CHAPTER – 2

NETWORK BASICS
 Bandwidth
 Bit Rate
 Baud Rate
 Multiplexing
 Modems

Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the range of frequencies; a system can handle the maximum
speed of data communication. Bandwidth is used in two main contexts in
modern computing.
 Network (or) Communication Bandwidth
 Display Bandwidth

Network (or) Communication Bandwidth

It is the maximum amount of data that can be handled by a network or
other communication equipment (ex: modem).
Display Bandwidth
It is the maximum frequency at which a monitor must be able to accept
an incoming signal to create a picture of a particular quality
The Bandwidth of a channel determines the rate at which the channel can
transmit data. A narrow bandwidth channel, such as telegraph line, transmits
data at rates of 45 to 90 baud. Telephone lines have a wider frequency range
and fall into the classification of voice grade channels. They carry data at
300 to 9,600 baud. For high speed transmission of large volumes of data,
broadband channels transmit data at rates of 1,20 00 baud
Information Carrying Capacity
It is the amount of information that can be carried on a communication
channel between any two points. The distinction between information and
data is a subtle one. The terms information carrying capacity and data
transfer speed (or rate) are used interchangeably

Bit Rate
The handling of computerized data may occur at many speeds. For some
users, dialed service is adequate, while others might need satellite to
teleprocess data between continents. The number of bits transmitted per
second measures the speed of each communication media, or the BPS rate
measures the speed of each communication media.
The amount of data that a computer network can transmit is called the
bandwidth of the network and is usually measured in Kilobits per second
(Kbps) or Megabits per second (Mbps)
A bit is the smallest unit of information that computers can process and can
have one of two values -0 or 1. A kilobit is one thousand bits, while megabit
is one million bits

Baud Rate
The signaling rate of a line is measured in bauds. It is the switching speed,
or number of transitions (Voltage or frequency changes) that are made per
second
The speed at which data is transmitted is referred to as baud. Baud is
commonly identified as the number of bits per second that can be
transmitted over a communication line. Baud rates vary.
The most common speeds used with microcomputers are 300 baud and
1,200 baud. A 2,400-baud modem is available for use with microcomputers.
Baud rates higher than 2400 are used only in specialized data transmission
Multiplexing
There are many applications in which several terminals are connected to a
computer. If each terminal is operating at 300 bits per second over a
communication line (channel) that can operate at 9600 bits per second then
we see a very inefficient operation.
It has been found that the capacity of a channel exceeds that required for
single signal. A channel is an expensive resource. Hence, for its optimal
utilization the channel can be shared in such a way so as to simultaneously
transmit multiple signals over it
The method of dividing a physical channel into memory logical channels so
that a number of independent signals may be simultaneously transmitted on
it is known as multiplexing. The electronic device that performs this task is
known as a multiplexer
For example, there may be 4 terminals connected to a multiplexer. The
multiplexer takes the signal from the 4 terminals and converts them into 1
large signal, which can be transmitted over 1 communication line. Then at
receiving location, a multiplexer takes 1 large signal and breaks it into the
original 4 signals. Without multiplexers, one would need 4 separate
communication lines. With multiplexing it is possible for a single
transmission medium to concurrently transmit data between several
transmitters and receivers.
Multiplexing divides a transmission facility into two or more channels.
Demultiplexing recovers the original separate channels from a multiplexed
signal. A multiplexer is also called Mux. It can perform both the
multiplexing and demultiplexing. Multiplexing is used both in hardware
(electrical signals) and in software (protocol software can accept message
sent by multiple application programs and send them over a single network
to different destination.
Here is an example multiplexer connected to multiple machines.

Modem
Usually the Telephone lines work in analog mode. The computer system and
its supporting peripherals work in digital mode. Because of this reason, the
user needs an interfacing device to convert digital to analog and analog to
digital. The device developed for such a purpose is called a Modem. It is an
abbreviation of MOdulation DEModulation. Modem can be plugged into a
computer to communicate with other computers over telephone lines.
Type of Modem
There are three types of modem available to transmit the data over telephone
line
 Internal Modem
 External Direct Modem
 Cable Modem
Internal Modem
An Internal Modem is installed inside the personal computer. It is like a
sound card or video card. It is plugged into one of PC's bus slots.
External Direct Modem
An External Direct Modem is a peripheral like printer, scanner etc. It is
plugged into a serial port. It is attached directly to the computer to the
telephone lines.
Cable Modem
It is a device that provides high-speed Internet access via a cable TV
network. With maximum speed of 36 Mbps, the data can be downloaded
into the system. The same process takes a long time in dial-up connection.