digital signal hierarchy - technical definition

The hierarchy of digital signal levels in the European E-carrier, Japanese J-carrier, and North American T-carrier systems. In the North American hierarchy, the term digital signal (DS) level is specifically used. See Table D-1 for a side-by-side comparison. See E-carrier, J-carrier, and T-carrier.

Table D-1: Digital Hierarchy: T-Carrier, E-Carrier, and J-Carrier

Signal Level	Number of Data Channels	Total Signaling Rate (Mbps)
		T-Carrier (North America)	E-Carrier (Europe)	J-Carrier (Japan)
0	1	0.064	0.064	0.064
1	24	1.544		1.544
	30		2.048
1C	48	3.152
2	96	6.312		6.312
	120		8.448	7.786
3	480		34.368	32.064
	672	44.736
3C	1,344	91.053
4	1,440			97.728
	1,920		139.268
	4,032	274.176
5	5,760	400.352
	7,680		565.148	565.148
6	30,720		2200.00