Switching Methods:

Circuit and Packet Switching

Professor Izhak Rubin
Electrical Engineering Department
UCLA
rubin@ee.ucla.edu
2015 by Professor Izhak Rubin

Switching Methods

Circuit Switching

Example: Telephone Networks

Packet Switching: store & forward switching

Connectionless, datagram

Example: INTERNET

Connection oriented, virtual circuit switching

Examples: X.25, BISDN (Broadband Integrated

Services Digital Networks) ATM (Asynchronous
Transfer Mode) Networks, Frame Relay Networks
Prof. Izhak Rubin

Line Sharing: Fixed vs.

Statistical
Time frame
1

Time frame
4

Time frame
4

Circuit switched transmission across TDM circuit 1

Packet switched transmission of packets

Prof. Izhak Rubin

Circuit switching
Link
L(1,2)
Messages
(N1,N5)
(N1,N4)

N2

N4

N1
(N1,N4)
N5

(N1,N5)

(N1,N5)

(N1,N4)
N3
Circuit Switching concept: Connection Oriented; user signals the network; network sets up a
connection; a circuit is established to support transport of messages that are part of the
connection; circuit consists of dedicated link capacity resources along the selected path.
Prof. Izhak Rubin

Circuit switching: Circuits

Time frame
Link
(N1,N3)

Time frame
4

Time frame
Link
(N3,N5)

Time frame
4

Time frame
4

Time frame
4

Circuit (N1,N5) established across links (N1,N3) and (N3, N5) through
dedicated TDM slots; e.g., slot 1 in each frame is dedicated to this
circuit

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Circuit switching: Circuits

Time frame
Link
(N1,N3)

Time frame
4

Time frame
Link
(N3,N4)

Time frame
4

Time frame
4

Time frame
4

Circuit (N1,N4) established across links (N1,N3) and (N3,N4)

through dedicated TDM slots

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Circuit switching: Principles

Link
L(1,2)
Circuit switch

N2

N4

N1
(N1,N4)
N5

(N1,N5)

(N1,N5)

(N1,N4)
N3

Prof. Izhak Rubin

Principle of circuit switching

A connection is established
A dedicated-bandwidth circuit is allocated to
each connection across a selected path/route
The circuit consists of a tandem collection of
link-circuits along the route links
While multiple link-circuits can be multiplexed
across a link, a single connection is permitted
to use the circuit BW resources
Prof. Izhak Rubin

Example: Circuit allocated for

a connection

Circuit/path (N1, N5) consists of link-circuits/links

(N1, N3) and (N3, N5). This circuit is dedicated to
an (N1, N5) connection.
Circuit entails:

Selected path: N1-N3-N5

Dedicated time slots (or other communications capacity
resources) allocated across each link along the path.

Prof. Izhak Rubin

Circuit switching: signaling

Phases of circuit switching

Phase 1 (signaling): circuit set-up phase

The signaling network is used to set-up a

circuit for the requesting connection
In-band vs. out-of-band (common channel
signaling CCS) signaling channels and
networks
Route is selected
Circuit switches are notified; switching matrices
are set
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Switching Table at a Circuit

Switch
Connection ID

Line-In

Time Slot-In

Line-Out

Time Slot-Out

Set by signaling
system

Set by signaling
system

Set by signaling
data received
from preceding
switch

Set by signaling
system

Set by switch in
selecting
available slots

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Time-Space-Time Switching

Space Switching

TD_Demux

TD_Mux

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Signaling

Example: time-space-time circuit switch

whereby incoming/outgoing links (lines)
and time-slots are recorded in the
switching matrix of each switch across the
route.

The signaling network is used to set-up a

circuit (FDX or HDX) for the requesting
connection
Multicast circuits can also be set-up for
conference sessions (using conference bridges)
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Circuit Switching: Phases

Phase 2: Information transport

Information belonging to a connection is

transported across the circuit established for
this connection

Phase 3 (signaling): circuit

disestablishment phase

When the user signals the network that the

session has terminated the connection is
disestablished and the circuit is torn-down; the
circuits resources are returned to the pool of
available communications transport resources.
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Circuit switching: performance

Delay
Circuit set-up delay key delay measure
Information transmission latency across circuit switch
(such as for time-slot interchange) minimal of the
order of a time frame
Circuit tear-down delay
Blocking and throughput
Grade of service (GOS) = probability that a connection
request is blocked (Pb) key call throughput measure
Information throughput per connection = circuit
capacity
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Features of Circuit Switching

Networking Operations: Advantages

Guaranteed quality of service (QoS) for

transport across the circuit configured by
the signaling system
Message throughput and delay
performance can be guaranteed to
messages that are issued by admitted
connections
Prof. Izhak Rubin

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Features of Circuit Switching

Networking Operations: Advantages

Good capacity utilization of circuit resources

when source generated message traffic or
streams at a steady basis or at a relatively
high duty cycle, so that the circuit is kept
busy high fraction of the time
Due to configuration of switching tables by
the signaling system, the switching operation
can be implemented to be hardware focused
and proceed at ultra high rates.
Prof. Izhak Rubin

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Features of Circuit Switching Networking

Operations: Disadvantages

Requires the implementation, operation

and maintenance of a signaling system
Low capacity utilization of circuit
resources when the source is bursty,
generating message traffic at a low
duty cycle, so that the circuit capacity is
unused high fraction of the time

Example: interactive personal user

terminal generated data applications
Prof. Izhak Rubin

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Connectionless (Datagram)
packet switching: principles
(N1,N5)
(N1,N5)
Messages
segmented
into packets

N2

N4
(N1,N4)

N1

(N1,N4)
(N1,N5)

(N1,N4)

(N1,N5)

(N1,N5)

(N1,N4)

(N1,N4)
N3

Packet header
information field

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N5
Packets
assembled
into
messages

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Connectionless (Datagram) packet

switching: Statistical Multiplexing

Under a packet switching operation, messages that

belong to a single flow are not bound to be
transmitted across the communications lines only
during pre-set slots
Rather, a flows messages occupy capacity
resources of communications lines only when
generated and transported across them.
Thus, messages (belong to multitudes of flows)
share the communications lines across which they
are transported in a statistical multiplexing manner.

Prof. Izhak Rubin

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Datagram Networking Principles

Messages are segmented into network-layer packets

Each packet carries in its header information sufficient
for its routing across the network
Under network-layer connectionless operation, no
connection is set-up prior to the start of transport of
packets across the network. Each packet contains an
header which identifies the packets source and
destination nodes.
A packet is switched and routed in the network on a
store-and-forward basis, as a datagram

Prof. Izhak Rubin

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Datagram Switch Operation

Header is read; using the routing

discipline and routing table, the output
line is determined
The packet is switched to the output
line
The packet is queued at the output line
buffer; it is transmitted across the
output line on a FCFS or priority basis

Prof. Izhak Rubin

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Connectionless (datagram) packet

switching: switch/router system
Spatial diversity induces variable message rate feeding output
queues, leading to queuing delays at the output buffers
Switching/routing rate measured
in packets/sec

Input
Buffers

Header
processor
Switching
fabric
Routing
table

Output
Buffers
Output
line
Output
line

Router: Provides switching and routing services; engages in

calculating routes and configuring its routing table.
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Illustrative Switching Table at

a Datagram (IP) Router
Destination
Address

Mask

Line-Out

Distance
Measure

Time
validity

IP Address

e.g., subnetwork
and hierarchical
routing structure;
to reduce table
size, group
addresses of
packets that
travel along the
same outgoing
link

along the
shortest (best)
path

e.g., number of
hops, delay,
throughput or
$cost oriented
measures

Forwarding entry
is discarded as
its validity time
expires

Prof. Izhak Rubin

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Connection oriented (VCS)

packet switching: Principles
Link
L(1,2)
packet switch

N2

N4

N1
(N1,N4)
N5

(N1,N5)

(N1,N5)

(N1,N4)
N3

packet

Signaling
packets

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Connection oriented (VCS)

packet switching: Principles

Connection oriented: a signaling system is used to

setup connections
Packet switching method: communications lines are
shared on a statistical multiplexing basis
Route is selected during signaling setup phase
Virtual circuit identifies the selected route for a given
connection
Virtual circuit identifier (VCI) is used to identify
packets that belong to the same connection
VCI is swapped at each switch

Prof. Izhak Rubin

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Phases of connection oriented packet

switching virtual circuit switching

Phase 1 (signaling): virtual circuit set-up

phase

The signaling network is used to set-up a logical

path/connection (virtual circuit VC)
A virtual circuit identifier (VCI) is selected to
identify the logical connection
The VC table of each switch is updated

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Switching Table at a Virtual

Circuit Switch
Connection ID

Line-In

VCI-In

Line-Out

VCI-Out

Set by signaling
system

Set by
signaling
system

Set by
signaling
data
received
from
preceding
switch

Set by
signaling
system

Set by switch

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Virtual circuit switching

networking phases (Cont.)

Phase 2: information transport

Information belonging to a connection is

transported across the established VC

Phase 3 (signaling): call is

terminated; VC disestablishment
phase

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Connection oriented (VCS) packet

switching: network transport
Link
L(1,2)
Messages
(N1,N5)
(N1,N4)

N2

N4

N1
(N1,N4)

VC(N1,N5)
VC(N1,N4)
(N1,N5)

N5

VC(N1,N4)
(N1,N5)

(N1,N4)

packet

VC(N1,N5)
N3

Prof. Izhak Rubin

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VCS Switch Operation

Header is read; using the VC routing

table, the output line is determined
The packet is switched to the output line
The packet is queued at the output line
buffer; it is transmitted across the
output line on a FCFS or priority basis

Prof. Izhak Rubin

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VCS: Switch System

Spatial diversity induces variable message rate feeding output
queues, leading to queuing delays at the output buffers

VCI

Input
Buffers

Switching/routing rate
measured in packets/sec

Header
processor
Switching
fabric

VCI

VCI

VCI

VC
Routing
table

Output
Buffers
Output
line
Output
line

Signaling system (or network management) is used for calculating

routes and configuring the VC routing table.
Prof. Izhak Rubin

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Datagram Packet switching:

performance

Delay
Queueing and processing delays at
packet switch processors
Queueing delays and transmission
latencies across lines
Routing Operation
Router engaged in setting up and
continuous dynamic (and periodic)
updating of the routing tables
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Datagram Packet switching:

performance

Effective link utilization through

statistical multiplexing
Flow is typically not provided QoS
guarantees
Easy to operate when packets are
provided Best Effort type services

Prof. Izhak Rubin

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Datagram Packet switching:

performance

No signaling based end-to end connection

setup and connection oriented resource
prescriptions imply simple and flexible
interfaces between IP networks, leading to
modular and flexible growth of networking
coverage and of mixing of heterogeneous
networking technologies

Easy to support nets that employ distinct

communications media and operate over
different environmental conditions

Prof. Izhak Rubin

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Datagram Packet switching:

performance

Rapid reaction to link / node failures /

degradations
Periodic and dynamlic updating of
forwarding entries in the routing tables in
fast reaction to such failures
A packet arriving at a router can be rapidly
directed to an alternate route, rather then be
discarded or queued until a new route is
established.
Prof. Izhak Rubin

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VCS Packet switching:

performance

Delay

VC set-up delay
Queueing and processing delays at packet switch
processors
Queueing delays and transmission latencies across
lines

Blocking and throughput

Grade of service (GOS) = probability that a call

connection request is blocked (Pb)
Information throughput per connection is variable
depending on the source; accommodates VBR
(variable bit rate connections)
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VCS Packet switching:

performance

Requires a signaling subsystem for dynamic

connection setup

Effective use can be made of the connection

subsystem, in conjunction with a Call Admission
Control (CAC) process to admit a call and
(statistically) configure resources across the VC so
that call packets are (statistically) guaranteed
desired QoS

Prof. Izhak Rubin

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VCS Packet switching:

performance

Upon failure, the connection and

associated VC must be re-configured,
inducing delays
Switching nodes require a simplified
hardware based operation, leading to
higher switching speeds
Internetworking involves splicing of
VCs.
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Packet Switching

Key phenomena:

Statistical multiplexing across the links

Occurrences of congestion hot spots
As a result: employ adaptive flow and
congestion control mechanisms; call
admission controls; adaptive routing

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QoS Oriented Operation over

IP Networks

Signaling / control system implemented to

select routes and statistically assign capacity
resources at the switches in conjunction with
a label switching based operation

Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)

Integrated Services approach

Through reservation process

e.g., Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks

Differentiated Services approach

Through the use of packet service preference

identifiers (DSCIs)
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