T1/E1 Call Capture & Analysis

T1/E1 Call Capture & Analysis Software

Call Capture and Analysis

The Call Capture and Analysis (CCA) application is used to initiate recording of calls, either automatically or manually directly from T1/E1 and/or 2-wire lines. The application uses GL's USB Portable T1/E1 Analyzer Units or Universal HD T1/E1 Analyzer Cards to interface non-intrusively with T1 or E1 lines.

Automatic call capturing can be triggered from both directions (east and west) of transmission.

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The call capture application supports following types of triggers for auto capturing of call

Signaling based triggers - CAS -R1, wink start, MFC-R2
ISDN and SS7 message based triggers
Traffic activated triggers
- Voice based on a minimum power level
- Tones of specified frequency - Ring back tone, Dial tone, Busy tone, and DTMF digits
- Fax traffic - V.32 / V.17, V.27, V.29,
- Modem traffic - V.22 forward/reverse channel, V.34 & V.90 uplink, Binary V.90 downlink, FSK
- Any type of signal based on any power level

Subsequently, captured calls can be played back and analyzed in time and spectral modes using a commercial sound card, built-in high fidelity speakers, and audio viewing software (Adobe Audition, Goldwave).

Frequency, power of east and west directions cannot be shown in real time in CCA application. We can only capture the files. The application also indicates the channels on which a recording is taking place and the files names to which data is being stored. Scanning mode is possible wherein all 24 or 30 channels are scanned for call initiation and recording. A message area provides status of the capture process. Other features include,

Automatic or manual initiation of call recording
Real-time display of signaling bits for all channels in both directions
'Scan' or 'Channel' mode for call initiation detection and capture
User specified record time
Automatic termination of recording, or Manual termination
PCM data captured to two synchronized disk files (east and west directions) for post processing
All call data are captured including signaling bits, voiceband data, signaling protocol data (e.g. DTMF or MF digits), various types of traffic such as fax, modem, voice, and any type of signal.
Unlike the other traffic options, triggering on voice traffic can be fine-tuned to the power level of the voice data.
Voice power level can be set to filter out weak or undesirable voice data.
ISDN calls recorded with CRV, ISDN message type, channel, direction, called and calling numbers. ISDN calls can be captured with customized called and calling number filter.
Enhanced application includes call capture based on SS7 signaling messages, and the ability to set triggering to capture calls when any SS7 signaling messages are received.
"Call filtering" feature is used to capture calls with a user-defined called and calling numbers rather than all calls.
Various File naming conventions based on the type of capture. The file naming conventions suit various types of capture applications such as MFC-R2, signaling, ISDN capture, manual capture etc.
Different Encoding formats supported, including automatic conversion of u-law and A-law PCM files to WAV file format if required
The digit parsing feature of CCA application helps user to distinguish CAS R1 or MFC-R2 calls by prefixing called or calling numbers to the filename.
Capability of capturing on a single direction, East or West side in a dual card system.
Supports logging of call summary records, facility alarms, and supervisory signals in CSV or binary file formats.
Provides an option of stamping the captured files sequentially or with date/time, user-defined direction labels, port/channel, and CRV if applicable

Automatic Call triggering can be done in one of the following ways:

A, B, C, D - Signaling Bits- with user-defined start and stop ABCD signaling bits to initiate and terminate recording of files on chosen timeslots - useful for CAS calls. In addition, CAS signaling such as DTMF digits, MF digits, and MFC-R2 digits conveying "called and calling numbers" are decoded and attached as part of the captured file name.
Tone - user-defined mono or dual tones can trigger the capturing of a call CCA - useful for fax calls
Signaling + Tone - a combination of user-defined Start/Stop signaling bits followed by a mono or dual tone (user-defined) within a specified timeout period - useful for capturing fax calls
ISDN calls - capture gets triggered when any ISDN calls are placed. Called and calling number can be gathered as part of the capture process and attached to the captured file name. During call capture, the following parameters are displayed: ISDN message types, CRV, Time slot, card number, called and calling numbers.
SS7 calls - SS7 voice calls are kept in CIC groups. When an SS7 call is detected, an Origination Point Code (OPC), a Destination Point Code (DPC), and a CIC # is retrieved. If the comparison holds good capture task is performed, otherwise the call is discarded.
Traffic activated - With this trigger option, it is possible to trigger on various kinds of traffic such as fax, modem, tones of standard frequency, digits, voice, and any signal based on power level. Users can also define the traffic algorithms such as linear, quadratic, hybrid, or hybrid filtered that performs the traffic classification.

Applications of CCA:

Call recording for post analysis
Analysis of single/dual tones, DTMF and MF digit analysis (frequency, power, duration)
Analysis of call quality (speech levels, noise levels, echo return loss, speech clipping, impulse noise, and other impairments)
Call activity, call density, and call volume analysis
Monitoring and recording Fax, Voice Modem, ISDN, SS7 and CAS calls
Filtering of calls by "called" and "calling" number
Listening to finished calls and active calls as they are occurring
Remote monitoring of calls including remotely listening to calls

GL also provides other various transmission & capture software that helps is call monitoring & analysis over network. Visit Call Signaling and Analysis page for more details.

Operating Modes & other Call Capture Options

Display both CCA main menu image and this side by side

Auto Scanning Capture Mode - Scans timeslots that were checked in "Timeslots" dialog box. The type of scanning that occurs is dependent on the Capture Trigger Type selection. Automatic call capturing can be triggered from both directions (east and west) of transmission.
Manual Capture Mode - Permits capture manually, irrespective of signaling bits or tone definitions.
Capture Trigger Types - For auto scanning, ISDN, SS7, CAS (R1, wink start, MFC-R2), and Traffic (voice, fax, modem, tones, & any traffic with specified power level) activated signaling triggers are supported.
Start Trigger Signaling bits - Signaling bits definition for the beginning of capture; must be a transition from the stop trigger to the start trigger
Stop Trigger Signaling bits - Signaling bit definition for the end of capture; transition not required
Device Selection - Up to two devices may be selected for capturing or scanning.
Record Time - In Auto Scanning mode, the duration of the capture can be limited to a certain length by checking Limited Capture and setting the slider control
Tone Wait - After a signaling trigger, the time (seconds) the application should wait for a defined tone to occur.
CAS Digit Parsing - The CAS Digit Parser is used to name the call files using the digits that are prefixed to the rest of the filename. By default, this option is disabled, during which, the files are named based on the timestamp and timeslot information, such as Jun15E01_0002.pcm. CCA has five built-in scripts for commonly used protocols - CAS R1 DID*ANI, CAS R1 ANI*DID, CAS R1 DID only, MFR2-176 (CCITT), MFR2-179 (CCITT). It also allows users to select the script of their own choice.
File Naming Convention - Two different types of file naming conventions are provided based on the capture type for signaling. The file naming conventions are:

Normal - This is the normal mode of capturing data that is prevalent common to both T1 and E1 analyzers.

MFC-R2 - If the CCA application captures data for MFC-R2 signaling type of calls, then this mode has to be enabled. Selecting this option causes a change in the file naming extension. i.e. *.pcm extension is removed�.

Call Playback and Viewing Features

Oscilloscope (Time Series) View

For a recorded call, a graph of the amplitude vs. time can be displayed. The display can be for either one side or both sides of the call. Playback, zoom-in, zoom-out, and other options are available for analysis of partial and/or full call data/ Signaling data during call set-up can be analyzed e.g. DTMF/MF, dial and busy tones at microsecond duration granularity. Every sample is recorded and displayed.

There are several methods for viewing captured files supported by various visualization programs such as Adobe Audition and Goldwave programs. Adobe Audition and Goldwave are used with a variety of file formats including PCM, wav, and others. Refer to Adobe Audition and Goldwave User's Guide for detailed instructions or Contact GL Communications Inc for additional details or clarifications about this.

Spectral View

A graph of power level vs. frequency is displayed for the user-selected portion of the recorded call. Users can set the frequency resolution and frequency band of interest. The display can be either one side or both sides of the call. Useful for DTMF/MF, dial, busy tone, speech and modem frequency analysis. Spectrogram displays are also possible.

Screen Shot of Spectral View

Goldwave/Adobe Audition

The wave graph of captured files can be visualized using 3rd party audio editing software such as Goldwave or Adobe Audition. The graphical software program should be installed in order to directly invoke captured files through GL's T1E1 analyzer. Goldwave can be used to visualize maximum of two files.

Screen Shot of Wave Graph in Goldwave

To view stereo wave graph select dual files to view both the graphs simultaneously.

Screen Shot of Stereo Wave Graph in Goldwave

The names of the files chosen for display is merged as one *.wav file. Goldwave uses variety of file formats including *.pcm, A-Law, Mu-Law, *.wav, and others. Any file formats chosen is converted to *.wav while displaying graphs.

Example: For dual file graph display, select "Samp_wst.pcm" and "Samp_est.pcm", a single "Samp_wst_ Samp_est.wav" file is created and the graph is displayed one below the other.

Tabular Analysis

A special DOS application is provided for MFC-R2 digit analysis (r2ana.exe). With this software captured files can be analyzed for R2 tones and signaling. Forward and backward-paired tones are detected and displayed with time stamped indications of digit durations and signaling changes. Call duration, timeslot, date, and time of occurrence are also recorded.

Screen Shot of Tabular Analysis

ISDN Call Capture Options with NFAS (Non-Facility Associated Signaling)

The CCA gets triggered when any ISDN calls are placed. Capture occurs after the ISDN message, "SETUP", is detected with the called/calling number that matches the filtering definition for ISDN Call Filtering Options.

CCA can be set to capture the ISDN calls on the trunks that contain D-Channel using options under NFAS. NFAS is a standard option available for ISDN PRI call processing system. This allows a single D channel to control multiple PRI trunks. With NFAS option, a single D-channel can control a maximum of 479 B-channels, i.e., up to 20 trunks (or a maximum of 478 with one B-channel as a backup). In case of GL's Dual T1/E1 Analyzer, a maximum of 95 B-Channels, i.e., up to 4 trunks is supported.

NFAS D-Channel - Enables NFAS feature during ISDN call processing
D-Chan # - This represents the trunk that contains the D-Channel or the signaling.
Explicit Interface - This represents that the CCA is set to capture the calls on the trunks that does not contain D-Channel or in other words, interface is set to capture on the trunks that use all 24 or 31 timeslots on T1/E1 respectively.
Implicit Interface - This represents that the CCA is set to capture the calls on the trunks containing D-Channel. For example, in the above illustration, Trunks 1 and 3 contain D-channels; to capture messages on these trunks, CCA should be configured.

SS7 Call Capture Options

SS7 voice calls are kept in CIC groups. When an SS7 call is detected, an Origination Point Code (OPC), a Destination Point Code (DPC), and a CIC # is retrieved. If the comparison holds good capture task is performed, otherwise the call is discarded.

Data Rate: The possible data rates are 56 or 64 kbps.
Call Filtering: SS7 Call Filtering is similar in functionality to that used in ISDN filtering. Regular expressions such as "*", and "?" can be used. An expression such as "123*" means only call #'s that start with "123" have a possibility of being captured.
Signaling Selection: Incoming calls are detected on the signaling timeslot. Two sources of signaling can be used, primary and secondary.
CIC (Circuit Identification Codes) Group Configuration: SS7 voice calls are in CIC groups. When an SS7 call is detected, an Origination Point Code (OPC), a Destination Point Code (DPC), and a CIC # is retrieved. For the first entry, there is a starting CIC # of 2, with 9 CIC channels (Quantity), and a starting timeslot of 1. The starting CIC # of 2 is mapped to timeslot #1. A CIC # of 10 is mapped to timeslot #9. All of the CIC #'s and timeslot #'s in the entry are contiguous.

Traffic Triggered Call Capture

CCA also includes a feature to trigger capturing of calls based on various types of traffic such as fax, modem, voice, standard tones, digits, and so on. They are V.22 bis forward channel, V.22 bis reverse channel, V.34 & V.90 uplink, V.29, V.32/V.17 > 2400 bps, V.27 ter @ 4800 bps, V.27 ter @ 2400 bps, Voice, binary V.90 downlink, FSK, DTMF digits, Dial tone, Ringback, and Busy tone. Detecting the above types of traffic requires use of the traffic classifier.

A 2048 byte (256 ms) block of data is sent to the traffic classifier. The traffic classifier determines if the data is one of the accepted types of traffic. If the condition is met, then capture of the traffic data commences.

Unlike the other traffic options, triggering on voice traffic can be fine-tuned to the power level of the voice data. Setting the voice power level can be used to filter out weak or undesirable voice data.

Note: CCA requires additional license for traffic activated triggering (XX031).

Screen Shot of CCA Traffic Options

There is also an option �Any Signal� to be defined in dBm. Selecting this feature bypasses the traffic classifier and detects the power level of the data. If it exceeds the defined input data (e.g. -10dBm), then capture commences.

Screen Shot of "Any Signal" selection in Traffic Options

Stopping Traffic or �Any Signal� Capture

Setting the �Silence Options� slider allows for hang-ups during the capture of traffic or �Any Signal� data. For example, if DTMF traffic is being captured, and then non DTMF data is detected, capture continues until the hang-up time limit set by �Silence Options� is exceeded. If the data reverts back to DTMF, the capture continues as it was before the hang-up.

If the hang-up time limit is 400 milliseconds, only one hang-up is allowed before capture is terminated. Each buffer of data is of size 2048 bytes (256 ms).

Traffic Algorithm

The traffic classifier uses four different algorithms to choose from: Linear, Quadratic, Hybrid, or Hybrid Filtered.

Linear � This algorithm is quicker to computer
Quadratic � This gives better accuracy but need more time
Hybrid (Recommended) � It is a combination of linear and quadratic, and the most reliable
Hybrid Filtered � This eliminates misclassifications, for example, voice with many periods of silence.

The �Hybrid� is recommended algorithm and is used by default in the Multiple Call Capture.

Digits, Tones, Signaling Triggered Call Capture

User-defined option is available for Tone and Signaling + Tone capture trigger options. This feature allows defining the type of tone(s) that CCA application should detect. The application can only detect single and/or dual tones. Various other options such as Power Threshold, Inter-burst Length Threshold, Absolute Twist Threshold, & S/N ratio can be specified for the tones defined.

Screen Shot of Tone Parameter Options

Call capture using WCS

GL's Windows Client/Server makes the T1/E1 Analyzer as server and allows performing of typical tasks such as real time recording and transmission to/from files, dtmf/mf/mfcr2 digit detection and generation, bit error rate testing, alarm monitoring, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) operations, DS0 power monitoring, and protocol decoding from multiple client locations.

GL's CAS simulator is a client-side application that works along with the GL's T1/E1 Analyzer. It can simulate and analyze any user user-defined CAS protocols by providing signaling bit transitions and forward/backward frequency tones/digits. In addition to generating/receiving CAS calls, the CAS simulator also processes the receipt of Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS) and Automatic Number Identification (ANI) information. Supported protocols include E1 MFCR2, T1 Winkstart, T1 Loopstart and Groundstart, E1 European Digital CAS, and any User-defined CAS.

Visit following webpages for more information

CCA with other GL applications

Call Data Record (CDR)

The application works with CCA (Call Capture and Analysis) and VBA (Voice Band Analyzer) applications and generates Call Summary and Call Detail reports. CDR provides comprehensive information on each and every call occurring on T1 E1 lines, including voice capture, signaling information for CAS, ISDN, MFC-R2, SS7, all alarms and errors occurring during the call, detailed voiceband event information (dual tones, fax tones, modem signals, and more), detailed analysis of the voiceband call including noise level, speech level, speech activity factor, echo measurements, and more. It also categorizes call as voice, fax, modem, or data.

For complete information on Call Data Record (CDR) application, click here.

Near Real-Time Voice Band Analyzer

The Near Real-time Voice-band Analyzer (VBA) is an analysis tool for monitoring voice band network traffic. The VBA can host different analysis modules for monitoring speech and noise levels, line echo. VBA operates in near-real-time, processing the signal files recorded by CCA. VBA records its output into two files, the first containing overall channel measurements, and the second containing event records.

For complete information on Near Real-Time Voice Band Analyzer (VBA) application, click here.

Call Management Utility

This application provides all the necessary management tools to perform function of recording voice calls. Call records are immediately generated, indexed, and displayed once a voice recording over T1 or E1 lines is completed by the CCA.

For more details, click here.

GLInsight™

The captured files can be analyzed using GL Insight™ Modem and Fax Analysis Software for 2-wire Analog interface.

For more details, click here.

Additional Sample Screens:

Bridge and Monitor Connections

Buyer's Guide (for Ultra Card System):

Please Note: The XX in the Item No. refers to the hardware platform, listed at the bottom of the Buyer's Guide, which the software will be running on.Therefore, XX can either be HDT, HDE, HUT, HUE, UTA or UEA depending upon the hardware.

Item No. Item Description

XX030 - Call Capture and Analysis Software & the following accessories,
- CCA Cable Kit (2 -SA007e Y Bridges, 1 - SA017a & 1 - SA017b Straight & Crossover Cables, & 1 - SA007k Mono to Stereo Miniature Phone Y Cable)
- Goldwave Software (SA048)

XX031 Call Capture and Analysis Software with Traffic Activated Trigger Option

Related Software

CDR032 Call Data Record (CDR) Software

VQT035 2-Wire Voice Recorder

CM0031 Call Management Utility

XX020 Record/Playback File Software

XX019 Transmit/Receive File Utility Software

SA026 Adobe Audition Software

SA048 Goldwave Software

SA021 File Edit Software

STE40 Mux-Demux Software

VBA032 Near Real-time Voice-band Analyzer

PKB070 Audio Processing Utility

XX651 MAPS™ CAS Protocol Emulator

PKV104 FaxDDT38™

Related Hardware

PTE001 tProbe™ Dual T1 E1 Laptop Analyzer with Basic Analyzer Software

HDT001/HDE001 Legacy HD T1 or E1 (PCI) Cards with Basic Analyzer Software

HTE001 Universal T1/E1 Card with Basic Analyzer Software

UTE001 Portable USB based Dual T1 or E1 Laptop Analyzer with Basic Analyzer Software

VQT241 Dual Universal Telephony Adapter (UTA)

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