ITU-T G.703 2048 kbit/s (PCM) interface

Test and control functions

Errors of the PCM interface are forwarded towards the operator by control signals. Measuring instruments testing the interface have control signal indicator functions, too.

Control signals of the PCM interface:
Signal Description
LOS (Loss Of Signal)
There is no signal on the input of the PCM interface.
AIS (Alarm Indication Signal)
Reception of a signal sequence (min. 512 bit) consisting of only ?1"s. It is given by the transmitting interface, if it goes wrong.

LOF (Loss Of Frame alignment)
There is no frame synch. This bit indicates that the PCM interface lost the frame synchronous signal.
MAIS (CAS Multiframe AIS)
Reception of a signal sequence consisting only ?1?s (AIS) in the 16. timeslot of the PCM frame.
LOMF (Loss Of MultiFrame alignment)
There is no CAS multiframe synch. Interface cannot find/lost the CAS multiframe synchronous signal in the PCM signal connected to the input.
RAI (Remote Alarm Indication)
Remote alarm reception. This bit is the second bit of the 0. service timeslot of the PCM signal connected to the input. This bit was used for indicating the error occurred at a remote end of the PCM link. Example:
               +-------+                  +-------+
               | PCM A |--->--- x --->----| PCM B | LOS
           RAI |       |--------<---------|       |
               +-------+                  +-------+
          
MRAI Reception of a remote multiframe alarm.
This bit is the 6. bit of the 16. timeslots of the PCM signal connected to the input, which timeslot is the 0. timeslot of the multiframe. This bit is used for indicating the loss of multiframe occurred at a remote point of the PCM link.
CRC4 No CRC4 frame.
This bit indicates that the PCM interface lost the CRC-4 multiframe.
RCRC Remote CRC4 error.
The interface evaluates the Si-bits in the 13. and 15. frames of the received PCM signal. These bits are used for indicating the CRC errors occurred at the remote point of the PCM link.
SLIP Slip error.
This bit changes its state, when there is a slip between the PCM signal and the signal on the internal data bus of the instrument.
ERR Bit error in the received PCM signal
PRBS Loss of synch at the reception of a PRBS signal
This bit indicates the stop of measurements executed with PRBS signals (e.g. BERT). Stopping criterion: if the error rate in the line is larger than 1E-2.


Priority of the control information
Control information can generate a priority system, an error with higher level bans the indication of an error with lower level. Priority chain is the following:

Error at the highest level, if there is no signal (LOS), this bans the indication of every lowest errors. Second level is the AIS, and the third is the loss of frames (LOF, CRC4, LOMF).

Control signals are marked differently by the manufacturers. Examples

ITU-T-JEL PCM30GS EP2 HP37732A
--- ------ ---- SIGNAL PRESENT
LOS RCV 2M SIGN SIGNAL LOSS
AIS AIS 2M AIS AIS
LOF RCV 2M FSYN FRAME LOSS
MAIS AIS 16 MAIS --------
LOMF MFA MSYN CAS MFRAME LOSS
RAI RMT 2M ALM REMOTE ALARM
MRAI RMT 16 MALM REMOTE MFRAME ALARM
CRC4 RCV 2M CRC4 CRC MFRAME LOSS
RCRC ------ RCRC -------
SLIP ------ SLIP -------
BER BER 10E-3
BER 10E-6
ERR ERROR
PRBS -------- PRBS PATTERN LOSS
-------- ---- OCTET LOSS