Data Communications (Introduction)

★★Data Communications

When we communicate, we are sharing information. This sharing can be local or remote. Between
individuals, local communication usually occurs face to face, while remote communication takes
place over distance.

Data communications are the exchange of data between two devices via some form of transmission
medium such as a wire cable.

★★Fundamental Characteristics of Data Communications System

For data communications to occur, the communicating devices must be part of a communication
system made up of a combination of hardware (physical equipment) and software (programs). The
effectiveness of a data communications system depends on four fundamental characteristics:
delivery, accuracy, timeliness, and jitter.

1.Delivery: The system must deliver data to the correct destination. Data must be received by the
intended device or user and only by that device or user.

2.Accuracy: The system must deliver the data accurately. Data that have been altered in
transmission and left uncorrected are unusable.

3.Timeliness: The system must deliver data in a timely manner. Data delivered late are useless. In
the case of video and audio, timely delivery means delivering data in the same order that they are
produced, and without significant delay. This kind of delivery is called real-time transmission.

4.Jitter: Jitter refers to the variation in the packet arrival time. It is the uneven delay in the delivery
of audio or video packets. For example, let us assume that video packets are sent every 30 ms. If
some of the packets arrive with 30-ms delay and others with 40-ms delay, an uneven quality in the
video is the result.

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★★Components of Data Communication [Or, Basic data communication system]

A data communications system has five components (see Figure 1.1).

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

information include text, numbers, pictures, audio, and video.

 Sender: The sender is the device that sends the data message. It can be a computer,
workstation, telephone handset, video camera, and so on.

 Receiver: The receiver is the device that receives the message. It can be a computer,
workstation, telephone handset, television, and so on.

 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.

 Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules that govern data communications. It represents an

agreement between the communicating devices. Without a protocol, two devices may be
connected but not communicating, just as a person speaking French cannot be understood
by a person who speaks only Japanese.

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★★Data Representation

Information today comes in different forms such as text, numbers, images, audio, and video.

☆☆Text

 In data communications, text is represented as a bit pattern, a sequence of bits (0s or 1s).

 Different sets of bit patterns have been designed to represent text symbols. Each set is
called a code, and the process of representing symbols is called coding. Today, the prevalent
coding system is called Unicode, which uses 32 bits to represent a symbol or character used
in any language in the world.

 The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), developed some decades
ago in the United States, now constitutes the first 127 characters in Unicode and is also
referred to as Basic Latin.

☆☆Numbers

 Numbers are also represented by bit patterns.

 However, a code such as ASCII is not used to represent numbers; the number is directly
converted to a binary number to simplify mathematical operations.

☆☆Images

 Images are also represented by bit patterns.

 In its simplest form, an image is composed of a matrix of pixels (picture elements), where
each pixel is a small dot. The size of the pixel depends on the resolution. For example, an
image can be divided into 1000 pixels or 10,000 pixels. In the second case, there is a better
representation of the image (better resolution), but more memory is needed to store the
image.

☆☆Audio

 Audio refers to the recording or broadcasting of sound or music.

 Audio is by nature different from text, numbers, or images. It is continuous, not discrete.
Even when we use a microphone to change voice or music to an electric signal, we create a
continuous signal.

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☆☆Video

 Video refers to the recording or broadcasting of a picture or movie.

 Video can either be produced as a continuous entity (e.g., by a TV camera), or it can be a

combination of images, each a discrete entity, arranged to convey the idea of motion.

★★Data Flow
Communication between two devices can be simplex, half-duplex, or full-duplex as shown in Figure
1.2.

☆☆Simplex
In simplex mode, the communication is unidirectional, as on a one-way street. Only one
of the two devices on a link can transmit; the other can only receive (see Figure 1.2a).
Keyboards and traditional monitors are examples of simplex devices. The keyboard can only
introduce input; the monitor can only accept output.

☆☆Half-Duplex
In half-duplex mode, each station can both transmit and receive, but not at the same time.
When one device is sending, the other can only receive, and vice versa (see Figure 1.2b).
The half-duplex mode is like a one-lane road with traffic allowed in both directions. When cars are
traveling in one direction, cars going the other way must wait.

The half-duplex mode is used in cases where there is no need for communication in both directions
at the same time.

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☆☆Full-Duplex
In full-duplex mode (also called duplex), both stations can transmit and receive simultaneously (see
Figure 1.2c).

One common example of full-duplex communication is the telephone network. When two people
are communicating by a telephone line, both can talk and listen at the same time.
The full-duplex mode is used when communication in both directions is required all the time.

★★Networks

• A network consists of two or more computers that are linked in order to share resources
(such as printers), exchange files, or allow electronic communications.

• The computers on a network may be linked through cables, telephone lines, radio waves,
satellites, or infrared light beams.

★★Network Criteria

A network must be able to meet a certain number of criteria. The most important of these are
performance, reliability, and security.

☆☆Performance

 Performance can be measured in many ways, including transit time and response time.
Transit time is the amount of time required for a message to travel from one device to
another. Response time is the elapsed time between an inquiry and a response.
 The performance of a network depends on a number of factors, including the number of
users, the type of transmission medium, the capabilities of the connected hardware, and the
efficiency of the software.
 Performance is often evaluated by two networking metrics: throughput and delay. We often
need more throughputs and less delay.

☆☆Reliability

In addition to accuracy of delivery, network reliability is measured by the frequency of failure, the
time it takes a link to recover from a failure, and the network’s robustness in a catastrophe.

☆☆Security

Network security issues include protecting data from unauthorized access, protecting data from
damage and development, and implementing policies and procedures for recovery from breaches
and data losses.

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★★Network Topology

The network topology defines the way in which computers, printers, and other devices are
connected.

☆☆Bus Topology

 Commonly referred to as a linear bus, all the devices on a bus topology are connected by
one single cable.

 Broadcast shared media

 Suitable for small networks.

 Single point of failure.

[A single point of failure (SPOF) is a part of a system that, if it fails, will stop the entire system from
working.]

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☆☆Star Topology

 The star topology is the most commonly used architecture in most LANs.

 No single point-of-failure

☆☆Tree Topology

 Larger networks use the extended star topology also called tree topology.

 When used with network devices, like bridges, switches, and routers, this topology
significantly reduces the traffic on the wires by sending packets only to the wires of the
destination host.

☆☆Ring Topology

 A frame (i.e. data frame) travels around the ring, stopping at each node. If a node wants to
transmit data, it adds the data as well as the destination address to the frame.

 The frame then continues around the ring until it finds the destination node, which takes the
data out of the frame.

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☆☆Mesh Topology

• The mesh topology connects all devices (nodes) to each other for redundancy and fault
tolerance.

• Chances of connection break downs are very minimal.

• It is used in WANs to interconnect LANs and for mission critical networks like those used by
banks and financial institutions.

• Implementing the mesh topology is expensive and difficult.

★★Network Classification

Based on their size, networks can be classified as:

• Personal Area Network (PAN)

• Local Area Network (LAN)

• Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

• Wide Area Network (WAN)

• Internet

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☆☆Personal Area Network (PAN)

 A PAN is a network that is used for communicating among computers and computer devices
(including telephones) in close proximity of around a few meters within a room

 It can be used for communicating between the devices themselves, or for connecting to a
larger network such as the internet.

 PAN’s can be wired or wireless

☆☆Local Area Network (LAN)

 A network covering a small geographic area, like a home, office, or building.

 LANs are designed to share resources between personal computers.

 The resources to be shared can include hardware (e.g., printer, Scanner), software (e.g., an
application program) or data.

 Is fast, with speeds from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps

☆☆Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

 A network that connects two or more LANs but does not extend beyond the boundaries of
the immediate town/city.

 In many cities under the streets, Copper and Fiber Optic cables are run. Above ground we
find Wireless, Microwave and Lasers. These technologies are typically limited to distances
under 100 miles. These limitations define a MAN or Metropolitan Area Network.

 A MAN often acts as a high speed network to allow sharing of regional resources.

 A MAN might be owned and operated by a single organization, but it usually will be used by
many individuals and organizations.

 Example: Cable TV Network.

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☆☆Wide Area Network (WAN)

 A data communications network that covers a relatively broad geographic area (i.e. one city
to another and one country to another).

 WAN often uses transmission facilities provided by common carriers, such as telephone
companies.

 Multiple LANs can be connected together using devices such as bridges, routers, or
gateways, which enable them to share data.

 The world's most popular WAN is the Internet.

☆☆Internet

 A global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities,

consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols.

 Thousands of networks connected

 networks have hosts

 hosts can be PCs, Web servers, Mainframes

 each “host” has a unique IP address

 TCP/IP protocols are used for transmission

 Data sent as packets , Addressed by hosts and Routed by routers

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