The REDCOM Telecommunications Systems Lab

The REDCOM Telecommunications Systems Lab (RTSL) houses a full spectrum of routing, switching, synchronization and transmission equipment, to give students experience with important network elements of both the telecommunications carrier and customer environments.

Within the REDCOM Telecommunications Systems Lab, private and Class 5 telephone exchanges, DS-3 and SONET multiplexers, Passive Optical Networks (PONs), Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC), VoIP, softswitch technology, and LANS are integrated to form a converged Wide Area Network (WAN). This is capable of carrying traditional voice and data, as well as converged traffic including VoIP and video (IP & RF).

Students working with the RTSL configure routers and softswitches for IP and voice traffic, and traditional telephone switches for voice traffic. Telephone cable is interconnected to provision POTS and private circuits from the customer premise to the telephone service provider’s equipment, and throughout the network. Point-to-point digital and analog circuits are configured using standard and digital cross-sections, SONET, and Metro Ethernet solutions. These are tested using TBERD transmission test sets, as well as spectrum and packet analyzers. Transmission facilities are analyzed and tested for proper line encoding, signaling and synchronization. Router and switch interfaces are configured with proper subnet masking and protocol Quality of Service (QoS) options. Network management is handled through both proprietary and standard methods, including Simple Network Management Protocol. Routing tables are analyzed and verified for a desired traffic flow. Network traffic is also analyzed for content and security issues.

The RTSL supports undergraduate and graduate telecommunications engineering technology programs and research, and is made possible by the generous support of REDCOM Laboratories, Frontier Telephone of Rochester, Time Warner of Rochester, MITEL, Allworx, Tellabs, ADC/Westell, Symmetricom, and Cisco.

For more information about the RTSL and the RIT Telecommunications Engineering Technology program, please contact:

Rochester Institute of Technology
College of Applied Science and Technology
78 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, New York 14623
(585) 475-4399
www.rit.edu/cast
E-mail: cast@rit.edu