ICT1012 – Computer Systems

Computer networks

Historical Perspective

Manly early networks efforts focused on

supplying access from a remote terminal device
to a system or host
 Network Evaluation
• 1960-Traditanal computer communication
environment centered around the mainframe.
• 1970-Introduction of PCs
– LAN
Primarily to share the printers and
Hard disks
– WAN
Facilitate the distributed data
processing
• 1980- interconnect the networks

internetworking
• 1990- required to communicate
– Graphics and images

What is a computer Network?

• Inter connection of autonomous (independent)

computers.
• Two computers are said to be interconnected if
they are able to exchange information without a
third party involvement
Problems with standalone computers

• The administration of software and

hardware is difficult
• Poor utilization of existing resources
• Accessing common facilities is difficult
(eg. Internet)

Network Goals

• Resource Sharing
• Remote Computability
• High Reliability
• Ensure the data consistency
• Message passing
• Standards can be enforced
• Data security and privacy measures can be
enforced
• Save Money
Network Classification

• Switched Networks
– Circuit switched networks
– Packet switched networks

• Broadcast Networks
– Packet radio networks
– Satellite networks

Topologies for switched networks

• Star
• Ring
• Tree
• Mesh
Star

Ring
Tree

Mesh
Topologies using broadcast networks

• Bus
• Ring
• Satellite or Radio

Bus
Ring

Satellite or Radio
Transmission Media

• Guided Transmission
– Twisted pair cable
– Coaxial cable
– Optical fibre cable
• Unguided Transmission
– Radio transmission
– Microwave transmission
– Satellite transmission

Twisted pair cable

• Two insulated wires twisted around each

other to reduce the effects of outside
interference
• One or several pairs contained in a single
cable (usually 4 pairs)
• Unshielded or Shielded forms
Twisted pair

• Data transmission (Shielded)

• Voice transmission (Unshielded)
• Relatively cheapest
• Easy to install
• Suffer from attenuation (reduction in
amplitude and intensity of a signal )
• Data rate
– 9600 bps-64 Mbps
• Error rate down to 10-7

Twisted pair

• UTP (Unshielded Twisted pair) used as a

drop cable from hubs to computer
• Connected to network interface card (NIC)
or to the hub using RJ-45 interface
• UTP base networks which are operating at
10Mbps are popularly named in the industry
as 10-Base-T ethernet networks and
networks which are operating at 100Mbps
speed named as 100-Base-T
 10-Base-T

10Mbps Baseband Twisted pair

Note:a digital transmission method is used in

baseband transmission where as analog
transmission is use in broadband
transmission

Coaxial cable
• Two types
– Thin ethernt
10Base2
– Thick ethernet
10Base5

• The cable is connected to network interface

card using BCN T-connector and BCN male
connector
Coaxial cable
Fibre Optic Cables

• Transmit data by pulses of lights

• Can travel much longer than copper cables
• Less attenuation
• Higher transmission rate
– 1000Mbps
• Much expensive
• Two types
– Multi-mode fibres
– Single-mode fibres

Radio

• 30 MHz to 1 GHz
• Transmission using grounded based
antennae
• Lower attenuation than microwaves
• Suffer from reflection from surrounding high
objects
• Mobile data communication over radio links
Microwave

• 2 to 40 GHz (higher frequency gives grater

bandwith and therefore higher data rate)
• Line of sight transmission using parabolic
dishes
• Range depend on height of dishes
• Affected by climatic condition (rainfall)
• Use for voice and TV telecommunication
• data transmission between buildings to link
up LANs

parabolic dishes
Satellite

• 1 to 30 GHz
• Geostationary Satellite positioned 35,784 km
above earth’s equator
• Point to Point and Broadcast (one to many)
• Different frequency for Uplink and Downlink
channels (eg:- 4/6 GHz)
• Attenuation increase as the transmission
frequency increases
• Mobile data communication over satellite links

Satellite
Devices used to link computers

• Network Interface Card (NIC)

• Modem
• Hubs
• Bridges
• Routers
• Gateways

Network Interface Card

• This adapter card provides an interface to
plug the network cable through an
appropriate connection
Network Interface Card with RJ45

Modem
• Modem (from modulator-demodulator) is a
device that modulates an analog carrier
signal to encode digital information, and
also demodulates such a carrier signal to
decode the transmitted information. The
goal is to produce a signal that can be
transmitted easily and decoded to
reproduce the original digital data.
Modem

Hubs
• A network hub or concentrator is a device
for connecting multiple twisted pair or fiber
optic Ethernet devices together, making
them act as a single network segment.
• It regenerates and distribute the incoming
signal on every outgoing line
Hubs

Bridges
• bridge device filters data traffic at a network
boundary. Bridges reduce the amount of
traffic on a LAN by dividing it into two
segments.
• Interconnect two LANs which use identical
protocols
Bridges

Routers

• Routers are physical devices that join

multiple wired or wireless networks
together.
• Conversion of frame formats and route the
packets based on the logical destination
address
Routers

Gateways
• A network gateway joins two networks
together through a combination of hardware
and software.
• Translate message between dissimilar
networks that employ different higher level
protocols
Gateways

Different Types of Networks

• Personal Area Networks (PANs)

• Local Area Networks (LANs)
• Wide Area Networks (WANs)
Personal Area Networks
• A personal area network (PAN) is a
computer network used for communication
among computer devices (including
telephones and personal digital assistants)
close to one person
• A PAN is a network of devices in a range of
about 10 meters.

Local Area Networks

• A local-area network is a computer network

covering a small geographic area, like a
home, office, or group of buildings e.g. a
school.
Wide Area Networks
• The term Wide Area Network (WAN)
usually refers to a network which covers a
large geographical area, and use
communications circuits to connect the
intermediate nodes
• Transmission rates are typically 2 Mbps, 34
Mbps, 45 Mbps, 155 Mbps, 625 Mbps (or
sometimes considerably more).

Data communication standards

• ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)

• ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line)
• Ethernet
• Wi-Fi
• Wi-Max
• Bluetooth
ISDN
• ISDN is a data communication standard
defined to be used with ordinary telephone
lines.

ADSL
• (ADSL) is a form of DSL, a data
communications technology that enables
faster data transmission over copper
telephone lines than a conventional
voiceband modem can provide
Ethernet
• Ethernet is a family of frame-based
computer networking technologies for local
area networks (LANs)

Wi-Fi
• Wi-Fi is the trade name for a popular
wireless technology used in home
networks, mobile phones, video games and
more. Wi-Fi is supported by nearly every
modern personal computer operating
system and most advanced game consoles.
Wi-Max
• WiMAX is a standards-based technology
enabling the wireless broadband access as
an alternative to wired broadband like cable
and DSL.

Bluetooth
• Bluetooth is a wireless protocol utilizing
short-range communications technology
facilitating both voice and data
transmissions over short distances from
fixed and/or mobile devices, creating
wireless personal area networks (PANs)