real time and performs many features other
than simple path set between subscribers for conversation. In this section, the need for software,
the software classification, basic software architecture, the involvement of software in various
levels of hardware architecture, interfacing between subsystems through software and software
presently used in various digital switching system are described.

Need for Software

Other than call processing, any exchange is to serve the subscriber various facilities and many
administrative tasks. Fig. shows various activities of a switching system. To carry out these
activities efficiently and effectively, the use of software is unavoidable.
 Fig. Activities of switching system.

To perform the above tasks, a large amount of software is required. However, the software for
basic functions are must and remaining services are optional and requires software depends on
the location of switching systems. Approximately 70% of the total software is used to perform
basic functions. Only 0.1% of the total processing time is used by the 30% of the remaining
service oriented software packages.

Software Classification and Interfacing

Classification. At various levels of hardware architecture, the software are used. Thus, many
digital switching systems employ some system level software. Basic software systems are
classified as:

1. Maintenance software

2. Call processing software

3. Database/Administration software

4. Feature software.

Above software packages are divided into program modules. Each module dealing with
specific task. Several modules are grouped together to form functional units. Various factors
are associated with the development of software product. These factors include the
requirements of the business, the location of telephone exchanges, customer needs, internal
requirements, and parameterised design. The parameterised design includes hardware
parameter and software parameters. The hardware parameter are based on the hardware used
in the central office or exchanges. They are number of network control processors, number of
line controllers, number of subscribers to be serviced, number of trunks for which the exchange
is engineered etc. Some examples of software parameters are the registers associated with
number and size of automatic message accounting (AMA) registers, number and size of buffers
for various telephony function and various features to be included for that particular exchanges.
Thus, the parameterised design helps in designing software common to the similar types of
exchanges.

Maintenance software

There are various activities and tests involved to maintain a switching system. Some of them
are :

1. Supervision of the proper functioning of the exchange equipment, trunks and subscriber
lines.

2. Monitoring the database of line and trunk assignments.

3. Efforts for the system recovery in case of failure.

4. Automatic line tests, which permits maintenance persons to attend several exchanges from
one control location.

5. Effective diagnostic programs and maintenance strategies used to reduce the maintenance
cost.

The root cause of the failure of any digital switching system is related to the software bugs
which affects the memory and program loops, hardware failures, failure to identify the exact
problem of failure and at least but not least the human error. Thus, the first step in software
build is to select the appropriate program modules which is suitable for the switching system.
The points to be considered are types of lines, location of switching system, signalling systems,
availability of skilled person. Preventive maintenance programs are activated during the normal
traffic. If a fault occurs, the OS activates the maintenance program to recover the system.
Effective preventive and maintenance programs and strategies helps in proper maintenance of
digital switching system with reduced maintenance cost.

Call processing software. The call processing functions are controlled by a central processor.
Other functions carried out by the central processor are maintenance and administration,
signalling, network control. Thus, the call processing programs are usually responsible for call
processing and to interface with the translation data, office data, and automatic message
accounting and maintenance programs. The translation data is the type of data generated by
telephone companies related to subscriber. The office data is related to a particular digital
switch. The call processing programs can be derived from state-transition diagrams in
specification and description language (SDL). The SDL description in text form, is machine
read and stored in memory in the form of data structures and linked lists and translation tables.
An interpreter programs is written to access the lists and tables and to process the call by
interpreting the data within them. Fig. shows three levels of call processing program. But it
varies depends on the digital switching system.

Data base/Administration software

For administration and data base management, large amount of software required. But these
tasks are performed infrequently, it uses less than 5% of the total processing time. The
administration tasks includes

1. Alarm processing

2. Traffic recording

3. Change of numbers or area codes corresponding to the change in subscriber rate and
Government policy.

4. Changing routing and routing codes. This decisions made on the traffic intensity of a
particular exchange.
5. Generation of exchange management statistics.

Most digital switching system employ a data base system to:

1. Record office information

2. Billing information

3. Software and hardware parameters

4. System recovery parameters

5. System diagnostics.

Feature Software.

Most of the present day digital switching systems uses all packages.

Switching software. Software for digital switching systems are written in high level languages.
Early electronic switching systems used assembly language programmes. In 1980, Plenary
Assembly, CCITT approved the definition of a high level language as Recommendations–200.
This language is known as CCITT high level language (CHILL). It has three major features as
data structure, program structure and action statements. It is designed for the various SPC
modules discussed earlier. Software codes for digital switching systems are also written in high
level programming languages such as C, C ++, PASCAL.

Interfacing. The line control programs scan the status of lines and reports the status to the
network status program. The network status programs works with network control programs.
To provide dial tone, ringing, message to caller for invalid number, status of the subscriber and
to receive dialled digits, and to clear signals from the subscriber, the line control programs
interface with the network control programs. The call processing software which is responsible
for call processing and in addition interfaces with accounting and maintenance programs for
billing, recording and to identify the fault in lines. The call processing software also interfaces
with feature programs to serve the customers need. The trunk modules interface different types
of trunks to the digital switching system. Most digital switching systems employ special
modules to connect ISDN and other digital services to the switch. Some specialized module
interfaces are used to provide enhanced services such as AIN and packet switching.

ELECTRONIC EXCHANGES IN INDIA

Overview of Telecommunication Organizations

Department of Telecommunication (DOT) is the Government of India department under the
ministry of communications. The main role of DOT in coordination with Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) are Policy making, licencing and coordination relating to telegraphs,
telephones, wireless, data, facsimile and telematics services. It also enforces wireless
regulatory measures for wireless transmission by users in the country. The public sector
companies under the ministry of communications which plays vital role in the
telecommunications in India are

1. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)

2. Indian Telephone Industries Ltd (ITI)

3. Telecommunications consultants India (TCIL) Ltd

4. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL)

5. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL)

6. Centre for development of telematics

The details of the BSNL which is the major telecom service provider and ITI, the leading
telecom products manufacturer are given below in brief. For detailed information, the reader
can refer the related websites. On October 1, 2000 the Department of Telecom operations,
Govt. of India become a corporation and was christened Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
(BSNL). Today, BSNL is the No. 1 telecommunication company and the largest public sector
undertaking of India. It has a network of over 45 million lines covering more than 5000 towns
and over 35 million telephone connections. The main functions of BSNL includes planning,
engineering, installation, maintenance, management and operation of voice and non-voice
telecommunication services all over the country. ITI established in 1948 is a Telecom company
manufacturing the entire range of telecom equipment which includes telephones, large digital
switches, and transmission systems like microwave, Fibre optic systems and satellite
communication systems. Its highly satisfied customers in India include BSNL, MTNL, defence
services, parliamentary, police and internal security organisations, railways etc. Many African
and south Asian nations are its overseas customers. Related to digital switches, ITI in
collaboration with ALCATEL, France manufactures large digital switches and with C-DOT
India, manufactures small, medium and large digital switches. TCIL is a premier
telecommunication consultancy and engineering company under the ministry of
communications. TCIL with its number of joint venture Company’s manufactures computer