Circuit Switching: Traffic Engineering

References
• Chapter 1, Telecommunication System Engineering,
Roger L. Freeman, Wiley.

J.1
 Introduction
Example:
– mesh connection (full mesh) for an eight-subscriber
system

J.2
 Introduction
– justify a mesh connection is when each and every
subscriber wishes to communicate with every other
subscriber in the network for virtually the entire day.

– Most subscriber do not use their telephones on a full-time

basis
– the ordinary subscriber will normally talk to only one
other subscriber at a time
• will not need to talk to all other subscribers
simultaneously

J.3
 Introduction
– Star network with a switch at the center
• switch reduce the number of links between subscribers

J.4
 Introduction
Terminology
– Trunk
• the telephone lines connecting one telephone switch or
exchange with another are called trunks.
• one of the most important steps in telecommunication
engineering practice is to determine the number of
trunks required between exchanges.
¾Dimensioning

J.5
 Introduction
Terminology
– Calling rate (C)
• The number of calls which arrive over a time interval
– Holding time (H)
• The average duration of a call

– Telephone traffic may fluctuate throughout the day, and

may have a “busy hour” which is the hour that has the
most number of calls
• busy hour depends on various factors such as stock
market, weather and international events
J.6
 Introduction
Example

J.7
 Measurement of Traffic
– The traffic intensity, more often called the traffic, is
defined as the average number of calls in progress. The
unit of traffic is Erlang (E)

A = Ch / T
– A: traffic intensity
– C: number of calls arrivals during time T
– h: average holding time

J.8
 Measurement of Traffic
– Since a single trunk cannot carry more than one call, we
can write
A ≤1
– The probability of finding the trunk busy is equal to the
proportion of time for which the trunk is busy. Thus, this
probability equals the occupancy (A) of the trunk.

J.9
 Measurement of Traffic
Example: 1.5 erlang of traffic carried on three trunks

Trunk 1

Trunk 2 1.5E

Trunk 3

time

Busy

Free
J.10
 Measurement of Traffic
Example:
– On average, during the busy hour, a company makes 120
outgoing calls of average duration 2 minutes. It receives
200 incoming calls of average duration 3 minutes.
• Find the outgoing traffic, the incoming traffic and the
total traffic

Outgoing traffic = 120 x 2 / 60 = 4 E

Incoming traffic = 200 x 3 / 60 =10 E
Total traffic = 4 + 10 = 14 E

J.11
 Measurement of Traffic
Example:
– During the busy hour, on average, a customer with a
single telephone line makes three calls and receives three
calls. The average call duration is 2 minutes. What is the
probability that a caller will find the line engaged?

Total traffic = Occupancy of line = (3+3) x 2 / 60 = 0.1 E

Probability of finding the line engaged = 0.1

J.12
 Blockage, Lost Calls, and Grade of Service
Lost call or blocked calls
– In a circuit-switched system, all attempts to make calls
over a congested group of trunks are unsuccessful. The
unsuccessful call is called lost call or blocked call.

Grade of service
– probability of meeting blockage is called the grade of
service (B)
– Example: On average, one call in 100 will be blocked
• B=0.1

J.13
 Blockage, Lost Calls, and Grade of Service
Lost call or blocked calls
– In a circuit-switched system, all attempts to make calls
over a congested group of trunks are unsuccessful. The
unsuccessful call is called lost call or blocked call.

Grade of service
– probability of meeting blockage is called the grade of
service (B)

Number of lost calls

B=
Total number of offered calls
J.14
 Blockage, Lost Calls, and Grade of Service
– Grade of service is also the
• proportion of the time for which congestion exists
• probability of congestion
• probability that a call will be lost due to congestion

– If traffic A erlangs is offered by a group of trunks having

a grad of service B, the traffic lost is AB and the traffic
carried is A(1-B) erlangs.

J.15
 Blockage, Lost Calls, and Grade of Service
Example
– During the busy hour, 1200 calls were offered to a group
of trunks and six calls were lost. The average call
duration was 3 minutes

– The traffic offered = A = 1200 x 3 /60 = 60 E

– The traffic carried = A-B = (1200-6) x 3 / 60 = 59.7 E
– The traffic lost = B = 6 x 3 / 60 = 0.3 E
– Grade of service = B/A = 0.3 / 60 = 0.005
– The total duration of the periods of congestion
= B x T = 0.005 x 3600 =18 seconds
J.16
 Traffic Formulas
Models of traffic
– call arrivals at an exchange are random in nature.
– It fits a family of probability-distribution curves
following a Poisson distribution

– Variance-to-mean ratio (VMR)

σ 2
α=
µ

J.17
 Traffic Formulas
Traffic probability distribution (Smooth, Rough and Random)
– Smooth: VMR < 1

J.18
 Traffic Formulas
Traffic probability distribution
– Rough: VMR > 1

J.19
 Traffic Formulas
Rough traffic
– tends to be “peakier” than random and smooth traffic.

– For a given grade of service, more circuits are required

for rough traffic because of the greater spread of
distribution curve

J.20
 Traffic Formulas
Traffic probability distribution
– Random: VMR = 1
– Poisson distribution function is an example of random
traffic where VMR = 1

J.21
 Traffic Formulas
– The number of call arrivals in a given time has a Poisson
distribution
µx
P( x) = e−µ
x!

• x is the number of call arrivals in time T

• µ is the mean number of call arrivals in T

J.22
 Traffic Formulas
– Consider call-holding times to have a negative
exponential distribution
−t / h
P(T ≥ t ) = e

• P is the probability of a call lasting longer than t

• h is the mean call duration

J.23
 Traffic Formulas
Example
– On average one call arrives every 5 seconds. During a
period of 10 seconds, what is the probability that
– a. No call arrives 0
2 −2
No call arrives = P (0) = e = 0.135
0!
– b. One call arrives
21 − 2
No call arrives = P (1) = e = 0.27
1!
– c. More than one call arrives
= P ( x > 1) = 1 − P (0) − P (1) = 0.595
J.24
 Traffic Formulas
Example
– In a telephone system, the average call duration is 2
minutes. A call has already lasted 4 minutes. What is the
probability that
– a. the call will last at least another 4 minutes
• the probability is independent of the time which as
already elapsed.
−t / h −4 / 2
P=e =e = 0.135
– b. The call will end within the next 4 minutes

P (T ≤ t ) = 1 − P (T ≥ t ) = 1 − 0.135 = 0.865

J.25
 Lost-call systems
– Consider that a large number of local loops are served by
a small number of trunks in an exchange

Traffic N outgoing
offered trunks
A erlangs

– when a call demanding a trunk link arrives, it is assigned

a free trunk line if one is available, but if all trunks are
engaged, that call will be lost since no provision of
buffering is made.
J.26
 Erlang’s lost-call formula
– For a lost-call system having N trunks, when offered
traffic A, the first Erlang distribution is given by

Ax
P( x) = N x! k
A
∑k = 0 k!

J.27
 Erlang’s lost-call formula
– The probability of a lost call, which is the grade of service
B, is
N
A
B = N N! k
A
∑k = 0 k!

J.28
 Erlang’s lost-call formula
Example
– A group of 5 trunks is offered 2 E of traffic. Find
– a. The grade of service
AN 25
N ! 5 ! 0.2667
B= N k = 5 k = = 0.037
A 2 7.2667
∑
k =0 k !
∑k = 0 k!

– b. The probability that only one trunk is busy

21
1! 2
P (1) = N k = = 0.275
A 7.2667
∑k = 0 k!
J.29
 Erlang’s lost-call formula
– c. The probability that only one trunk is free
24
4! 16 / 24
P ( 4) = N k = = 0.0917
A 7.2667
∑k = 0 k!

– d. The probability that at least one trunk is free

P ( x < 5) = 1 − P (5) = 1 − B = 1 − 0.037 = 0.963

J.30
Traffic Table

TU:
traffic
unit

J.31
 Traffic Table
Example
– ON average, during the busy hour, a company makes 120
outgoing calls of average duration 2 minutes. It receives
200 incoming calls of average duration 3 minutes. This
company wishes to obtain the grad of service of 0.01 for
both incoming and outgoing calls. How many exchanges
lines should it rent if

– a. Incoming and outgoing calls are handled on separate

groups of lines
– b. A common group of lines is used for both incoming
and outgoing calls.
J.32
 Traffic Table
– a. The outgoing traffic is 120 x 2 / 60 = 4 E
The incoming traffic is 200 x 3 / 60 = 10 E

From the table,

4 E of outing traffic needs 10 lines
10 E of incoming traffic needs 18 lines

– b. The total traffic is 14 E

From the table,
14 E of traffic needs 23 lines

J.33