ITFN 1502 Home Assignment 1

100 Points

Name: ___Mark Stephens____________

1. What is the definition of:

a. a computer network?
b. data communications?
c. telecommunications?
d. a local area network?
e. a personal area network?
f. a metropolitan area network?
g. a wide area network?
h. network management?
i. convergence?

Ans.

a. An interconnected group of computers and computing equipment using either

wires or radio waves that can share data and computing resources.
b. The transfer of digital or analog data using digital or analog signals.
c. The study of telephones and systems that transmit telephone signals.
d. Networks that small in geographic size spanning a room, room, floor, building, or
campus.
e. A network of a few meters between wireless devices such as PDAs, laptops, and
similar devices.
f. Networks that serve an area of 1 to 30 miles, approximately the size of a typical
city.
g. A large network that encompasses parts of states, multiple states, countries, and
the world.
h. The design, installation, and support of a network, including its hardware and
software.
i. The use of multiple communication modes on a single network such as telephone,
video, and data.

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2. Complete the following diagram. The modules in the center correspond to the well-
known protocols

TCP/IP Layers OSI Layers

Application
Application HTTP SMTP FTP
Presentation
Session
Transport TCP TCP
Transport

Network Internet Protocol Network

Data Link
Physical Ethernet Wire WiFi
Physical

Choose your favorite three OSI layers and describe their functionalities below:

Ans.

Application Layer: The application is the layer at which user begin interfacing with the
network by using application such as web browsers, email, and other network access
utilities.

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Presentation Layer: Prepares data received by the application layer by translating it into a
form that is ready to be used by the network. Examples of this are encryption and
decryption of data.

Physical Layer: Handles the actual transmission of the data in the form of electrical
voltage or radio waves with the use of the physical components of the network. This may
include cables ( coaxial, twisted pair, fiber optic) as well as WiFi, routers, and switches.

3. What is the difference between data and signals? What are the three basic components
of analog signals?

Ans.

Data is entities that convey meaning within a computer or computer system. Signals are
the electric or electromagnetic impulses used to encode and transmit data.

The 3 basic components of analog signals are frequency, amplitude, and phase.

4. What is the bandwidth of a signal? What is the bandwidth of a signal composed of

frequencies from 50Hz to 500 Hz?

Ans.

The bandwidth of a signal is the value of the difference between the lowest and highest
frequencies of a signal.

The bandwidth of a signal composed of frequencies from 50hz to 500hz is 450hz.

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5. A signal starts at point X. As it travels to point Y, it loses 8 dB. At point Y, the signal
is boosted by 10 bB. As the signal travels to point Z, it loses 7 dB. What is the dB
strength of the signal at point Z? Please show your calculation.

Ans.

-8 + 10 + (– 7) = -5

The dB strength at point Z is -5 db.

6. In the preceding problem, if the signal started at point X with a strength of 100 watts,
what would be the power level of the signal at point Z? Please show the calculation.

Ans.

Signal loss was -5 db in the previous example.

Starting power is 100 watts. ( P1 )

Solve for P2 from the dB equation which is dB = 10 x log10 ( P2/P1)

-5/10 = -.5

Inverse log = 10-.5 = .316

100 x .316 = 31.6

Power level at point Z is 31.6 watts

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7. Using Nyquist’s theorem, what is the channel capacity C of a signal that has 16
different levels and a frequency of 20,000 Hz?

Ans.

The channel capacity is 160000bps.

Nyquist formula: Data Rate = 2 x f x log2 (L)

C= 2 x 20000 x log2(16) = 160000bps

8. What is the frequency in Hertz of a signal that repeats 80,000 times within one minute?
What is its period? Note: Please show your computation.

Ans.

80,000/60 = 1.333 khz

The period is 1 second

9. Explain the differences between straight through, rollover and crossover cables. Also
draw them below showing wire colors.

Straight Through Cables: The pin assignments on each end of the cable are
the same. For example, pin 1 goes to pin 1, pin 2 to pin 2, etc…

Graphic layout of straight through cable:

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Rollover Cables: The pin assignments are opposite on each end of the cable.
For example, pin 1 connects to pin 8, pin 2 connects to pin 7, etc..

Graphic Layout of a rollover cable:

Crossover Cables: Similar to straight through cables with the exception that the
TX and RX lines are crossed. The pin out from side A to B is 1-3, 2-6, 3-1, 4-7, 5-
8, 6-2, 7-4, 8-5. If you are going from B to A the pin out is identical, thus creating
the crossover.

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Graphic Layout of crossover cable:

10. Draw below the Manchester and Differential Manchester encoding results for the
following bit steam:

1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1

Manchester

Differential Manchester