Comparison of T-carrier and E-carrier systems

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Comparison of T-carrier and E-carrier systems
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.

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.

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.

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).

Data facts represented for handling

Data is a set of values of subjects with respect to qualitative or quantitative variables.

Optical fiber light-conducting fiber

An optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber and find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths than electrical cables. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss; in addition, fibers are immune to electromagnetic interference, a problem from which metal wires suffer excessively. Fibers are also used for illumination and imaging, and are often wrapped in bundles so they may be used to carry light into, or images out of confined spaces, as in the case of a fiberscope. Specially designed fibers are also used for a variety of other applications, some of them being fiber optic sensors and fiber lasers.

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 ]

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Synchronous optical networking

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.

Time-division multiplexing multiplexing technique for digital signals

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 in an alternating pattern. It is 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.

Telephony is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is intimately linked to the invention and development of the telephone.

Wavelength-division multiplexing

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 one strand of fiber, as well as multiplication of capacity.

IEEE 802.6 is a standard governed by the ANSI for Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN). It is an improvement of an older standard which used the Fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) network structure. The FDDI-based standard failed due to its expensive implementation and lack of compatibility with current LAN standards. The IEEE 802.6 standard uses the Distributed Queue Dual Bus (DQDB) network form. This form supports 150 Mbit/s transfer rates. It consists of two unconnected unidirectional buses. DQDB is rated for a maximum of 160 km before significant signal degradation over fiberoptic cable with an optical wavelength of 1310 nm.

The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local telephony operators, providing infrastructure and services for public telecommunication. The PSTN consists of telephone lines, fiber optic cables, microwave transmission links, cellular networks, communications satellites, and undersea telephone cables, all interconnected by switching centers, thus allowing most telephones to communicate with each other. Originally a network of fixed-line analog telephone systems, the PSTN is now almost entirely digital in its core network and includes mobile and other networks, as well as fixed telephones.

Packet over SONET/SDH, abbreviated POS, is a communications protocol for transmitting packets in the form of the Point to Point Protocol (PPP) over SDH or SONET, which are both standard protocols for communicating digital information using lasers or light emitting diodes (LEDs) over optical fibre at high line rates. POS is defined by RFC 2615 as PPP over SONET/SDH. PPP is the Point to Point Protocol that was designed as a standard method of communicating over point-to-point links. Since SONET/SDH uses point-to-point circuits, PPP is well suited for use over these links. Scrambling is performed during insertion of the PPP packets into the SONET/SDH frame to solve various security attacks including denial-of-service attacks and the imitation of SONET/SDH alarms. This modification was justified as cost-effective because the scrambling algorithm was already used by the standard used to transport ATM cells over SONET/SDH. However, scrambling can optionally be disabled to allow a node to be compatible with another node that uses the now obsoleted RFC 1619 version of Packet over SONET/SDH which lacks the scrambler.

Gigapackets are billions (109) of packets or datagrams. The packet is the fundamental unit of information in computer networks.

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.

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.

Virtual concatenation (VCAT) is an inverse multiplexing technique creating a large capacity payload container distributed over multiple smaller capacity TDM signals. These signals may be transported or routed independently. Virtual concatenation has been defined for SONET/SDH, OTN and PDH path signals.

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.

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 various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames

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, 10 Gigabit Ethernet 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 Ethernet standards so half-duplex operation and repeater hubs do not exist in 10GbE.

Optical mesh network

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.