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Data Communication: CT101 - Computing Systems
Data Communication: CT101 - Computing Systems
Data Communication: CT101 - Computing Systems
Contents
Data Transmission Circuits Parallel and Serial Data Transmission Asynchronous Serial Transmission Synchronous Serial Transmission Data Communication Terminology
Channel, baud rate, bits per second, bandwidth
Protocols
Asynchronous and synchronous protocols
Data Multiplexing
Time division multiplexing and frequency division multiplexing
Modems Summary
Data Transmission
Data transmission is the transfer of data from point-to-point often represented as an electromagnetic signal over a physical point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication channel A communication channel refers to the medium used to convey information from a sender (or transmitter) to a receiver, and it can use fully or partially the medium. Examples of channels: copper wires, optical fibbers or wireless communication channels.
Half Duplex
A half duplex channel can send and receive, but not at the same time. Its like a one-lane bridge where two way traffic must give way in order to cross. Only one end transmits at a time, the other end receives.
Full Duplex
Data can travel in both directions simultaneously. There is no need to switch from transmit to receive mode like in half duplex. Its like a two lane bridge on a two-lane highway.
If no clock information was sent, the receiver would misinterpret the arriving data (due to bits being lost, going too slow). Parallel transmission is obviously faster, in that all bits are sent at the same time, whereas serial transmission is slower, because only one bit can be sent at a time. Parallel transmission is very costly for anything except short links.
Data is transmited 1 byte at a time: 1 start bit. This is always 0. 8 data bits, least significant bit first. 1 parity bit (odd parity - The number of 1's in the data bits plus the parity bit always add up to an odd number. This is used for error detection.). 1 stop bit. This is always 1. 1 acknowledge bit (host-to-device communication only)
Serial Communication
Name Sync Type /Async
Duplex Max
Max Pin distance count (not including ground) (feet) 30 4,000 4,000 <10 <10 <10 1,000 2 (or 4 with HW handshake) 1 (unidirectional only,
additional pins for each bidirectional comm.)
peer multi-drop
full half
Baud Rate
Baud rate is the same as symbol rate and is a measure of the number of line changes which occur every second. Each symbol can represent or convey one (binary encoded signal) or several bits of data. For a binary signal of 20Hz, this is equivalent to 20 baud (there are 20 changes per second).
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the frequency range of a channel, measured as the difference between the highest and lowest frequencies that the channel supports. The maximum transmission speed is dependant upon the available bandwidth. The larger the bandwidth, the higher the transmission speed.
ASYNCHRONOUS PROTOCOLS
Asynchronous systems send data bytes between the sender and receiver. Each data byte is preceded with a start bit, and suffixed with a stop bit. These extra bits serve to synchronize the receiver with the sender. Transmission of these extra bits (2 per byte) reduce data throughput. Synchronization is achieved for each character only. When the sender has no data to transmit, the line is idle and the sender and receiver are NOT in synchronization. Asynchronous protocols are suited for low speed data communications.
SYNCHRONOUS PROTOCOLS
Synchronous protocols involve sending timing information along with the data bytes, so that the receiver can remain in synchronization with the sender. When the sender has no data to transmit, the sender transmits idle flags (a sequence of alternating 0's and 1's) to maintain sender/receiver synchronization. Data bytes are packaged into chunks called packets, with address fields being added at the front (header) and checksums at the rear of the packet.
Data Multiplexing
A multiplexer is a device which shares a communication link between a number of devices (users). Rather than provide a separate circuit for each device, the multiplexer combines each low speed circuit onto a single high speed link. The cost of the single high speed link is less than the required number of low speed links. It does this by time or frequency division.
Modems
Modems are devices which allow digital data signals to be transmitted across an analogue link. Modem stands for modulator/demodulator. A modem changes the digital signal to an analogue frequency, and sends this tone across the analogue link. At the other end, another modem receives the signal and converts it back to digital.
Modulation Techniques
Modulation techniques are methods used to encode digital information in an analogue world. There are three basic modulation techniques
AM (amplitude modulation) FM (frequency modulation) PM (phase modulation)
All 3 modulation techniques employ a carrier signal. A carrier signal is a single frequency that is used to carry the intelligence (data).
For digital, the intelligence is either a 1 or 0. When we modulate the carrier , we are changing its characteristics to correspond to either a 1 or 0.
Amplitude Modulation
Modifies the amplitude of the carrier to represent 1s or 0s
a 1 is represented by the presence of the carrier for a predefined period of 3 cycles of carrier. Absence or no carrier indicates a 0
Pros
Simple to design and implement
Cons
Noise spikes on transmission medium interfere with the carrier signal. Loss of connection is read as 0s.
Frequency Modulation
Modifies the frequency of the carrier to represent the 1s or 0s.
a 0 is represented by the original carrier frequency a 1 by a much higher frequency ( the cycles are spaced closer together)
Pros
Immunity to noise on transmission medium. Always a signal present. Loss of signal easily detected
Cons
Requires 2 frequencies Detection circuit needs to recognize both frequencies when signal is lost.
Phase Modulation
Phase Modulation modifies the phase of the carrier to represent a 1 or 0.
The carrier phase is switched at every occurrence of a 1 bit but remains unaffected for a 0 bit. The phase of the signal is measured relative to the phase of the preceding bit. The bits are timed to coincide with a specific number of carrier cycles (3 in this example = 1 bit)
Pros
Only 1 frequency used Easy to detect loss of carrier
Cons
Complex circuitry required to generate and detect phase changes
Summary
In simplex circuits, data only travels one way. In half-duplex circuits, data travels in both directions but not at the same time. In full-duplex circuits, data can travel in both directions at the same time. Parallel circuits use a separate wire for each bit of data, and also use wires to convey timing information. Serial circuits use the same wire for all data bits, and timing information is sent along with the data. Parallel transmission is faster. Examples of parallel circuits in computers are the address, data and control bus. In asynchronous communication, each data element like a character is prefixed with a start and stop bit. In synchronous communication the data is accompanied (either explicitly or implicitly) by a clock signal. A modem is a device which allows computer data to be sent over the telephone (dial-up) networks
The address field is usually one byte, but may be more. It is used to indicate the sender or intended receiver of the frame. It is possible to have multiple stations connected to a single wire, and to design the system so that each receiver only "sees" frames with its own address. By this means multiple stations can communicate with each other using just one line (for instance on a Local Area Network). The control field is one or more bytes. It contains information on the type of frame (for instance, whether this is a frame containing user data or a supervisory frame which performs some sort of link control function). It also often contains a rotating sequence number that allows the receiver to check that no frame has been lost. The "payload" of the frame is the data field. The data in this field is completely transparent. In fact, it does not even have to be organized in 8 bit bytes, it is a purely arbitrary collection of bits. Following the data field are two bytes comprising the Cyclic Redundancy Check(CRC). The value of these bytes is the result of an arithmetic calculation based on every bit of data between the flags. When the frame is received, the calculation is repeated and compared with the received CRC bytes. If the answers match then we are sure to a very high degree of certainty that the frame has been received exactly as transmitted. If there is a CRC error the received frame is usually discarded. Finally, the frame is terminated by another flag character. Synchronous communication is usually much more efficient in use of bandwidth than Asynch. The data field is usually large in comparison to the flag, control, address, and CRC fields, so there is very little overhead.