NETW 310

Wired, Optical and Wireless Communications

Week 7 Prof Reyes

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T1 is a high speed digital network (1.544 mbps) developed by AT&T in 1957 and implemented in the early 1960's to support long-haul pulse-code modulation (PCM) voice transmission. The primary innovation of T1 was to introduce "digitized" voice and to create a network fully capable of digitally representing what was up until then, a fully analog telephone system. Perhaps the way to really begin this discussion is to discuss the AT&T Digital Carrier System referred to as "ACCUNET T1.5". It is described as a "two-point, dedicated, high capacity, digital capable of transmitting 1.544 Mb/s. The interface to the customer can be either a T1 carrier or a higher order multiplexed facility such as those used to provide access from (fiber optic) and radio systems." So in the basic definition there is the discussion that there is a "higher order" or hierarchy of T1. There is T1 which is, as we have discussed, a network that has a speed of 1.544 Mbps and was designed for voice circuits or "channels" (24 per each T1 line or "trunk"). In addition, there is T1-C which operates at 3.152 Mbps. There is also T-2, operating at 6.312 Mbps, which was implemented in the early 1970's to carry one Picturephone channel or 96 voice channels. There is T-3, operating at 44.736 Mbps and T-4, operating at 274.176 Mbps. These are known as "supergroups" and their operating speeds are generally referred to as 45 Mbps and 274 Mbps respectively.

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For mathematical reasons, a voice channel was selected to be at 64 Kbps. 24 of these channels is a composite of 1.536 Mbps, not 1.544 Mbps! Why is there a difference? The reason is that after a byte (8 bits) of data is sent from each channel (24 * 8 = 192 bits) there is an extra bit used for synchronizing called a Frame bit - hence 193 bits are sent and this increase of 1 bit per 192 causes the speed to increase to 1.544 Mbps

DS0 DS1 DS1C

64Kbps 1.544Mbps 3.152 Mbps

1/24 of T-1 1 T-1 2 T-1

1 Channel 24 Channels 48 Channels

DS2
DS3 DS3C

6.312 Mbps
44.736 Mbps 89.472 Mbps

4 T-1
28 T-1 56 T-1

96 Channels
672 Channels 1344 Channels

DS4

274.176 Mbps 168 T-1

4032 Channel

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As early as 1979, AT&T proposed the Extended Superframe Format be implemented on its T1 circuits in order to provide in-service diagnostic capabilities as well as improved false frame protection. With ESF, the 193rd bit is now time shared by three functions: frame synchronization bits; CRC-6 bits; and Facility Data Link (FDL) bits. Frame synchronization bits are carried in six of the 24 bit positions provided by the 193rd bit. These are in the 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, 20th, and 24th positions and the pattern is "001011". This simple six-bit pattern performs both the "F bit" and "S bit" functions of the D4 superframe. "False frame" sensitivity is eliminated by using the CRC-6 error checking bits to determine which of several "candidates" for the frame bit are the actual 193rd bit. CRC-6 uses a mathematical algorithm to check the contents of the entire superframe (all 4632 bits) and obtains a 6-bit (hence its name) coded "signature" for those data bits. The FDL may be used for any purpose, but is ideally suited for communicating ESF performance information from local, remote, and intermediate equipment along a facility and for sending control commands for protection switching, network and remote equipment configuration, etc. In essence it is a 4 Kbps channel embedded in the T1 format. Bellcore documement TRTSY-000194 (Extended Superframe Format Interface Specification - December 1987)

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The ANSI standard T1.403-1989 is different yet again. Fundamentally the signals and the templates (signal shapes) are pretty much the same. Modern IC manufacturers have insured that their products meet all of the specs. When we are communicating to the CO or to the carrier we are using DS-1; when we are regenerating the signal after the demarc, we are using DSX-1. It is important to note that the template of the DS-1 signal is bipolar. This means that a plus voltage, a zero voltage, and a minus voltage are important to the coding of the signal. The code which is used in T1 is call AMI for Alternate Mark Inversion. This means that if a "1" or Mark is coded as a positive voltage, the very next "1" must be a minus voltage or the result will be a Bipolar Violation (BPV).

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The requirement is that no more than 15 0's can be sent before a "1" must be transmitted. In telephone applications that was accomplished with bit 7. Remember, bit 8 is sometimes used for signalling so it couldn't be universally used. The human ear would never detect these slight variances in the lower order bits. In the case of sending data, using bit 7 and bit 8 for other than faithfully representing the data being presented for transport yields disastrous consequences. Thus a mechanism had to be developed for data only applications. The easiest approach and a technique still in use in DDS is to make every bit 8 a 1 and to use only the lower 7 bits. This 7/8 mode yields 56Kbps instead of the standard DS0 rate of 64 Kbps. This technique also disallowed the use of signaling bits. An improvement to this technique was developed known as B8ZS with stands for Binary Eight Zero Substitution. This technique takes advantage of BPV's in the data stream to be decoded as a signal.

With B8ZS coding, each block of 8 consecutive zeros is replaced with the B8ZS code word. If the pulse preceding the inserted code is transmitted as a positive pulse (+), the inserted code is 000+-0-+ (BPV's in position 4 and 7). If the pulse preceding the inserted code is transmitted as a negative pulse (-), the inserted code is 000-+0+- (again BPV's in position 4 and 7). Figure 9 shows how B8ZS works.

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Cabling Now for some discussion on ABAM cable. This is the cable that is called out in the DSX-1 spec and is a physical cable that was manufactured by AT&T. Generally it is a cable that has unshielded twisted pairs with a wire size of 22 AWG. Some authorities suggest that it is pulp insulated while others suggest that it is plastic insulated. In any event, ABAM cabling, per se, is no longer available. Modern cable manufacturers, however, especially those active in EIA-568, have developed cables with specific categories or levels. Category/Level 2 cable is adequate for the T1 data rate and has the following characteristics: 24 AWG 2 pairs 100 ohms impedance @ .772 MHz 7 dB attenuation/ 1000 ft @ .772 MHz 41 dB crosst all @ 1000 ft.

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CSU (Channel Service Unit) This may be the easiest to explain. A DS-1 comes from the phone company to the customer. This line must be given the proper termination, line protection (vis-a-vis FCC Part 68), and message handling capability. In the old days, the phone company supplied this equipment but today this probably will be CPE (Customer Premise Equipment). The output of the CSU is the DSX-1 signal. The most common CSU is found in a T1 Mux however they can stand alone with various added functionality. The bipolar output of the CSU can be connected to a DSU (Digital Service Unit) which converts the bipolar signals to unipolar and vice versa at the data rate gleaned from the bipolar signals. A CSU/DSU is quite possible. AT&T Pub 62411 requires that a CSU perform the following functions: regeneration loopback keep alive The regeneration part is part of the T-Driver functionality. Loopback is commanded from the Carrier in one of two ways: in line data pattern with D4 (SF) formatting using the FDL with ESF formatting

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T1-MUX This is actually a family of devices dedicated for customer use. They are normally T1 or fractional T1 TDMs which comply with format constraints , DACS interfaces, and often have an optional CSU. Their purpose, depending on the number of ports, is to allow transmission of data, image, and voice form many different sources of a single network link. Many T1 Muxes are also Subrate Data Muxes (SRDMs). By this identification they are able to accommodate synchronous data rates of 2.4, 4.8, 9.6, and 19.2 Kbps. Asynchronous data rates are also allowed in some devices. SDRM operates per DS0. Since T1 muxes are also DACS compatible at the DS0 level, Fractional T-1 service is also compatible with the devices. They also comply with the D4 channel bank requirements of bit density, zero density, and the provision of clear channel. FT1 is like SRDM only at the DS1 level. Hence, data may be at multiples of 64Kbps. Also many T1 Muxes allow for the integration of the AT&T Switched 56 service. These are important month-end transfers, CAD/CAM files and teleconferencing

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FT Series Fractional T1 DSU/CSU The FT DSU/CSU's have a DS-1 output signal, and are FCC registered DSU's. They take data at a configured speed via an RS-530/V.35 interface and convert the data to a T-1 data stream. The format of the data is can be D-4 or ESF. The transmitter is configured with a selectable signal attenuator (LBO) of 0, 7dB, and 15 dB per AT&T spec. The FT series is available in a single channel units (FT-1), two channel unit (FT-2) and a 4 channel unit (FT-4). Each port can be configured to use from 1 to 24 of the DS-0's (56 or 64 Kbps each DS-0). The FT-2 and FT-4 units also have drop and insert capability.