Chapter 8

Switching

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 Chapter 8: Outline

8.1 INTRODUCTION

8.2 CIRCUIT-SWITCHED NETWORK

8.3 PACKET-SWITCHING

8.4 STRUCTURE OF A SWITCH

 8-1 INTRODUCTION

Network connections rely on switches.

Switches operate at the

•Physical layer
•Data link layer
•Network layer

8.3
 Figure 8.1: Switched network

8.4
 8.8.1 Three Methods of Switching

These are the two most common methods of

switching:

•circuit switching
•packet switching

8.5
 8.8.1 Three Methods of Switching

Packet switching can further be divided into two

subcategories,

•virtual-circuit approach and

•datagram approach

8.6
 Figure 8.2: Taxonomy of switched networks

8.7
 8.8.1 Three Methods of Switching

•Circuit switched network operates at the Physical

layer

•Virtual-circuit network operates at the Data-Link

layer (or Network layer)

•Datagram network operates at the Network layer

8.8
 8-2 CIRCUIT-SWITCHED NETWORKS

A circuit-switched network consists of a set of

switches connected by physical links.

8.9
 8-2 CIRCUIT-SWITCHED NETWORKS

A circuit-switched network consists of a set of

switches connected by physical links.

Circuit-switches operate at the physical layer.

A circuit-switched network creates a dedicated

path to complete a link between the sender and
receiver.

8.10
 Figure 8.3: A trivial circuit-switched network

8.11
 Figure 8.4: Circuit-switched network used in Example 8.1

As a trivial example, let us use a circuit-switched network to connect eight

telephones in a small area. Communication is through 4-kHz voice channels. We
assume that each link uses FDM to connect a maximum of two voice channels. The
bandwidth of each link is then 8 kHz. Figure 8.4 shows the situation. Telephone 1 is
connected to telephone 7; 2 to 5; 3 to 8; and 4 to 6.

8.12
 Figure 8.5: Circuit-switched network used in Example 8.2

8.13
 8.2.1 Three Phases

The actual communication in a circuit-switched

network requires three phases:
•connection setup (handshake),
•data transfer, and
•connection teardown.

8.14
 8.2.2 Efficiency

It can be argued that circuit-switched networks are not

as efficient as the other two types of networks
because resources are allocated during the entire
duration of the connection.

8.15
 8.2.2 Efficiency

These resources are unavailable to other connections.

In a telephone network, people normally terminate the
communication when they have finished their
conversation.

8.16
 8.2.3 Delay

During data transfer the data are not delayed at each

switch; the resources are allocated for the duration of
the connection.

8.17
 Figure 8.6: Delay in a circuit-switched network

Data transfer

8.18
 8-3 PACKET SWITCHING

A packet-switched network divides the data into

packets of fixed or variable size.

The size of the packet is determined by the

network and the governing protocol.

8.19
 8-3 PACKET SWITCHING

Packet switched networks are classified as

a) Datagram Networks
b) Virtual circuit Networks

8.20
 8.3.1 Datagram Networks

In a datagram network, each packet is treated

independently of all others.

Even if a packet is part of a multi-packet

transmission, the network treats packets as though
they existed alone. Packets in this approach are
referred to as datagrams.

8.21
 8.3.1 Datagram Networks

In a datagram network, each packet is treated

independently of all others. Known as a
connectionless network.

A datagram network operates at the Network layer.

8.22
 8.3.1 Datagram Networks

Even if a packet is part of a multipacket transmission,

the network treats each packet as an independent
message.

Each packet of one message can travel a different

route towards their final destination.

8.23
 Figure 8.7: A Datagram network with four 3-level switches
(routers)

3 1
4 3 2 1
4
1

2 3
1
4
2 2 3 4 1

8.24
 8.3.1 Datagram Networks (Routing Table)

All packets have a destination address in the header.

8.25
 8.3.1 Datagram Networks (Routing Table)

The packets have a destination address in the header.

The destination address for each datagram is used at a

router to forward the message towards its final
destination.

8.26
 8.3.1 Datagram Networks (Routing Table)

The packets have a destination address in the header.

A circuit switched network does not require a header

or destination address for the data transfer stage, the
link is dedicated!

8.27
 8.3.1 Datagram Networks (Routing Table)

The packets have a destination address in the header.

The packet header contains a sequence number in the

header so it can be ordered at the destination.

8.28
 Figure 8.8: Routing table in a datagram network

8.29
 Figure 8.9: Delays in a datagram network (compare to next
slide)

8.30
 Figure 8.9: Delays in a datagram network (compare to next
slide)

8.31
 Figure 8.6: Compare the datagram network to the circuit-
switched network

Data transfer

8.32
 8.3.2 Virtual-Circuit Networks

A virtual-circuit network is a cross between a circuit-

switched network and a datagram network.

The virtual-circuit shares characteristics of both.

8.33
 8.3.2 Virtual-Circuit Networks

A virtual-circuit network is a cross between a circuit-

switched network and a datagram network.

The virtual-circuit network operates at the data-link

layer (or network layer).

8.34
 8.3.2 Virtual-Circuit Networks

A virtual-circuit network is a cross between a circuit-

switched network and a datagram network.

The packets for a virtual circuit network are known as

frames.

8.35
 Figure 8.10: Virtual-circuit network

8.36
 8.3.2 Virtual-Circuit Networks

A virtual-circuit network uses a series of special

temporary addresses known as virtual circuit
identifiers (VCI). two types of addressing are
involved: global and local.

The VCI at each switch, is used to advance the frame

towards its final destination.

8.37
 Figure 8.11: Virtual-circuit identifier (compare the VCI to a
Datagram destination address)

8.38
 8.3.2 Virtual-Circuit Networks

The switch has a table with 4 columns:

a) Inputs half
•Input Port Number
•Input VCI
b) Outputs half
•Output Port Number
•Output VCI

8.39
 Figure 8.12: Switch and table for a virtual-circuit network

8.40
 Figure 8.13: Source-to-destination data transfer in a circuit-switch
network

8.41
 Virtual Circuit Networks

The VCN behaves like a circuit switched net because

there is a setup phase to establish the VCI entries in
the switch table.

8.42
 Virtual Circuit Networks

The VCN behaves like a circuit switched net because

there is a setup phase to establish the VCI entries in
the switch table.

There is also a data transfer phase and teardown

phase.

8.43
 Figure 8.14: Setup request in a virtual-circuit network
All nodes have a VCI

8.44
 Figure 8.15: Setup acknowledgment in a virtual-circuit
network

8.45
 Figure 8.16: Delay in a virtual-circuit network

8.46
 8-4 STRUCTURE OF A SWITCH

This section describes the structure and design

of switches used in each type of network.

8.47
 8-4 STRUCTURE OF A SWITCH

The common categories of switch are:

1. Space division

2. Time division

8.48
 8-4 STRUCTURE OF A SWITCH

1. Space division

•Crossbar switch
•Multistage crossbar switch

8.49
 8-4 STRUCTURE OF A SWITCH

Crossbar switch has n inputs m outputs and nxm

crosspoints.

8.50
 Figure 8.17: Crossbar switch with three inputs and four
outputs

8.51
 Figure 8.18: Multistage switch

8.52
Example 8.3
Design a three-stage, 200 × 200 switch (N = 200) with k =
4 and n = 20. Compute the number of crosspoints.

8.53
Example 8.3
Design a three-stage, 200 × 200 switch (N = 200) with k =
4 and n = 20. Compute the number of crosspoints.

Solution
In the first stage we have N/n or 10 crossbars, each of size
20 × 4. In the second stage, we have 4 crossbars, each of
size 10 × 10. In the third stage, we have 10 crossbars, each
of size 4 × 20. The total number of crosspoints is

2kN + k(N/n)2, or 2000

crosspoints. This is 5 percent of the number of crosspoints

in a single-stage switch (200 × 200 = 40,000).
8.54
 3 Stage Switch Blocking
Factor
Bf3 = (N/n)*k / N = k/n
Example 8.4
Redesign the previous three-stage, 200 × 200 switch, using
the Clos criteria with a minimum number of crosspoints.

8.56
Clos criteria
 n = sqrt(N/2)
 k >= 2n – 1
Example 8.4
Redesign the previous three-stage, 200 × 200 switch, using
the Clos criteria with a minimum number of crosspoints.
Solution
We let n = (200/2)1/2, or n = 10. We calculate k = 2n – 1 =
19. In the first stage, we have 200/10, or 20, crossbars,
each with 10 × 19 crosspoints. In the second stage, we
have 19 crossbars, each with 20 × 20 crosspoints. In the
third stage, we have 20 crossbars each with 19 × 10
crosspoints. The total number of crosspoints is 2(20(10 ×
19)) + 19(20 × 20) = 15200.

8.58
 Figure 8.19: Time-slot interchange

8.59
 Figure 8.20: Time-space-time switch

8.60
 8.4.2 Structure of Packet Switches

• Input ports
• Output ports
• Switching fabric
• Routing processor

A switch used in a packet-switched network has a

different structure from a switch used in a
circuit-switched network. We can say that a
packet switch has four components: input ports,
output ports, the routing processor, and the
switching fabric, as shown in Figure 8.28.

8.61
Figure 8.21: Packet switch components

8.62
Banyan Switch
n = 2^k ports
log2(n) stages
n/2 binary switches at each stage
number of binary switches =
n/2*log2(n)
number of crosspoints = 2*n*log2(n)
Figure 8.24: A banyan switch

8.64
Figure 8.25: Example of routing in a banyan switch
(Part b)

8.65
Figure 8.25: Example of routing in a banyan switch
(Part b)

8.66