Set 1.

Define the following terms:

Data

 Merriam-Webster Dictionary
o factual information (such as measurements or statistics) used as a basis
for reasoning, discussion, or calculation
o information in digital form that can be transmitted or processed
o information output by a sensing device or organ that includes both useful
and irrelevant or redundant information and must be processed to be
meaningful
 Oxford Languages
o facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis
o the quantities, characters, or symbols on which operations are performed
by a computer, being stored and transmitted in the form of electrical
signals and recorded on magnetic, optical, or mechanical recording media
 American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
o facts that can be analyzed or used in an effort to gain knowledge or make
decisions; information
o statistics or other information represented in a form suitable for processing
by computer
 Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged
o (Computer Science) the information operated on by a computer program
 Cambridge Dictionary
o information, especially facts or numbers, collected to be examined and
considered and used to help decision-making, or information in an
electronic form that can be stored and used by a computer
Communication

 Merriam-Webster Dictionary
o a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through
a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior
 Oxford Languages
o the imparting or exchanging of information or news
o means of sending or receiving information, such as phone lines or
computers
o the means of traveling or of transporting goods, such as roads or railroads
 American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
o the act of communicating; transmission
o the technology employed in transmitting messages
 Collins English Dictionary
o the act or an instance of communicating; the imparting or exchange of
information, ideas, or feelings
o a connecting route, passage, or link
 Cambridge Dictionary
o the act of communicating with people
o the various methods of sending information between people and places,
especially phones, computers, radio, etc.
o ways of moving between one place and another
o the process by which messages or information is sent from one place or
person to another, or the message itself
Data communication

 Techopedia
o process of using computing and communication technologies to transfer
data from one place to another, or between participating parties
o enables the movement of electronic or digital data between two or more
network nodes, regardless of geographical location, technological medium
or data contents
o a very broad way to refer to all of the networked technology on any
platform or in any digital environment
o some common types include telecommunications, computer networking
and radio/satellite communication
 WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection
o electronic transmission of information that has been encoded digitally (as
for storage and processing by computers)
Protocol

 Merriam-Webster Dictionary
o an original draft, minute, or record of a document or transaction
o a code prescribing strict adherence to correct etiquette and precedence
(as in diplomatic exchange and in the military services)
o a set of conventions governing the treatment and especially the formatting
of data in an electronic communications system
o a detailed plan of a scientific or medical experiment, treatment, or
procedure
 Oxford Languages
o the official procedure or system of rules governing affairs of state or
diplomatic occasions
o the original draft of a diplomatic document, especially of the terms of a
treaty agreed to in conference and signed by the parties
o a formal or official record of scientific experimental observations
 American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
o a standard procedure for regulating data transmission between computers
 Collins English Dictionary
o computing the set form in which data must be presented for handling by a
particular computer configuration, especially in the transmission of
information between different computer systems
 Cambridge Dictionary
o a computer language allowing computers that are connected to each other
to communicate
Data transmission

 Techopedia
o process of sending digital or analog data over a communication medium to
one or more computing, network, communication or electronic devices
o enables the transfer and communication of devices in a point-to-point,
point-to-multipoint and multipoint-to-multipoint environment
o also known as digital transmission or digital communications
 The Great Soviet Encyclopedia
o branch of telecommunications concerned with the transmission of
information represented, on the basis of predetermined rules, in a
formalized form by symbols or analog signals; the information either is
intended for machine processing (for example, by computers) or has
already undergone machine processing
o actual process of transmitting the information
 Britannica
o sending and receiving data via cables (e.g., telephone lines or fibre optics)
or wireless systems
 Computer Notes
o When we enter data into the computer via keyboard, each keyed element
is encoded by the electronics within the keyboard into an equivalent binary
coded pattern, using one of the standard coding schemes that are used
for the interchange of information
Set 2. Enumeration

1. What are the types of data communication?

 Simplex
o Sends message in only one direction
 Half Duplex
o Provides messages in both directions but only allows one transfer at
a time
 Full Duplex
o works both ways at the same time
 Serial
o takes a data communication, breaks it up into small pieces, and
sends the message one bit at a time through a channel
o receiver collects the small bits and reassembles them to compose
the original message
2. What are the characteristics of data communication?
 Delivery
o In data communication, data and information are shared between two
devices. When the data is sent from one end, it should be 100%
delivered to the other end to successful data communication.
 Accuracy
o In data communication, data and information sent from one computer
are received by another computer is accurate.
 Timelessness
o The data sent in the network are received in exact time and duration,
making them a good source of data communications.
 Jitter
o The quality is not perfect due to imperfect packets arrivals when sent
from one computer in networks.
  Speed
o The speed at which data is sent in the network is one of the
significant characteristics of data communication.
 Cost-Effective
o The Internet is the cheaper means of data communication. The
Internet can share and transfer data from one place to another at
fantastic speed and with low-cost accuracy.
 Efficient
o The data communications like email and video calling have made
things even easier for communications at a low cost.
3. What are the components of data communication?
 Message
o a piece of information that is to be transmitted from one person to
another
 Sender
o device that sends data messages
 Receiver
o device that receives messages
 Transmission Medium / Communication Channels
o medium that connects two or more workstations
 Set of rules (Protocol)
o When someone sends the data (The sender), it should be
understandable to the receiver also otherwise it is meaningless. For
example, Sonali sends a message to Chetan. If Sonali writes in Hindi
and Chetan cannot understand Hindi, it is a meaningless
conversation.
4. What are the elements of protocol?
 Message encoding
 o A source message from sender is encoded into signals or waves
then transmitted through a medium wired / wireless then received
and decoded and message is passed to destination.

 Message formatting and encapsulation

o There is an agreed format between sender and receiver. It
encapsulates information to identify sender and receiver rightly.
o A message format will depend on the type of message and the
medium through which the message is delivered.
o Message encapsulation is a process that is used to place one
message inside another message for transfer from the source to
the destination.
 Message size
o Here long messages must break into small pieces to travel across a
network or the process of breaking up a long message into
individual pieces before being sent over the network.
o Example – In mobile phone SMS limits message size to 160 normal
alphabet characters. For non-alphabet character, It needs 16 bit of
data to represent them limiting size to 70 characters only.
 Message timing
o It manages flow control. Acknowledgments response time out. This
requires certain timing control information. It checks for any delays
in data passing. It includes rules like Access method, flow control,
response timeout.
 Message delivery options
o There are different delivery options like Unicast, Multicast,
Broadcast.
o Sending information to a single person is referred to as a one-to-
one delivery and is called unicast which implies that there is only
one destination (single destination).
 o To communicate information to more than one person (Group of
people at the same time) is referred to as one-to-many and is called
multicast which implies that one sender to multiple
destinations/recipients for the same message.
o Sometimes information is to be communicated to every person in
the same area. This is referred to as one-to-all and is called
broadcast which implies that one sender sends a message to all
connected recipients.
5. What are the types of data transmission?
 Parallel Transmission
o A method of transmission in which groups of bits are sent at the
same time over multiple wires is called parallel transmission. It is
usually unidirectional. Each bit is transmitted over a separate line.
o The internal transfer of data in a computer uses a parallel mode.
The data transmission between computer and printer is done using
parallel transmission. Parallel transmission is faster because all bits
are sent at the same time.
 Serial Transmission
o A method of transmission in which data is sent one bit at a time is
called serial transmission. The character bits are sent sequentially.
Serial transmission is slower than parallel transmission as data is
sent sequentially one bit at a time.
o Telephone lines use this method of data transmission. Each
individual bit of information travels along its own communication
path.
 Asynchronous Transmission
o In asynchronous transmission, data is transmitted character by
character. There are irregular gaps between characters in this
transmission. It is cheaper t implement because data is not saved
before it is sent.
 o It uses a special start signal. The signal is transmitted at the
beginning of each message. The start signal is sent when the
character is about to be transmitted.
o A start bit has a value of 0. It is called space state. The value of 0
indicates that a character is about to be transferred. It alerts the
receiver and it gets ready to receive the character. If start bit has a
value 1, it indicates that the line is idle. It is also called mark state.
 Synchronous Transmission
o In the synchronous mode, the saved data is transmitted block. Each
block may consist of many characters. It uses a clock to control the
timing of bits being sent. A large amount of information can be
transmitted at a single time with this type of transmission.
o Synchronous transmission is much faster than asynchronous
because there is no gap between characters. This transmission is
suited for remote communication between a computer and related
devices like printers etc.
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