What Is A Circuit Switching Network

What Is Circuit Switching Network?

A circuit switching network is a type of communications network architecture in which the data link between two or more nodes is established prior to data transmission and maintained during the entire duration of the communication session. This type of network is used extensively in the public telephone system, as well as for certain forms of private communication such as ISDN. In a circuit-switched network, each node has direct access to the other nodes in the network. The connection can be made manually by an operator, or automatically using a signaling protocol.

The main advantage of a circuit-switched network is that it provides quality and reliability to users due to dedicated paths for each connection. Additionally, circuit switching networks are highly efficient in terms of resource utilization since a single physical connection can support multiple logical connections. This is in contrast to packet-based networks, such as Ethernet, where a single physical connection could only support a single logical connection.

Circuit switching networks have the drawback of being inflexible because the resources allocated to the call cannot be reallocated until the call is disconnected. This means that if additional bandwidth is needed during a call, the call must be disconnected and re-established with that additional bandwidth. Furthermore, as circuit switching networks are typically designed to provide optimal performance for voice communications, they are not suitable for data applications which require high throughput and low latency.

In summary, a circuit switching network is a communications network architecture which sets up a dedicated, physical connection between two or more network nodes in order to provide reliable and high-quality communication services. Despite its inflexibility, it has been used extensively in the public telephone system, as well as for certain forms of private communication like ISDN.

Circuit Switched Wdm Network Figure 1 On The Right Part Depicts A Scientific Diagram