Components of Data Communication

Message : Information to be communicated Sender : Device that sends the message Receiver : Device that receives the msg Transmission Medium : Physical path that communicates the message from sender to receiver Protocol : Set of rules that co-ordinate the exchange of information. Both sender and receiver should follow the same protocol to communicate data (as a person speaking english cannot be understood by one who knows only hindi)

Data Transmission mode

Simplex : Unidirectional The information flows only in one direction across the circuit with no capability to support response in other direction. Eg : TV Satellite can only transmit the data to the TV and vice versa not possible Half Duplex :Each communication device can receive and transmit data but not at the same time. Entire capacity of the tranmission medium is taken over by transmitting device Eg. Two-way radio firs to use Half duplex Full-duplex : Allows device to transmit and receive data at the same time. Voice telephone call is full duplex

Analog and Digital Data Transmission

Information transmitted should be first transformed into electromagnetic signals Analog signal: Continuous waveform that changes smoothly over time. Sine wave is the fundamental analog signal Amplitude : Value of the signal at any point on the wave (in volts and amperes) Frequency : No. of cycle signal completes in one sec (in Hertz) Wavelength: Distance between successive similar points of one cycle of the waveform Perfect for carrying voice or sound. Signals are prone to errors or noise, caused from outside source. Amplitute changes over distance which will cause signal attentuation. Digital Signal : Stored in the form of 0s and 1s. Not affected by noise or attentuation compared to analog. 1 : +ve voltage and 0 : zero voltage. To transmit data over analog phone lines, a modem is required to convert the digital data signals to analog signals. When transmitted over large distance, analog signals need to be amplified, Analog data can be converted to digital and sent over digital signals faster without distortion. However, full range of information cannot be sent over digital signals

Data Communication Measurement

Measurement of quantity of data that can be passed down a communication link in terms bandwidth Bandwidth Max vol of information that can be transferred over any communication medium On digital circuits, bandwidth is measured in terms of bits per second or Kbps Narrowband : upto 1.544 Mbps Wideband : data at speeds between 1.54 Mbps to 45 Mbps Broadband : Bandwidth capacity is equal to 45 Mbps and above. Broadcast television, cable tv, microwave and satellite are examples of broadband technologies Capable of carrying great amount of information in a short time, but are more expensive than telephone which require lesser bandwidth

Transmission media
Refers to physical media through which communication signals are transmitted Through electromagnetic signals (power, voice, radio waves, infrared, visible light, UV, x-ray and gamma rays in an electro magnetic spectrum) Can travel through vacuum, air or any other transmission medium Voice over metal cables Radio air or space Visible light through fibre optic cables Two types of media Guided and unguided media

Guided Media Twisted Pair : UTP Most common telecommunication medium in use today most suited for both data and voice transmissions, commonly used in telephone systems. Has four pairs of wires inside the jacket. Twisted to elimiate interference from other pairs and other electrical devices susceptible to radio and electrical frequency interference. STP shielded twisted pair - has a metal foil or mesh covering that covers each pair of insulated conductors. Prevents infiltration of electromagnetic noise and cross talk. Suitable for environments with electrical interference

Unguided Media

Radio frequency propagation : Ground wave Upto 2 MHz AM radio Ionospheric propagation 30 85 MHz Line of sight
Microwave transmission station must be in visible contact with the receiving station. Limitation with earth curvature FM radio upto 50 Km Satellite 36,000 kms above earth surface uplinks and dowlinks earth stations

Modulation

Amplitude Modulation Frequency Modulation Phase Modulation

Multiplexing

Frequency division Time division

Transmission
Asynchronous information preceded by a start bit and ended by a stop bit Synchronous receivers clock synchronised with senders and with no start and stop bit, sent as a series of 0s and 1s, timing is important ideal for high speed comn between pcs

Modulation
Amplitude Modulation Frequency Modulation Phase Modulation

Multiplexing
Frequency division : Used when bandwidth of the transmission medium between multiplexer and demultiplexer is much greater than requirements from any one stream being multiplexed. Used for broadband analog transmissions. Signals from each sendiving device is modulated using carrier waves with differing frequencies. These are combined into a single signal and transported over a common media. Eg Transmission of radio stations Time division : Divide the main signal into time slots with each time slot carrying a separate signal. Each sending device is assigned the transmission path for the pre-defined time slot. Upon reaching the demultiplexer, are sent to the intended receiver.

 Networks communication equipments

Hub
Simple devices that connect network components, sending a packet of data to all other connected devices

Switch
Has more intelligence than Hub Can filter and forward data to a specified location on the network

Router
Special communication processor Used to route packets of data through different networks Direct packets to its destination (routing tables) Same protocol

Gateway
Internetworking device joins two different protocols together (protocol converter) Accepts packet formed for one protocol and converts to another Can be implemented in hardware or software or both Can connect systems with different protocols, languages and architecture using a gateway

Switches
4 telephone sets with duplex lines require 6 duplex lines Circuit switching : PSTN public switched telephone network Packet Switching data broken into packets, source point sends it to PSE exchange. After reaching destination, packet put in order by packet assembler and disassembler used in internet commnction Message switching : Store and forward mechanism. A computer system receives and stores in memory and then once it finds a free route, forwards it to the intended receiver. Takes lot of time to send data used in 1970s

The old telephone system (PSTN) uses circuit switching to transmit voice data whereas VoIP uses packet-switching to do so. The difference in the way these two types of switching work is the thing that made VoIP so different and successful. To understand switching, you need to realize that the network in place between two communicating persons is a complex field of devices and machines, especially if the network is the Internet. Consider a person in Mauritius having a phone conversation with another person on the other side of the globe, say in the US. There are a large number of routers, switches and other kinds of devices that take the data transmitted during the communication from one end to the other. Switching and routing Switching and routing are technically two different things, but for the sake of simplicity, let us take switches and routers (which are devices that make switching and routing respectively) as devices doing one job: make a link in the connection and forward data from the source to the destination. Paths or circuits The important thing to look for in transmitting information over such a complex network is the path or circuit. The devices making up the path are called nodes. For instance, switches, routers and some other network devices, are nodes. In circuitswitching, this path is decided upon before the data transmission starts. The system decides on which route to follow, based on a resource-optimizing algorithm, and transmission goes according to the path. For the whole length of the communication session between the two communicating bodies, the route is dedicated and exclusive, and released only when the session terminates.

Packets To be able to understand packet-switching, you need to know what a packet is. The Internet Protocol(IP), just like many other protocols, breaks data into chunks and wraps the chunks into structures called packets. Each packet contains, along with the data load, information about the IP address of the source and the destination nodes, sequence numbers and some other control information. A packet can also be called a segment or datagram. Once they reach their destination, the packets are reassembled to make up the original data again. It is therefore obvious that, to transmit data in packets, it has to be digital data. In packet-switching, the packets are sent towards the destination irrespective of each other. Each packet has to find its own route to the destination. There is no predetermined path; the decision as to which node to hop to in the next step is taken only when a node is reached. Each packet finds its way using the information it carries, such as the source and destination IP addresses. As you must have figured it out already, traditional PSTN phone system uses circuit switching while VoIP uses packet switching. Brief comparison Circuit switching is old and expensive, and it is what PSTN uses. Packet switching is more modern. When you are making a PSTN call, you are actually renting the lines, with all it implies. See why international calls are expensive? So if you speak for, say 10 minutes, you pay for ten minutes of dedicated line. You normally speak only when your correspondent is silent, and vice versa. Taking also into consideration the amount of time no one speaks, you finally use much less than half of what you are paying for. With VoIP, you actually can use a network or circuit even if there are other people using it at the same time. There is no circuit dedication. The cost is shared. Circuit-switching is more reliable than packet-switching. When you have a circuit dedicated for a session, you are sure to get all information across. When you use a circuit which is open for other services, then there is a big possibility of congestion (which is for a network what a traffic jam is for the road), and hence the delays or even packet loss. This explains the relatively lower quality of VoIP voice compared to PSTN. But you actually have other protocols giving a helping hand in making packet-switching techniques to make connections more reliable. An example is the TCP protocol. Since voice is to some extent tolerant to some packet loss (unless text - since a comma lost can mean a big difference), packet-switching is finally ideal for VoIP.

 Application Layer
Enables the client application programs to access the other layers and defines the protocols that applications use to exchange data eg HTTP on of application protocol used to transfer web page files

Transport Layer
Provides application layer with communication and packet services. Includes TCP and other protocols

Internet Layer
Responsible for addressing, routing and packaging data packets called IP diagrams. Internet protocol is used in this layer

Network interface layer

Responsible for placing packets on and receiving them from the network medium, which could be any networking technology

 Types of networks
Classify by geographic scope
Local Area network, LAN
Connect PCs and other digital devices within 500 meters Small office In one building

Campus area network (1000 mts) - multiple LANs connected within a campus Metropolitan area network multiple CANs connected within a city Wide area network (global area) eg internet GAN multiple WAN for mobile communication VPN