crossbar switch

crossbar switch

[′krȯs‚bär ‚swich]

(electricity)

A switch having a three-dimensional arrangement of contacts and a magnet system that selects individual contacts according to their coordinates in the matrix.

Crossbar Switch

 

a relay-type switching device, used primarily in urban, rural, and long-distance automatic crossbar exchanges and automatic telegraph offices. This switch can make up to 20 connections simultaneously; the location of each connection is determined by the crosspoints of movable vertical and horizontal bars.

REFERENCES

Karmazov, M. G., and G. B. Metel’skii. Avtomaticheskaia telefoniia. Moscow, 1963.
Avtomaticheskaia kommutatsiia i telefoniia, part 2. Edited by G. B. Metel’skii. Moscow, 1969.

crossbar switch

An earlier telephone switch. First used in the late 1930s, it was a mechanical device that used magnets and metal bars (crossbars) to close connections. Crossbar switches have been replaced with electronic switches (large-scale, specialized computer systems). See ESS and DMS. See also physical layer switch.