Chapter 1

Introduction

Syllabus
1-1 DATA COMMUNICATIONS
• The term telecommunication means
communication at a distance.
• The word data refers to information
presented in whatever form is
• agreed upon by the parties creating and using
the data.
• Data communications are the exchange of
data between
• two devices via some form of transmission
medium such as a wire cable.
  The effectiveness of a data
communications systems depends on
three fundamental characteristics
 Delivery
 Accuracy
 Timeliness

Topics discussed in this section:

Components
Data Representation
Data Flow
Figure 1.1 Five components of data communication

• Message: Information- Text, Numbers etc.

• Sender: Sends Data- Comp. Workstation, Tele, video
camera etc.
• Receiver: Receives data
• Medium: Transmission medium- Cable
• Protocol: Set of rules that governs data communications.
• Ex: two different persons speaking different languages.
Data Representation
 Text
 A…Z, a…z, 0..9, etc
 ASCII
 uses 7 bits
 Extended ASCII
 uses 1 byte
 Unicode
 a coalition of HW and SW manufacturers have designed a code
 Uses 16 bits
 ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
 Uses 32 bits
 Numbers- bit pattern
 Images- bits, pixels
 Audio- sound
 Video- continuous entity: images, motion images
Figure 1.2 Data flow (simplex, half-duplex, and full-duplex)

Examples:
Keyboard

Walkie-
talkies

Telephone
 1-2 NETWORKS

A network is a set of devices (often referred to as nodes)

connected by communication links.
A node can be a computer, printer, or any other device
capable of sending and/or receiving data generated by
other nodes on the network.

Topics discussed in this section:

Distributed Processing
Network Criteria
Physical Structures
Network Models
Categories of Networks
Interconnection of Networks: Internetwork
 Distributed Processing
 Task is divided among multiple-computers
 Network Criteria
 Performance
 Transit time and Response time
 Depends on no. of users, type of medium etc
 Reliability
 Measured by frequency of failure,
 The time it takes a link to recover from a failure
 Security
 Protecting data from unauthorized access
Physical Structures
 A network is two or more devices connected
together through links.
 A link is a communications pathway that
transfers data from one device to another.
 For communication to occur, two devices must
be connected in some way to the same link at
the same time.
 There are two types of connections
 Point –to- point
 Multipoint
Figure 1.3 Types of connections: point-to-point and multipoint
Physical topology
 The term physical topology refers to the
way in which a network is laid out
physically.
 The topology of a network is the
geometric representation of the
relationship of
 all the links and
 linking devices to one another.
Figure 1.4 Categories of topology

• There are four basic topologies

• Mesh
• Star
• Bus
• Ring
Figure 1.5 A fully connected mesh topology (five devices)
Mesh Topology
 Every device has a dedicated point-to-point link to every
other device
 A fully connected mesh network has n(n-1)/2 physical
channels to link n devices.
 Advantages
 Dedicated links eliminates traffic problems
 Robust- if one link becomes unusable, it does not incapacitate
the entire system
 Secure
 fault identification and isolation is easy
 Disadvantages
 More cabling
 More hardware
Figure 1.6 A star topology connecting four stations
Star Topology

 Each device has a dedicated point-to-point

link only to a central controller-hub
 The controller acts as an exchange
 Advantages
 Less expensive than mesh
 Robustness
 Easy fault detection and isolation
Figure 1.7 A bus topology connecting three stations
Bus Topology

 A bus topology is a multipoint.

 One long cable acts as a backbone to link
all the devices in a network.
 Weaker signal
 Advantages
 Ease of installation
 Less cabling than mesh or star
 Disadvantages
 Difficult reconnection and fault isolation
Figure 1.8 A ring topology connecting six stations
Ring Topology
 Each device has a dedicated point-to-point connection
only with the two devices on either side of it.
 Each device in the ring incorporates a repeater
 The repeater regenerates the bits and passes them to
destination
 Advantages and Disadvantages
 Easy to install and reconfigure
 To add or delete a device requires changing only two
connections
 Fault isolation is simplified
 Disadvantages
 Unidirectional traffic
 Break in ring can disable the entire network
Figure 1.9 A hybrid topology: a star backbone with three bus networks
Categories of Networks

 LAN
 MAN
 WAN
 Determined by
 Size
 Ownership
 Distance
 Physical architecture
LAN- Local Area Networks

 Privately owned
 For a single office, building
 Size is limited to a few kilometers
 Resource sharing between PC and
workstation
 SW can store in central server
Figure 1.10 An isolated LAN connecting 12 computers to a hub in a closet
MAN – Metropolitan Area Network

 MAN is designed to extend over an entire

city.
 Ex: Cable Television Network
 Connecting several LANs
 Company network in city
 Owned by privately or public company
 Many telephone companies provide a
popular MAN service called Switched
Multi-megabit Data Services (SMDS)
WAN-Wide Area Network

 WAN provides long-distance transmission

of data, voice, image and video
information
 WANs may utilize public, leased or private
communication equipment
 A WAN that is wholly owned and used by
a single company is often referred to as an
enterprise network.
Figure 1.11 WANs: a switched WAN and a point-to-point WAN
Figure 1.12 A heterogeneous network made of four WANs and two LANs
 1-3 THE INTERNET
The Internet has revolutionized many aspects of our daily
lives.
It has affected the way we do business as well as the way
we spend our leisure time.
The Internet is a communication system that has brought
a wealth of information to our fingertips and organized it
for our use.

Topics discussed in this section:

A Brief History
The Internet Today (ISPs)
Brief History

 Internet is two or more networks that can

communicate with each other.
 ARPANET(Advanced Research Projects
Agency Network) -1967s
 Each host computer is attached to a
specialized computer called IMPs(Interface
Message Processor)
 NCP (Network Control Protocol) provides a
communication between the hosts
 TCP/IP was introduced later
Internet Today

 Made up of WAN and LAN

 Connecting devices and switching stations
 ISPs (International Service Providers)
 Connect nations together
 NSPs
 Backbone networks created and maintained
by specialized companies
 Backbone networks are connected by complex
switching stations called NAPs
Figure 1.13 Hierarchical organization of the Internet
 1-4 PROTOCOLS AND STANDARDS

In this section, we define two widely used terms: protocols

and standards.
First, we define protocol, which is synonymous with rule.
Then we discuss standards, which are agreed-upon rules.

Topics discussed in this section:

Protocols
Standards
Standards Organizations
Internet Standards
Protocols
 It is a set of rules that governs data communications.
 A protocol defines
 What is communicated,
 How it is communicated and
 When it is communicated
 Key elements of a protocol are
 Syntax
 Refers to structure of data Senders address receivers address Info…..
 Semantics
 Meaning of each section of bits
 Timing
 Refers to two characteristics
 When data should be sent
 How fast they can be sent
Standards
 Standards are essential in creating and maintaining an
open and competitive market for
 Equipment manufacturers
 Guaranteeing national/international interoperability of data and
 Telecommunications technology and processes
 Data communication standards fall into two categories
 De facto
 Standards that have not been approved by an organized body
 De jure
 Those that have been legislated by an officially recognized body are
de jure standards
Standards Organizations

 ISO (International Organization for

Standardization)
 ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union)
 CCITT (Consultative Committee for International
Telegraphy and Telephony)
 ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers)
 EIA (Electronic Industries Association)
 Questions