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Contingency Planning
Stephen D. Gantz, Daniel R. Philpott, in FISMA and the Risk Management Frame-
work, 2013

Telecommunications Systems
Telecommunications systems include wired and wireless local and wide area net-
works and hardware and software providing the capabilities for systems to com-
municate with each other or with users. The set of telecommunications systems
supporting most federal government agencies includes network infrastructure and
other technical solution components owned by commercial telecommunications
service providers and managed on behalf of the government. Dependencies on
telecommunications systems vendors raise special contingency planning issues
for system owners that the ISCP should address, such as whether the same or
a separate vendor will be responsible for providing alternate telecommunications
services if the primary service becomes unavailable. Contingency planning strategies
for telecommunications systems include: [66]

• Using results of the business impact analysis to determine contingency re-

quirements for maintaining or restoring telecommunications services.
• Documenting telecommunications infrastructure and services with physical
and logical network or architectural diagrams.
•
Documenting system configuration information, names and contact infor- •
mation of telecommunications providers, and service level agreements for
contingency operations.
Aligning contingency solutions to network security policies and security con-
trols to provide adequate safeguards against network outages or other disrup-
tions.

Contingency planning for telecommunications systems should seek to avoid single

points of failure by implementing redundant communication linkages, network
devices, and even service providers. In addition to network and provider redun-
dancy, capabilities provided by telecommunications systems for normal operations
may provide contingency solutions when primary processing sites or supporting
infrastructure components are unavailable. Such capabilities include remote access
services for system administrators and other authorized personnel and wireless
networking technology as an alternative or backup communication mechanism
during a disruption affecting the LAN or other wired network components.

> Read full chapter

LTE and 5G systems

E. Kammoun, ... M.S. Obaidat, in Smart Cities and Homes, 2016

Abstract
Telecommunication systems continue to grow tremendously in the past few
decades. This growth was driven by the massive amounts of capacity required for
exploiting mobile traffic. Despite the increase in performance and Quality of Service
(QoS) provided by mobile telecommunication systems during the past decade,
mobile operators competitively kept upgrading cellular networks’ architectures and
technologies. Hence, following the deployment of the Third Generation Partner-
ship Project Long-Term Evolution (3GPP LTE) as Release 8, the work started on
the development of fourth-generation (4G) systems. Thus, LTE systems recently
swept the market in order to provide even more integrated services, such as High
Definition (HD) video streaming, videoconferencing, and many other end-to-end
services. Since 2010 the 3GPP’s efforts have been devoted to the standardization
of LTE-Advanced (also known as LTE-A) system, including releases 10, 11, and 12
in the objective to meet all the International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced
(IMT Advanced) requirements set by the International Telecommunications Union
(ITU). However, more advanced technologies are still needed. Therefore, research
on the fifth-generation (5G) systems has recently started while believing that the
new overpowering mobile generation 5G will enable not only people but also any
device to be connected at all times and places with a better Quality of Experience
(QoE) for end users. With 5G researchers aim to fulfill the dream of ubiquitous
wireless connectivity by ensuring the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) that
will convert our homes and cities into smart ones. This generation is required to
have Reconfigurable core network, integrating a Multitechnology convergent core
including services based on an All-IP Platform that supports an important number
of simultaneous connections. The objective of this chapter is to provide an overview
of all new telecommunications technologies, assess their importance, particularly
their derived uses, and analyze the technical and technoeconomic constraints related
to their deployment. This chapter provides a comprehension discussion on the key
enabling technologies for 4G and 5G systems in the first section by giving an
overview about the current and future emerging cellular network evolution. The
chapter is organized as follows. Section 2 describes briefly the LTE and the LTE-A
features. Handover management is then studied in the third section. Finally yet
importantly, Section 4 discusses an emerging concept, which is “smart city” in the
context of LTE systems. Finally, Section 5 concludes the paper and discusses future
work.

> Read full chapter

Wireless Networks
Syed V. Ahamed, in Intelligent Networks, 2013

6.5 European Perspective (Older Technologies)

The Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) played a significant role
in the development of the newer third-generation products and standards for future
public land mobile telecommunications. Four dominant types of mobile systems
have existed (especially in Europe) and include:

1. Cellular systems, which are based upon the global system for mobile commu-
nication (GSM) adapted from the Pan-European, second-generation digital
mobile system.
2. Cordless systems, which are based upon digital European cordless telecom-
munication, also referred to as “CT2” for “cordless telephone second genera-
tion” and “CT3” for “cordless telephone third generation.”
3. Paging systems, which are based upon the European radio messaging facili-
ties.
4. Private mobile radio systems in the United Kingdom.
The European community organized its third-generation wireless communication
effort under the auspices of Research and development for Advanced Communica-
tion in Europe (RACE). The effort for the RACE-1 project in Europe is concentrated
in eight broad areas:

1. fixed network and its functional specifications,

2. mobile systems and services,

3. equalization,

4. modulation and coding,

5. channel management and cellular coverage,

6. signal processing in mobile communications,

7. broadband mobile systems,

8. other related technology, such as antenna design in relation to the CT3 band.

As a follow up, RACE-2 project was started. This project directs its efforts toward
realizing the third-generation systems and organizing its work in a functionally
oriented, top–down fashion, which ensures that the systems specification meets
requirements and that technical support is available for CT3 mobile communication
systems and products.

UMTS has provisioning for the bearer services as they are defined in the GSM and
ISDN context. These “bearer” services may be in the circuit- or packet-switched
mode. Supplementary ISDN services are likely to be supported by the UMTS. As
mobile telephony starts to gain popularity, the 8, 16, and 32 kbps and the unre-
stricted B2 channel services are likely to become part of the UMTS consideration.
The applications for the new wireless services can be quite diverse, such as low-rate
video, image document retrieval, audiovisual services (though not multimedia),
video telephony, and so forth.

In concept, most of these systems have a radio interface with each other as they
span the “last few wireless miles” to serve the mobile user. From this network
access point with the radio interface, access into the other existing networks, DCPN,
BCPN, MCPN, or public UMTS networks (Figure 6.3), could be over any of the
communication media, such as fiber, coaxial cable, microwave, or even the twisted
wire pairs in the ADSL/HDSL1 mode (ITU G.992.5, 2009).
Figure 6.3. Architecture and interfaces for the generic universal mobile telephone
systems (GUMTS) network. DCPN, domestic customer premises network; BCPN,
business customer premises network; MCPN, mobile customer premises network;
BISDN, broadband ISDN; N-ISDN, narrow-band ISDN; UMTS, universal mobile
telephone system; ISDN, integrated services digital network; PLMN, public land mo-
bile network; PSTN, public-switched telephone network; PSPDN, packet-switched
public data network; CSPDN, circuit-switched public data network.

However, since these networks and their architectures are evolving, designers prefer
to make the network/network access via fiber links, terrain permitting, or via very
small aperture terminal links to span remote inaccessible areas. In many instances,
a microwave radio link is also provided to handle localized and overflow traffic from
cell sites to the public UMTS network.

Both the public UMTS and ISDN networks provide access to fixed networks, such
as the PSTN, packet-switched public data network (PSPDN), and circuit-switched
public data network (CSPDN). The typical architecture and interfaces are also shown
in Figure 6.4. There are 12 interfaces (N1–N12) shown in this figure, and the first
four are reserved for the user terminal or the radio access port to the UMTS. The
remaining eight interfaces provide network-to-network access. The architecture of
the UMTS provides for much more than the interfacing for radiotelephony. In a
generic sense, this architecture can be tailored to suit most wireless environments.
Then, these networks had been integrated into the established networks, such as
the landline networks such as PSTN, PSPDN, CSPDN, ISDN, and broadband ISDN
(BISDN).
Figure 6.4. Access provisioning for the wireless to the wired and/or optical envi-
ronments. TEm, terminal equipment—microwave; SM, “S” interface for the mobile
roamer; BS, base station; NT1, NT2, network terminations; S, T, U, and V, ISDN stan-
dardized interfaces; LT, line termination; SW, switch for the mobile telephone/wire-
less environment; MCN, mobile control node; ISN, information storage node; NNI,
network-to-network interface.

The mobile units access the network by way of a microwave channel using their
specific terminal equipment (TE) links into a base station (BS). Consistent with ISDN
interfaces (circa mid-1980s), there are four (that is, R, S, T, and U) interfaces with
NT2 and NT1 network terminations and one “LT” or line termination (Ahamed and
Lawrence, 1996). The switch (SW, typically circa 4ESS (Anderson et al., 1994) in the
United States and the series of Alcatel-Lucent Central Office electronic switches
(Alcatel-Lucent, 2013), EWSD (Chapuis and Joel, 2003) switches) has access to the
mobile control node (MCN) and information storage node (ISN). In addition, the
switch also provides the access to the rest of the customer networks. These two
nodes, MCN and ISN, are essential for the mobile roamer environment and are an
integral part of the switch resident within the MTSO as shown in Figure 3.14.

The network-to-network interface (NNI) provides for the signaling and protocol
conversions to and from the wireless communication environment with the “wired”
and/or the “optical” communication environment.

The implementation of the UMTS is based upon layering of the generic and im-
plicit functions. Three logically distinct groups of functions emerge in the graceful
integration of future UMTS networks and the more evolved public networks. The
first group of functions deals with the mobile telephony aspects, the second group
with call-control aspects, and the third group with the bearer-channel control. The
first layer, called the mobility call-control layer, has paging entity, paging control,
customer mobile access control, database, and universal personal telecommunica-
tion routing point control. The second layer, called the call-control layer, has mobile
user agent control, and customer access and call control. The third layer has the
bearer control. These layers span and deal with the mobility issues at the first layers,
with its five sublayers, and also the control of the bearer-channel generic within the
ISDN environment. It is interesting to note that the services that UMTS provides can
become as generic as the services that the bearer channels provide in ISDN.

> Read full chapter

Real Space, Knowledge Space and Com-

putational Space
Syed V. Ahamed, in Evolution of Knowledge Science, 2017

27.7.1 Overview
Network switching systems in telecommunication systems are precise and de-
pendable. Electronic switching systems (ESSs) execute the process commands from
call-processing software system(s) in central office computers. The most attractive
feature of the ESSs is that they are massively parallel processor oriented and each
processor can handle any task within any one of the millions of call that the large
ESSs can handle simultaneously. In fact, this feature is essential for their deployment
in all the public domain communication networks! In the numerous spaces that the
human find can function such massive parallel processing in not currently feasible,
yet the subconscious handles some extent of parallel activities, such as reflex actions,
hunger pangs, pattern recognition, and natural intelligence. The electronic nature
of the ESS functions is entirely different from the neural electro-chemistry and
neural network-pulses in the human body, even though similar pattern may (and
do) exist. Connectivity’s in the mind are also time and use dependent and the neural
connections are invoked, assembled at the beginning of social events and intellectual
activities and then disassemble and discharged at the end of the activity or activities.
Spaces are dynamically connected in the perceptual spaces as switching systems are
dynamically liked in the spaces of the mind. Pathways and by ways in perception are
mapped into the channel routing maps that the tasks of the communication network
operating system.

> Read full chapter

Heuristic Approaches to the Position

Location Problem
David Munoz, ... Rogerio Enriquez, in Position Location Techniques and Applica-
tions, 2009

4.1 SINGLE-HOP AND RELATIONAL SCENARIOS

The basic structure of telecommunication systems has enabled one to obtain the
location of a subscriber using the information associated with the last mile segment.
For instance, in POTS (plain old telephone service) operators were able to say where
a call originated based on the record of service installation. Resolution then was
limited to customer premises. This approach has been shown to be inapplicable to
cellular systems where subscribers are meant to have unrestricted mobility. In the
basic cellular architecture, a control center connects the base stations that are meant
to provide service in designated areas. Thus, subscriber location can be determined
with greater or lesser uncertainty, depending on size of service area.

Location uncertainty can be given by location entropy:

(4.1)

where fL(l) denotes the probability density function of a unit being located at the l site
in the location domain L. Location domain will depend on cell site. Thus, uncertainty
tends to be great for macro–cells and small for micro– and picocells. In the absence
of further information, fL(l) is assumed to be uniformly distributed in the location
domain. Nevertheless, knowledge of attraction poles within a coverage area as well
as traveling patterns contributes to reducing location entropy. Entropy deals with
average location uncertainty rather than location realization for a given individual.

To provide continuity of service during mobile journeys, cell coverage areas are
designed not as partitions but as overlapping areas that enable graceful handoff a
lgorithms. Although handoff is not a concern in this chapter, it is known that
subscribers in the cell–to–cell transition area are able to communicate with or listen
to several base stations. This information enables one to establish not only the base
stations a subscriber is connected through but also the subscriber's likely geographic
neighborhood.

Eventually a subscriber location can be established with a very small uncertainty

(e.g., when the mobile is reachable from a pico–cell). Nevertheless, as time elapses,
the uncertainty grows. This can be described using diffusion process modeling
where the fL(l) variance tends to grow with time and the mean location can be
calculated if subscriber mobility trends are known. Such mobility patterns can be
computed for a population or an individual, with higher costs associated with finer
resolution. For instance, a hypothetical individual in a mall could be traced from his
electronic transactions or the hot spots he passes. When he leaves the mall area,
his whereabouts can be computed based on the cell coverage areas that he passed
through.

Location determination precision is always dependent on the accuracy and availabil-

ity of the parameters used in the location acquisition process. In cellular systems,
subscribers are reachable in a single hop from one or several base stations with
well–known locations. In the case of ad hoc networks, information travels along
multiple nodes of imprecise location so that uncertainty grows with the number of
links.

Nevertheless, as a packet progress along a path, some information, concerning the

nodes the packet has passed through, is gathered. In this form it is possible to
know the number of hops a node is from a given access point (AP). Some additional
information may also be available; for instance, a node can inform the other nodes
that it can listen to or that are within its reachability range. Further information
may contain distance–dependent measurements such as field strength and, in more
complex systems, time delay or angular observations. These allow dead–reckoning
techniques that were considered in Chapter 3 from the perspective of estimation
theory.

An important assumption in ad hoc and sensor networks is that subscribers relay

information to/from nearby neighboring nodes so that messages propagate from
site to site until a sink node or network gateway is reached. These sink nodes, also
called access points (APs), are placed at convenient sites. Thus, APs not only provide
connectivity to other networks or systems, but also become geographic references.
In this chapter, we consider a connected network in the sense that all nodes are
linkable to/from an AP. Otherwise, the system is not even aware of the existence of
such a node.

4.1.1 Range-Free Location Estimation Systems

Location determination is only possible in relation to an agreed–on reference. In
many cases, the location process invokes multiple observation sites that supply
information for centralized information processing, and it is assumed that the node
can be reached from observation sites in a single step. These observations imply
range–related measurements such as field intensity or delay differences that are
followed by trilateration processes that consider intersection of conic forms. These
trilateration processes require at least three observation points, although it may not
be possible to ensure that propagation conditions are equally adequate to and from
all observation points. For instance, if the node is in close proximity to a base station,
it tends to be well apart from other observation points. (Good visibility to and from
other distant base stations may require higher transmission power that also impacts
higher interference levels.)

Technologic advances in antenna technology allow determining angular location

and this scheme permits the use of only two observation sites. If coverage of the
region cannot be guaranteed, some technologies provide for the introduction of
supplementary location mobile units (LMUs) [1, 2] (see Figure 4.1a). Assuming that
the base station/AP and an LMU are located at coordinates (–D, 0) and (D, 0), they
will provide for the node at P(x, y) angular observations
FIGURE 4.1. Angular range–free location. (a) Angular location scenario. (b) Error
performance versus angular error variance.

and

the node is assumed to be at the intersection of lines and .

Location will be uncertain when the node is on the line connecting the AP and the
LMU. Precise angular observations are prevented by multipath phenomena and the
location error sensitivity to angular errors will strongly depend on the (x, y) location.
Figure 4.1b shows mean square error compared to angular error. Gaussian error
distribution has been assumed.

Other range schemes may relate location information to quality–of–service figures.

For instance, systems like WiMax or LTE are able to dynamically assign through-
puts depending on the perceived carrier–to–interference ratio (CIR). That is, quali-
ty–of–service parameters may be associated with location areas of subscriber units
as illustrated in Figure 4.2. In general, since CIRs tend to monotonically decrease as
separation distance between subscriber unit and the base station increases, we can
say that for a CIR> i, n0 will belong to the region
FIGURE 4.2. CIR location regions.

and for i < CIR = i+1, n0 will be said to be in the ring If quality parameters
associated with different base stations are available, the subscriber unit is said to
be in the intersection of the corresponding rings.

4.1.2 Signal Signature

Individuals in a group can be identified by the collection of characteristics that
distinguish each individual. For instance, in voice recognition, format location and
its relative strengths can be used for individual classification.

In wireless systems, a user receives signals from various radio sources, and in the
ideal scenario the associated characteristic for each signal can be used for location
estimation.

As an example, let us consider a scenario where the mobile can see/be seen from
several base stations BSi i = 1, …, k. Each location n0 will have an associated
vector or location signature (e.g., Fo = (Fo1, …, Fok)) where Foi may denote the field
intensity associated with BSi. Once subscriber observations are obtained, they will
be compared against the reference signatures and the closest reference will be used
to estimate subscriber location.

In practice, an ideal mapping n0 Fo = (Fo1, …, Fok) may depart heavily from practical
observations due to clutter and other propagation impairments. Therefore, the
signature space will be adapted on the basis of multiple observations. And a biunique
mapping cannot always be guaranteed. In addition to the above propagation noise
effects, mobiles may estimate parameters with low resolution, producing further
coarseness. This is illustrated in Figure 4.3 where a linear location d is mapped into
a 2D signal–strength signature [3].
FIGURE 4.3. Signal–strength signature scheme.

Although the described methodology resembles some of the issues in estimation

theory, no statistical channel characterization is required.

> Read full chapter

Refactoring Software Architectures

Michael Stal, in Agile Software Architecture, 2014

3.2 Dealing with Design Flaws

For the development of a telecommunications system, software architects initially
defined a sound architectural baseline (see Figure 3.1). Time pressure and addi-
tional requirements forced software engineers to continuously modify and adapt
the architecture. Unfortunately, they didn’t follow a systematic approach for this
purpose, instead using ad hoc patches and backpacks to evolve the system. After
a while, the resulting software architecture became overly complex and inexpressive
and suffered from decreased modifiability. Moreover, additional indirection layers
led to performance penalties.
Figure 3.1. Design erosion is caused by unsystematic architecture evolution and lack
of architecture improvement activities.

How could software engineers avoid such design erosion? First, any software ar-
chitecture should not be built using a “Big Bang” approach, but rather in small
iterations where each iteration maps one requirement or a small set of require-
ments to concrete architectural decisions. Using a piecemeal growth approach helps
control risks through early detection of architecture issues. Second, instead of
carving architecture decisions in stone, architects should reassess their design in
all iterations, identify potential design issues, and resolve them by refactoring. This
approach helps cure the problem instead of dealing with symptoms. Moreover, it
prevents expensive reengineering activities after system delivery.

> Read full chapter

Social Controversies about Computeri-

zation
Rob Kling, in Computerization and Controversy (Second Edition), 1996

Democratization.
To what extent do computer and telecommunication systems offer new opportuni-
ties to strengthen democracy through online access to the records and reports of
government agencies?3 To what extent does computerization undermine democratic
processes in work and public life because the costs and expertise of large computer-
ization projects may lead to centralized control and domination by groups who can
control the selection of equipment and expertise?4

> Read full chapter

Submarine fibers
Scott R. Bickham, ... Snigdharaj Mishra, in Undersea Fiber Communication Systems
(Second Edition), 2016

Abstract
Optical fibers provide the backbone of telecommunication systems, particularly
undersea networks where low loss and large effective area are essential for enabling
data transmission over thousands of kilometers. In this chapter, we present an
overview of optical fibers used for undersea communications. These fibers include
the non-zero-dispersion-shifted fibers (NZ-DSFs) and the negative dispersion slope
fibers used in dispersion-managed systems and the ultra-low-loss fibers which are
now being deployed in coherent systems. We briefly discuss the design approach and
manufacturing process, as well as the origins and importance of key fiber properties
such as attenuation, dispersion and effective area. The interplay between these fiber
parameters will be illustrated in examples of effective area management, dispersion
compensation, and dispersion-managed fibers.

> Read full chapter

Combinatorial Testing
D. Richard Kuhn, ... Raghu N. Kacker, in Advances in Computers, 2015

2.2 From DoE to CAs

Along with the advent of computers and telecommunication systems in the 1980s,
independent verification and validation of software and hardware–software systems
became important. Taguchi inspired the use of OAs for testing software systems.
Software engineers in various companies (especially Fujitsu in Japan and the de-
scendent organizations of the AT&T Bell System in the United States) started to in-
vestigate use of DoE methods for testing software and hardware–software systems.
The earliest papers include the following: Refs. [1–3,30,31]. The limitations of OAs
for independent verification and validation of software-based systems became clear
soon after they were used. (i) Often, an OA matching the required combinatorial
test structure does not exist; for example, a nontrivial OA of strength 2 matching
the test structure 24 × 31 (four factors with two distinct settings and one with three
settings) is mathematically impossible. (ii) Frequently, OA-based test suites included
invalid test cases which are impossible (or meaningless) to execute; for example, in
testing jointly various operating systems and browsers Linux cannot be combined
with Microsoft Internet Explorer. (iii) Available OA tables were limited to at most
strength three, while for testing software systems, test suites of strength larger than
three may be required. (iv) In testing software systems, hundreds of factors may be
involved, but available OA tables had fewer columns. Tatsumi [2,3] and Dalal and
Mallows [4] provided the insight that in testing software, combinatorial balancing
property of OAs (that each t-tuple should appear the same number of times) was
not required (because parameters of statistical model were not being estimated). In
testing software systems, space filling was needed, that is, each t-tuple of interest
of the test settings must be covered at least once. Therefore, mathematical objects
called CAs are better suited than OAs as templates for generating test suites for
software testing.

The concept of CAs was formally defined by an AT&T mathematician Sloane [32].
Additional developments on CAs can be found in the following recent papers: Refs.
[33,34]. A fixed-value CA denoted by CA(N, vk, t) is an N × k matrix of elements from
a set of v symbols {0, 1, …, (v − 1)} such that every set of t-columns contains each
possible t-tuple of elements at least once. The positive integer t is the strength of
the CA. A fixed-value CA may also be denoted by CA(N, k, v, t). A mixed-value CA is
an extension of fixed-value CA where k = k1 + k2 + + kn; k1 columns have v1 distinct
elements, k2 columns have v2 distinct elements, …, and kn columns have vn distinct
elements. The six rows of rows of Table 5 form a covering array CA(6, 24 × 31, 2). In
these six rows, each set of two columns contains each possible pair of symbols at
least once. The combinatorial property of CAs is more relaxed (less stringent) than
that of OAs: a CA need not be balanced in the sense that not all t-tuples need to
appear the same number of times. All OAs are CAs but not all CAs are OAs. (An OA of
index one in which every t-tuple appears exactly once is the best possible CA.) Thus,
the concept of CAs is a generalization of OAs. CAs have a number of advantages over
OAs for testing software systems. (i) CAs can be constructed for any combinatorial
test structure of unequal numbers of test settings. (ii) If for a combinatorial test
structure an OA exists, then a CA of the same or less number of test cases can be
obtained. (iii) CAs can be constructed for any required strength (t-way) testing, while
OAs are generally limited to strength 2 and 3. (iv) In generating test suites based on
CAs, invalid combinations can be deliberately excluded. (v) CA for very large number
of factors can be constructed.
Table 5. Covering Array CA(6, 24 × 31, 2)

1 2 3 4 5
1 0 0 0 0 0
2 1 1 1 1 0
3 0 0 1 1 1
4 1 1 0 0 1
5 0 1 0 1 2
6 1 0 1 0 2

For a given number of factors k, the size of a combinatorial t-way test suite based on a
CA (number of rows of CA) increases exponentially with the number of test settings v
of each factor. Therefore, in CT it is advisable to limit the number of distinct discrete
test settings of each factor to less than 10; preferred values are 2–4. The discrete test
settings are generally determined by equivalence partitioning and boundary value
analysis of the domain of possible values for each factor.

The size of combinatorial t-way test suite also increases rapidly as t increases. For
example, consider the combinatorial test structure example 334452 from Ref. [35].
The number of possible test cases is 334452 = 172,800. Exhaustive testing may not
be practical. The sizes (number of test cases) of t-way test suites (determined using
ACTS/IPOG) for t = 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are, respectively, 29, 137, 625, 2532, and 9168.
This highlights the important question of how the strength t should be set? A
reasonable choice of the strength t requires experience with the type of system under
test (SUT) being tested. The available knowledge about the SUT and the nature of
possible faults to be detected is used in the specification of test factors, test setting,
and the strength t. In one testing experiment involving 128 binary factors (each
having two distinct test settings), CAs of strength t for t = 2,…, 10 were needed. The
sizes of required CAs determined by Torres-Jimenez [36] are, respectively, N = 11, 37,
112, 252, 1231, 2462, 17,544, 90,300, and 316,940. When the available knowledge
about the SUT is severely limited, the choice of t is difficult. The choice of t requires
a trade-off between the cost of testing (determined by the size of test suite) and the
potential benefits of higher strength testing.

> Read full chapter

Epilogue
Arun Handa, in System Engineering For IMS Networks, 2009

10.1 Innovation Beyond Standards

 Research and development has been difficult with the traditional telecommunica-
tion systems, due to their limited accessibility. The OpenSource IMS (OSIMS) Core
Project aims to change that for the IMS networks. It is aiming to provide an IMS core
reference implementation. This benefits the prototype IMS applications and test IMS
as a technology in a research environment. The OSIMS supports an implementation
of the CSCFs and a lightweight Home Subscriber Server (HSS). These are based on
the open source SIP Express Router.

Innovation has also made the concept of IMS in-a-box closer to reality. Traditional
Core telecom network infrastructure equipment could be delivered in a large volume
of server racks, most of which was occupied by Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
switching. The IP core network is transforming that. With the blade server-based
approaches we saw in the previous chapter, the concept of IMS in a single chassis
has been demonstrated as a proof-of-concept. With each blade server hosting a
functional element of the IMS core network such as the S-CSCF, P-CSCF, I-CSCF,
HSS, AS, MRF, and so forth, a single 20-inch server can potentially deliver a sizeable
functionality of the IMS architecture.

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