Data Communication Suggestions

1st chapter
1. Identify the five components of a data communications system. *
2. What are the three criteria necessary for an effective and efficient network?
3. What are the advantages of a multipoint connection over a point-to-point connection?
4. What are the two types of line configuration?
5. Categorize the four basic topologies in terms of line configuration. **
6. What is the difference between half-duplex and full-duplex transmission modes? *
7. Name the four basic network topologies, and cite an advantage of each type.
8. For n devices in a network, what is the number of cable links required for a mesh, ring, bus,
and star topology? ***
9. Why are protocols needed?

2nd Chapter

1. List the layers of the Internet model.

2. What is the difference between network layer delivery and transport layer delivery?
3. How does information get passed from one layer to the next in the Internet model?
4. What are headers and trailers, and how do they get added and removed?
5. What are the concerns of the physical layer in the Internet model?
6. What are the responsibilities of the data link layer in the Internet model? *
7. What are the responsibilities of the network layer in the Internet model? *
8. What are the responsibilities of the transport layer in the Internet model? *
9. What is the difference between a port address, a logical address, and a physical address?
10. Name some services provided by the application layer in the Internet model. ***
11. Which protocols work on which layer?
12. Match the following to one or more layers of the OSI model: **
a. Route determination
b. Flow control
c. Interface to transmission media
d. Provides access for the end user
13. Match the following to one or more layers of the OSI model: **
a. Reliable process-to-process message delivery
b. Route selection
c. Defines frames
d. Provides user services such as e-mail and file transfer
e. Transmission of bit stream across physical medium
14. Match the following to one or more layers of the OSl model: **
a. Communicates directly with user's application program
b. Error correction and retransmission
c. Mechanical, electrical, and functional interface
d. Responsibility for carrying frames between adjacent nodes.
3rd Chapter
1. What is the relationship between period and frequency?
2. What does the amplitude of a signal measure? What does the frequency of a signal
measure? What does the phase of a signal measure? *

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 3. Name three types of transmission impairment. ***
4. Distinguish between baseband transmission and broadband transmission. *
5. Distinguish between a low-pass channel and a band-pass channel.
6. What does the Nyquist theorem have to do with communications?
7. What does the Shannon capacity have to do with communications?
8. We send a voice signal from a microphone to a recorder. Is this baseband or broadband
transmission?
9. We send a digital signal from one station on a LAN to another station. Is this baseband or
broadband transmission?
10. Math: 3.18, 3.19, 3.20, 3.26, 3.27, 3.30, 3.31,3.35*,3.6**, 3.38*, 3.41***, 3.44, 3.46,
3.47***

4th Chapter
1. List three techniques of digital-to-digital conversion.
2. Distinguish between a signal element and a data element.
3. Distinguish between data rate and signal rate.
4. Define baseline wandering and its effect on digital transmission. ***
5. Define a DC component and its effect on digital transmission. **
6. Define the characteristics of a self-synchronizing signal.*
7. Define block coding and give its purpose.
9. Define scrambling and give its purpose.
10. Compare and contrast PCM and DM. **
11. What are the differences between parallel and serial transmission? List three different techniques
in serial transmission and explain the differences. **
12. Draw the graph for the data stream 01110101 using the following scheme. ***
i. NRZ-L
ii. NRZ-I
iii. RZ
iv. AMI
v. Pseudoternary
vi. Manchester
vii. Differential Manchester
viii. MLT-3

13. We have sampled a low-pass signal with a bandwidth of 300 KHz using 1564 levels of
quantization. *
i. Calculate the bit rate of the digitized signal.
ii. Calculate the 𝑆𝑁𝑅𝑑𝑏 for this signal.
iii. Calculate the PCM bandwidth of this signal.
14. Write the steps of PCM. Write the components of PCM encoder and decoder.
15. Define sampling. Different types of sampling.

5th Chapter
1. Define analog transmission.
2. Define carrier signal and its role in analog transmission. **
3. Define digital-to-analog conversion. *
4. Which characteristics of an analog signal are changed to represent the digital signal in each
of the following digital-to-analog conversion?

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 a. ASK
b. FSK
c. PSK
d. QAM
5. Define constellation diagram and its role in analog transmission. *
6. Define analog-to-analog conversion?
7. Which characteristics of an analog signal are changed to represent the lowpass analog signal
in each of the following analog-to-analog conversions?
a. AM
b. FM
c. PM

8. Show the constellation diagrams for an ASK(OOK), BPSK, and QPSK signals.
9. Draw the constellation diagram for the following cases. Find the peak amplitude value for
each case and define the type of modulation (ASK, FSK, PSK, or QAM). The numbers in
parentheses define the values of I and Q respectively. ***
i. Two points at (2, 0) and (3, 0).
ii. Two points at (3, 0) and (-3, 0).
iii. Four points at (2, 2), (-2, 2), (-2, -2), and (2, -2).
iv. Two points at (0, 2) and (0, -2).
10. Draw the constellation diagram for the following: ***
i. ASK, with peak amplitude values of 1 and 3
ii. BPSK, with a peak amplitude value of 2
iii. QPSK, with a peak amplitude value of 3
iv. 8-QAM with two different peak amplitude values, I and 3, and four different
phases.
6th chapter
1. Describe the goals of multiplexing. **
2. List three main multiplexing techniques mentioned in this chapter.
3. Distinguish between a link and a channel in multiplexing. *
4. Which of the three multiplexing techniques is common for fiber optic links? Explain the
reason.
5. Distinguish between multilevel TDM, multiple slot TDM, and pulse-stuffed TDM. *
6. Define interleaving. Distinguish between synchronous and statistical TDM. *
7. Exercise 19, Example 6.2, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 6.9, 6.11 ***

7th chapter
1. What is the position of the transmission media in the OSI or the Internet model?
2. How do guided media differ from unguided media? *
3. What are the three major classes of guided media?
4. What is the significance of the twisting in twisted-pair cable? ***
5. What is the purpose of cladding in an optical fiber? **
6. Name the advantages of optical fiber over twisted-pair and coaxial cable.*
7. What is the difference between omnidirectional waves and unidirectional waves?*

8th Chapter
1. Describe the need for switching and define a switch.
2. What are the two approaches to packet-switching?

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3. Compare and contrast a circuit-switched network and a packet-switched network. *
4. What is the role of the address field in a packet traveling through a datagram network?
5. What is the role of the address field in a packet traveling through a virtual-circuit network?
6. Compare space-division and time-division switches.
7. What is TSI and its role in a time-division switching? **
8. Define blocking in a switched network. ***
9. List four major components of a packet switch and their functions.
10. Exercise: 22, 24, Example: 8.3, 8.4 ***

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