Unit-3

Data Communication and Networking

Data communication refers to the exchange of data between a source and a receiver
via form of transmission media such as a wire cable. Data communication is said to be local if
communicating devices are in the same building or a similarly restricted geographical area.
The meanings of source and receiver are very simple. The device that transmits the
data is known as source and the device that receives the transmitted data is known as
receiver. Data communication aims at the transfer of data and maintenance of the data
during the process but not the actual generation of the information at the source and
receiver.
Data can exist in a variety of forms such as numbers, text, bits and bytes. The Figure
is an illustration of a simple data communication system.

A data communication system may collect data from remote locations through data
transmission circuits, and then outputs processed results to remote locations. Figure
provides a broader view of data communication networks.
Components of data communication system:
A Communication system has the following components:
1. Message: It is the information or data to be communicated. It can consist of text,
numbers, pictures, sound or video or any combination of these.
2. Sender: It is the device/computer that generates and sends that message.
3. Receiver: It is the device or computer that receives the message. The location of receiver
computer is generally different from the sender computer. The distance between sender and
receiver depends upon the types of network used in between.
4. Medium: It is the channel or physical path through which the message is carried from
sender to the receiver. The medium can be wired like twisted pair wire, coaxial cable, fiber-
optic cable or wireless like laser, radio waves, and microwaves.
5. Protocol: It is a set of rules that can maintain the communication between the devices.
Both sender and receiver follow same protocols to communicate with each other.
Communication Methods:
The process of transmitting a message occurs millions of time a day without any of us
being aware of it. Today's recent data transfer methods include many complex concepts, but
we can still break down the process to a few basic types.
They are
1. Simplex Data Communication
2. Half Duplex Data Communication
3. Full Duplex Data Communication
4. Serial Data Communication
1. Simplex Data Communication:
A simplex communication system sends a message in only one direction. The
message source works as the transmitter. It sends the message over the data channel to the
receiver. The receiver is the destination of the message. Examples of simplex data
communication include radio stations and TV broadcasts. With the simplex channel, there is
no ability by the receiver to respond to the message. For example, a radio station plays a
song on your car radio. The data transferred is the song. You do not have the opportunity to
send a message back via your car radio to the station.
2. Half-duplex Data Communication:
A half-duplex data communication system provides messages in both directions but
only allows transfer in one direction at a time. Once a party begins sending a transmission,
the receiver must wait until the signal stops before responding. If the two data transfers
attempt to send at the same time, they both fail. For instance, if you talk on a CB radio, you
press a button and speak. If the receiver attempts to press the button and speak at the same
time, neither one of you hear either message. The system is not capable of sending both
ways simultaneously.
3. Full Duplex Communication:
A full duplex is a communication that works both ways at the same time. Essentially,
full duplex data communication is a set of two simplex channels, one works as a forward
channel and the other as a reserve channel. The two channels link together at some point.
An example of a full duplex communication system is a landline telephone. When talking on
a telephone, both parties have the ability to speak at the same time. The data, carried both
ways through the telephone line, runs simultaneously.
4. Serial Communication:
Serial communication takes a data communication, breaks it up into small pieces, and sends
the message one bit at a time through a channel. The receiver collects the small bits and
reassembles them to compose the original message. Serial communication is the most
common type of communication between electronic devices. One example of serial
communication in action is the data sent from a modem to the service provider.
Computer Network Types

A computer network is a group of computers linked to each other that enables the
computer to communicate with another computer and share their resources, data, and
applications.

A computer network can be categorized by their size. A computer network is mainly

of four types: They are

1. LAN(Local Area Network)

2. PAN(Personal Area Network)

3. MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)

4. WAN(Wide Area Network)

1. LAN (Local Area Network):

o Local Area Network is a group of computers connected to each other in a small area
such as building, office.

o LAN is used for connecting two or more personal computers through a

communication medium such as twisted pair, coaxial cable, etc.
 o It is less costly as it is built with inexpensive hardware such as hubs, network
adapters, and Ethernet cables.

o The data is transferred at an extremely faster rate in Local Area Network.

o Local Area Network provides higher security.

2. PAN (Personal Area Network):

o Personal Area Network is a network arranged within an individual person, typically

within a range of 10 meters.

o Personal Area Network is used for connecting the computer devices of personal use
is known as Personal Area Network.

o Thomas Zimmerman was the first research scientist to bring the idea of the Personal
Area Network.

o Personal Area Network covers an area of 30 feet.

o Personal computer devices that are used to develop the personal area network are
the laptop, mobile phones, media player and play stations.
There are two types of Personal Area Network:

o Wired Personal Area Network

o Wireless Personal Area Network

Wireless Personal Area Network: Wireless Personal Area Network is developed by simply
using wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth. It is a low range network.

Wired Personal Area Network: Wired Personal Area Network is created by using the USB.

Examples of Personal Area Network:

o Body Area Network: Body Area Network is a network that moves with a person. For
example, a mobile network moves with a person. Suppose a person establishes a
network connection and then creates a connection with another device to share the
information.
 o Offline Network: An offline network can be created inside the home, so it is also
known as a home network. A home network is designed to integrate the devices
such as printers, computer, television but they are not connected to the internet.

o Small Home Office: It is used to connect a variety of devices to the internet and to a
corporate network using a VPN

3. MAN (Metropolitan Area Network):

o A metropolitan area network is a network that covers a larger geographic area by

interconnecting a different LAN to form a larger network.

o Government agencies use MAN to connect to the citizens and private industries.

o In MAN, various LANs are connected to each other through a telephone exchange
line.

o The most widely used protocols in MAN are RS-232, Frame Relay, ATM, ISDN, OC-3,
ADSL, etc.

o It has a higher range than Local Area Network (LAN).

Uses of Metropolitan Area Network:

 o MAN is used in communication between the banks in a city.

o It can be used in an Airline Reservation.

o It can be used in a college within a city.

o It can also be used for communication in the military.

4. WAN (Wide Area Network):

o A Wide Area Network is a network that extends over a large geographical area such
as states or countries.

o A Wide Area Network is quite bigger network than the LAN.

o A Wide Area Network is not limited to a single location, but it spans over a large
geographical area through a telephone line, fiber optic cable or satellite links.

o The internet is one of the biggest WAN in the world.

o A Wide Area Network is widely used in the field of Business, government, and
education.

Examples of Wide Area Network:

o Mobile Broadband: A 4G network is widely used across a region or country.

 o Last mile: A telecom company is used to provide the internet services to the
customers in hundreds of cities by connecting their home with fiber.

o Private network: A bank provides a private network that connects the 44 offices. This
network is made by using the telephone leased line provided by the telecom
company.

Advantages of Wide Area Network:

Following are the advantages of the Wide Area Network:

o Geographical area: A Wide Area Network provides a large geographical area.

Suppose if the branch of our office is in a different city then we can connect with
them through WAN. The internet provides a leased line through which we can
connect with another branch.

o Centralized data: In case of WAN network, data is centralized. Therefore, we do not

need to buy the emails, files or back up servers.

o Get updated files: Software companies work on the live server. Therefore, the
programmers get the updated files within seconds.

o Exchange messages: In a WAN network, messages are transmitted fast. The web
application like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Skype allows you to communicate with
friends.

o Sharing of software and resources: In WAN network, we can share the software and
other resources like a hard drive, RAM.

o Global business: We can do the business over the internet globally.

o High bandwidth: If we use the leased lines for our company then this gives the high
bandwidth. The high bandwidth increases the data transfer rate which in turn
increases the productivity of our company.

Disadvantages of Wide Area Network:

The following are the disadvantages of the Wide Area Network:

o Security issue: A WAN network has more security issues as compared to LAN and
MAN network as all the technologies are combined together that creates the security
problem.

o Needs Firewall & antivirus software: The data is transferred on the internet which
can be changed or hacked by the hackers, so the firewall needs to be used. Some
 people can inject the virus in our system so antivirus is needed to protect from such a
virus.

o High Setup cost: An installation cost of the WAN network is high as it involves the
purchasing of routers, switches.

o Troubleshooting problems: It covers a large area so fixing the problem is difficult.

Integrated Services of Digital Networking (ISDN):

Integrated Services of Digital Networking, in short ISDN is a telephone network

based infrastructure that allows the transmission of voice and data simultaneously at a high
speed with greater efficiency. This is a circuit switched telephone network system, which
also provides access to Packet switched networks.
The model of a practical ISDN is as shown below.

ISDN supports a variety of services. A few of them are listed below −

 Voice calls

 Facsimile

 Videotext

 Teletext

 Electronic Mail

 Database access

 Data transmission and voice

 Connection to internet
  Electronic Fund transfer

 Image and graphics exchange

 Document storage and transfer

 Audio and Video Conferencing

 Automatic alarm services to fire stations, police, medical etc.

Types of ISDN:
Among the types of several interfaces present, some of them contain channels such
as the B-Channels or Bearer Channels that are used to transmit voice and data
simultaneously; the D- Channels or Delta Channels that are used for signaling purpose to
set up communication.
The ISDN has several kinds of access interfaces such as

 Basic Rate Interface (BRI)

 Primary Rate Interface (PRI)

 Narrowband ISDN

 Broadband ISDN

Basic Rate Interface (BRI):

The Basic Rate Interface or Basic Rate Access, simply called the ISDN BRI Connection
uses the existing telephone infrastructure. The BRI configuration provides two data or
bearer channels at 64 Kbits/sec speed and one control or delta channel at 16 Kbits/sec.
This is a standard rate.
The ISDN BRI interface is commonly used by smaller organizations or home users or
within a local group, limiting a smaller area.
Primary Rate Interface (PRI):
The Primary Rate Interface or Primary Rate Access simply called the ISDN PRI
connection is used by enterprises and offices. The PRI configuration is based on T-carrier or
T1 in the US, Canada and Japan countries consisting of 23 data or bearer channels and one
control or delta channel, with 64kbps speed for a bandwidth of 1.544 M bits/sec. The PRI
configuration is based on E-carrier or E1 in Europe, Australia and few Asian countries
consisting of 30 data or bearer channels and two-control or delta channel with 64kbps
speed for a bandwidth of 2.048 M bits/sec.
The ISDN BRI interface is used by larger organizations or enterprises and for Internet
Service Providers.
Narrowband ISDN:
 The Narrowband Integrated Services Digital Network is called the N-ISDN. This can
be understood as a telecommunication that carries voice information in a narrow band of
frequencies. This is actually an attempt to digitize the analog voice information. This uses
64kbps circuit switching.
The narrowband ISDN is implemented to carry voice data, which uses lesser
bandwidth, on a limited number of frequencies.
Broadband ISDN:
The Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network is called the B-ISDN. This
integrates the digital networking services and provides digital transmission over ordinary
telephone wires, as well as over other media. The CCITT defined it as, “Qualifying a service
or system requiring transmission channels capable of supporting rates greater than primary
rates.”
The broadband ISDN speed is around 2 MBPS to 1 GBPS and the transmission is
related to ATM, i.e., Asynchronous Transfer Mode. The broadband ISDN communication is
usually made using the fiber optic cables.
As the speed is greater than 1.544 Mbps, the communications based on this are
called Broadband Communications. The broadband services provide a continuous flow of
information, which is distributed from a central source to an unlimited number of
authorized receivers connected to the network. Though a user can access this flow of
information, he cannot control it.

Advantages of ISDN:
ISDN is a telephone network based infrastructure, which enables the transmission of both
voice and data simultaneously. There are many advantages of ISDN such as −

 As the services are digital, there is less chance for errors.

 The connection is faster.

 The bandwidth is higher.

 Voice, data and video − all of these can be sent over a single ISDN line.

Disadvantages of ISDN:
The disadvantage of ISDN is that it requires specialized digital services and is costlier.
However, the advent of ISDN has brought great advancement in communications. Multiple
transmissions with greater speed are being achieved with higher levels of accuracy.

Electronic Communication:
Electronic communication has become a very popular means to communicate
worldwide. Electronic communication is used for the transfer of different types of data and
images through wire, electromagnetic, photo electronic or photo-optical system and radio.
Electronic communication is so popular that many businesses and people consider it to be
essential tool in our daily lives. The “Electronic communications is interactive. It engages
audiences in active, two-way communications; a self-selected audience, engaged and
actively participating in the communications process.” There are many ways to communicate
electronically, each with benefits and risks related to business or personal use. It is likely that
in the future, advances in technology and computer programming will enable us to
communicate in ways we can only dream about today.
There are many different types of electronic communication including but not
limited to: email, social media newsgroups, chat rooms, video conferencing, instant
messaging, phone and fax. Email via the widely used internet is popular because
people are able to write short messages, receive quick responses and include
photographs or reports with formatted data quickly and efficiently.