SS7 Fundamentals

SS7 Fundamentals is the first course of the Telecom Signaling Analyst path and builds on the Telecom Foundations path, where PSTN Fundamentals and GSM Fundamentals introduced SS7/C7. It starts with why operators built a separate common channel signalling network, how the ITU-T Q.700 series defines it and what performance it was designed to meet. It then follows the network architecture of signalling points, transfer points, link sets and national and international networks, the message transfer part from the signalling link through error correction and alignment to routing, load sharing and network management, and the ISDN User Part that sets up and releases trunk calls. Later modules cover the SCCP with its global titles and global title translation, TCAP transactions, dialogues and ASN.1 encoding, the MAP dialogues of mobility, calls and short messages, and INAP, CAMEL and number portability. The last module carries SS7/C7 over IP with SCTP and the SIGTRAN adaptation layers and looks at international signalling carriers, IPX and the move to Diameter. The course ends with an interactive review that follows an international call's signalling from IAM to release, plus a short message delivered over MAP.