DATA COMMUNICATION

When data is sent from one device to another, it is important to consider

how that data is transmitted. It is also important to ensure that the data
hasn’t been changed in any way.

Data transmission can be either over a short distance (for example, from
computer to printer) or over longer distances (for example, over a
telephone network).
Essentially, three factors need to be considered when transmitting data
(each factor has to be agreed by both sender and receiver for this to work
without error):
• the direction of the data transmission (i.e. in one direction only or in both
directions)
• the method of transmission (how many bits are sent at the same time)
• the method of synchronisation between the two devices.

MEANING OF DATA TRANSMISSION

-process of sending digital or analog data
-over a communication medium to one or more
-computing, network, communication or electronic devices
TYPES OF DATA TRANSMISSIONS
TYPES OF DATA TRANSMISSION

1. Serial Transmission
-is when data is sent, one bit at a time, over a single wire or channel (bits
are sent one after the other in a single stream).
This method works well over long distances. However, data is transmitted
at a slower rate than parallel data transmission. Since only one wire or
channel is used, there is no problem of data arriving at its destination out of
synchronisation.
- one bit sent at a time / bits sent sequentially
-over a single wire
-synchronous or asynchronous
Used in: USB / SATA / PCI Express / Wi-Fi
Asynchronous Serial Transmission:
-Data is sent in an agreed bit pattern with start and stop bits called the
control bits.
-Data bits can be sent at any point in time
- The time between sending and receiving data bits is not constant

Synchronous Serial Transmission:

- Data bits are transmitted as a continuous stream in time with a master

clock.
-data moves faster and timing errors are less frequent
-the transmitter and receiver time is synced

Benefits of Serial Transmission

-Serial data transmission more reliable over distance
-Less likely for the data to be skewed/out of Synchronization
-Less interference as only a single wire
-It is a cheaper connection as only single wire needed
2. Parallel Transmission
-this is when several bits of data (usually 1 byte) are sent down via several
wires at the same time. One wire is used to transmit one bit.
This method of data transmission works very well over short distances
(over longer distances, the bits can become ‘skewed’ – this means they will
no longer be synchronised). It is, however, a faster method of data
transmission than serial. An example of its use is when sending data to a
printer from a computer using a ribbon connector.
-several bits / a byte sent at a time
-using many / multiple wires
-synchronous
-used for transferring data in Integrated Circuits / CPU Buses / RAM

Universal Serial Bus (USB)

The UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB) is an asynchronous serial data
transmission method. It has quickly become the standard method for
transferring data between a computer and a number of devices.
Essentially, the USB cable consists of:
• a four-wire shielded cable
• two of the wires are used for power and the earth
• Two of the wires are used in the data transmission.
When a device is plugged into a computer using one of the USB ports:
• the computer automatically detects that a device is present (this is due to
a small change in the voltage level on the data signal wires in the cable)
• the device is automatically recognised, and the appropriate DEVICE
DRIVER is loaded up so that computer and device can communicate
effectively
• If a new device is detected, the computer will look for the device driver
which matches the device; if this is not available, the user is prompted to
download the appropriate software.
Use of Universal Serial Bus (USB) for Data Transmission

-USBs are used for sending data externally, to and from peripherals
-They use asynchronous serial transmission
-Only one bit is sent at once in a sequential manner

Reasons for using a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port

-automatically detects the hardware/installs drivers

-plug only goes in one way/can’t connect incorrectly
-supports different data transmission speeds/a range of data transmission
speeds
-has become the industry standard/universally used
-backwards compatible (with earlier versions of USB ports)

ERROR CHECKING METHODS

ERROR CHECKING USING PARITY BIT
-in order to check if the data has been transmitted correctly, we add a parity
bit at data’s end
-we count the total number of 1s in our data
-a system using Even Parity would have even number of 1s in the data
-a system using Odd Parity would have odd number of 1s in the data

-total 7 bits in our data and the left most is left for the parity bit
-if even parity is to be used then number of 1s must be even
-since they are 3 (odd), we add 1 as the parity bit

-number of 1s in sender’s byte was 4 (even) and the parity was 0

-number of 1s in the receiver’s byte was 3 (odd) and the parity was still 0
-we know that an error has occurred in transmission
-since we received odd number of 1s with an even parity in place
-number of 1s in sender’s byte was 3 (odd) and the parity was 1
-number of 1s in the receiver’s byte was 2 (even) and the parity was still 1
-we know that an error has occurred in transmission
-since we sent odd number of 1s but received an even number of 1s with
an odd parity

-Register Y has transmitted the data correctly

-Count the number of 1s in each register
-Register X has an even parity while the number of 1s is 3 (odd)
-Register Z has an odd parity while the number of 1s is 4 (even)

ISSUE WITH THIS METHOD

-changing any bit could have led to the transmission error
-it’s not always possible to identify which bit caused the error
-to deal with this issue, we introduce Parity Block method
-Parity block arranges the bytes in form of rows and columns
-we count the 1s in both directions and cross-check them against the parity
bit
-it helps us to identify the exact bit that caused the error

-Even parity is being used between sender and receiver. How do we

identify the error?

-byte 8 has a parity bit of 0 whereas the number of 1s is 3 (odd)

-if we want to pinpoint the bit which caused the error, we will cross check
with each column
-bit 2 has a parity byte of 1 and the number of 1s is 3 (odd) hence correct
-bit 3 has a parity byte of 0 and the number of 1s is 4 (odd) hence correct
-bit 4 has a parity byte of 1 and the number of 1s is 5 (odd) hence correct
-bit 5 has a parity byte of 0 and the number of 1s is 5 (odd) hence incorrect
-the intersection of byte 8 (row) and bit 5 (column) pinpoints the bit that
caused the error
Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) Error Checking Method
AUTOMATIC REPEAT REQUEST (ARQ) is another method used to check
whether data has been correctly transmitted. It uses an
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT (a message sent by the receiver indicating that
data has been received correctly) and TIMEOUT (this is the time allowed to
elapse before an acknowledgement is received). If an acknowledgement
isn’t sent back to the sender before timeout occurs, then the is
automatically resent.
Checksum Error Checking Method
CHECKSUM is another way to check if data has been changed or
corrupted following data transmission. Data is sent in blocks and an
additional value, the checksum, is also sent at the end of the block of data.
To explain how this works, we will assume the checksum of a block of data
is 1 byte in length. This gives a maximum value of 28 – 1 (i.e. 255). The
value 0000 0000 is ignored in this calculation. Example 3 explains how a
checksum is generated.
Example 3
If the sum of all the bytes in the transmitted block of data is <= 255, then
the
SIR SHAHBAZ
0300 9204594
Suppose the value of X is 1185, then tracing through the algorithm, we get:
X = 1185
1 1185/256 = 4.629
2 Rounding down to nearest whole number gives Y = 4
3 Multiplying by 256 gives Z = Y * 256 = 1024
4 The difference (X – Z) gives the checksum: (1185 – 1024) = 161
5 This gives the checksum = 161
When a block of data is about to be transmitted, the checksum for the bytes
is first of all calculated. This value is then transmitted with the block of data.
At the receiving end, the checksum is recalculated from the block of data
received. This calculated value is then compared to the checksum
transmitted. If they are the same value, then the data was transmitted
without any errors; if the values are different, then a request.
Echo check Error Checking Method
With ECHO CHECK, when data is sent to another device, this data is sent
back again to the sender. The sender compares the two sets of data to
check if any errors occurred during the transmission process. As you will
have no doubt worked out, this isn’t very reliable. If the two sets of data are
different, it isn’t known whether the error occurred when sending the data in
the first place, or if the error occurred when sending the data back for
checking! However, if no errors occurred then it is another way to check
that the data was transmitted correctly?
INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES
Browser
-a web browser is a software application
-for accessing information on the World Wide Web
-each individual web page, image, and video is identified by a distinct URL
-enabling browsers to retrieve and display them on the user's device
-browsers contacts the Web server and requests information
-interprets/translates the HTML document
-interprets/translates embedded scripting, for example JavaScript
-provides functions, such as bookmarks and history
-identifies protocols, such as https, SSL

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

-is the company that provides connections to internet for business or
personal use
-Access is provided using dial-up (obsolete), Digital Subscriber Line (DSL),
cellular internet
-provide internet by giving a direct connection from their network
-provides services including email, World Wide Web, hosting
-usually charge a monthly fee
-determines bandwidth
-provide security services

HTML
-Hypertext Markup Language
-Isn’t a programming language but a mark-up language i.e. used in
processing, definition of the text shown on HTML documents
-uses both structure and presentation
-Web-authoring language/software used to create websites/webpages
-uses tags to define e.g. color / font / graphics / layout
-HTML elements are the building blocks of HTML pages
-browsers do not display the HTML tags rather use them to render the
content of page

HTTP
-Hypertext Transfer Protocol used by web browsers
-communication between client computers and web servers on the Internet
-is done by sending HTTP Requests

HTTPS
- Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure protocol used by web browsers
-tells us that a website is secured if it starts from https instead of http e.g.
https://www.google.com/
HOW THE INFORMATION STORED ON A WEBSITE IS REQUESTED
BY THE USER, SENT TO THE USER’S COMPUTER AND DISPLAYED
ON HIS SCREEN USING HTTP
Requested
-A web browser is used
-User enters the URL / web address (into the address bar) clicks a link
containing the web
address clicks an element of the webpage
-The URL / web address specifies the protocol
-Protocols used are Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) / Hyper Text
Transfer Protocol
Secure (HTTPS)

Sent
-URL / web address contains the domain name
-The Internet Service Provider (ISP) looks up the IP address of the
company
-Domain name is used to look up the IP address of the company
-Domain name server (DNS) stores an index of domain names and IP
addresses
-Web browser sends a request to the web server / IP address

Received
-Data for the website is stored on the company’s web server
-Webserver sends the data for the website back to the web browser
-Web server uses the customer’s IP address to return the data
-The data is transferred into Hyper Text Mark-up Language (HTML)
-HTML is interpreted by the web browser to display the website
MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL (MAC) ADDRESS

-is a hardware identification number that uniquely identifies each device on

a network
-The MAC address is manufactured into every Network Interface Controller
(NIC)
-such as an Ethernet card or Wi-Fi card, and therefore cannot be changed
-00-FF-22-01-23-45 (12 digit Hexadecimal number)
-First six digits represent manufacturer code/manufacturer ID
-Other six represent serial number/serial ID of device/product

INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP)

-IP address is used to identify a device on the Internet / network

-IP address is allocated by the network/ Internet Service Provider (ISP)
-Can be used in place of URL
-IP addresses can be IPv4 or IPv6
-IP address can be static (doesn’t change each time it is connected to the
Internet)
-IP address can be dynamic (can change each time a device is connected
to the Internet)
-Example: 192.168.200.105

COOKIES
Definition
-Data / files, stored in a text file
-Downloaded to a user’s computer when a website is visited
-Stored on a user’s computer
-Stored by a browser
-Detected by the website when it is visited again

Use
-To store personal information/data
-To store login details
-To save items in an online shopping basket
-To track/save internet surfing habits to track website traffic
-To carry out targeted advertising
-To store payment details
-To customize a webpage to store user preferences
-Store progress in online games/quizzes
URL

-stands for Uniform Resource Locator

-A URL incorporates the domain name, along with other detailed
information
-to create a complete web address to direct a browser to a specific page
online
-every web page has a unique URL
-structure of URL includes: method to access protocol, DNS address, port
information
-is a type of URI (Uniform Resource Identifier)

-http: //www.ironman.net/avengers/fingersnap.html
[A][ B ][ C ][ D ]

-A: Access protocol

-B: Web Server’s Name
-C: Webpage
-D: Filename
How web browsers use URL to access a webpage
-The web browser sends URL to Domain Name Server (DNS)
-DNS stores an index of URL and matching IP address
-DNS searches for URL to obtain the IP address
-IP address sent to web browser, if found
-Web browser sends request to IP of webserver
-Webserver sends web page to web browser
-Web browser interprets HTML to display web page
-If URL not found DNS returns error