Chapter two

2. Data communication

2.1. Data transmission

The need of information has increased from time to time. This leads to the need of sharing of
information among different individuals, which may be at different places or locations.

 Data communications refers to the transmission of this digital data between two or more
computers and a computer network or data network is a telecommunications network that
allows computers to exchange data.
 Data communication is the process of sharing ideas, Information and messages with others in
a particular time and place. It refers to the exchange of data between two or more parties.
Parities may refer to person’s organization or devices or machines.
 Networking is the convenient way of making information accessible to anyone, anytime &
anywhere.
 A system of interconnected computers and computerized peripherals such as printers is
called computer network. This interconnection among computers facilitates information
sharing among them. The best-known computer network is the Internet. Computers may
connect to each other by either wired or wireless media

A data communications system has five components:

1. Message: The message is the information (data) to be communicated. Popular forms of

information include text, numbers, pictures, audio, and video.
2. Sender: The sender is the device that sends the data message. It can be a computer,

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workstation, telephone handset, video camera, and so on.
3. Receiver: The receiver is the device that receives the message. It can be a computer,
workstation, telephone handset, television, and so on.
4. Transmission medium: The transmission medium is the physical path by which a message
travels from sender to receiver. Some examples of transmission media include twisted-pair
wire, coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, and radio waves.
5. Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules that govern data communications. It represents an
agreement between the communicating devices.
What is data transmission?
Data transmission refers to the movement of data from the source device to the destination device
in the form of bits between two or more digital devices.
This transfer of data takes place via some form of transmission media (for example, coaxial cable,
fiber optics etc.)
Types of Data Transmission

1. Parallel transmission
Within a computing or communication device, the distances between different subunits are too
short. Thus, it is normal practice to transfer data between subunits using a separate wire to carry
each bit of data. There are multiple wires connecting each sub-unit and data is exchanged using a
parallel transfer mode. This mode of operation results in minimal delays in transferring each word.

 In parallel transmission, all the bits of data are transmitted simultaneously on separate
communication lines.
 In order to transmit n bits, n wires or lines are used. Thus each bit has its own line.

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 All n bits of one group are transmitted with each clock pulse from one device to another i.e.
multiple bits are sent with each clock pulse.
 Parallel transmission is used for short distance communication.
 As shown in the fig, eight separate wires are used to transmit 8 bit data from sender to receiver.

As an advantage parallel transmission is speedy way of transmitting data as multiple bits are
transmitted simultaneously with a single clock pulse. And as a disadvantage it is costly method of
data transmission as it requires n lines to transmit n bits at the same time.
2. Serial Transmission
When transferring data between two physically separate devices, especially if the separation is
more than a few kilometers, for reasons of cost, it is more economical to use a single pair of
lines. Data is transmitted as a single bit at a time using a fixed time interval for each bit. This
mode of transmission is known as bit-serial transmission.
 In serial transmission, the various bits of data are transmitted serially one after the other.
 It requires only one communication line rather than n lines to transmit data from sender to
receiver.
 Thus all the bits of data are transmitted on single line in serial fashion.
 In serial transmission, only single bit is sent with each clock pulse.
 As shown in fig., suppose an 8-bit data 11001010 is to be sent from source to destination.
Then least significant bit (LSB) i.e. 0 will be transmitted first followed by other bits. The
most significant bit (MSB) i.e. 1 will be transmitted in the end via single communication line.
 The internal circuitry of computer transmits data in parallel fashion. So in order to change
this parallel data into serial data, conversion devices are used.

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 These conversion devices convert the parallel data into serial data at the sender side so that it
can be transmitted over single line.
 On receiver side, serial data received is again converted to parallel form so that the interval
circuitry of computer can accept it
 Serial transmission is used for long distance communication.

Advantage of Serial transmission

Use of single communication line reduces the transmission line cost by the factor of n as compared
to parallel transmission.
Disadvantages of Serial transmission
1. Use of conversion devices at source and destination end may lead to increase in overall
transmission cost.
2. This method is slower as compared to parallel transmission as bits are transmitted serially one
after the other.
2.2. Data transmission terminologies
 Transmitter: this refers to any machine or computer which sends data during data
transmission.
 Receiver: destination of the transmitting data or information.
 Transmission media: media which exists between the source and destination.
 Guided media. Waves are guided along a physical path; twisted pair, optical fiber,
coaxial cable
 Unguided media. Waves are not guided; air waves, radio, etc
 Direct link. Signal goes from transmitter to receiver with no intermediate devices, other
than amplifiers and repeaters
 Point-to-point link. Guided media with direct link between two devices, with those two

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 devices being the only ones sharing the medium
 Multi point guided configuration. More than two devices can share the
same medium
 Digital data: data in binary format
 Analog data: data in electrical signal format etc
2.3. Analog and digital data transmission
The transmission of a signal varying continuously with time is called analog
transmission. In the other hand when binary coding is used, the pulses are called
binary pulses and each pulse is said to represent one bit. The speed at which the bits
can be transmitted is represented in units of bits per second. Such a transmission is
called a digital transmission.

2.4. Transmission Impairments

The signal is received will differ from the signal that is transmitted due to
various transmission impairments. For analog signal, these impairments
cause various modifications that degrade the signal quality. For digital signal,
A binary 1 may be changed into a binary 0 and vice versa due to bit error.
 Attenuation
 Delay distortion
 Noise
 Dispersion

Attenuation

For the receiver to interpret the data accurately, the signal must be sufficiently
strong.When the signal passes through the medium, it tends to get weaker.As it covers
distance, it loses strength

Dispersion

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 As signal travels through the media, it tends to spread and overlaps. The
amount of dispersion depends upon the frequency used.

Delay distortion

Signals are sent over media with pre-defined speed and frequency. If the signal
speed and frequency do not match, there are possibilities that signal reaches
destination in arbitrary fashion. In digital media, this is very critical that some
bits reach earlier than the previously sent ones.

Noise

Random disturbance or fluctuation in analog or digital signal is said to be Noise

in signal, which may distort the actual information being carried. Noise can be
characterized in one of the following class:

o Thermal Noise

Heat agitates the electronic conductors of a medium which may

introduce noise in the media. Up to a certain level, thermal noise is
unavoidable.

o Intermodulation

When multiple frequencies share a medium, their interference can cause

noise in the medium. Intermodulation noise occurs if two different
frequencies are sharing a medium and one of them has excessive
strength or the component itself is not functioning properly, then the
resultant frequency may not be delivered as expected.

o Crosstalk

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 This sort of noise happens when a foreign signal enters into the media.
This is because signal in one medium affects the signal of second
medium.

o Impulse

This noise is introduced because of irregular disturbances such as

lightening, electricity, short-circuit, or faulty components. Digital data is
mostly affected by this sort of noise.

Signal amplitude decrease along a transmission medium. This is known as signal attenuation.
Amplifiers or repeaters are inserted at intervals along the medium to improve the received signal
as closed as to its original level. Attenuation and amplification are measured in decibel (dB),
which is expressed as a constant number of decibels per unit distance.

The various frequency components in digital signal arrive at the receiver with varying delays,
resulting in delay distortion. As bit rate increase, some of the frequency components associated

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with each bit transition are delayed and start to interfere with frequency components associated
with a later bit, causing intersymbol interference, which is a major limitation to maximum bit
rate.

2.5. Transmission media

Transmission media is a pathway that carries the information from sender to receiver.
 Transmission media is means by which data travels through a network..
Transmission media is also called as Communication channel. We use
different types of cables or waves to transmit data
Data is transmitted normally through electrical or electromagnetic signals. An electrical signal is
in the form of current. An electromagnetic signal is series of electromagnetic energy pulses at
various frequencies. These signals can be transmitted through copper wires, optical fibers,
atmosphere, water and vacuum Different Medias have different properties like bandwidth, delay,
cost and ease of installation and maintenance.
Types of Transmission Media
Transmission media is broadly classified into two groups.
1. Wired or Guided Media
1. Wireless or Unguided Media

Figure 2.4: Transmission Media.

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 2.5.1. Wired media/ Bounded/Guided

The vast majority of networks today are connected by some sort of wiring or cabling that acts as a
network transmission medium that carries signals between computers.

These are the cables that are tangible or have physical existence and are limited by the
physical geography Although many cable types are available to meet the varying needs and sizes
of networks, from small to large, there are 3 primary cable types:

 Coaxial
 Twisted pair
 Fiber-optic
2.5.1.1 Coaxial cable

At one time, coaxial cable was the most widely used network cabling. There were a couple of
reasons for coaxial cables wide usage: it was relatively inexpensive, and it

was light, flexible, and easy to work with.

Coaxial cable has two wires of copper. The core wire lies in center and is made of
solid conductor. Core is enclosed in an insulating sheath. Over the sheath the
second wire is wrapped around and that too in turn encased by insulator sheath.
This all is covered by plastic cover.

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 Figure 2.9: Coaxial Cable.

Because of its structure coaxial cables are capable of carrying high frequency
signals than that of twisted pair cables. The wrapped structure provides it a good
shield against noise and cross talk. Coaxial cables provide high bandwidth rates
of up to 450 mbps.

There are three categories of Coax cables namely, RG-59 (Cable TV), RG-58
(Thin Ethernet) and RG-11 (Thick Ethernet). RG stands for Radio Government.

Coaxial cable uses the BNC connector to connect to computers and other devices.

Coaxial cable is more resistant to interference and attenuation than twisted-pair cabling. The
stranded, protective sleeve absorbs stray electronic signals so that they do not affect data being
sent over the inner copper cable. For this reason, coaxial cabling is a good choice for longer
distances.

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Figure 1 – The components of coaxial cable and the BNC connector

There are two types of coaxial cable: thin net and thick net. Thick net cabling is thicker, and a
better choice for longer distances, but is more expensive and more difficult to work with. Thin net
coaxial cable can carry a signal for a distance of up to approximately 185 meters before the signal
starts to suffer from attenuation. Thick net cable can carry a signal for 500 meters. Therefore,
because of thick net's ability to support data transfer over longer distances, it is sometimes used as
a backbone to connect several smaller thin net-based networks.

2.5.1.2 Twisted pair

In its simplest form, twisted-pair cable consists of two insulated strands of copper wire twisted
around each other. Figure 2 shows the two types of twisted-pair cable: unshielded twisted-pair
(UTP) and shielded twisted-pair (STP) cable.

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Figure 2 – Unshielded and shielded twisted pair cabling

UTP is the most popular type of twisted-pair cable and is fast becoming the most popular LAN
cabling. It is cheap and easy to use. However, its performance over long distances is not as good
as coaxial cable. The maximum cable length segment of UTP is 100 meters. There are a number
of different types (or categories) of UTP cable, which differ in their specification and in the number
of pairs of wire contained within the cable. Most telephone systems use UTP cable (with the RJ11
connector), and many LANs nowadays also use UTP (with the RJ45 connector).

UTP cable often is installed using a Registered Jack 45 (RJ-45) connector (see Figure 8-2). The
RJ-45 is an eight-wire connector used commonly to connect computers onto a local-area
network (LAN), especially Ethernets.
Figure RJ-45 Connectors

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 UTP cable is more
prone to electrical noise and interference than other types of networking media, and the distance
between signal boosts is shorter for UTP than it is for coaxial and fiber-optic cables

In fact, UTP is considered the fastest copper-based medium today. The

Following summarizes the features of UTP cable:
• Speed and throughput—10 to 1000 Mbps
• Average cost per node—least expensive
• Media and connector size—Small
• Maximum cable length—100 m (short).

Further classification of UTP cable

There are 7 standards categories of UTP:

In computer networks, Cat-5, Cat-5e and Cat-6 cables are mostly used. UTP cables are
connected by RJ45 connectors. The main advantage is it is very cheap and easy to install
 Category 1 This refers to traditional UTP telephone cable that can carry voice but not data
transmissions.
 Category 2 This category certifies UTP cable for data transmissions up to 4 megabits per second
(Mbps). It consists of four twisted pairs of copper wire.
 Category 3 This category certifies UTP cable for data transmissions up to 16 Mbps. It consists of
four twisted pairs of copper wire with three twists per foot.
 Category 4 This category certifies UTP cable for data transmissions up to 20 Mbps. It consists of
four twisted pairs of copper wire.
 Category 5 This category certifies UTP cable for data transmissions up to 100 Mbps. It
consists of four twisted pairs of copper wire. are used in today’s networks working at
hundreds of Mbps; commonly pre-installed in new office buildings.

 Category 5e Improved version of cat 5 category. The bandwidth is 1000MBPS

 Category 6 Similar to CAT5 wire, but contains a physical separator between the 4 pairs to further
reduce electromagnetic interference.

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 UTP cabling: basically there are two types of cabling techniques in practice.
a. straight through: for connecting dissimilar networking devices (like server-hub, workstation-
switch, and switch-router)
b. Cross over: for connecting similar network devices (like host-host, hub-switch).
Colors
According to the 568 standard for UTP, there are color codes.
568A (for eight wires or four pair of wires)
1. White-green 3. White-orange 5. White-blue 7. White-brown
2. Green 4. Blue 6. Orange 8. Brown
568b
1. White-orange 3. White-green 5. White-blue 7. White-brown
2. Orange 4. Blue 6. Green 8. Brown
For crossover: cross over (1-3, 2-6, 3-1, 6-2) the other remain the same.
Shielded twisted-pair (STP) cable combines the techniques of shielding, cancellation, and wire
Twisting. Each pair of wires is wrapped in a metallic foil (see Figure 8-3). The four pairs of
wires
Then are wrapped in an overall metallic braid or foil, usually 150-ohm cable. As specified for
Use in Ethernet network installations, STP reduces electrical noise both within the cable (pair to-
Pair coupling, or crosstalk) and from outside the cable (EMI and RFI). STP usually is
Installed with STP data connector, which is created especially for the STP cable. However, STP
Cabling also can use the same RJ connectors that UTP uses.

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Although STP prevents interference better than UTP, it is more expensive and difficult to install.
In addition, the metallic shielding must be grounded at both ends. If it is improperly grounded,
the shield acts like an antenna and picks up unwanted signals. Because of its cost and difficulty
with termination, STP is rarely used in Ethernet networks. STP is primarily used in Europe.
STP is higher quality than UTP, but more expensive and less popular
The following summarizes the features of STP cable:
• Speed and throughput—10 to 100 Mbps
• Average cost per node—Moderately expensive
• Media and connector size—Medium to large
• Maximum cable length—100 m (short)
When comparing UTP and STP, keep the following points in mind:
• The speed of both types of cable is usually satisfactory for local-area distances.
• These are the least-expensive media for data communication. UTP is less expensive than
STP.
• Because most buildings are already wired with UTP, many transmission standards are
adapted to use it, to avoid costly rewiring with an alternative cable

2.1.3 Fiber-optic

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In fiber-optic cable, optical fibers carry digital data signals in the form of modulated pulses of
light. This is a relatively safe way to send data because, unlike copper-based cables that carry data
in the form of electronic signals, no electrical impulses are carried over the fiber-optic cable. This
means that fiber-optic cable cannot be tapped, and its data cannot be stolen.

Fiber-optic cable is good for very high-speed, high-capacity data transmission because of the
purity of the signal and lack of signal attenuation.

An optical fiber consists of an extremely thin cylinder of glass, called the core, surrounded by a
concentric layer of glass, known as the cladding(Contains one or several glass fibers at its core
Surrounding the fibers is a layer of glass called cladding). The fibers are sometimes made of
plastic. Plastic is easier to install, but cannot carry the light pulses for as long a distance as glass.

Because each glass strand passes signals in only one direction, a cable includes two strands in
separate jackets. One strand transmits and one receives. A reinforcing layer of plastic surrounds
each glass strand, and Kevlar fibers provide strength. See Figure 3 for an illustration of fiber-optic
cable. The Kevlar fibers in the fiber-optic connector are placed between the two cables. Just as
their counterparts (twisted-pair and coaxial) are, fiber-optic cables are encased in a plastic coating
for protection.

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Two types of fiber-optic cable exist:

 Single-mode fiber

 Carries light pulses along single path

 Multimode fiber

 Many pulses of light generated by LED travel at different angles

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  Two popular connectors used with fiber-optic cable:

 ST connectors

 SC connectors

Figure 3 – The composition of a fiber-optic cable

The following summarizes the features of fiber-optic cables:

• Speed and throughput—More than 1 Gbps
• Average cost per node—Expensive

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• Media and connector size—Small
• Maximum cable length—More than 10 km for single mode; up to 2 km for multimode

Some advantages of fiber optics include:

 Low attenuation, fiber optic links with lengths in the order of tens of Kilometers.
 Total immunity to electromagnetic field effects (here carriers are the neutral
photons)..
2.5.2. Wireless media/unbounded

Unbound transmission media are the ways of transmitting data without using any cables. These
media are not bounded by physical geography. This type of transmission is called Wireless
communication. Nowadays wireless communication is becoming popular. Wireless LANs are
being installed in office and college campuses. This transmission uses Microwave, Radio wave,
Infrared are some of popular unbound transmission media.

Bound transmission media are the cables that are tangible or have physical existence and are
limited by the physical geography. Popular bound transmission media in use are twisted pair cable,
co-axial cable and fiber optical cable. Each of them has its own characteristics like transmission
speed, effect of noise, physical appearance, cost etc.
Although most networks use physical connections between the network components, recently
wireless networking has been increasing in popularity. Wireless networks can use infrared light,
line-of-sight lasers, or radio waves to transmit data between nodes without the need for physical
cabling. They eliminate the need to install physical cabling and offer a lot of flexibility for users
using the network. However, they are currently more expensive and slower than cable-based
networks. As costs drop and performance increases, wireless networks are sure to be increasingly
popular in the future.

There are two main types of hardware associated with wireless communication in computing:
Bluetooth and 802.11. Bluetooth only allows very short-range transmission (typically less than
10m) and is intended primarily for cable-free peripherals, such as mouse and keyboards. 802.11,
or wireless Ethernet, is the standard for wireless networking of computers. The common wireless
Media includes:
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1. Microwave

Micro wave transmission consists of high frequency waves (1000-3000 MHZ) that travel in
straight lines through the air rather than trough wire. Microwave system consists of towers
located at interval of 25 to 30 miles on which dish like antennas are mounted.

Microwaves systems have the capacity to carry large quantities of data -both digital and analogue
at high speed. They are used for the transmission of television and Telephonic.

2. Satellites

Satellites have an integral part of worldwide communications system. Although long range and
long distances communication took place much before the introductions of satellite systems, they
had a lot of disadvantage. Point to point Communication system s is very difficult in the case of
remote and isolated location, which is surrounded by oceans, mountain, other obstacles created
by nature.

3. Infrared wave
is used for very short range communication purposes such as television and its remote. Infrared
travels in a straight line hence it is directional by nature.

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