DATA COMMUNICATION AND COMPUTER NETWORKS IV SEM

CHAPTER :1

INTRODUCTION TO DATA COMMUNICATION AND

NETWORKS

DATA COMMUNICATION:
 Communication is the process of exchanging Information.
 Data communication system is used for exchange of data between two devices
via some form of transmission medium over long distances.
 In a data communication system, the communicating entities are known as sender and
receiver.
The data communicating system depends on three fundamental
characteristics.

1) Delivery: The system must deliver data to the correct destination.

2) Accuracy: The system must deliver the data accurately without errors.
3) Timeliness: The system must deliver the data in a timely manner without significant
delay.

DATA REPRESENTATION:
Information comes in the following manner
1.Text 2.Numbers 3.Images 4.Audio 5. Video

TEXT :
 Text is represented as code (sequence of 0’s and 1’s).
There are many variants of bit patters to represent text symbols
 ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
 This code uses 7 bits to encode every symbol
 There are 27=128 different symbols that can be represented using ASCII.
 Unicode is a code with much greater capacity which represents symbols belonging
to languages. Other than English. Unicode uses 16 bits and can represent up in 216
symbols.

NUMBERS:
 Numbers are represented using the binary system
 ASCII is NOT used to represent numbers.
 The number is directly converted into binary numbers

IMAGES:
 Image is divided into matrix of dot is called pixel.
 The number of pixel are depends on revolution. More memory is needed to store the
image with better resolution.
 To represent colour images each coloured pixel has three bit patterns: Red, Green, and

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Blue.

AUDIO:
 Audio is a Latin word meaning sound. The sound information is converted into an
electrical signal by a microphone.
 Audio signal can be produced either as a digital or analog signal.

VIDEO:
 Video is a Latin word meaning visual information. Video is converted into an
electrical signal by a camera.
 Video signal can be produced either as a digital or analog signal.

DATA FLOW:

Communication between two devices can be of the following modes.

1. One way communication.(Simplex)
2. Two way communication.(Duplex)

SIMPLEX:
In simplex mode, the communication is unidirectional, as on a one-way street. Only one of
the two devices on a link can transmit; the other can only receive.
Example: Radio, TV Broadcast.
DUPLEX:
With duplex communication, the flow of information is bi-directional for each device.
Duplex can be further divided into two sub-categories:

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A) Half Duplex:
In half-duplex mode, each station can both transmit and receive, but not at the same time.
When one device is sending, the other can only receive, and vice versa. Example:
Military, Railway etc.
B) Full Duplex:
In full-duplex mode (also called duplex), both stations can transmit and receive
simultaneously. The full-duplex mode is like a two-way street with traffic flowing in
both directions at the same time. Example: Telephone.

COMPONENTS OF DATA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM:

The components of data communication systems are 1) Message 2) Sender 3) Receiver

4) Medium 5) Protocol.

Message:
 The message is the Information (Data) to be communicated.
 It consists of text , numbers, pictures, sound or video or any combination
of these
Sender:
 It is a device / computer that generates and sends that message.
Receiver:
 It is the device or computer that receives the message.

Medium:
 It is the physical path in which a message travels from sender to receiver.
 It can be co axial cable , twisted pair wire , radio waves etc
Protocol:

It is a set rules that control the transmission and reception of messages in
data communication system.
 It includes message length, media access and addressing.
DEFINITION OF NODE, LINK, BRANCH, NETWORK:

NODE:

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• Node is a point where more than two branches meet.

• The function of node is to connect incoming path with an output path for signal
communication .
• Example: Telephone Exchange act as a node.

LINK:
• Link is a connection between two nodes.
• It is used data transfer from node to node.

BRANCH:
• It is transmission medium which is either wire or radio channel.
• Example of wired transmission medium are copper wire , multi-pair cable, optical fibre.
• Wireless channel uses electromagnetic waves.

NETWORK:
• It is a collection of nodes interconnected by transmission media (links/branches)
carrying information signals in electrical / optical form.
• Network is a connection of devices which are interconnected by communication link.
• Two devices are said to be interconnected by connected are able to exchange
information

NETWORK CRITERIA:

A network must be able to meet following criteria.

Performance:
• Performance is the defined as the rate of transferring error free data.
• It is measured in terms of transit time and Response Time.
• Response Time is the elapsed time between a request and a response.
• Transit time is the amount of time required for a message to travel from one device to
another.
• Factors that affect Response Time are: Number of Users, Transmission Speed, Media
Type: Type of physical connection used to connect nodes together

Consistency:
• Consistency is the predictability of response time and accuracy of data.

Reliability:
• Network reliability is measured by the frequency of failure, the time it takes for a link to
recover from a failure.
• Reliability is the measure of how often a network is useable.

Security:
• Security is the protection of Hardware, Software and Data from unauthorized access.
• Restricted physical access to computers, password protection, limiting user privileges

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and data encryption are common security methods.

PHYSICAL STRUCTURES

TYPE OF CONNECTION:
There are two types of connection
1. Point to point
2. Multipoint

POINT TO POINT CONNECTION:

• The point-to-point connection is a unicast connection.

• There is a dedicated link between an individual pair of sender and receiver. The capacity
of the entire channel is reserved only for the transmission of the packet between the
sender and receiver.

MULTIPOINT CONNECTION:

• The multipoint connection is a connection established between more than two devices.
• The multipoint connection is also called multidrop line configuration.
• In multipoint connection, a single link is shared by multiple devices. So, it can be said
that the channel capacity is shared temporarily by every device connecting to the link.
• The multipoint networks are also called “Broadcast network.”
• In a broadcast network, the packet transmitted by the sender is received and processed
by every device on the link. But, by the address field in the packet, the receiver
determines whether the packet belongs to it or not, if not, it discards the packet. If packet
belongs to the receiver then keeps the packet and respond to the sender accordingly.

NETWORK TOPOLOGY:
Topology is term used to describe way in which computers are connected in network. There are

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6 basic topology as listed below:

1) Mesh topology 2) Star topology 3) Tree topology 4) Ring topology 5) Bus topology 6)
Hybrid topology.

MESH TOPOLOGY :

 Mesh topology is also called complete topology.

 In a mesh network topology, each of the network node, computer and other devices, are
interconnected with one another.
 This is simplest but most impractical topology as the number of connections required is huge.
 To connect all devices to all other devices n(n-1)/2 physical links could be required
 Every node not only sends its own signals but also relays data from other nodes.

MERITS:
 Mesh topology does not have traffic congestion problems.
 Link failure has no effect on rest of the network.
 Failure as on individual work station does not affect the system.
 Fault identification is easy.
 Links are not shared, data security is better.
DEMERITS:
• Mesh topology requires huge amount of cable, As a result, cost and complexity are high.
• It is Impractical topology for large network.

STAR TOPOLOGY:

• Computers are connected by cable segments to a centralized hub.

• Signal travels through the hub to all other computers.
• Requires more cable.
• If hub goes down, entire network goes down.
• System reliability is dependent on the central node. Failure of the central node results in
total breakdown of the network.

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MERITS:
• It is easy to install, maintain and reconfigure.
• Link failure has no effect on the rest of the network.
• Fast performance with few nodes and low network traffic.
• Hub can be upgraded easily.
• Easy to troubleshoot.
• Easy to setup and modify.
• Only that node is affected which has failed, rest of the nodes can work smoothly.

DEMERITS:
• Cost of installation is high.
• Expensive to use.
• If the hub fails then the whole network is stopped because all the nodes depend on the
hub.
• Performance is based on the hub that is it depends on its capacity

TREE TOPOLOGY:

• It has a root node and all other nodes are connected to it forming a hierarchy. It is also
called hierarchical topology. It should at least have three levels to the hierarchy.
• Figure shows every node is connected to some hub few nodes connected to the central
hub directly.

MERITS:
• Extension of bus and star topologies.
• Expansion of nodes is possible and easy.
• Easily managed and maintained.
• Error detection is easily done.

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DEMERITS:
• Heavily cabled.
• Costly.
• If more nodes are added maintenance is difficult.
• Central hub fails, network fails.

RING TOPOLOGY:
 It is called ring topology because it forms a ring as each computer is connected to
another computer, with the last one connected to the first. Exactly two neighbours for
each device.
 A number of repeaters are used for Ring topology with large number of nodes, because
if someone wants to send some data to the last node in the ring topology with 100 nodes,
then the data will have to pass through 99 nodes to reach the 100th node. Hence to
prevent data loss repeaters are used in the network.
 The transmission is unidirectional,
 Data is transferred in a sequential manner that is bit by bit. Data transmitted, has to pass
through each node of the network, till the destination node.

MERITS:
• Transmitting network is not affected by high traffic or by adding more nodes, as only
the nodes having tokens can transmit data.
• Cheap to install and expand. DEMERITS:
• Troubleshooting is difficult in ring topology.
• Adding or deleting the computers disturbs the network activity.
• Failure of one computer disturbs the whole network.

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BUS TOPOLOGY:

• Bus topology is a network type in which every computer and network device is
connected to single cable. When it has exactly two endpoints, then it is called Linear
Bus topology.
• It transmits data only in one direction.
• Every device is connected to a single cable.
• Communication is bidirectional. Any station can transmit to any other station.
• Bus systems are faster and simpler.

MERITS:
• It is cost effective.
• Cable required is least compared to other network topology.
• Used in small networks.
• It is easy to understand.
• Easy to expand joining two cables together.

DEMERITS:
• Cables fails then whole network fails.
• If network traffic is heavy or nodes are more the performance of the network decreases.
• Cable has a limited length.
• It is slower than the ring topology.

HYBRID TOPOLOGY:

• It is two different types of topologies which is a mixture of two or more topologies. For
example if in an office in one department ring topology is used and in another star
topology is used, connecting these topologies will result in Hybrid Topology (ring
topology and star topology).
• It is a combination of two or topologies
MERITS:
• Reliable as Error detecting and trouble shooting is easy.
• Effective.
• Scalable as size can be increased easily.
• Flexible.
DEMERITS:
• Complex in design.
• Costly.

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NETWORK CONFIGURATION AND THEIR ADVANTAGES:

• Network configuration is the process of setting a network's controls, flow and operation
to support the network communication of an organization.
• This broad term incorporates multiple configuration and setup processes on network
hardware, software and other supporting devices and components.
• Network configuration allows a system administrator to set up a network to meet
communication objectives.
The process involves the following tasks::
 Router configuration.
 Host configuration:
 Software configuration

ADVANTAGES:
• Stream lining the processes of maintenance, repair, expansion and upgrading.
• Minimizing configuration errors.
• Minimizing downtime.
• Optimizing network security.
• Ensuring that changes made to a device or system do not adversely affect other devices
or systems.
• Rolling back changes to a previous configuration if results are unsatisfactory.

CONCEPTS AND COMPARISON OF LAN, MAN, WAN:

CATEGORIES OF NETWORKS:

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LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)

• A LAN (local area network) is a group of computers and network devices connected
together, usually within the same building. By definition, the connections must be high
speed and relatively inexpensive (e.g., token ring or Ethernet).

METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK (MAN)

• A MAN is designed to cover an entire city.
• A MAN (metropolitan area network) is a larger network that usually spans several
buildings in the same city or town.

WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN)

• A WAN (wide area network) is huge compared to a LAN OR MAN. A WAN spans
across a state or country.
• A WAN connects several LANs, and may be limited to an enterprise (a corporation or
an organization) or accessible to the public. The technology is high speed and relatively
expensive.
• The Internet is an example of a worldwide public WAN.

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SWITCHING:
• A network consists of many switching devices. In order to connect multiple devices, one
solution could be to have a point to point connection in between pair of devices. But this
increases the number of connection.
• The other solution could be to have a central device and connect every device to each
other via the central device which is generally known as Star Topology. Both these
methods are wasteful and impractical for very large network. The other topology also
cannot be used at this stage. Hence a better solution for this situation is SWITCHING.
• A switched network is made up of a series of interconnected nodes called switches.

Types of Switching Techniques

There are basically three types of switching methods are made available.
1) Circuit Switching

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2) Packet Switching
3) Message Switching

Circuit Switching:

• Circuit switching is primarily used in Telephone networks and not in Computer

networks.
• Telephone switching equipment, for example, establishes a path that connects the
caller's telephone to the receiver's telephone by making a physical connection.
• Circuit switching is a technique that directly connects the sender and the receiver in an
unbroken path.
• With this type of switching technique, once a connection is established, a dedicated path
exists between both ends until the connection is terminated.
• Routing decisions must be made when the circuit is first established, but there are no
decisions made after that time.
• In circuit switching messages do not contain destination and source address.

Circuit switching involves three phases

1 Circuit Establishment: Before any data can be transmitted, an end to end circuit must be
established.
2 Data Transfer:
a) Data transfer proceeds only after the circuit establishment phase
b) All data of that session passes through the same circuit.
c) No other user can use this circuit till this session is completed
3 Circuit Disconnect: Circuit is released after data transfer using the signaling protocol.

Advantages:
• The communication channel (once established) is dedicated.
Disadvantages:
• Possible long wait to establish a connection, (10 seconds, more on long- distance or
international calls.) during which no data can be transmitted.
• More expensive than any other switching techniques, because a dedicated path is
required for each connection.

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• Inefficient use of the communication channel, because the channel is not used when the
connected systems are not using it.
Message Switching:

• With message switching there is no need to establish a dedicated path between two
stations.
• When a station sends a message, the destination address is appended to the message.
• The message is then transmitted through the network, in its entirety, from node to node.
• Each node receives the entire message, stores it in its entirety on disk, and then transmits
the message to the next node.
• This type of network is called a store-and-forward network.
• A message-switching node is typically a general-purpose computer. The device needs
sufficient secondary-storage capacity to store the incoming messages, which could be
long. A time delay is introduced using this type of scheme due to store- and-forward
time, plus the time required to find the next node in the transmission path.

Advantages:

• Channel efficiency can be greater compared to circuit- switched systems, because more
devices are sharing the channel.
• Traffic congestion can be reduced, because messages may be temporarily stored in
route.
• Message priorities can be established due to store-and-forward technique.
• Message broadcasting can be achieved with the use of broadcast address appended in the
message.

Disadvantages:
• Message switching is not compatible with interactive applications.
• Store-and-forward devices are expensive, because they must have large disks to
hold potentially long messages.

Packet Switching:
• Packet switching can be seen as a solution that tries to combine the advantages of

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message and circuit switching and to minimize the disadvantages of both.

• There are two methods of packet switching: Datagram and virtual circuit.
• In both packet switching methods, a message is broken into small parts, called packets.
• Each packet is tagged with appropriate source and destination addresses.
• Since packets have a strictly defined maximum length, they can be stored in main
memory instead of disk, therefore access delay and cost are minimized.
• Exchange devices like routers and switches use a store and forward approach for
transmitting packets from an input port to an output port.
• Also the transmission speeds, between nodes, are optimized.
• With current technology, packets are generally accepted onto the network on a first-
come, first-served basis. If the network becomes overloaded, packets are delayed or
discarded.

Advantages:
• Packet switching is cost effective
• Queuing delay is minimum.
• Channel utilization is maximum.
• Best suited for interactive traffic.
• Packet can be rerouted if there is any problem, such as, busy or disabled links.
• The advantage of packet switching is that many network users can share the same
channel at the Same time.

Disadvantages:
• Packet switching are typically more complex.
• It can add some initial costs in implementation.
• If packet is lost, sender needs to retransmit the data.

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