Introduction

 Need for switching?

 End to End connection

 Switching Techniques:
 Circuit & Packet

 Reserved resources (circuit switching) versus on-

demand allocation (packet-switching)

2
 Circuit-Switching
 Long-haul telecom network was designed for voice
where, all the Network resources are dedicated to
one call & is highly utilized .
 Dedicated communication path reserved between
two stations
 Requires three phases
•Call setup (Establish)
•Transfer
•Call clear (Disconnect)
• No storage of data at the intermediate nodes
3
 Circuit Switching - Drawbacks
• Inefficient - Channel capacity is dedicated for
duration of connection, If no data, capacity is wasted
• Takes more Set up (connection) time
• As it is developed for voice traffic (phone), following
shortcomings are experienced when used for data:
– high idle time in connection (b/w host and terminal)
– Supports Constant data rate & hence sender and
receiver must operate at the same data rate which
is a limitation.
 Circuit Switching: FDM and TDM
Example:
FDM
4 users

frequency

time

TDM

frequency

time
Introduction 1-5
 Numerical example
• How long does it take to send a file of 640,000 bits from host
A to host B over a circuit-switched network? Assume,
– All links are 1.536 Mbps (bandwidth) or link speed
– Each link uses TDM with 24 slots/sec (24 users)
[Therefore, 1 user will have 1/24 th of the slot].
– 500 msec to establish end-to-end circuit

Given Data Size= 64x104b or 0.64 Mbits

Link speed is 1.536 Mb/s
Time taken = Data Size /Rate = 0.64Mb/1.536Mbs-1 /24
0.64 x 24 / 1.536 = 0.98 = 10 secs approximately
= 10secs + 500 ms(end to end delay) = 10 + 0.5= 10.5secs for
delivering

(Note: Effective BW = Link speed / No. of users

= 1.536/24 users)
Introduction 1-6
 Packet-Switching Networks
 Introduced in 1970s, is one of the few effective technologies for
long distance data communications.
 Long message is divided into blocks called packets.
 Packets are sent as different chunks & each packet uses the full
link BW.
 Follows Store & Forward principle
 Advantages :
– Flexibility – Allows more users to use the capacity
– Supports resource sharing & is Robust
 Disadvantages:
– Overhead is involved as status (control information) is shared
in control packets.
– Leads to congestion if more than one node contests for the link
BW 7

– Incurs Time delay if nodes are distributed.

 Packet-Switching Networks

 Popular WAN technologies: X.25, Frame

relay and ATM (variants of packet-switching)
 Frame relay remains the most widely used WAN
technology despite the increased popularity of ATM.
 Packet Switching- Basic operation

 Data is transmitted in short blocks, called packets.

(Upper bound on Packet length is 1000 octets /bytes)
 Long message is broken into series of packets.
 Each packet contains a portion or all of the user
data + control info (routing)
 Each intermediate nodes receives, Stores and
forwards further to destination.

9
The use of Packets (long message is divided
into short message)
 Simple Switching Network
(Consider Packet transmission from A to E)

• The control information indicates that E is the destination.

Hence, pkt. is sent from A to 4, where Node 4 stores the
packet, determines the next leg (5) and sends it. Then from
Node 5 to 6 and then to node E.
 Advantages of Packet Switching over
Circuit-Switching
 Greater line efficiency (many packets can go over
shared link)
 Packets are queued up and transmitted rapidly
 Two stations with different data rates can exchange
packets.
 Non-blocking under heavy traffic (but increased
delays)
 Priorities can be used & hence high priority packets
experience less delay.
1
2
Disadvantages relative to Circuit - Switching

 Packets incur additional delay with every node they

pass through (incurs transmission delay)
 Jitter: variation in packet delay as packets travel in
different routes.
 Overhead in every packet (control pkts.) for carrying
routing information, etc
 Processing overhead for every packet at every node
as they traverse through intermediate nodes
 Since, packets are queued up, they experience
Queuing delay
13
 Packet-switching: store-and-forward
L
R R R
Example: Computing the
• L- data size transmission delay
• R- rate of data sent • L = 7.5 Mbits (Size of data)
• Therefore, it takes L/R • R = 1.5 Mbps (rate of data
seconds to transmit (push sent / BW)
out) packet of L bits on to
link at R bps • transmission delay =
• store and forward: entire 7.5/1.5 = 5 sec
packet must arrive at router • End to end delay = 5+5+5
before it can be transmitted = 15 sec
on next link
• delay = 3L/R (assuming zero more on delay shortly …
propagation delay from
sender to receiver)
Introduction 1-14
 Packet switching approaches
 Two types of packet switching approaches:
 Datagram
 Virtual circuit

15
 Datagram Approach
–Each packet (datagram) is sent independently &
reach destination in different paths taking into
consideration the traffic, line efficiency, etc
• Packets can take any practical route
• Packets may arrive out of order
• Packets may go missing
– Its up to the receiver to re-order packets and
recover missing packets
– Advantages
 More flexible & reliable (if a node fails, packets can be
sent on an alternate route)
 No storage of data at the intermediate nodes
Datagram Approach
 Virtual circuit Approach
– Preplanned route is established before any packets
are sent (similar to circuit switching- hence called
virtual circuit switching)
– Call request and call accept packets establish
connection (handshake)
– No need for routing decision for each packet (as in
datagram approach) at each node
– Each packet contains a Virtual circuit identifier
(VCI) instead of destination address along with data.
Virtual- Circuit Approach

19
 Virtual Circuits vs. Datagram
• Virtual circuits
– Packets are forwarded more quickly
• No routing decisions to make at each node
– Intermediate nodes do not take routing decision
- Unlike Circuit Switching, packets are still buffered at each
node & queued for output over a line.
- Loss of a node looses all circuits through that node, Hence,
less reliable

• Datagram
– Every packet is treated independently, with no reference
to previous packet transmission
– No call setup phase required (Better if few packets are sent)
– Intermediate nodes take routing decision.
– Hence, more flexible & reliable (if a node fails,
subsequent packets may find an alternate route)
 Packet Switching: Statistical Multiplexing (with
store & forward)
100 Mb/s C
A Ethernet statistical multiplexing

1.5 Mb/s (link

B
capacity)
queue of packets
waiting for output
link

D E

Sequence of A & B packets does not have fixed pattern, bandwidth

shared on demand  statistical multiplexing. As it comes in the
queue it will be sent.
TDM: each host gets same slot Introduction
in revolving TDM frame. 1-21