CHAPTER 6 INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

6.1 Introduction

SLT provides wide variety of international services ranging from voice to Internet. International communications are very important for any country. SLT International Division facilitates the Internatinal communication. There are three main International Switching Centers (ISC s).The major function of a switching center is to route a voice call from local side to international side. International Transmission Maintenance Center (ITMC) handles the international traffic and selects the best possible path for the transmission. There are several international gateways. They are; SEA-ME-WE III (Mount Lavinia), SEA-ME-WE IV (Colombo) and Padukka Satellite Earth Station.

6.2 Organizational Structure

International Services Division handles the International services of SLT. It functions under the Head of Division (HD). There are three sub divisions:

International Switching International Transmission International Traffic

SLT overseas telecommunication network comprises with several components. They are illustrated below diagram.

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ISC 1 AT & T 5ESS ISC 11 NEAX 61E ISC 111 NEAX 61E ISC 1V ERICSON MESSAGE SWITCH DATACOM INTERNET SLRC

2M PCM
DSU

Local End

Main Link

International Link

2M Link DATA Node TX Room TX DATA Node Room SLT Head Office Local End LAN Customer A DSU Satellite Link DATA Node ITMC Router SLT Head Office SEA-ME-WE

PHYSICAL LINES 2M PCM PHYSICAL LINES 2M PCM/SDH THRO LOCAL PCM 2W-PCM PHYSICAL LINES 2W-TG PHYSICAL LINES 2M PCM PHYSICAL LINES ANALOGUE MICRO WAVE

140 DIGITAL MICRO WAVE

PADUKKA 1A 30M ANTENNA PADUKKA 2A 17M ANTENNA PADUKKA 3F1 4M ANTENNA SEA ME WE IV COLOMBO

Cable

Router

SLT Remote Site

LAN Local End Customer B Main Link International Link

2M Link DSU DATA Node TX Room TX DATA Node Room SLT Head Office Local End LAN Customer A DSU Satellite Link DATA Node ITMC Router SLT Head Office SEA-ME-WE

Cable

Router

SLT Remote Site

OR
SDH OPTICAL FIBER STM-4

LAN Local End Customer B Main Link International Link

2M Link DSU DATA Node TX Room TX DATA Node Room SLT Head Office Local End LAN Customer A DSU Satellite Link DATA Node ITMC Router SLT Head Office SEA-ME-WE

Cable

Router

SLT Remote Site

LAN Customer B

INTERNATIONAL
PHYSICAL 2M PCM SDH FIBER OPTIC

TRANSMISSION

MAINTENANCE

SEA ME WE III SDH SDH OPTICAL FIBER MOUNT LAVINIA FIBER OPTIC
STM-16

LOCAL NETWORK TX ROOM

CENTRE

VIDEO & AUDIO PHYSICAL LINES

BLCS - BHARATH LANKA CABLE SYSTEM DSCS DHIRAGGU SLT CABLE SYSTEM

Figure 6.1: SLT overseas telecommunication network

6.3 Equipments in ITMC

Voice Frequency Telegraph Time Division Multiplexer Analog to Digital Converter Primary Multiplexer Digital Voice Multiplexer Digital Access Cross Connection System Digital Circuit Multiplication Equipment

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Low Rate Encoder

6.4 International Transmission Maintenance Center [ITMC]

International Transmission Maintenance Center (ITMC) plays the role of the gateway between the local SLT network and the International network. And also ITMC acts as a test point for all International links since they can be isolated from the rest at the ITMC. The quality of the signal is monitored and controlled. There are several equipments used in the ITMC for a better customer service. They are figured out below.

nec nga 24a

VFT

databit 4650

TDM

tv codec
nec broadcaster 140

oki tc2000/tc2000b

LRE

140 mux
nec n 6000

satellite earth stations

PDK, CMB

Local Network
nec ne6010

p-mux

dcme
eci 240T/e/f mitsubishi dx 5000

Cable stations
smwII, smwIII

nec ne 6010

dvm

alcatel 1661 sm

sdh adm

new bridge 3645/3600

daccs

ITMC

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Figure 6.2: Equipments Used in ITMC

6.5 SEAMEWE Submarine cable network

SEA-ME-WE (South East Asia - Middle East - Western Europe) is the submarine cable network which combines several countries. So far, 3 SEA-ME-WE systems have been completed. They are,

SEA-ME-WE I (Coaxial, Now obsolete) SEA-ME-WE II (Fiber optic) SEA-ME-WE III (Fiber optic) SEA-ME-WE IV (Fiber optic)

6.5.1 SEA-ME-WE IV

The SEA-ME-WE IV optical submarine cable network provides communication for fourteen countries. They are Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Tunisia, Algeria, Italy, and France. This consists of three submarine segments and one terrestrial segment. Sri Lanka is in the S1 segment. The

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main power stations for segment S1 are Mumbai and Chennai.S1 ranges from Tuas (Singapore) to Mumbai (India). SEA-ME-WE IV is one of the most economical cable systems in the region. It uses Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology. Hence it has the capability of achieving terabit per second speed.The system consists of two fibers. Namely,

Express bus - Terminates only at the trunking stations Omni bus - Travels via each and every station.

In long distance transmission the traffic is transferred to the express bus from the nearest trunking station. This will minimize delays. Hence SEA-ME-WE IV became an efficient transmission system.

Figure 6.3: SEA-ME-WE-IV

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Since the system is in STM-64(10 Gigabits/sec) level, Using Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing technique 64 wavelengths can be transmitted via a single cable. Hence the new speed is:

10 x 64 =640 Gigabits/sec Since there are two pairs 640 x 2 = 1 280 Gigabits/sec = 1.28 Terabits/sec

Sixteen telecommunication service providers invested for the SEA-ME-WE IV system and the channel capacity was allocated to each company depends on the capital they have invested. SEA-ME-WE IV facilitates for internet and broadband services. And also by expanding the network up to France; a mechanism was invented to improve the Information Technology (IT) corporations in neighboring countries.

6.6 Training Experience

I got the opportunity to be trained at SLT International Transmission Maintenance Section (ITMC). We had a very short training at ITMC. But at that time period; we got a considerable knowledge about international transmission. But we were lucky enough to get a chance visit to SEA-ME-WE 4 during our stay. We were given a basic introduction of the history of submarine cable networks and the evolution of SEA-ME-WE1, 2, 3 up to the present stage SEA-ME-WE4. 54

The earliest SEA-ME-WE1 network has used a copper cable which was a PDH system and its no longer in use. The next system SEA-ME-WE2 was also a PDH system with a capacity 560Mbps but with an optical fiber cable. This system has also got some limitations and is going to terminate its operation soon. Only SEA-ME-WE3 which runs on STM-16 (2.56G) level and SEA-ME-WE4 which runs on STM-64 (10G) are in use now. ITMC perform three main functions. They are:

Multiplexing Data compressing Data mapping

We got the opportunity study about those functions. ITMC mainly deal this information. Voice Data Video

International Switching Centers (ISC) deals with the data compression. Initially the voice is compressed and then it is transmitted. On the other hand the data is transmitted via International Private Leased Circuits (IPLC) in data communication. One of the biggest advantages that we had is; we got the opportunity to study about optical transmission. Fiber optic transmission has a very high band width and it has more privileges than copper. We observe some of the damaged parts of the SEA-ME-WE-3 fiber cable.

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Armored Cable

Optical Fiber

Copper ring Insulating Sheath Steel amour

Insulation

Figure 6.4: SEA-ME-WE-III fiber cable And also I got to know the importance of the new technologies such as WDM and SDH over the traditional technologies of multiplexing and transmission and the importance of using the modern technologies in the international transmission. Hence considering all aspects I can satisfy my training period at SLT ITMC.

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