COMP3234B

Computer and Communication

Networks
2nd semester 2023-2024
Introduction to Computer Networks

Prof. C Wu
Department of Computer Science
The University of Hong Kong
Internet [Learning outcome 1]

Protocol [Learning outcome 1]

Layering [Learning outcome 1]

Network edge - access networks [Learning outcome 1]

Network core - circuit vs. packet switching [Learning

outcomes 1, 2]

Key performance metrics [Learning outcomes 1, 3]

What is the Internet?
A global system of interconnected computer
networks linking billions of computing devices
throughout the world
hosts == end systems
running network applications
e.g. Web, email, WhatsApp, Zoom,...

communication links: the media by which

data travel

radio

satellite
Twisted(pair((
Fiber optic cable
copper(wire(

wireless routers and switches

links
wired
links switching devices that end systems are connected
to, for forwarding data from one host to another
What is the Internet? (cont’d)

A network of networks
interconnected ISP (Internet service
provider) networks

A communication infrastructure
to support network applications

to provide different types of services

reliable data delivery vs. unreliable data delivery
(best effort)

end systems and routers/switches run

protocols to send and receive data to/from
wireless
each other
links
wired
links
Network Protocol

Oxford Dictionary
a system of fixed rules and formal behaviour used at
official meetings, usually between governments

A human protocol

Hi#

Hi#
What ’
s#t he#+m
e?#

5pm#

Thanks

time me
e w e lco
Yo u’ r
Network Protocol (cont’d)

A network protocol defines

TCP connection
format, order of msgs sent and request
received between network entities TCP connection
response
actions taken upon msg
Get http://www.cs.hku.hk/~c3234/index.html
transmission/receipt
<file>
time

application
Internet is complex with many protocols
transport
implementing different services
network
Is there a way to organize the protocols of network?
link

physical
Layering
A computer network
basic function: transmit data from source to destination
An airline system (an analogy)
basic function: transfer passenger from one place to another

ticket (purchase) ticket (complain)

baggage (check) baggage (claim)

gates (load) gates (unload)
runway (takeoff) runway (land)
airplane routing airplane routing

airplane routing

departure intermediate air-traffic arrival

airport control centers airport
Layering (cont’d)
A computer network
basic function: transmit data from source to destination
An airline system (an analogy)
basic function: transfer passenger from one place to another

ticket (purchase) ticket (complain) ticket

baggage (check) baggage (claim) baggage

gates (load) gates (unload) gate

runway (takeoff) runway (land) takeoff/landing

airplane routing airplane routing airplane routing airplane routing airplane routing

departure intermediate air-traffic arrival

airport control centers airport
Layering (cont’d)

A layer is a collection of conceptual similar functions that provide services

to the layer above it and receives services from the layer below it.

Why layering?
modulation of complex systems
easier maintenance and update of systems
change of implementation of one layer’s service is transparent to the rest

ticket (purchase) ticket (complain) ticket

baggage (check) baggage (claim) baggage

gates (load) gates (unload) gate

runway (takeoff) runway (land) takeoff/landing

airplane routing airplane routing airplane routing airplane routing airplane routing

departure intermediate air-traffic arrival

airport control centers airport
Network protocol layers
Network protocols — and the hardware and software that
implement the protocols — are organized in layers

There are 5 layers in the Internet protocol stack

Each layer
performs certain actions within that layer
uses the service provided by the layer directly below it

application application
Internet
transport transport
Protocol
Stack network network

link link

physical physical

Sender Intermediate Routes Receiver

Internet protocol stack

Application
service: supporting network applications application
protocols: HTTP, SMTP, DNS
transport
Transport
service: process-to-process data transfer
network
protocols: TCP, UDP
link
Network
service: data routing from source host to destination host
physical
protocols: IP, routing protocols

Link
service: data transfer between neighboring network devices
protocol: Ethernet, WiFi

Physical
service: bit transfer on the transmission medium
 Internet protocol stack (cont’d)

Different network devices implement different numbers of layers

Application layer Application layer

Transport layer Transport layer

Network layer Network layer

Link layer Link layer

Physical layer Physical layer

router des na on host

source host switch
Network%layer%%

Link%layer%% Link%layer%%

Physical%layer%% Physical%layer%%
ti
ti
 Data encapsulation and decapsulation
Different layers have different data formats
At each layer, the data packet can be divided into two parts: header and data
(or payload)

Encapsulation: upon receiving a data packet from the upper layer, the whole
packet is encapsulated in data part of a packet in this layer, and header is
added over the data for control information at this layer

Decapsulation: for each data packet of this layer, remove header of this layer
and extract data part for passing to the upper layer

Source' Des*na*on'
Message M Applica.on)layer) Applica.on)layer) M
Segment Ht) M Transport)layer)) Transport)layer)) Ht) M

Datagram Hn) Ht) M Network)layer)) Network)layer)) Hn) Ht) M

Frame Hl) Hn) Ht) M Link)layer)) Link)layer)) Hl) Hn) Ht) M

Physical)layer)) Physical)layer))
 Data encapsulation and decapsulation (cont’d)

Application layer M M Application layer

Ht M Ht M Transport layer
Transport layer
Hnt Ht M
H Hnt Ht M Network layer
Network layer
Hl H
Hnt Ht M Hl Hnt Ht M Link layer
Link layer
Physical layer Physical layer

router des na on host

source host switch
H
Hnt Ht M Network%layer%% Hnt Ht M
H

Hl Hnt Ht M Link%layer%%Hl Htn Ht M Hl Hnt Ht M Link%layer%% Hl Hnt Ht M

Physical%layer%% Physical%layer%%
ti
ti
Who define network protocols?

IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force): RFC (Request for Comments)

HTTP (for the Web), SMTP (for email), TCP, IP, etc.

Other organizations, e.g.,IEEE 802 LAN Standards Committee

Ethernet, WiFi
Components of the Internet

Network edge
end systems (running network applications)

Access network
wired, wireless communication links

Network core
inter-connected routers and switches
Network edge

End systems (hosts): categorized based on

functionality

Server: provides services/data

always on
permanent IP addresses
runs server process to wait to be connected
e.g., web server, email server

Client: requests/receives services/data from servers

may be intermittently connected (on and off)

may have dynamic IP addresses
runs client process to initiate the connection
e.g., web browser, email client
Network edge (cont’d)

Applications
server client
Client-server model
Client requests/receives services/data from
servers
e.g., Web browser/server, Email client/server
client

Peer-to-peer model peer

Participating hosts (peers) are both servers and
clients; run both server and client processes
e.g., BitTorrent, Blockchain systems

peer
Access network

Communication links connecting hosts

to edge routers/switches
Residential access networks

Institutional access networks (school,

company)

Mobile access networks (WiFi, 4G/5G)

Residential access network: digital subscriber line (DSL)

central office telephone

network

DSL splitter
modem DSLAM

ISP
voice, data transmitted
at different frequencies over DSL access
dedicated line to central office multiplexer

Use existing telephone line to central office DSLAM (DSL

access multiplexer)
data over DSL phone line goes to Internet; voice over DSL phone
line goes to telephone network
typically a few Mbps (megabits per second) upstream transmission
rate, and tens of Mbps downstream transmission rate
Residential access network: cable network
cable headend

cable splitter cable modem

modem CMTS termination system

data, TV transmitted at different

frequencies over shared cable ISP
distribution network

Use hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) cables to connect to ISP router

typically tens of Mbps to a few Gbps downstream and tens to
hundreds of Mbps upstream transmission rates

homes share cable TV network to connect to cable headend

(using DSL, each home has dedicated access to central office)
Residential access network: fiber to the x

(Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Fiber_to_the_x)

Use optical fiber to provide all or part of the last-mile

telecommunication network for connecting user homes/premises to
the ISP’s router
x: Node, Curb, Building, Home, etc.
FTTH (Fiber To The Home): typically a few Gbps upstream and
downstream transmission rates
Home network
Institutional access network: Ethernet

institutional link to
ISP (Internet)
institutional router

Ethernet institutional mail,

switch web servers

Ethernet is most prevalent LAN (local area network) technology,

typically used in companies, universities, etc.: 1Gbps, 10Gbps,
25Gbps, 50Gbps, 100Gbps transmission rates
Wireless access network

Shared wireless access network connects end systems to

routers via base stations (aka access points)

wireless LANs
within building
WiFi: up to a few Gbps transmission rate

wide-area wireless access network

provided by telco (cellular) operator
range within tens of km
4G, 5G: up to a few tens of Gbps
Network core

Inter-connected routers

Many communication sessions are

sharing the same network
Two fundamental approaches to move
data through a shared network
circuit switching: dedicated circuit per
communication session
packet switching: data sent in discrete
“chunks” from one router to the next
Circuit switching

End-to-end resources reserved along a

path between the source/sender host
and the destination/receiver host for the
duration of the communication session
Resources: link bandwidth, buffer space
at switches/routers, etc.
Guaranteed performance: transmission
rate, end-to-end delay

example of circuit-switched network:

traditional telephone network
Communication session <=> call
Need to first set up the connection
between source and destination (circuit)
Circuit switching (cont’d)

Q: How do multiple concurrent communication

sessions share the network?

A: Bandwidth of each link divided into pieces

to allocate to different sessions

Frequency division multiplexing (FDM)

Time division multiplexing (TDM)
FDM
Frequency division multiplexing
Frequency spectrum of a link is divided into frequency bands
Frequency band allocated to different sessions using the link
Width of the frequency band == bandwidth ==Transmission rate
(bits/second)
e.g., FM radio stations use FDM to share frequencies among radio channels
(88MHz-108MHz)
e.g., Transmissions of 26 TV channels share the cable using FDM
(47MHz-300MHz )

4 sessions
TDM
Time division multiplexing
Time divided into frames of fixed duration; each frame
is divided into a fixed number of time slots
One time slot in each frame is dedicated to a session
(like CPU task scheduling in an operating system)

Numerical example
How long does it take to send a le of 4M bits from
host A to host B over a circuit-switched network?
all links are 1.536 Mbps
each link uses TDM with frame length = 1 second
and 4 time slots in each frame

frame
}

4 sessions
fi
Packet switching

Data stream (between a source and a

destination) divided into small chunks: packets

No reservation of resources along the path, no

need for call setup
Packets from different sender hosts use
resources along the path as needed

queue of packets
Packet switching

Store and forward

switches/routers must receive the complete
packet and then forward it
packet moves one hop at a time

No guarantee of bandwidth, delay

An example: Internet is largely based on
packet switching

queue of packets
Statistical multiplexing

The on-demand sharing of a communication link among packets

from different senders in a packet-switched network is called
statistical multiplexing
time-domain multiplexing, but without division of fixed-length time
slots and preallocation of time slots
sequence of A and B packets does not have fixed pattern

queue of packets
Packet switching vs circuit switching
Advantages
Simpler: no call setup needed
More efficient: allow more users to use network

Circuit switching with TDM

Each user alternates between
support 10 simultaneous users
“active” period (10% of the time): (1 Mbps/100 Kbps)
generates data at 100 kb/s
Packet switching
“inactive” period (90% of the time):
no data generation if there are 35 users, probability that there
are > 10 active users is
less than 0.0004

N
…..

users
Calculation of the probability >10 active users among 35 (packet switching)

at any given time

prob. that a given user is transmitting: p = 0.1

⇥
prob. that exactly n users are transmitting: 35 pn (1 35 n
p)
n

prob. that 11 or more users are transmitting:

35
⇤ ⇥
35 n
p (1 p)35 n

n=11
n

⇤10 ⇥
35 n
= 1 p (1 p)35 n

n=0
n
Packet switching vs circuit switching (cont’d)
Challenges
Congestion - if arrival rate to link exceeds
transmission rate of link for a period of time: Protocols needed to achieve
reliable data transfer and
packets will queue in router buffers, waiting to be congestion control
transmitted on link
packets can be dropped (lost) if buffer fills up
=>packet delay and loss Tasks for transport layer

No guaranteed on bandwidth, end-to-end delay, packet being transmitted (delay)

and whether packets are delivered at all

B
packets queueing (delay)
free (available) buffers: arriving packets
dropped (loss) if no free buffers
Performance metrics in packet-switched networks

Delay
Loss
Throughput
Delay

Four sources of packet delays

Nodal processing delay Queueing delay
packet processing at a node: time waiting at output
decide output link, bit error link for transmission
check, etc.

Transmission delay Propagation delay

R=link bandwidth (bps) d=length of physical link (m)
L=packet length (bits) s=propagation speed in medium (m/s)
transmission delay propagation delay = d/s
=time to send bits into link
= L/R
transmission
A propagation

B
nodal
processing queueing
Delay (cont’d)

Nodal delay

 dproc = processing delay

 typically a few microsecs or less

 dqueue = queuing delay

 depends on congestion

 dtrans = transmission delay

 = L/R, significant for low-speed links

 dprop = propagation delay

 a few microsecs to hundreds of msecs

transmission
A propagation

B
nodal
processing queueing
Packet loss

Cause
transmission link has limited bandwidth
buffer has limited space

Packet loss
packets arriving to a full buffer (queue) are dropped (lost)

buffer
(waiting area) packet being transmitted
A

B
packet arriving to
full buffer is lost
Throughput

Rate (bits/second) at which data are transferred

end-to-end from sending host to receiving host
Instantaneous throughput: rate at given point in time
Average throughput: rate over longer period of time

Rs < Rc What is average end-end throughput?

Rs > Rc What is average end-end throughput?

server,
server withbits
sends linkpipe
capacity
that can carry linkpipe
capacity
that can carry
file of into
(fluid) F bitspipe Rs bits/sec
fluid at rate Rc bits/sec
fluid at rate
to send to client Rs bits/sec) Rc bits/sec)

bottleneck link
link on end-end path that constrains end-end throughput
Required reading:
Chapters 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 in Computer Networking:
A Top Down Approach (8th Edition)

Acknowledgement:
Some materials are extracted from the slides created by Prof. Jim F.
Kurose and Prof. Keith W. Ross for the textbook.