System | North American | Japanese | European (CEPT) |
---|---|---|---|
Level zero (channel data rate) | 64 kbit/s (DS0) | 64 kbit/s | 64 kbit/s |
First level | 1.544 Mbit/s (DS1) (24 user channels) (T1) | 1.544 Mbit/s (24 user channels) | 2.048 Mbit/s (32 user channels) (E1) |
(Intermediate level, T-carrier hierarchy only) | 3.152 Mbit/s (DS1C) (48 Ch.) | – | – |
Second level | 6.312 Mbit/s (DS2) (96 Ch.) (T2) | 6.312 Mbit/s (96 Ch.), or 7.786 Mbit/s (120 Ch.) | 8.448 Mbit/s (128 Ch.) (E2) |
Third level | 44.736 Mbit/s (DS3) (672 Ch.) (T3) | 32.064 Mbit/s (480 Ch.) | 34.368 Mbit/s (512 Ch.) (E3) |
Fourth level | 274.176 Mbit/s (DS4) (4032 Ch.) | 97.728 Mbit/s (1440 Ch.) | 139.264 Mbit/s (2048 Ch.) (E4) |
Fifth level | 400.352 Mbit/s (DS5) (5760 Ch.) | 565.148 Mbit/s (8192 Ch.) | 565.148 Mbit/s (8192 Ch.) (E5) |
The DS designations are used in connection with the North American hierarchy only. Strictly speaking, a DS1 is the data carried on a T1 circuit, and likewise for a DS3 and a T3, but in practice the terms are used interchangeably.
There are other data rates in use, e.g., military systems that operate at six and eight times the DS1 rate. At least one manufacturer has a commercial system[ citation needed ] that operates at 90 Mbit/s, twice the DS3 rate. New systems, which take advantage of the high data rates offered by optical communications links, are also deployed or are under development. Higher data rates are now often achieved by using synchronous optical networking (SONET) or synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH).
A DS3 is delivered native on a copper trunk. DS3 may be converted to an optical fiber run when needing longer distances between termination points. When a DS3 is delivered over fiber it is still an analog type trunk connection at the termination points. When delivering data over an OC3 or greater SONET is used. A DS3 transported over SONET is encapsulated in a STS-1 SONET channel. An OC-3 SONET link contains three STS-1s, and therefore may carry three DS3s. Likewise, OC-12, OC-48, and OC-192 may carry 12, 48, and 192 DS3s respectively.[ citation needed ]
Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) are standardized protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams synchronously over optical fiber using lasers or highly coherent light from light-emitting diodes (LEDs). At low transmission rates data can also be transferred via an electrical interface. The method was developed to replace the plesiochronous digital hierarchy (PDH) system for transporting large amounts of telephone calls and data traffic over the same fiber without the problems of synchronization.
Digital Signal 0 (DS0) is a basic digital signaling rate of 64 kilobits per second (kbit/s), corresponding to the capacity of one analog voice-frequency-equivalent communication channel. The DS0 rate, and its equivalents E0 in the E-carrier system and T0 in the T-carrier system, form the basis for the digital multiplex transmission hierarchy in telecommunications systems used in North America, Europe, Japan, and the rest of the world, for both the early plesiochronous systems such as T-carrier and for modern synchronous systems such as SDH/SONET.
The T-carrier is a member of the series of carrier systems developed by AT&T Bell Laboratories for digital transmission of multiplexed telephone calls.
Time-division multiplexing (TDM) is a method of transmitting and receiving independent signals over a common signal path by means of synchronized switches at each end of the transmission line so that each signal appears on the line only a fraction of time according to agreed rules, e.g. with each transmitter working in turn. It can be used when the bit rate of the transmission medium exceeds that of the signal to be transmitted. This form of signal multiplexing was developed in telecommunications for telegraphy systems in the late 19th century but found its most common application in digital telephony in the second half of the 20th century.
In fiber-optic communications, wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) is a technology which multiplexes a number of optical carrier signals onto a single optical fiber by using different wavelengths of laser light. This technique enables bidirectional communications over a single strand of fiber as well as multiplication of capacity.
Internet access is a facility or service that provides connectivity for a computer, a computer network, or other network device to the Internet, and for individuals or organizations to access or use applications such as email and the World Wide Web. Internet access is offered for sale by an international hierarchy of Internet service providers (ISPs) using various networking technologies. At the retail level, many organizations, including municipal entities, also provide cost-free access to the general public. Types of connections range from fixed-line cable to mobile and satellite.
Digital Signal 1 is a T-carrier signaling scheme devised by Bell Labs. DS1 is the primary digital telephone standard used in the United States, Canada and Japan and is able to transmit up to 24 multiplexed voice and data calls over telephone lines. E-carrier is used in place of T-carrier outside the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. DS1 is the logical bit pattern used over a physical T1 line; in practice, the terms DS1 and T1 are often used interchangeably.
Digital Signal Designation is the classification of digital bit rates in the digital multiplex hierarchy used in transport of signals from one location to another in telecommunications.
The System Packet Interface (SPI) family of Interoperability Agreements from the Optical Internetworking Forum specify chip-to-chip, channelized, packet interfaces commonly used in synchronous optical networking and Ethernet applications. A typical application of such a packet level interface is between a framer or a MAC and a network processor. Another application of this interface might be between a packet processor ASIC and a traffic manager device.
SPI-4.2 is a version of the System Packet Interface published by the Optical Internetworking Forum. It was designed to be used in systems that support OC-192 SONET interfaces and is sometimes used in 10 Gigabit Ethernet based systems.
PL-4 or POS-PHY Level 4 was the name of the interface that the interface SPI-4.2 is based on. It was proposed by PMC-Sierra to the Optical Internetworking Forum. The name means Packet Over SONET Physical layer level 4. PL-4 was developed by PMC-Sierra in conjunction with the Saturn Development Group.
Optical Carrier transmission rates are a standardized set of specifications of transmission bandwidth for digital signals that can be carried on Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) fiber optic networks. Transmission rates are defined by rate of the bitstream of the digital signal and are designated by hyphenation of the acronym OC and an integer value of the multiple of the basic unit of rate, e.g., OC-48. The base unit is 51.84 Mbit/s. Thus, the speed of optical-carrier-classified lines labeled as OC-n is n × 51.84 Mbit/s.
Alarm indication signal (AIS) is a signal transmitted by an intermediate element of a multi-node transport circuit that is part of a concatenated communications system to alert the receiving end of the circuit that a segment of the end-to-end link has failed at a logical or physical level, even if the system it is directly connected to is still working. The AIS replaces the failed data, allowing the higher order system in the concatenation to maintain its transmission framing integrity. Downstream intermediate elements of the transport circuit propagate the AIS onwards to the destination element.
PL-3 or POS-PHY Level 3 is a network protocol. It is the name of the interface that the Optical Internetworking Forum's SPI-3 Interoperability Agreement is based on. It was proposed by PMC-Sierra to the Optical Internetworking Forum and adopted in June 2000. The name means Packet Over SONET Physical layer level 3. PL-3 was developed by PMC-Sierra in conjunction with the SATURN Development Group.
VT1.5 is a type of virtual tributary in SONET.
A digital cross-connect system is a piece of circuit-switched network equipment, used in telecommunications networks, that allows lower-level TDM bit streams, such as DS0 bit streams, to be rearranged and interconnected among higher-level TDM signals, such as DS1 bit streams. DCS units are available that operate on both older T-carrier/E-carrier bit streams, as well as newer SONET/SDH bit streams.
Ethernet over PDH over SONET/SDH (EoPoS) is one of many techniques that provided Ethernet connectivity over non-Ethernet networks. EoPoS is a standardized method for transporting native Ethernet frames over the existing telecommunications optical infrastructure use both the established Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SONET/SDH) transport technologies.
TRANSMUX (Transcode-Multiplexing) is a signaling format change in telecommunications signaling between synchronous optical network signals SONET and asynchronous DS3 signals. A DS3 signal is multiplexed from 28 individual DS1 signals in a bit-interleaved fashion, with framing and overhead at determined intervals. SONET differs from this approach by using a byte-interleaved, synchronous, multiplexing technique with several variations on payload types.
10 Gigabit Ethernet is a group of computer networking technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of 10 gigabits per second. It was first defined by the IEEE 802.3ae-2002 standard. Unlike previous Ethernet standards, 10GbE defines only full-duplex point-to-point links which are generally connected by network switches; shared-medium CSMA/CD operation has not been carried over from the previous generations of Ethernet standards so half-duplex operation and repeater hubs do not exist in 10GbE. The first standard for faster 100 Gigabit Ethernet links was approved in 2010.
An optical mesh network is a type of optical telecommunications network employing wired fiber-optic communication or wireless free-space optical communication in a mesh network architecture.