Computer Networks and Data

Communication

Data Transmission
A Regional University Transcending Boundaries
 Transmission Terminology
Data transmission occurs between a transmitter
& receiver via some medium
Guided medium
– eg. twisted pair, coaxial cable, optical fiber
Unguided / wireless medium
– eg. air, water, vacuum
 Transmission Terminology…
Direct link
– no intermediate devices
Point-to-Point
– direct link
– only 2 devices share link
multi-point
– more than two devices share the link
 Transmission Terminology…
simplex
– one direction
• eg. television
half duplex
– either direction, but only one way at a time
• eg. police radio
full duplex
– both directions at the same time
• eg. telephone
 ANALOG AND DIGITAL

Data can be analog or digital

 Analog data refers to information that is continuous
 Analog data take on continuous values
 Analog signals can have an infinite number of values in a range

 Digital data refers to information that has discrete states

 Digital data take on discrete values
 Digital signals can have only a limited number of values

In data communications, we commonly use

periodic analog signals and nonperiodic digital signals.

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Comparison of analog and digital signals

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 PERIODIC ANALOG SIGNALS
Periodic analog signals can be classified as simple or composite.
 A simple periodic analog signal, a sine wave, cannot be
decomposed into simpler signals.
 A composite periodic analog signal is composed of multiple sine
waves.

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A composite periodic signal

Decomposition
of the composite
periodic signal in
the time and

frequency
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domains
 DIGITAL SIGNALS

 In addition to being represented by an analog signal,

information can also be represented by a digital signal.
 For example, a 1 can be encoded as a positive voltage
and a 0 as zero voltage.
 A digital signal can have more than two levels.
 In this case, we can send more than 1 bit for each level.

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Two digital signals: one with two signal levels and
the other with four signal levels

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 Analog and Digital Data
Transmission
data
– entities that convey meaning
signals & signalling
– electric or electromagnetic representations of
data, physically propagates along medium
transmission
– communication of data by propagation and
processing of signals
 Advantages & Disadvantages
of Digital Signals
cheaper
less susceptible to noise
but greater attenuation
digital now preferred choice
 Transmission Impairments
signal received may differ from signal
transmitted causing:
– analog - degradation of signal quality
– digital - bit errors
most significant impairments are
– attenuation and attenuation distortion
– delay distortion
– noise
 Attenuation
where signal strength falls off with distance
depends on medium
received signal strength must be:
– strong enough to be detected
– sufficiently higher than noise to receive without error
so increase strength using amplifiers/repeaters
is also an increasing function of frequency
so equalize attenuation across band of frequencies
used
– eg. using loading coils or amplifiers
 Example

One reason that engineers use the decibel to measure the

changes in the strength of a signal is that decibel numbers
can be added (or subtracted) when we are measuring several
points (cascading) instead of just two.
A signal travels from point 1 to point 4.

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 Delay Distortion
only occurs in guided media
It occurs because the velocity of propagation of a
signal through a guided medium varies with
frequency.
hence various frequency components arrive at
different times
This effect is referred to as delay distortion because
the received signal is distorted due to varying delays
experienced at its constituent frequencies
particularly critical for digital data
since parts of one bit spill over into others, causing
intersymbol interference
Distortion

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 Noise
additional signals inserted between transmitter
and receiver
thermal
– due to thermal agitation of electrons
– uniformly distributed
– white noise
intermodulation
– signals that are the sum and difference of original
frequencies sharing a medium
 Noise
crosstalk
– a signal from one line is picked up by another
impulse
– irregular pulses or spikes
• eg. external electromagnetic interference
– short duration
– high amplitude
– a minor annoyance for analog signals
– but a major source of error in digital data
• a noise spike could corrupt many bits
Noise

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 Channel Capacity
maximum data rate or rate at which data can be
transmitted over a given communication path, or
channel, under given condition.
Four concepts to relate to one another
– data rate – the rate in bits per second at which data can be
communicated
– bandwidth – the bandwidth of the transmitted signals as
constrained by the transmitter and nature of transmission
medium in cycles per second or Hertz
– noise – the average level of noise on a communications
link
– error rate – the rate at which errors occur
limitations due to physical properties
want most efficient use of capacity