Collage of Electronic Technology

Communication Department

Chapter 2
 .Telephone network and services
The purpose of telecommunication switching system is to provide
the means to pass information from one terminal to other terminal.

SUBSCRIBER LOOP DESIGN

The cables that connect the telephone handsets to the local
switching office or is referred as subscriber loop or local loop.
 Central Battery System 1

• The microphone requires to be energized in order to produce

the electrical signals corresponding to the speech waveform.
• The minimum current required for proper operation of a modern
carbon microphone is about 23 mA.
• central battery system where one battery of secondary cells is
provided at the telephone exchange. Thus, a battery of 52 volts
from the exchange powers the subscriber loop.
• In many situations, the loop length is extended while keeping
the battery voltage is constant. This causes reduced
effectiveness in the signalling.
• Also, if the current is insufficient due to increased length, the
relay will not function properly and the line seizure cannot be
effected.
The drop wires (DW) from the telephones are connected to the distribution point
(DP). The distribution points at various locations are connected together by a
distribution cables (DC) and terminated to the feeder points (FD).The DC carries
10–500 pair of wires.

Many feeder points related to a particular geographical

area connected by a branch feeder (BF). From BF, through main feeder, all the
subscriber loops are connected to MDF at the end office or local exchange.
Typically, the MF carries 100 – 2000 pair of wires to MDF. the subscriber pair and
exchange pairs are interconnected at the MDF by means of jumpers.

Main distributed frame Feeder point distribution pox

 Limiting Factors of Subscriber Loop Design

There are two limiting factors we have to consider while designing a subscriber loop

.attenuation
If the length of the loop increases the attenuation also increases. The attenuation
limit of the subscriber loop is normally 6 dB.

voltage drop
The IR drop of the line varies with
 Resistances of the battery used in the system.
 Telephone set resistance
 Allowable resistance of the subscriber loop
The maximum allowable resistance in the subscriber loop is calculated as follows.

where
VB Battery voltage
Ic minimum current required for proper operation of carbon microphone

The loop resistance limit is used to determine the cable length and the cable gauge
required.

The loop resistance limit is RL = Rm – (RB + RT)

Where
RB approximate resistance maintained at the battery protect against short
circuit in the wire between subscriber and local office

RT Telephone set resistance.

 Example: If the minimum current required for carbon microphone is 23 mA,
battery voltage is 50 V, the battery resistance is 400 ohm and the telephone set
resistance is 200 ohms, calculate the loop resistance limit.

Ω 1600

Loop Length
The method of determining subscriber loop length using the signal resistance
limit as a basis is called the basic resistance design.
The maximum subscriber loop length, which is defined as the distance from the
subscriber to the central office, is expressed as

where Rdc is the dc loop resistance measured in ohms per kilometer

Where ‘d’ is the diameter of the conductor in millimeters.

Maximum permissible loop length
The method of determining the maximum subscriber loop length using the
attenuation is called the basic transmission design

Example For 24 gauge loop and a 6 dB loss, find the maximum loop length.
.km 5.71

Example: find the type of cable should be used to connect subscriber 2.5km
away from L.E. that use 48V battery with RB =400 Ω, the subscriber
telephone with RT =150 Ω, And the minimum current required is 20 mA
 Cable size for the Loop
The table shows American Wire Gauge (AWG) versus wire diameter and resistance.
From the table, for the required diameter of the cable, the size of wire gauge
can be determined.

The cable sizes of 19, 22, 24 and 26 gauge are the most commonly used cable for
different dc resistance of various subscribers.
Example 3.4. For a 24 gauge loop and a 1250 ohm loop resistance find
the loop length. .km 14.84
Common method for sub loop extension

1- Inductive loading 2- Amplifier 3- Increase diameter

 Common method for sub loop extension
1- Inductive loading 2- Amplifier 3- Increase diameter

Inductive Loading
Inductive loading is the process of inserting series inductances
(loading coils) into the loop at fixed intervals. These will reduce the
transmission loss on subscriber loops. This methods enables the designer to
increase the loop length without using higher diameter copper wire.

The attenuation loss in twisted pair cable is because of the capacitance

between wire pair

The wires of the local loop have a capacitance of approximately 0.1335 Micro
Farad per km regardless of the cable gauge

where R is the resistance,

C is the shunt capacitance,
L is the inductance.
All are measured per unit length
Note: Usually it is used for loop > 5km
 By inserting loading coils with proper inductance and at appropriate distances, the
distortion can be minimized and high-speed transmission can be achieved. below
gives the standard letters and its associated spacing.

To offset the mutual capacitance (0.1335 Micro Farad), load coils having 88 mH
inductances are placed at 1.8288 km intervals on the cable. The first load coil
placed at 0.9144 km from the local exchange. Then for every 1.8288 km, one
loading coil is placed till the subscriber premises.
The loading coils are represented for example, as 19H88, 19 indicate the gauge size,
H indicates the spacing of the coils and 88 indicate the inductance of the coils.
 Central Battery System 1

• The microphone requires to be energized in order to produce

the electrical signals corresponding to the speech waveform.
• The minimum current required for proper operation of a modern
carbon microphone is about 23 mA.
• central battery system where one battery of secondary cells is
provided at the telephone exchange. Thus, a battery of 52 volts
from the exchange powers the subscriber loop.
• In many situations, the loop length is extended while keeping
the battery voltage is constant. This causes reduced
effectiveness in the signalling.
• Also, if the current is insufficient due to increased length, the
relay will not function properly and the line seizure cannot be
effected.
 Four Wire Circuits
• The term four wire implies that there are two wires carrying the signals in
one direction and two wires carrying them in opposite direction.
• In normal telephone service, the local loops are two wire circuits, on which
a single telephone call can be transmitted in both directions.
• If the distance between the subscribers is substantial, the amplifiers
(repeaters) are necessary to compensate the attenuation.
• As the amplifiers are unidirectional, for two-way communication, four-wire
transmission is necessary.
• The switching equipment in the local exchange and the line from subscriber
to local office (local loops) are two wire operation.
• The local exchange will switch the subscriber loop to a toll connecting trunk.
This is also a two-wire transmission.
• The toll offices are interconnected with inter tool trunks (which connects
towns and cities).
• These trunks are of four-wire transmission.
 The simple arrangement of
the two wire and four wire transmission
 The hybrid circuit
• 4-wire connection is used between exchanges
and 2-wire connections from exchange to
subscribers
Exchange A Amplifier Exhange B

Two-wire
Two-wire

Amplifier

Bridge Bridge
 The hybrid-circuit 2
If the impedance Zb equals the line impedance no
incoming voice (down right) leaks to outgoing voice (up right)
but the signal goes via the two wire connection on the left

To exchange

Local loop

From exchange
 The hybrid circuit summarized
• The hybrid circuit transforms two-wire connection into 4-
wire connection.
• If the hybrid is unbalanced echo will result
– Hybrid is balanced when no own voice is leaked into own
loudspeaker
– In practice. Perfect matching is impossible.
• Hybrid unbalance can result from line impedance changes
due to weather conditions
• Unbalance results echo
• Echo cancellation circuits are harmful in data connections
• Nowadays realized by operational amplifier based circuitry
that automatically monitors line impedance changes
 Why 4-wire ?

1- Because trunk line is shared media, thus it is important to separate incoming from
out going traffic to avoid interference.
2- Because in long distance connections repeaters are required which
are unidirectional

Hybrid Circuit in Telephone N.W.

It is a circuit used to connect 2w to 4w N.W., with ensuring all incoming energy of 4W
is transferred to 2W with Zero Energy returned in the incoming direction.

To get Zero Energy returned we need perfect impedance matching

between 2W circuit and Balance N.W. circuit

In practice perfect matching is impossible

 Transmission Impairments
• Some disturbances and noises are usually added with
voice or data in channel.
• These unwanted signals are referred as transmission
impairments.
• There are in general two types of transmission impairments,
which afflict the communi­cation circuits.
• They are static impairments and transient impairments.
• Static impairments
- Signal attenuation and Distortion
• Transient impairments
-Echoes and singing, Noise, Cross talk, Fading and phase Jitter
Echo impairment : It is affecting quality of the voice conversation, especially in long
distance calls. (why?).

Echo: is the return of a talkers voice, It means also the reflected

transmitted voice signals back from hybrid circuit

 Echo is considered a problem if it occur after a noticeable delay

normally > 40 msec

 Reason of echo is impedance mismatching in the Hybrid circuit

 Telephone call quality Impairments
Echo in Telephone N.W.
Echo: Talker voice is heard on the same side because part of the transmitted
Energy is reflected back through the hybrid circuit due to impedance mismatch

Reflecting coefficient ≠ 0

In every 2w/4w or 4w/2w connection 3dB power loss occurs. Why?

Q- How to compute total loss in 2w to 2w one way direction?
The total attenuation from one two wire circuit to the other (α2) is

α2 = α24 + α42 – G4 One direction

Where α24 = attenuation between 2 to 4 wire line

α42 = attenuation on between 4 to 2 wire line
G4 = total gain of one side of four wire circuit (in dB)

The α24 and α42 are normally 3dB. Thus

α 2 = 6 – G4

The total attenuation on echo is given by

Where R is the balance return loss αt = 12 –2G4 +RL
L
If P4 is incoming power on the 4 wire circuits, P2 power reaching the 2 wire circuit
and P4 – P2 is the power reflected onto the return path, the BRL in terms of power is

Two important factor in echo.

1- Power Loss (it is better to be big)
2- Delay ( it is better to be small)

Where td The round trip delay for echo

Ex:
distance = 300km
c = 3 X105 km/sec

 The longer the distance is, the worst the effect of Echo
 Singing:
continuous reflection of the Echo signal in both sides of
2/4w and 4/2w connections
 Echo performance parameters
In Echo, we focus on two performance parameters.
 delay
 Power of Echoed signal

1- delay : The longer the returned signal is delayed the worse quality

of the conversation
The delay is longer in international calls, thus, Echo is more
noticeable in long distance calls than local calls.
 Delay is taken as round delay trip delay
 50 msec delay represents approximately 3000 km distance of wires
 If trunk lines are Microwave links
Velocity of Propagation.

A signal takes a finite amount of time to traverse from

point A to point B over a specific transmission medium.
 In free space, radio signals travel at 3 × 108 m/sec.
 fiber-optic light guide, about 2 × 108 m/sec.
 on heavily loaded wire-pair cable, about 0.22 × 108 m/sec.
and 19-gauge non loaded wire-pair cable, about 0.8 × 108 m/sec.

 So we see that the velocity of propagation is very dependent on the types of

transmission media being employed to carry a signal.
 Echo performance parameters

2 – Power of Echoed signal : How strong is the power level of the returned signal

 The more the returned signal is attenuated the less the effect of echo.

 If ZB (balance N.W.) = Z2w Return loss = ∞ (good)

 Echo & Measures taken
□ Echo: talker is disturbed

Amplifier

A Echo of B
A

2/4
Hybrid

□ Measures taken
■ Attenuator: short delay echos (<50ms)
■ Echo suppressor: long delay echos
(>50ms)
■ Echo canceller: long delay echos (>50ms)
Introduction to Transmission-Loss.
One major aspect of transmission system design for a telephone network is to
establish a transmission-loss plan. Such a plan, when implemented, is formulated
to accomplish three goals:

1. Control singing (stability).

2. Keep echo levels within limits tolerable to the subscriber.
3. Provide an acceptable overall loudness rating to the subscriber.

From preceding discussions we have much of the basic background necessary to

develop a transmission-loss plan. We know the following:
 A certain minimum loss must be maintained in four-wire circuits to ensure
against singing.
 Up to a certain limit of round-trip delay, echo may be controlled by adding loss
(i.e., inserting attenuators).
 It is desirable to limit these losses as much as possible, to improve the
loudness rating of a connection.
 Echo canceller/Echo suppressor
 Echo canceller are used to control the echo.
 Echo canceller is used when trip delay exceeds 45 msec.
 An echo suppressor operates in four wire circuit

The transmitted speech is stored for a

period of time equal to the round trip
delay of the circuit. The stored signal is
attenuated and then subtracted from the
incoming signal. This kind of circuits are
available in satellite circuits.
 Cross Talk

• The current from the battery in the subscriber loop ( off hook) is
limited to the range of minimum 20 mA to maximum of 60 mA.
• The current variation depends on the length of the subscriber
loop.
• In long loops the current is less and in short loops the current
may exceed 60 mA).
• The large current flow causes electromagnetic fields and thus
creates signal distortions in adjoining wires.
• This distortion is called cross talk.
• Some of the major sources of cross talk are coupling between
wire pairs in cable, inadequate filtering or carrier offsets in older
frequency division multiplexing (FDM) equipments and the
effects of non-linear components on FDM signals.
 Cross Talk (NEXT AND FEXT)
• Cross talk is one of the most disturbing and undesirable
imperfections that can occur in a telephone network.
• The basic forms of cross talk concern to telecommunication
engineers are near end cross talk (NEXT) and far end cross talk
(FEXT).
• NEXT occurs near the transmitter and creates distortions that
affect the signal on adjacent receive pairs.
• NEXT is more trouble form because of a large difference in power
levels between the transmitted and receive signals.
• Twisted wire pairs reduce this type of cross talk.
• FEXT is a measure of the cross talk that exists at the receiver end
of the cable.
• FEXT refers to unwanted coupling into a received signal from a
transmitter at a distant location
 Noise
• Noise is an unwanted electrical energy
• White noise. This is the most common noise in communication
• Impulse noise and inter-modulation noise.
The most common form of noise in the telephone network are impulse
noise and quantization noise
 Signal Attenuation
• The attenuation of signal varies with frequencies over the
transmission line.
• The attenuation of a typical cable pair is approximately
proportional to the square root of the frequency.
• Attenuation is also increases with temperature.
• Metal conduit also increases the attenuation.
 Distortion
• The disturbances received at the receiver due to internal
characteristics of the channel itself are generally referred as
distortion.
• This distortion is deterministic.
• The sources of distortion are generally due to non-linear
characteristic of components and linear nature of the network
• Amplitude distortion. The attenuation of transmitted signal is not
equal for all frequencies, it means that the attenuation is more at
some frequencies in voice spectrum than others.
• Phase distortions. It is a serious form of distortion in data
transmission. Phase delay is related to the delay characteristics
of the transmission medium.
• The signal is delayed more at some frequencies than at other
 Twisted Pair
A twisted pair consists of two wires that are twisted □
,together to reduce the susceptibility to interference

The two-wire system is susceptible to crosstalk and noise □

.since the multiple wires are bundled together
 Review Questions
Q1- Define local loop and trunks.
Q2- List various impairments which affects the signals.
Q3- What are called cross talk ?
Q4- Explain briefly NEXT and FEXT.
Q5- Consider a subscriber loop of 12 km long with the loop resistance is 1600
ohm.
Calculate the d.c. loop resistance and determine the cable gauge for the
loop.

Q6- what are two limiting factors we have to consider while designing a
subscriber loop?
Q7- what are the common methods to extend subscriber loop beyond it’s
limit?
Q8- List various impairments which affects the signals
Q9- Explain briefly NEXT and FEXT cross talk .
Q10- What is the Echo problem in Telephone network, define it and explain
the main performance parameters that you need to consider when studying
Echo.