Networking_1

Network topologies
Principles of communication
In the modern world, we have a tendency to immediately associate the word
‘communications’ with technology. However, the principle of communication involves
nothing more than messages sent (and received) by written or spoken words and
symbolic languages such as music and art.

Communication can be one-to-one (e.g. a letter) or one-to-many (a TV programme). It

can also be one-way, such as a radio broadcast (simplex), or two-way, such as a
phone conversation (duplex).

As we have seen in the previous chapters, data that can represent speech, video,
computer programs, text, webpages and so on can all be sent as a stream of bits.

In modern networks, data is converted into either electrical, optical or radio

signals so that it can be transmitted from one device to another via the
appropriate equipment and technology, such as a network interface card (NIC). The
key thing is that the receiver understands what the sender is saying, so, in
exactly the same way that two people having a conversation must be speaking the
same language, computers or other devices must also use the same defined rules,
meaning they must ‘speak’ the same protocol (we will discuss some common protocols
later).

A data network is ‘an interconnected system of computers, peripherals and software

over which commands, files and messages are sent and received’. So a data network
is not just the physical connection between devices, but it includes everything
that enables the communication to take place.

Local area networks

A local area network (LAN) is a limited geographical network to which computers and
other devices are connected. The purpose of a LAN is to enable all connected
devices to work together. Typical devices include servers, workstations, printers,
laptops, tablets, smartphones and so on.

Most core LAN devices are connected by copper or optical cables, although wireless
technology is now widespread for end-user, portable devices such as tablets.

Speeds of tens of Gb/s are possible in the right application but many LANs still
use category 5e copper cabling and operate at speeds of 100 Mb/s over a channel
length of 100 metres, although speeds of 1 G/s are increasingly becoming
commonplace.

The number of bits/sec that a particular network can support is known as the
bandwidth. A higher bandwidth network can transmit more data in the same time
period or transmit the same data in a shorter time.

Devices on LANs can be connected in a number of different ways, known as

topologies. These include bus, ring, star and mesh topologies, which can still be
found in some applications. The most common topology in everyday use today is a
hierarchical network with star-connected LAN segments (wired and/or WiFi) joined
together by hubs or switches and connected to other networks with routers. Switches
connect devices to form a network. Routers connect different networks together.

The choice of topology and transmission medium impacts the performance of the
network in terms of cost, speed, range and security.

Bus topology
Features:

The bus is a backbone cable, terminated at both ends and earthed at one end to
absorb the electrical signal and prevent interference from signals that would be
reflected by an open-circuit end.
Bus topologies are simple, reliable, easy to manage and relatively cheap because of
the reduced amount of cabling required.