Bremner, Duncan James (2015) 25 years of network access technologies: from voice to internet; the changing face of telecommunications. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6670/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] 25 years of Network Access Technologies: From Voice to Internet; the changing face of telecommunications Duncan James Bremner A Thesis submitted to School of Engineering College of Science and Engineering University of Glasgow in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by published work May 2015 Abstract This work contributes to knowledge in the field of semiconductor system architectures, circuit design and implementation, and communications protocols. The work starts by describing the challenges of interfacing legacy analogue subscriber loops to an electronic circuit contained within the Central Office (Telephone Exchange) building. It then moves on to describe the globalisation of the telecom network, the demand for software programmable devices to enable system customisation cost effectively, and the creation of circuit and system blocks to realise this. The work culminates in the application challenges of developing a wireless RF front end, including antenna, for an Ultra Wideband communications systems applications. This thesis illustrates how higher levels of integration over the period of 1981 to 2010 have influenced the realisation of complex system level products, particularly analogue signal processing capabilities for communications applications. There have been many publications illustrating the impact of technology advancement from an economic or technology perspective. The thesis shows how technology advancement has impacted the physical realisation of semiconductor products over the period, at system, circuit, and physical implementation levels. I Contents Abstract........................................................................................ I Author’s Declaration ........................................................................ V Acknowledgements ......................................................................... VI Table of Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................................. VII Preface ....................................................................................... IX Explanatory Essay ........................................................................ - 1 - A short history of telecommunications ............................................. - 1 - Technology Progress ................................................................... - 2 - General Components of a Telephone switch ...................................... - 4 - Telecommunications Market Development ........................................ - 6 - The basic functions of a Subscriber Line Interface Circuit ...................... - 7 - The Internet age and packet based communications. ..........................- 10 - Optical Access .........................................................................- 12 - The Wireless age ......................................................................- 13 - The Published Work .....................................................................- 14 - Theme 1: Analogue Subscriber Line Interface Circuit Access Technology’ ....- 16 - Summary of Theme 1 .................................................................- 46 - Theme 2: Optical Access Technology ................................................- 47 - PON vs Point-to-Point ................................................................- 47 - Theme 3: Wireless network access technologies ...................................- 55 - Concluding remarks ..................................................................- 66 - The Published Work .....................................................................- 67 - Bibliography ............................................................................ - 255 - II List of Figures Figure 1: Western Electric 100 point Crossbar Switch; type B .................... - 2 - Figure 2: Fixed Wire Telephone Density .............................................. - 3 - Figure 3: Siemens EWSD top level architecture ..................................... - 5 - Figure 4: Nortel DMS 100 Line Circuit ................................................. - 8 - Figure 5: Conceptual functional blocks of a Subscriber Line Circuit ............. - 9 - Figure 6: A 16 channel Analog Subscriber Line Card ..............................- 10 - Figure 7: Classification of Communications Networks ............................- 11 - Figure 8: Simplified Conceptual Schematic .........................................- 17 - Figure 9: Subscriber interface Loss vs. Frequency .................................- 18 - Figure 10: Simplified, single ended Impedance synthesis ........................- 19 - Figure 11: System Diagram of Complex Impedance synthesis ....................- 21 - Figure 12: TP3219 SLIM™ Subscriber Module ........................................- 22 - Figure 13: Longitudinal Balance test circuit as per IEEE method ................- 24 - Figure 14 Common Mode Control Loop ..............................................- 26 - Figure 15 Conventional versus new transient signal detector ...................- 30 - Figure 16: Schematic of Transient Signal Detector ................................- 32 - Figure 17: SPICE simulation of the circuit showing symmetrical performance - 33 - Figure 18: Simple RC Relaxation Oscillator .........................................- 35 - Figure 19: LT SPICE simulation of Capacitive Multiplier ..........................- 36 - Figure 20 SPICE Simulation of Circuit ................................................- 37 - Figure 21: Device Power Dissipation using Power control ........................- 39 - Figure 22: Dual Rail supply for Improved Power Efficiency ......................- 40 - Figure 23: Telestra Remote Integrated Multiplexer (DLC) ........................- 41 - Figure 24: Protection Architecture for TP3210 and TP3250 ......................- 44 - Figure 25: PON FttH Architecture ....................................................- 48 - III Figure 26: Point-to-Point Architecture ..............................................- 49 - Figure 27: Service level overview of FTTH Demonstration .......................- 50 - Figure 28: Conceptual Optical Architecture of Demonstrator ...................- 51 - Figure 29: Electronic Functional Diagram of Demonstrator ......................- 51 - Figure 30: Demonstration equipment on site .......................................- 52 - Figure 31: Asymmetric Traffic Flow over Fibre ....................................- 54 - Figure 32: WiMedia Alliance band plan ..............................................- 56 - Figure 33: WiMedia Time-Frequency Coding(TFC) .................................- 57 - Figure 34: UWB RF Front End Block Architecture ..................................- 60 - Figure 35: UWB (left) compared with competitor antenna (right) ..............- 61 - Figure 36: UWB (ERA) Antenna Design versus Wisair Antenna ...................- 62 - Figure 37: Azimuth 3.1GHz a. Predicted b. Measured .........................- 62 - Figure 38: Azimuth 6.86GHz a. Predicted b. Measured ........................- 63 - Figure 39: Azimuth 10.6GHz a. Predicted b. Measured .......................- 63 - Figure 40: Passive UWB Antenna Performance .....................................- 65 - IV Author’s Declaration Declaration The content of this thesis is a culmination of my work in industry over 28 years. Some of the publications submitted are the work of multiple contributors and I have acknowledged the contribution made by others. Clear reference is provided to third party material or information from others. Duncan J Bremner May 2015 Copyright The copyright of this complete thesis resides with the author. Copyright of individual publications belongs to the company employing the author at the time. No part of the thesis or any information derived from it may be published without the explicit written consent of the author. V Acknowledgements I would like to thank Professor David Hutchings, and other members of the academic staff in the University of Glasgow who have cajoled, persuaded, and encouraged me to complete and submit this thesis. I would like to acknowledge the expertise and professionalism of all my co-workers over the years who I have worked alongside in the creation of many of the innovations and products upon which this submission for a PhD via published works is based. I am particularly grateful to Mr Ray A Reed, Mr Roger K Benton, and Mr James B Wieser whose patience, dedication, and engineering integrity provided me with the rigorous training and foundation upon which to build my engineering confidence. Finally, I must acknowledge the late Roderick A. M. Gunn, my grandfather and a telephone engineer with the GPO, whose encouragement first sparked my interest